Scrum Gathering - Day 1
I'll be heading over to the Scrum Gathering in a little bit and I've got some decent interviews lined up for later today.

I'll try to blog as the day progresses and will post video this evening.

INBOX 1,314

When I first started working as a PM, back in the golden days of .com boomage, I was able to keep track of my work by making a list on a piece of 8.5 x11 paper that I folded into quarters. I spent 15 minutes updating it each day and congratulated myself for completing all my tasks.

Since then the word has gone through some pretty heavy change… the Cookie Monster is on a health diet, Starbuck is a girl, the Red Socks have won a world series...twice!, …whatever. Project Managers are all about the change right? Change is good because it indicates evolution. My old system of keeping things on that tiny square of paper because no longer viable because I had achieved a level of professional achievement/idiocy, where I was allowed to try and manage 13 fully active projects at one time. Thank God for my Handspring Visor!

Anyway, time marches on… we get busier. I am now able to record 4 different programs simultaneously on my DVR… I can record more soccer and baseball than I could ever watch. This is a good thing – right?

At this very moment, I have a list of tasks that must be done today and it is 3 pages long. I have 1,314 emails in my inbox for work and 143 emails in my DO THIS RIGHT AWAY folder in my email for work. I also have 1,254 emails in my PMI Inbox and I just don't even bother checking my personal email anymore because it is too depressing. This is especially disturbing since this is where my JOTTs go.

Oh, and did I mention that all of the above is actually really good. Things used to be much worse. Then I watched the Merlin Mann video on Inbox Zero. This is about as close to Zero as I seem to be able to get.

A few years ago when my beloved Palm T3 died an unnatural death at the hands of the technology assassins/Geek Squad at Best Buy I gave up my beloved Palm/Agendus combination and started looking for a new way to manage my tasks. The journey led me to iGTD, which led me to David Allen. I bought his book, Getting Things Done, over a year ago. I read it every chance I get. I'm now up to Chapter 2.

There are also the podcasts, which are in various stages of completion that I keep trying to finish and post.

Clearly, I'm not so much with the efficient right now… or maybe I am just too over committed to be able to be efficient.. Either way, this seems very much at odds with my (chosen doesn't seem the right word) profession. I'm am a Project Manager. I am supposed to be the bringer of order to the world of chaos. If you took one look inside any of the six folders on my desktop that are all labeled DESKTOP STUFF, you'd become painfully aware how much I am not that when it comes to managing myself.

So, today… a question…

If any of the above resonates, especially if you are one of those people who openly mock your co-workers when they start in with 'OH NO! I have 500 emails in my inbox", how are you dealing with it? (And no, hiding in a closet crying in to a cheap box of wine at the end of the day is not "dealing")

According to the futurists and science fiction writers, we are headed towards a world where machines will develop the ability to be sentient and then take over the world because of our dependence on technology. I'm starting to wonder if the true evil of technology is that it allows is to move so quickly, that we lose the ability to keep up with ourselves.

Video Interview with Iain Fraser (From the PMI Asia Pacific Global Congress in Sydney, Australia)

I still have a few more to edit. They will be posted in the coming weeks.. or at least until I get to the Scrum Gathering and can start talking to the folks there. If you will be in attendance, let me know.

Meet “So”, the new “Um”…


A few months ago I started noticing that on a number of the podcasts I listen to the word “So” began to get a lot more play. Specifically, people were using it as a lead into what they were going to say. It was different, not necessarily grammatically correct, but convenient and somewhat intriguing.

For example:

“I was making breakfast this morning, and …”

becomes

“So (long pause), this morning I was making breakfast and…”

Over the past month, it seems to have jumped to office speak as well. It has become impossible for me to get through a phone call or meeting without people using it right and left. Oddly, the world “like” has dropped out of site. I should say that I’m as guilty of this as anyone else and the more aware of it I become, the troublesome it is to me.
Of interesting note is that in yoga, “Soham” is a mantra, which means, “I am That”. When using the mantra, "So" is pronounced during inhalation and Ham during exhalation.

So, what’s the deal with "So"? Why has it invaded the business speak like a verbal bird flu? It does not seem to have yet achieved “ducks in a row” status as being a horribly overused phrase, but I do not think this is from lack of trying.

