Last night I read Green Eggs and Ham to my Son. Because nothing is sacred in my world of blogging and project management, I drew a parallel between Sam and myself.
If you don’t know the story, Sam offers Green Eggs and Ham to an unnamed character. This character adamantly states he does not like them.
Sam looks for different opportunities and scenarios where the character may enjoy the green eggs and ham. Every time, he’s dismissed. I will not eat them here or there. I will not eat them anywhere!
Still, Sam persists.
You do not like them. So you say. Try them! Try them! And you may. Try them and you may, I say.
The character finally laments and tries the green eggs and ham. Guess what? He likes them. He likes them a lot! All of a sudden, he realized all of the scenarios Sam recommended really are perfect opportunities to enjoy green eggs and ham.
So, what are green eggs and ham? I think they are ideas and opportunities. Yes, the same ones your colleagues had that got shot down. The same ones you had but were also dismissed. It’s Agile, Scrum, Kanban, or some other approach the customer has never tried before, therefore, they don’t even want to try it.
Next time someone has an idea or opportunity, try it! Try it!
And you may. Deliver value in that way.
Image courtesy of themouseforless
As one of the items on my personal “resolutions” kanban for 2010, I shortened my list of RSS feeds I’ve subscribed to. I will now only keep the RSS feeds in Google Reader that I can actually zero out by Friday close of business. Too many times, we grow these unmanageable lists of feeds, only to see them grow and grow. As a project manager, you don’t accept more and more work, until tasks are completely unmanageable. Why should reading be any different? In order to handle tasks, both management and reading, I allocate time for planned “work” and unplanned “work”.
The more people I follow on Twitter, the more recommended blog posts I read (unplanned) on a daily basis. I now find myself reading more of these posts than my (planned) RSS reading. My colleague Sridhar of Hyderabad, India, asked if I would provide a list of RSS feeds I subscribe to. The topics I am interested in include: Project Management (who would have thought), Agile, Kanban, and Entrepreneurial topics. I’ll admit this is not a complete list. I also like to see pictures of epic kludges and jury rigs and pictures of the people of Walmart.
Here is my list of RSS Feed Reads (in alphabetical order) that I enjoy over a cup of coffee:
- Agile Development Blog
- Alec Satin – People, Projects, and Process
- CottagePM.com – Project Management for the rest of us
- Deep Fried Brain – PMP Exam Prep
- Geoff Crane – Solid Portfolio Management with a sharp wit
- How to Manage a Camel – Project Management
- Jason Calacanis – CEO of Mahalo.com and creator of This Week In StartUps
- Jim Benson – Personal Kanban
- Josh Nankivel – Founder of PM Student and creator of WBS Coach
- Mike Cottmeyer – Agile Leadership and Project Management
- Mixergy – Where the ambitious learn from experienced mentors
Question 1: In the hope to help the Project Management industry mature, should project management related templates and worksheets be freely distributed to the project management community or should there be a reasonable fee charged?
I am a strong believer in the wisdom of crowds. If there was a consortium of types with diverse backgrounds in Waterfall, Spiral, RUP, Agile, Scrum, XP… don’t you think they could come up with some pretty good stuff? In this case, all templates would be freely distributed. I have to admit, the majority of my traffic is from people looking for free templates and worksheets. It’s tempting at times to put them behind a pay wall and ask for 99 cents.
What do you think?
Image courtesy of misallphoto on Flickr
The number one search on the Critical Path website is for a Critical Path and Float worksheet. Though you should be using software to calculate a critical path, if it is mission critical, it is important to understand the concept for the PMP exam.
Rather then go into the specifics on how to calculate the critical path and float in this post, I’ll merely say a free worksheet template and PowerPoint presentation are available and you can download them at any time. (see links below)
•Remember the Critical Path tells you the activities that can not slip a day without increasing the total duration of the project or moving the project completion date. It is the longest path of logically related activities through the network which cannot slip without impacting the total project duration, termed zero float.
[Click here to download the Critical Path and Float Calculation Worksheet]
[Click here to download the Critical Path Scheduling PowerPoint Presentation]
Also available in PDF
General | Derek Huether | July 21, 2009 | 
Comments (3)
CPM, Critical Path Method, Definition, EVM, Float, Free, PMP, PowerPoint, Presentation, Project Management, Schedule, Template, Worksheet
In anticipation of my upcoming iPhone application release, I figured it was time to stand up a new website with the purpose of distributing my own brand of tools, templates, and talk. The Critical Path will remain as my blog. But, selling products requires branding. By following me on Twitter or reading this blog, I think people will enjoy the HueCubed brand.
Application Development, PMP, Scrum, Social Networking | Derek Huether | June 26, 2009 | Comments (0)
Agile, Apple, iPhone, Monetize, PMP, Project Management, Scrum, Social Media, Software
Last night I read Green Eggs and Ham to my Son. Because nothing is sacred in my world of blogging and project management, I drew a parallel between Sam and myself.
