June 24th, 2008
Gary Player, golfer extraordinaire gave this advice in a recent TV commercial:
“When you get to a certain level, it’s definitely how you prepare your mind.”
I would add “prepare your mind for opportunity”. As Tiger Woods says “give yourself a chance”.
Have any pearls of wisdom- share them!
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By Bob Turek -- 0 comments
June 23rd, 2008
Our b5media Theme Day focuses on Graduation - New Beginnings in a Challenging Economy led by Darlene at www.interviewchatter.com. Since my three daughters are in their “new beginnings” periods, I’m a sought after advisor. They are: 27 years old- just married and building fitness business, 25- radio show host of S&H Culture Club and fashion blogger, and 21- college senior who is a singing star. They are all fast moving, innovative and creative people. MORE IMPORTANTLY—they all realize that changes are coming…and preparing for them.
Fortunately I’ve suggested that they focus on research, organizing, coordination/compilation, and decision making skills in college (vs worrying too much about a specific major). The ability to quickly gather information, assess a situation, and make good decisions is essential in a world that changes EVERY DAY. You will recognize the emphasis on innovation AND being prepared in this blog related to organizations, PMOs, governance structures, and strategy execution. Sometimes I think that the best training we could give in colleges and universities is how to set up Theory of Constraints based project management, PMO and governance systems. Organizations, teams, and individuals would benefit.
A lot of young adults approach the world of change and innovation as a roller coaster to be ridden through exciting times; in other words, there will always be something exciting happening. If YOU want to be the creator of the excitement, rather than a casual “experiencer”, your ability to do your “homework” and be prepared to make decisions is essential. It’s a lot of work but work that has EXTREME rewards and extreme satisfaction.
Finally, the best advice I’ve received that somehow says it all assuming you have a spiritual and moral compass: have fun and make money!
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Tags: innovation, new beginnings, PMO, preparation, project, project-management, project-management-office, strategy, strategy-executionShare This
By Bob Turek -- 1 comment
June 22nd, 2008
“Companies are now concluding that in order to control costs they must better understand them.”
This seemingly obvious conclusion from CFO magazine surprisingly is the state of most companies. In other words, they don’t know HOW to control costs. In the same paragraph CFO then gives some incomplete guidance:
“Increasingly, analyst firms are uging clients to get a grip on TCO [Total Cost of Ownership] as a useful benchmark by which to base purchasing decisions.”
Sadly, many companies think like the first time cell phone buyer: “Wow, they’re giving me a free phone, what a deal” forgetting they will pay 35 cents a minute once over plan. We are still missing the point however because what should count is the VALUE of the decision, balanced against the TCO. Value driven investment is what the best of the best are doing. Back to the cell phone buyer: what is the value of having a cell phone? Does it justify the TCO?
Are you with a best of the best company? Do they drive investments with value/TCO based decisions?
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By Bob Turek -- 0 comments
June 21st, 2008
Once again my local congresswoman, Sharon Runner, ids a ridiculous project play in our California state legislature. Read it for an idea of things to come from our silly government:
During the debate for the 2008-2009 State Budget, no issue has caused more public concern than education funding. School districts, teachers and parents criticized the Governor’s proposed 10 percent across-the-board budget cuts, which would have included reductions to education funding. This proposal is no longer on the table because the Legislature, including Senate Republicans, is committed to fully maintaining school funding. Yet a little noticed proposal by a non-elected board would effectively reduce the amount of money going toward education because of environmental regulations.
Recently, the Air Resource Board (ARB) adopted a proposal that requires school districts to divert money out of the classroom in order to purchase new school buses in order to reduce diesel emissions. As you may recall, the ARB was given broad authority to regulate emissions under the 2006 California Global Warming Solutions Act, authored by former Speaker Fabian Nunez.
But this proposal, while it claims to improve the environment, carries a hefty price tag, which is especially detrimental to struggling school districts.
The ARB wants school districts to either upgrade or replace older buses in their fleets that do not meet current emission regulations. A retrofit for a bus costs up to $20,000. However, the retrofit is not a viable option for buses that have been in service since the 1970s. Those buses will have to be replaced at a cost of $140,000 per bus.
These are perfectly usable buses!! Congresswoman Runner makes the excellent point that certain members howled when the 10% cuts were originally proposed but now are silent when their global warming projects reduce education dollars. In other words, questionable, but certainly marketable to the public, global warming projects trump education. RIDICULOUS!! From a project management point of view, what is the strategy that is served by this action? Certainly NOT bettering the education of our students. Clearly it is a strategy of protecting one’s derriere from the environmentalist led public opinion.
Do you see the hypocrisy here? Hopefully you work in a company that does not operate like this- or do you? Share your stories of political business run amuck.
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By Bob Turek -- 0 comments
June 20th, 2008
Fascinating job requirement received in my email:
….urgent Program Manager position…Client is really after large scale enterprise systems project management experience. They want someone with experience working in a PMO, but hands-on enough to build project plans. It’s not enough to just execute a plan, they have to know how to come up with a plan and then track the plan. Experience with PMO processes is highly desired. Candidate should have worked on long term projects.
Kind of interesting on several levels- required serious clean up of grammatical and spelling errors, plus the “not enough” statement which seems to have it’s priorities turned around. “Not enough to JUST execute a plan”; this is the hardest part and where we are most deficient in the project management arena. Although, when you think about it, a PMO should have VERY EXPERIENCED execution skills so they can properly mentor and speed up projects. This is not to say that the PMO performs the execution- it is to say that PMO’s role is to HELP accelerate projects through impartation of excellent project management execution skills. The statement “long term projects” is a red flag- this could indicate that they don’t know how to break up their projects into “doable” subprojects.
