A Better Project Management Method

Everyday I work to collect activities, durations and a host of other items that can be considered part of the project management principle. I do this for 8-10 projects. Constantly refining predecessors, successors, resources, load and the like. No matter how much time I spend researching the topic and asking the team to give me all of the activities they need, they invariably miss something. Therefore a schedule that had one date for completion is now destroyed, because somebody missed one item. The team then freezes thinking that the schedule needs to be updated with this new item before they can move on. We update the schedule, redistribute the tasks, due dates and hope we did not miss anything the second time. I would think a better way exists. My problem with many project teams exists in a simple matter of office geography. Teams need to sit together on a project, invariably they sit in cubes down the hall from each other. When working on a project if the piece they need is not present, then they E-mail the project manager to go fix the piece they need. Then the resource is off to another project. Offices need to foster a collaborative approach where the teams can come together and disband. If I could design an office around project management, it would have the following characteristcs: *modular carts where people can show up together, plug in their laptops and work on the project *Projects would be divided into days they are worked on. For example, in a company with a full portfolio of projects, Monday would be database projects whereby the entire team would just work on database related projects. Tuesday could be application specific projects. The goal here is to put all team members in the same mind shift whereby when another team calls out for help, all parties are engaged. Too often we have the same resources working on different projects. This would allow the resources to become lock step on a project for a finite period of time in an attempt to show more progress with a shorter duration. JJD - projects by people...

Project Management Activities

Up until 2009, I was the "Systems Administrator, Windows, Cisco network, EMC storage and a host of other roles" for a variety of companies. Executing the technical task for an organization got to be a challenging adventure and in 2009 I decided to shift my track toward the Project Management role. Understanding the technology has been a great way to morph to the Project Management role. I feel that my background helps to effectively lead a discussion around a topic and to ask the questions of the current engineers. In this role I do not get to "experiment" with the technology like I used to and I am left at the mercy of the engineer to help fill in the activities for the latest and greatest. That is where our problem lies, engineers forget stuff or just plain don't think it is important to add it to the task list.
I learned that lesson the hard way today. After months of working on a project, we got the install done. Upon appearance of the web page, I exclaimed..WooHoo! To which I was met with, "Yea, but...." Which translated into a discussion about all the tasks that need to happen now that the web site is up and running. My fault. When I asked at the onset about the tasks that need to take place and produced the artifact that was agreed to, nobody ever said "Boo" about missing a whole bunch of stuff.
Wanting to learn from this lesson, I pondered how to resolve it. Option 1 could have included me installing it a home so I would know to cry foul early and often. Option 2 could have been to ask for more in person demonstration activities to which I would have seen all the steps they were going through. Option 3 includes accepting the new tasks and adding to the schedule. Looking back, Option 2 would have been the most effective for me.
What are your thoughts for gathering all the activities before embarking on a project?

Writing More

Today I am prompted to think back to my days at Stonehill College as Dr. Katie Conboy will be visiting the Washington D.C. area this weekend. While I do not want to remember the "less than" stellar works of art I handed in for the literacy class, her visit combined with the inspiring message from Fred Wilson at www.avc.com has prompted me to dust off my blog and enhance my blogging skills.

My problem with blogging is not "what should I say?" but rather is "when do I have time to write it?" That's really the amazing part for me is to understand when do people have time to sit down and bang out 4-5 paragraphs of anything? I am at work 0630 - 1800 M-F. Arriving home after 1900 does not really lead to my best thought time for blogging. Tonight, I committed to it and here I am at 2324.

My goal with blogging includes the following: 1. Improve my writing skills. Dr. Conboy would probably have some "suggestions" on my writing style if she were to review this post. Even at my advanced age, I think I can improve my skills in this area.

2. Become relevant by writing about topics that I see every day in the hopes that others can learn from my mistakes or they can help suggest an enhanced resolution. In my day I experience management topics that I do not believe are covered in any text book or case study. Let me just say, I can never find an answer to the topics. The central part of my day is collaboration. I struggle every day with: a. How do I find the relevant audience that cares about the emails I am crafting. Who really needs to know and who cares and who will help? b. How do we expedite our collaboration efforts to resolve issues and make decisions c. How do we help people find the issues they should be collaborating on and let them discard the one's' they should not be dealing with?

3. Focus the blog around technology and management

4. Try to blog using my mobile device.

I will start with the four goals for now. It is now 2326 and this took an entire 7 minutes to write. Maybe I do have time to blog after all?

Improving Sales At Starbucks And Other Retail Outlets With A Kiosk Ordering Function

I believe the following setup could be applied to a number of retail "counter" establishments in an effort to improve sales and quality.

