tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80503551706110503162024-03-13T14:36:00.196-07:00The Critical ChainIdeas from Project Management, that can apply to life inside and outside of projects. This doesn't have too much to do with the Critical Chain, but I really liked that title.Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.comBlogger51125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-23175945624791665502011-03-27T18:50:00.000-07:002011-03-27T18:52:27.356-07:00Training Your Team to Use Online Project Management Tools(Posted on the LiquidPlanner blog on 3/24/11)I walked into my favorite hardware store last week to pick up something fairly small and obscure. It's one of those typical Mom & Pop stores, with every available inch of the walls covered with stuff. Everything from power tools to lint traps...you name it and they have it (in a very small space of course). I was looking for those little plastic thingsDinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-84846943883997461952010-12-04T19:31:00.000-08:002010-12-04T19:33:25.563-08:00What Project Managers Can Learn from Angry BirdsIf you haven't already discovered the most clever and addictive mobile game, Angry Birds, I suggest checking it out. The movie really tells the story best, but if you don't have the time to watch it, it's about launching birds at pigs. It's not only a physics-lovers dream; there are also some valuable project management lessons to be learned from the game.Read more on the LiquidPlanner blog...Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-48962788444741700472010-11-09T19:36:00.000-08:002010-11-09T19:38:03.433-08:00Project Schedule Promises: Are We There Yet?“Just a minute!”“OK! In a sec...”“We’ll be done in a bit!”How many times have you heard yourself say one of those phrases? How many times have they been said to you? If you’re a parent, then you probably find yourself saying them least a few times a day. And you probably learned them from your parents.The real question is though, how many times were you accurate with that statement? Did you Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-43036057909287285442010-10-14T20:30:00.001-07:002010-10-14T20:32:07.764-07:00Been quiet around here, cause I've been blogging over at LiquidPlanner...My latest posts on the LiquidPlanner blog -In Project Estimation, "Guess" is a 4-Letter WordWhat's Your Distraction Factor?Check them out if you'd like!Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-64305963095672373562010-07-20T19:45:00.000-07:002010-08-01T19:26:21.328-07:00LiquidPlanner vs. Wrike, the Battle of the Online Project Management Tool ContinuesNext in my little battle for the title of the best project management tool, I took a look at Wrike and compared it to LiquidPlanner. If you’ve read any of my posts before you know that the battle is a little uneven, I am clearly biased towards LiquidPlanner but I do try to take a fair look at each tool. I also like to keep this as a friendly forum for discussion, so if anyone out there from WrikeDinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-77240456295609183792010-06-24T14:34:00.000-07:002010-06-29T19:47:22.249-07:00Email vs. Stream for Ideal Project CommunicationI spotted this interesting post by Dennis Stevenson titled "Why would you abandon e-mail for Streaming tools?", which was a reaction to an article by Stowe Boyd "The Business Case For Streams versus Email". Both are worth a read, and got me thinking about how we communicate and how our messages are received (or not received) by our team. The debate here is stream (public post on shared workspace,Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-72980720172422209612010-05-15T19:39:00.000-07:002010-05-16T19:24:28.588-07:00It's All About the Plan, Right?This brings back somewhat painful memories of a large project post-mortem where the CEO continually asked "Well, was there a project plan?" (and didn't ask anything else). In this specific case, there was a decent project plan, but so many other things (that the CEO chose not to acknowledge) went wrong that the project plan was not able to salvage the project.Jim Vaughan, in the IT Project Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-65975083419490209002010-04-29T22:51:00.000-07:002010-08-01T19:26:42.371-07:00LiquidPlanner vs. Clarizen, a comparison of two Project Management ToolsSince I've been serving proudly as the LiquidPlanner Social Media Evangelist for almost a year now, I wanted to take some more time to evaluate other online project management tools and get a better understanding of what the competition is like in the space. This post will not be another comparison of Basecamp, I think I've made it pretty clear that Basecamp shouldn't even really be called a Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-36762523504941250962010-04-19T17:45:00.001-07:002010-04-19T17:54:43.914-07:00No More Fear of Failure...