The Consultant Walks into a Matrix Organization…

I’ve spent the last week trying to both catch up from being away in Sydney and also in reaching out to all the great people I got to meet over there. There will be more video in a few days and I’m hoping to post the next installment of the Art of War for Project Managers before the end of the weekend.


All I have today are ISTABOTs (Is There AnyBody Out There) Questions…


The Consultant Walks into a Matrix Organization…


I’ve been talking to a number of PMs in the past few weeks who are all dealing with the same problem…


Consultant walks into a matrix org reporting to Sr. Mgmt. Sr. Mgr. calls in his direct reports and says. “Meet the new PM on Vaguely Defined Project Y, which I will demonstrate steadfast halfhearted commitment to for the foreseeable future. While the PM is here working, I’ll trust that each of you will do you “best” to provide what you are asked for. In order to ensure the success of this project, I will not be removing any of your current responsibilities or providing you with any additional support. Naturally, there will be no penalty for non-compliance and your bonus structure will not be impacted by anything other than your successful work on everything but this project.”


This is the most you can get from Sr. Mgr and of course, the direct reports treat you like you are serving up warm helpings of skunked beer.


How do you fix this if the the level of support put forth by the Sr. Mgr. is the best you are going to get?

More Video Goodness from the PMI 2008 Asia Pacific Global Congress



Interview with PMI VP of Technology Frank Schettini

Brief chat with PMI VCP Business Owner David Sabol

A few minutes with Karen Tate, PMI Board Member

Pictures from the PMI 2008 Asia Pacific Leadership Meeting and Global Congress are posted here

PMI Asia Pacific Global Congress – Days 2 and 3


I’m back home in fabulous New Vegas (Oklahoma City). I keep denying any form of jet lag, but I also seem to be suffering from bouts of uncontrollable narcolepsy, where I drop off in mid sentence and pass out for a few minutes. Luckily, this hasn’t happened while driving … yet.


Being able to attend the Leadership and GC events is always a incredible learning experience and I am definitely of the camp that believes you learn as much, or more, in the halls talking to people, than you do in the sessions.


I did spend most of the 2nd and 3rd days in the booth, but I was able to break away to see our Asia Pacific Regional Director, SK Khor’s talk on Risk Management. The IT&T SIG is very fortunate to be graced with SK. He is a human networking machine and watching him work is both awesome and dizzying. Even better, however, is listening to him speak. SK’s presentation was not only informative; it was really funny as well – especially the firewall bit.


Mark, SK and I all got to meet a lot of great folks at our booth. For those of you who volunteered to help the SIG, rest assured, we’ll be calling. We are also going to try and work out a way to establish something local – either through webinars scheduled for an AP timezone, or some type of local user group.


This was my first time attending a PMI event in Asia Pacific. There is definitely something to be said for the non-US PMI events. They are more intimate and in a lot of ways, that makes it easier to develop relationships with the folks who attend.


My final thoughts, shout-outs and favorite moments:

• Having the opportunity to sit with some folks and listen to stories about project managing software projects back in the day of punch-cards was one of my all time high moments. I will be steadily working on my bridge game and am looking forward to more stories for the podcast in Malta.
  
  
• The Palm T3 (god rest its’ electronic soul) was the greatest PDA ever made.
  
  
• David Goh and Tarnbir Kaur’s talk on cultural diversity was worth the entire trip for me. I am hoping to be able to interview Tarnbir very soon for some information specifically targeted at addressing very specific cultural project issues that often impact PMs and development teams in North America.
  
  
• Iain, thank you for being such a good sport about the podcast. It will be posted very soon.
  
  
• Michael Young, thanks for joining us late night for drinks and for offering to help out – we will be in touch very soon.
  
  
• Rob Posener – It was great to be able to talk to you after so long.
  
  
• Mrs. T – Thank you, as always, for the great advice. It is appreciated beyond words.

Correction...

In my posting on Monday I mentioned the talk on How to Become an Independent Consultant. While I did hear great things about it from the other members of the IT&T SIG who were present, I was on Booth Duty during the talk and was not able to attend. So, I have to offer my apologies to Jerry Ball, and Frank Walker and Frank Parth who were also on the panel, but whom I failed to mention in my posting.

Sorry about that gentlemen... it looks like I'll be buying a round in Malta.

Video Podcast Interview with Robyn Meredith from PMI Asia Pacific Global Congress in Sydney
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1714481512417273979