Amazing what we can learn from analyzing a recruiter’s job description. Tell me what you learned! Don’t be afraid to disagree or, better yet, twist this another way.
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By Bob Turek -- 4 comments
June 19th, 2008
I have some great, reliable, commentors. One of them is Alan Wilensky. Commenting on my June 7th post ““Fewer, More Successful Projects”: The New HP” he gave one of his great personal examples of an IT organization run amuck. Here is his comment (edited by me) and my response:
Alan W: A while ago, I was a bidder on fair sized contract with a specialized mfr. They had a BIG IT plan, SAP, SCN, you name it. They were hostage to their IT man, he had them seduced and bought in to the tune of 30 projects (none fully implemented) and 400K in licenses (way more than a company this size needs in a Webbiz20 services era).
I did not get the [deal], because I spoke the truth - but somehow, I think that my honesty will get me back in. Here is what I said while trying to get this seven figure (career high for me) 18 month re-engineering project:
“Dear Colleagues, you have over 30 individual related and unrelated integration and installation projects….I ask you to total the months and items of completion…”
Silence. Then the excuses from the people running the project… well, Wilensky, what would you do about it?
“I am glad you asked. Cut at least 75% of the unfinished projects, make what you have work in 90 days or less, and move to hosted CRM and billing”.
Then, after I delivered the print out of my analysis, I met the CIO in private….“Your company can’t finish one project and the consultants and internal IT steering [you] towards these complex packages are making the excuses seem plausible”.
PM411: This is very typical in my experience. Hopefully, you opened some eyes above the CIO also. This points directly to the need to get a PMO operating OUTSIDE of the purview of the IT folks. There are just too many factors that support such a multi-project result when IT is guarding the henhouse.
Alan’s candor is exactly what many companies need right now. Many are attempting to do projects that have nothing to do with strategies. The organizational structure and culture for project selection and management doesn’t exist at a broad enough level.
Do you have some stories of excess projects that aren’t getting done? Share them!
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Tags: HP, innovation, IT, PMO, project, project-management, project-management-office, strategy, strategy-executionShare This
By Bob Turek -- 2 comments
June 18th, 2008
Jim Lee’s economic analysis in APICS’ on-line newsletter (subscribe at www.apics.org) covers several myths. The first two are pretty straight forward. Myth number 3 takes a bit more brain power:
Myth #3: The stagflation of the 1970s will not be repeated because economies today are more immune to the effects of rising energy prices.
Jim does a pretty good analysis of why we experienced stagflation in the ’70s and why we might again. Bottom line is that we are more energy efficient than ever while at the same time we have been increasing our use through behavior like buying large SUVs. He sums up by saying:
The reality is that much of today’s high cost of living comes from the cost of high living. And American families are no better off today than they were in the 1970s in the face of high energy prices.
In other words, you might be “no better off” because of YOUR behavior. So–quit blaming the government or big oil!
Are you behaving badly? Did you get yourself into an economic mess? Or are you convinced that this economy is going to be run into the ground?
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By Bob Turek -- 6 comments
June 17th, 2008
Jim Lee’s great perspectives on our supposed economic woes are mythologized in APICS’ on-line newsletter (subscribe at www.apics.org). Myth number 2 of 3 is:
Myth #2: With soaring food and energy prices, the official numbers on inflation (around 4 percent) are grossly misleading.
He reveals that food and energy are 6% of typical household budgets so don’t get too bent out of shape. Rather, look at your housing expenses since they are 40 percent of budgets and have stayed flat. This inflation illusion is hyped by the media and ourselves. This isn’t saying that we shouldn’t be concerned- just that the sky is NOT falling.
What do you think? How are fuel prices affecting you? I drive a lot so energy is a lot more of my personal budget.
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By Bob Turek -- 0 comments
June 16th, 2008
Jim Lee’s economic analyses in the APICS on-line newsletter are a breath of fresh air. I’ve written about his thoughts before because he strips the discussion down to the facts of the matter. His latest demystifies today’s economy by attacking several myths. Here’s the first:
Myth #1: The consensus is that the world economy is in a recession and that U.S. government officials are either cooking the books or simply in a state of denial.
He explains that low consumer confidence is largely unfounded. Gross domestic product (GDP) indicates growth on par with same quarter last year. He suggests watching GDP, business cycles, and other data and then thinking for yourself. In other words, get educated and tell others what you think. Don’t follow the lemmings!
More on myths 2 and 3 coming up.
Are you doing enough of your own thinking about the economy? How do you figure out what is going on?
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June 15th, 2008
Microsoft’s CFO Chirs Liddell’s CFO magazine interview hit on some background items of interest:
CFO: Can you think of another CFO who has an undergraduate degree in civil engineering and a master’s degree in philosophy?
Mr. Liddell: I have to be honest, I can’t! But it’s been very useful for me, a combination of the mainstream analytical skills you need as an engineer and the more creative problem-solving that philosophy encourages. It has been incredibly useful to me, certainly at a company like Microsoft, which is innovative and diverse and where very few things happen in a linear fashion.
My own undergrad work was in Economics, Psychology and Philosophy. I always felt well served by the combination of analytical and creative disciplines. For those of you in college, think this through and see how a multi-faceted education can fit with your strengths. On top of all this, Chris came to Microsoft from the forest products industry! He felt confident enough to change industries based on his basic analytical/creative skill set.
Are you struggling with direction in career or college? Why not pursue a multi-faceted approach, or even design your own major(s) or innovative career path?
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