(This was originally posted on Horn Group's Brass Tacks)Last week I went to the first FAILfaire NYC, organized by MobileActive.org. I was first turned on to the event when I saw a tweet about it from another project manager that I’m connected with through the “Project Managers on Twitter” (#PMOT) group. Now, failure is nothing new to project managers, any quick skim through the #PMOT feed on a Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-57584291398071226212010-03-16T19:50:00.000-07:002010-03-16T20:26:13.512-07:00Everything I Needed to Know about Risk Management, I Learned from my Kid's DaycareWas picking up my kids at their after-school daycare early this evening, when I noticed a sign on their wall. It was titled "Emergency Response" and had a list of awful things that you'd never want to have happen to your kid, and how to handle them. My guess is that there is a state law that if a daycare that wants to maintain certification it needs to have a sign posted publicly that details Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-34722936461127993302010-02-21T17:57:00.000-08:002010-08-01T19:27:03.408-07:00A Tale of Two PM Tools, the Sequel....Last spring I wrote up a comparison of Basecamp and LiquidPlanner. I think I'm pretty open on this space about my feelings for LiquidPlanner but I think the comparison was pretty fair nonetheless. I started to realize even then that I'd need to do a followup post since there were so many new features in the LiquidPlanner pipeline. And, to Basecamp's credit, they have also launched new features Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-8100434546148999342010-02-11T19:44:00.000-08:002010-02-11T19:50:44.470-08:00Keeping the Micro out of ManagerWas talking with someone a few days ago, and surprised to discover that we both took the same career path. He was also a front-end web developer for a number of years, then went into web project management. The only difference was after 2-3 years he dropped project management and went back to doing web programming. I asked him why he stopped and his answer was, "I was tired of getting on people Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-43085051968490215532010-02-03T19:41:00.000-08:002010-02-07T17:58:13.230-08:00Time Tracking: Converting the MassesI remember way back in 1999, when I was filling out my first time sheets as a web programmer. We filled them out on on excel and sent them to our boss at the end of each week. I didn't really see the full value of tracking time, and jokingly asked my coworkers if I should be recording time that I am in the bathroom, etc. Since then not only have I had an opportunity to use a few different time Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-37435444789652775102010-01-10T11:58:00.000-08:002010-01-10T12:21:30.762-08:00Lessons in Communication from "Why Mosquitos Buzz in People's Ears"I don't remember reading this book as a child, but this was one of my husband's favorites so it came along with a batch of books that his parents saved for him. We've enjoyed reading it to our kids, and I think there are some good lessons here that can be applied to project communication.To summarize, a mosquito brags to an iguana that he spied a farmer digging yams as big as mosquitoes. The Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-39826879587704025862009-12-02T19:18:00.000-08:002009-12-02T19:57:48.516-08:00A Reality Check from (our version of) Bob the BuilderI am proud to say that my daughters are not only into princesses, fairies, and everything pink and sparkly. They are also fans of the stereotypically "boyish" characters, like Spongebob Squarepants, Thomas the Tank Engine, and Bob the Builder. I've found that there are some good lessons in project management that can be learned from the Bob the Builder that we all know, and the tweaks that our Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-60072521808663176462009-09-30T19:51:00.000-07:002009-09-30T19:55:09.395-07:00Guest Post: Project Management Battle of the SexesJust contributed to LiquidPlanner's "Home on the Range" blog, with a post titled "Project Management Battle of the Sexes".This past July, the New York Times ran the article, “No Doubts: Women are Better Managers.” It was an interview with Carol Smith, SVP and Chief Brand Officer for the Elle Group, the media company. She explained what she does to be a great manager and why women will always be Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-23986762421387443042009-08-10T19:17:00.000-07:002009-08-10T20:14:13.461-07:00It's painful being