Retail establishements where you place an order with a "sales person" behind the counter should adopt a kiosk method of ordering. Upon walking into the store, the customer would have the ability to enter their order into a free standing kiosk. The kiosk presents the choices of product and using the touch screen the customer selects their order. The customer pays for the item at the kiosk. The components are transferred to the counter, where they are assembled by the counter representative.

I believe the following advantages would be generated from this setup:
A)Accuracy. The customer is placing and confirming their order. The finger pointing of who placed or heard the order wrong is removed
B)Upsell. Using the Kiosk, the customer could be presented with upsell choices to add to the product.
C)Sharing the variety of product with the customer. Many customer's get the same thing. This would be a chance to present other ideas for the customer.
D)If the customer signs into the kiosk with a rewards number, we can begin to track when they order their product, i.e. date and time. From there we can control inventory for freshness. Perhaps we don't need to keep lemondae fresh on Monday's at 2PM since nobody orders it in Wellesley, MA?
E) We can add an Iphone app, so that customer's upon entering the store or on their way, can place their order and have it ready for pickup. Keep in mind, they have paid for it during the ordering process and if they don't pick it up, we have still be compensated for it and have no revenue loss.
F)Privacy is solved in this scenario, as a cofirmation number can be printed and announced so the customer can pickup their correct order and the "name taking" can be eliminated.

It is my believe that this would improve the customer service experience at Starbucks and other quick service restaurants. Currenly, my customer sevice experience at Starbucks has not been the most positive experience. It is believed that this setup would allow the representatives to focus on the quality of the beverage and eliminate the barista function from the sales function.

If you or your organization would like additional information on this system architecture setup, please feel free to contact me.

JJD - Improving Sales...

Recruiting Industry Should Be Like Hollywood Agents

The recruiting industry needs to rework their business model and work like Hollywood Agents.

Here is how I see how recruiters work today:
A recruiter will "Find" a candidate for a potential job they have at that moment. If the candidate is interested, the recruiter will send the resume off to the company and perhaps it will be something of interest. More likely than not, the position will not work out. The recruiter will let the candidate know that they will keep looking around for them.
A few problems with this that the candidate and recruiter should fix:
1. When the candidate decided to send their resume to the recruiter, the candidate should recognize that they are now represented by that recruiter and that recruiter only. In the euphoria of sending their resume, did the candidate do their homework to see if this is their "Hollywood Agent" that they want to represent them? If they got caught up in the moment, most likely not. The candidate should now recognize that before they apply to another job they need to clear it with the recruiter. Furthermore, they can not send their resume to any more recruiters until the terminate the relationship with the first one.

Here is how I believe the industry should remake itself. They should work like Hollywood Agents. The recruiters choose whom they want to represent and candidates choose the recruiters to represent them. At no time should a candidate share his resume with another recruiter without terminating the relationship with the first agent. Furthermore, the recruiters should create a "brand" with the candidates they represent. If an employer calls for a position, refer them to your "agent".

With this model, it eliminates the issue where a candidate gets overzealous and shares his resume with two recruiters, yet forgets to tell each of them about each other. From there the recruiters both submit his resume to the same position. In this scenario, the candidate is most likely deemed unfit,as the hiring company is not going to spend time to figure out which recruiting firm has the candidate.

When you sign on with an agent, remember, you can not go chase a "deal" unless you clear it with them first. Circumventing the agent, because you have another way in, will not be looked favorably upon. Therefore, before you choose an agent, make sure you have exhausted your current network before you sign on with an agent.

If we can all work to switch the model where candidates have agents, we would create an environment with a better lineup of skills to the position and the fulfillment of only actual positions that exist, not the fictional ones that we are all chasing on the job boards, but more about that in our next episode.

Marine Industry Alternative Fuels

The Marine industry needs to get moving on developing products that use alternative fuels. Just think if they can lower the cost of operating a boat, that will lead to more people that can afford to buy a boat.
Where are the diversified products for using alternative energy in the marine industry? A recent review of Hatteras, Sea Ray and Boston Whaler shows no evidence of anything even on the drawing board.
I would like to own a boat, but the ongoing cost of the fuel makes it prohibitive.

Airline Security - American Idol Style

Here is my idea to improve airline security.
The passengers get to vote who is on the plane and who is not on the plane. Similar to American Idol. If you don't like somebody or something in the seat next to you, you push a button to call a "vote" for the other passengers on the plane. The other passengers are alerted and can also decide whether to vote the person in question off the plane. Majority rules.
If you have been voted off the plane, you get a 1 minute rebuttal in front of the plane to make your case.