Project Collaboration Roundup: structured fighting, project timebombs, productivity guidelines & Enterprise 2.0
Posted on 23. Sep, 2011 by tom in Guides, New Ways to Work, Roundup, blog
We know that it’s hard to stay on top of all of your activities. That said, it’s rare that we think of our projects as ticking time bombs. This week we have some useful rules and advice about productivity, and lots of good thinking on collaboration and new ways of working socially.
John Morehouse by KrissZPhotography
Clay Shirky on collaboration: structured fighting
In a story by Joe Brockmeier posted on ReadWriteWeb, a talk by the always thought-provoking Clay Shirky hits on some important points, and an interesting metaphor. As we like to preach here at Goshido, large projects are really made up of lots of small projects, and lots of actions.
Are your projects out of control?
First, the bad news. According to a study conducted by Professor Bent Flyvbjerg, BT Professor and Founding Chair of Major Programme Management at the University of Oxford one in six projects are “out of control.” Late, over budget, and out of control is no way to go through life. When I saw the phrase “ticking time bomb,” I certainly took notice.
Perhaps some rules for productivity would help?
A presentation from Dan at Lostgarden covers eight common workplace topics and how you should approach them. It’s important to remember that productivity is more than just more units produced per unit worked, and the pdf or powerpoint (take your pick) provides some strong guidance.
The Big Failure of Enterprise 2.0 Social Business – by Laurie Buczek
And ideas about how to fix it from the trenches. Three key takeaways:
- Focus on creating a natural collaborative experience
- Focus on providing an easy & intuitive user experience
- Focus on dissolving collaborative islands- don’t create more with social tools
Thank you for reading
We hope you found something useful. Please try Goshido, our collaboration & project management platform. Goshido can help you and your teams to take action in the absence of orders and communicate with clarity.
Photo by KrissZPhotography, available under a Creative Commons attribution license
Project Collaboration Roundup: staying focused, wishing & planning, startup execution
Posted on 05. Sep, 2011 by ger in Roundup
Are you or your projects in a state of a) constant interruption b) constant wishing or c) constant churn? Here’s some interesting posts and articles we found on the interwebs recently.
Wall of Lemons by psd
How to Stay Focused in an Age of Constant Interruption
The psychologist Dr. Elisha Goldstein describes how you can minimize the constant interruptions in the modern workplace. He suggests:
- Schedule un-interruptible time on your calendar
- Earplugs
- The mindful check-in
“It Takes as Much Energy to Wish as it Does to Plan”
Over at lifehacker Adam Dachis expands on the above quote from Eleanor Roosevelt.
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“If you find you’re spending a lot of time thinking about doing something, turn it into a plan. You don’t necessarily have to act on that plan, but if you decide to you’ll be ready.” – Adam Dachis
For startups (and larger companies) it’s all about execution
Over on Forbes, Martin Zwilling summarizes the keys to business excellence for startups. He’s summarizing a book called The Power of Convergence by Faisal Hoque. Faisal’s book is focused mainly on larger enterprises and making them more agile.
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A startup begins with a great idea, but all too often, that’s where it ends. Ideas have to be implemented well to get the desired results. Good implementation requires a plan, and a good plan and good operational decisions come from good people.
Here’s a selection of the “repeatable practices to maximize business opportunities” Martin identifies
- empower people to take action in the absence of orders
- communication is critical
- formulate and recognize when Plan-B needs to happen
This post reminded me of Derek Sivers’ classic Ideas are a Multiplier of Execution.
Thank you for reading
We hope you found something useful. Please try Goshido, our collaboration & project management platform. Goshido can help you and your teams to take action in the absence of orders and communicate with clarity.
Photo by psd, available under a Creative Commons attribution license
Project Collaboration Roundup: improve focus, killer coworkers, agile WBS
Posted on 19. Aug, 2011 by ger in New Ways to Work, Roundup
Brain Coral (by Laszlo Ilyes)
Do you want to a) improve your focus at work b) live longer c) connect your agile projects into a larger project WBS? Here’s some interesting posts and articles we found on the interwebs recently.
Understand how your brain works and improve your focus
In this Google Tech Talk, David Rock describes how our brains work at work. He shows why we get distracted and describes some things you can do to improve your focus and reduce stress at work. David Rock is the author of “Your Brain at Work”.
The correlation between co-workers and mortality
In Wired, Jonah Lehrer asks “Are your co-workers killing you?” A recent study from Tel Aviv University has found a correlation between “the perceived niceness of co-workers” and the risk of death. It seems your co-workers are more influence than your boss. The study tracked 820 people over a twenty year period and found;
- “people with little or no “peer social support” in the workplace were 2.4 times more likely to die during the study, especially if they began the study between the ages of 38 and 43. In contrast, the niceness of the boss had little impact on mortality.
Jonah also mentions a larger UK study which tracked 28,000 government workers since 1967. That study linked the person’s “perception of control” with their work peer social support and mortality. Jonah summarizes the outcome:
- “the only thing worse than an office full of assholes is an office full of assholes telling us what to do.”
In July on this blog Donal discussed the knowledge worker’s perception of control. I wonder if social business platforms like Jive could be good for your health? Maybe our product Goshido can increase “perception of control” for your team (and lengthen their lives)?
Connecting Agile projects to Work Breakdown Structures (WBS)
Glen B. Alleman on the HerdingCats blog, describes how you connect agile projects with the WBS of large projects like US federal government contracts. He links the agile taxonomy of work to the traditional WBS.
- Agile Epics correlate to WBS Program Events
- Agile User Stories correllate to WBS Accomplishment Criteria
- Agile Features correlate to WBS work packages
- Tasks are the same in both Agile and WBS
Here at Goshido we believe there can be more than four layers in a project.
- “Agile does a good job of defining the outcomes of each iteration, and managing the contents of those iterations during the Planning process. What is needed is an upper level process.”
Thank you for reading
We hope you found something useful. Please try Goshido, our collaboration & project management platform. Goshido can help you and your teams work better together (and maybe help you live longer).