Priorities

By Dr. Shree Nanguneri • April 18th, 2012

Part II – Effect of High School on Final Board Examination –The Analytical Treatise Dr. Shree Nanguneri and Co-Author-Project Lead Contributor, Ms. Reethika S. Iyer*     Background: In Part I, we shared our experience on how parents make decisions to selecting high schools. Once the students graduate they are then again faced with the [...]

Part I – Impact of High School Choice on Student Final Year Performance Dr. Shree R. Nanguneri and Project Lead Contributor, Ms. Reethika S. Iyer* Background: In an earlier publication on this forum we focused our discussions on the relevance, meaning and value of LSS and PMP professionals in the industry. In Part I of [...]

On a closely related topic to my last post, I would like to relate a recent experience I had with a consumer product that illustrates one very important aspect of consumer products that is often not given enough importance in the product development priority list: User Interface Speed. We have been satisfied owners of a [...]

In my last blog, we looked at the research-based link between happiness and the ability to focus the mind. Simply put, people who are able to focus their minds a greater percentage of the time (most people’s minds wander about 50%) appear to be happier and more productive at home and at work. Now, I’d [...]

Beliefs, and by extension, belief systems, are powerful energy magnets that shape our inner and outer worlds … and they can be innocently (or not so innocently) misleading. For example, in the 1500′s, authority figures believed that the world was flat as a pancake; in the 1940’s doctors appeared in ads advocating the health benefits [...]

AMP = Autonomy, Mastery, Purpose. Now this is a power-packed acronym! These three words power the engine within us that takes us to greater heights, and help us achieve self-actualization in the personal and professional environment. Located at the peak of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy, self-actualization is described in the following way: “What a man can [...]

In the first and second blog posts of this series we talked about heavy stuff. I shared some thoughts about disappointment and forgiveness, two key human conditions that I’ve observed in my practice that consistently drain and distract people from reaching their full potential (and enjoyment) in the workplace. Now I’d like to shift gears and to [...]

In my first blog post, I shared some thoughts about disappointment, one of two key human conditions that I’ve observed in my Healing Conversations practice that consistently drain and distract people from reaching their full potential (and enjoyment) in the workplace. The second condition that I’ve noticed revolves is around the concept of forgiveness.  You may be [...]

Happy to be here … let me introduce myself: My name is Mildred Lynn McDonald. I hail from the bonnie shores of Nova Scotia, Canada and this is my first post as part of the UCSC blog community. Last month I moved to Los Altos, so as you can imagine, skipping The Great Canadian Winter [...]

Many wise people will advise: Slow down to speed up Pausing to be creative Take a break to stay energized To assist with this advice, here are three T’s to remember: 1) Time a. Take control over your calendar b. Just because it’s “happening now” doesn’t make it urgent c. Expect the unexpected with sprints [...]

Most of us associate being compassionate, nonjudgmental, and allowing the other to be and do as they please — as laying the foundation to “being taken advantage of”. It’s very natural to assume this. But, I’m suggesting, to allow the steam roller to be the steam roller – doesn’t mean to place oneself in its path.

If all you are planning on doing at the next conference you attend is to learn something from the sessions and the exhibits, my advice would be to save your money, focus on your work, and ‘get the dvd’. As we all know, attending conferences isn’t just about the sessions, the keynote speakers, or the product demos. The values you attain from attending conferences are all in the periphery, they are about the ‘X Factors’, those that help you , your team and your company get ahead professionally.

Did you know Project Management is having a birthday? Well, sort of a birthday. It was 100  years ago, in 1911, that Frederick W. Taylor published Principles of Scientific Management. Early pioneers of project management, such as Henry Gantt, were followers of Dr. Taylor. Now, for historical accuracy, it should be noted that Dartmouth College [...]

I was recently asked what is the best morning ritual to save time for busy singles and parents. How to get dressed and out the door without misplacing and redoing things. And for those with children: How to get your kids from forgetting 2,591 things back in their bedrooms. How to NOT have a
last-minute scramble for sports equipment or library books.

What are some of the main causes behind estimating errors? And what specific steps can project managers can take to increase the accuracy of estimations?

I’ve learned a lot about project management as a result of the trainings and schooling I’ve had.  But one thing I was never taught was that in any almost any work situation, relationship trumps everything. I can bring a project in late.  I can bring a project in over budget.  I can expand the scope [...]

If you are managing a project to deliver a new product or service, you’ll be making lots of decisions.  If you are doing a good job of keeping your stakeholders involved, there will undoubtedly be scrutiny about those decisions. Most companies are filled with smart, highly-trained managers who make it their job to be critical [...]

Last time, I talked about status reporting, which is commonly required but whose power as a multitool is often overlooked. Today I am going to talk about a tool that is frequently overlooked altogether – the contingency management plan. Projects are initiated for a reason – in a business setting, to create something of business [...]

Status reports (or whatever your particular methodological school calls them) are frequently maligned – c.f. “TPS Reports” in the movie Office Space – and misused. They are the weekly report that you just have to grind out for your project or program that shows you have been doing something, that you suspect no one reads [...]

When you first start out as a professional project manager, you typically have had some informal project management experience as part of your other professional responsibilities. Then you take a serious PM course or two, maybe get a PMP and suddenly you find yourself equipped with a giant tool chest full of powerful and complex [...]

Project managers work on various projects, sometimes traveling to various clients’ sites. You juggle many emails, calls, faxes and meetings during the week. When do you find time and how to prepare yourself mentally to learn something new like a foreign language? You’re on the road and you think you can’t learn a foreign language [...]