In this third installment of my blog series on project estimates, let’s dive headfirst into the murky waters of assumptions and uncertainty! Think of these as the gremlins of project planning – they are full of secrets and laugh along the way as they trip you up. If you’ve read my other blog posts, you’ll […]
Organizational Change Management
Dependencies & Creep : Project Estimating (Part 2)
Continuing our dive into project estimating, let’s talk about two more problem areas: dependencies and project creep. These two can turn your pristine project plan into a tangled mess. No matter the size or scope of your project – whether you have just a few dependencies or tight integration with multiple systems – you’ll be […]
Sandbagging & Lowballing : Project Estimating (Part 1)
Estimating is a precarious business – part science, a lot of guesswork, and a bit of psychic magic! The goal is to forecast the effort, time, and cost of a project with enough accuracy to avoid disaster. Project managers use some go-to methods to estimate projects. Some approaches are scientific while others are based on […]
The Curse of Perfection – Toil and Trouble
“Double, double toil and trouble,” is a line repeated by the witches in Macbeth as they lay out the ominous prophecies of greatness and dire consequences for the titular character. Macbeth’s ambition envisions a perfect ending though desperate actions and moral weakness ruin it. So too are the misguided actions in pursuit of perfection which […]
[Podcast] What if You Didn’t Need People To Make Your Technology Work?
In this episode of “What If? So What?” Jim talks with Bradie Speller who shares insights from his extensive career, tracing the arc of technological evolution from the dawn of personal computing to today’s high-tech environments. Bradie discusses his early experiences at Mars Group in the 1980s, where he first encountered the transformative power of […]
Hero, Villain, or Victim? Stories that Sabotage
In 1968, psychiatrist Stephen Karpman modeled what he called the Drama Triangle. With this, he illustrated dysfunctional mindsets that can derail social interactions. The three roles defined in this model are the rescuer (hero), persecutor (villain), and victim. This is another view of the lies we tell ourselves. Since the dawn of history, we’ve loved […]
Embrace Strategic Thinking: 3 Smart Ways to Escape Admin Chaos and Innovate Boldly
Do you ever wish you had more time to focus on strategic thinking, to wrap your arms around a long-term vision, instead of spending your days drowning in administrative tasks? Digging deep into your idea factory takes time and energy, and a never-ending cycle of burn reports, meetings, and timecard approvals can drain both – […]
Your Idea Factory – Quality Innovation from Quantity
Quality innovation is not for the weak at heart! Innovation myths may have you thinking it is for the lucky or the extremely talented – that’s not true. Pablo Picasso said, “Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” Thomas Edison quipped, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls […]
5 Obtrusive Blockers to Avoid as a Servant Leader
We’ve all heard of servant leadership. The concept of “being a servant” to your teams and treating employees as critical individuals to be cultivated and empowered, has strong merit. However, many organizations fall short, with those at the top of the hierarchy viewing employees as interchangeable cogs in the corporate machine. Instead of diving deep […]
The Crucial Steps to Success: Preparing for an Order Management Project
Embarking on an order management project is a significant undertaking for any organization. It involves not only implementing new systems but also reshaping processes and workflows. The success of such projects hinges on meticulous preparation, particularly in terms of collecting and categorizing requirements and effectively managing the associated change. In this article, we will delve […]
We’re All Outraged! Turning Passion into Results.
If you were to pop open any social media platform or news app right now and scroll through a couple dozen posts, you’ll easily get the feeling that everything is #%&$ falling apart. Everyone is mad at something. We now use the term “doomscrolling.” In the past we had Yellow Journalism and we are there […]
Zigs & Zags – The Opposite of a Great Idea Can Also be a Great Idea
I get a lot of enjoyment from the creative and innovative side of the work I do. Helping clients or my teams break out of the day-to-day and explore the unexpected. I’ve discussed innovation myths before and how to use lateral thinking to expand your pool of ideas in unexpected ways. One of my favorite […]