a Project Manager....Have you ever felt alone, completely helpless, struggling with everything around you knowing that you can't do a thing to make it any better?No, this is not a commercial for a Prozac, it's a story about how I got caught at an incredibly inefficient process at an IKEA one day and almost lost it. I was working on a bunk bed project, had bought a used IKEA bunk bed for my 4 year old and discovered Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-58555993513553088242009-07-08T19:42:00.000-07:002009-07-08T20:08:11.620-07:00Some Simple Lessons in Project Management, from Edward of Sir Topham Hatt's RailwayWe watched a lot of Thomas & Friends over the holiday weekend (yes, with my kids...wow, that joke never gets old). Since I don't watch the show regularly (not kidding here) I was surprised to learn about how many different trains there were. I always heard about 'Thomas the Train" and didn't hear much about his other friends. Anyway, one of the episodes featured Edward, who had to take over Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-6355720903881697542009-06-10T18:18:00.000-07:002009-06-10T18:57:41.426-07:00A Lesson in Risk Identification, from the Very Worried WalrusJust got a shipment of old school children's books from my in-laws a few weeks ago (yes, we have kids, I don't just read kid's books for fun or blog material). One of the books is "The Very Worried Walrus", by Richard Hefter. This was one of my husband's favorites, but I had never read it before. So, when I read it to my daughters for the first time, it got me thinking about Risk Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-80457132276756337062009-06-05T10:56:00.000-07:002009-06-05T11:42:58.278-07:00Will the real Project Managers please stand up?Ok, so I already have that Eminem song in my head and it will be in there for the rest of the day I'm sure. If the least I can do is get that song in your head, than I've accomplished something. But, what this is really about is having an open discussion about all things project management, without the nuisance of spam or other unwanted discussion. I started doing 'Social Media Evangelism' for Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-31394851660499496382009-05-19T20:01:00.000-07:002011-06-11T20:41:53.153-07:00A Tale of Two....Web Based Project Management ToolsI think I've found my new purpose in life. Forget doing good in the world, raising healthy and happy children, making a positive impact in my community....I've become obsessed with project management tools. Granted I don't exactly have days, weeks and months of extra time to spend sampling all of them, and there are a LOT of them. But, I like that I've been able to work with a few and research Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-73354451890565193482009-05-01T11:22:00.000-07:002009-05-01T14:44:40.670-07:00The story of my (never ending) love affair with LiquidPlannerDon't worry, this post is appropriate for children...It all began about a year and a half ago, when I got slammed by the boss for a web project that was about to enter the development phase and was being projected by the programmers to take about double the amount of time that it was originally estimated. I kept my head up and went back to look more closely at the original estimate and what we Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-47138408748266509522009-04-24T07:53:00.000-07:002009-04-24T07:55:52.326-07:00Making some buzz about blogging for PDUs!It's still not official yet, but people are talking about it! See my interview on the "Stepping into Project Management" blog. Thanks Soma B!Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-36669968188650278862009-04-19T19:05:00.000-07:002009-04-19T20:23:32.893-07:00It all started with a tweet...PDUs for blogs!Well, it's not official yet. But, the discussion has begun, and what better place than the Project Managers on Twitter (#PMOT) group. This has become my new favorite go-to place for the latest ideas, thoughts, and link sharing of all things project management. The group is growing, tweets becoming more frequent. If you're not sure what this hashtag thing is all about, at least for the project Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8050355170611050316.post-65651864245358760452009-03-31T18:41:00.000-07:002009-03-31T18:44:32.740-07:00More on project requirements - on Horn Group's Brass TacksThe importance of gathering, defining and confirming project requirements, and the risks involved with making changes later in the project. Read more about it...here:"If you don't have time to do it right, when do you have time to do it over?"Dinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12732053978051576657noreply@blogger.com0