Appreciation… the Final Frontier

After years and years of Project Management it finally became obvious to me there was someone or something I wasn’t addressing. No, I’m not talking about all the usual people project management challenges all those references mention, or even some they don’t mention. (more…)

Scrappy Project Management is BIGGER than the PMBOK . . .

. . . well, kind of . . .

Holy guacamole! Two weeks ago I had a ridiculous notion creep stealthily into my noggin’ . . . and, as is my habit, I set yet another seemingly impossible goal (one of my bad habits!) . . . to have my book be MORE popular than the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK). [ Blasphemy, I know . . . but, having the PMBOK be the #1 project management book is like having the Oxford English dictionary be the best selling English literature book. Hideous!] When I first set that lofty goal I had a “Wayne’s World Moment”, and thought “Yah, sure, right! And monkey’s might fly out of my butt!” But today it happened . . . only in Japan, not the US. Jumpin’ geezus on a pogo stick! Yes, it’s true . . . for a few brief hours today my “Scrappy Project Management” book was MORE popular among non-translated books on Amazon Japan than the PMBOK. (#544 vs. 1900 or so . . .)

Setting impossible goals is the first step to reach them. What seemingly “impossible” goal stands before you beckoning to you cunningly? Don’t let fear of failure stop you from taking the first step toward what seem like ridiculously ambition or unobtainable goals. As human beings, we typically tend to underestimate what we are capable of. Lurch fitfully if you must! Remember, even a woman with a limp moves forward! (more…)

Strappy Sundresses and Thongs as Project Thank You Gifts?

Posted on behalf of Neil Sherman, Founder and Chief Bitnologist of Advanced Bitnology (a software and electronics design house) and one-time undervalued employee of Druck upon his reading the chapter on rewards, recognition and appreciation in my “Scrappy Project Management” book. Catch the Attitude of Gratitude! Kimberly

Reading “Scrappy Project Management: The 12 Predictable and Avoidable Pitfalls Every Project Faces” was a lot of fun! Well done!! Lots and lots of zany and interesting project scrapinalia in there to think on. I did disagree with you on rewards, I have to say I much prefer the T-shirt or mug to the strapless sun dress or thong (more…)

DNDTA

A friend of mine once told me about a technique for keeping track of lessons learned.  She keeps a file labeled “DNDTA.”  That stands for “Do Not Do This Again.” 

The idea is to write a note to yourself describing something you did that would not be such a good idea to do ever again, then put the note into the file for future reference.
I have since added such a file to my collection, and have retained many a valuable lesson in it.

It’s not that I refer to this file on a weekly or monthly basis.  In fact I rarely open it to review its contents at all.  But I think it’s the process of identifying what should go in it that makes it so valuable.

Here are a few samples of the lessons recorded in my DNDTA file:

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