Group items tagged

Cost overruns on a new Veterans Affairs hospital on the Fitzsimons campus seem to indicate fundamental blunders in oversight. Mismanagement leads to a 67% cost overrun and project not near completion.

A 67% cost overrun and the project still not completed is absolutely outrageous!

Ouch. I work on the Fitz campus and was wondering what was taking them so long. Bad!

Basic, but sometimes underutilized, steps to better communication via email.

Definitely good reminders for the workplace! It reminds me of a coworker who had the "reply all" button removed form their email accounts at her previous company because people just couldn't help themselves from over using it. These are good rules to pass around every once in awhile :).

I think we take for granted, because we have all been writing emails for a while, that we know how to make them effective. I would definitely share this at work!

Resources on the use of ROI and metrics in eLearning.

The very cool IDEO methodology Kenny mentioned in a discussion during our course: It is a mindset Design Thinking is the confidence that everyone can be part of creating a more desirable future, and a process to take action when faced with a difficult challenge. That kind of optimism is well needed in education.

Michael Greer's site that composes a list of questions as the project moves along. It starts with identifying lessons learned from other projects in order for the team to be refreshed for the new project.

I liked the idea of preparing responses in advance of a face-to-face meeting. That gives people the opportunity to reflect and provide quality answers.

These are good suggestions, but I think it would be even better to also instruct team members to jot down issues and solutions as they come up. I find that when we wait for a debrief after one of our huge events, many of us recall some of the problems that came up over the past months, but not all. There have been many times we've sat there looking at each other saying "what was that thing we had to deal with a few months back?" Sometimes we remember, sometimes we don't. Or conversely, we remember the problem, but didn't document exactly how we solved it and have to recreate the solution in the following year's event. So definitely something to be said for documenting feedback in the heart of the matter rather than in a recap, and reviewing the list in the recap meeting rather than trying to reconstruct it then.

SugarSync's file sync, online backup, and file sharing service makes it easy to stay connected. Get free, secure cloud storage for all your files -- documents, music, photos, and videos.

…organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together.

Huddle is a simple and powerful way to collaborate on content. Product features include file sharing, team collaboration, social collaboration, task management, and mobile collaboration. There are apps available for desktop and mobile devices. You can try it for free: https://www.huddle.com/huddle-prices/huddle-free-trial/?source=7_cs3.

There is mention of another Mindjet product from a few years back already mentioned here but I thought I would at this. They have really done a lot with this and it is great for people that are visual thinkers.

I am always looking for an alternative to using dropbox with google docs with basecamp - for example. This service looks interesting and I may try it out as an alternative.

Features of a true servant leader "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea", these are the words of Antoine de Saint-Exupery, one of my favorite writers, which can consolidate the philosophy behind a term - servant leadership.

Sometimes a quote conveys an idea in a very effective way. This quote captures the role of the Project Manager as a leader who is focused on supporting the success of others.

Good quote to help people remember that leaders are in some ways similar to coaches - they help others to do their best and be great.

Great quote! That's what true leaders do when they put ego aside

Want to learn more about Daniel Goleman's work? Try following him on linkedIn! He posted many interesting articles and blogs posts that have been very helpful in expanding my thinking about Emotional Intellegence. An interesting one he recently posted is "Be Mindful of the Emotions" you leave behind. Daniel Goleman lectures frequently to business audiences, professional groups and on college campuses. A psychologist who for many years reported on the brain and behavioral sciences for The New York Times, Dr. Goleman previously was a visiting faculty member at Harvard.

Principles to explore with your team.

This handbook is a product of Caltrans, a department in the California state government. By the title, you can see that this resource is focused on project communication. It provides an easy to follow process and guidance on developing a communication plan. It also includes tips on how to identify stakeholder, gather input and how to communicate with stakeholders.

From their website: "Free, simple, fast online meetings. Share your screen instantly with anyone." I couldn't say it better myself. Join Me is a pretty great tool if you have meetings with remote members of project teams. The premium version has all of the features of WebEx and then some, and you can get a 30 day trial of the premium version for free. Even the free version that is available after the 30 day trial is useful. No one has to download anything or have a program installed except for the moderator (and it is a very simple download). The moderator gives everyone a code, they go to a website and type it in and can immediately share screens. My advice: Use Microsoft Paint to enhance your Join Me meetings by using it like the WebEx whiteboard.

Andi, thanks for sharing, sounds like a cool alternative to expensive or complicated ways to create an online meeting. I will try it for a couple of online interviews I need to conduct.