Learn to Laugh at yourself – it’s good for you.

Fortunately, I get plenty of opportunity to laugh at myself! I ran across my blooper when I was creating a training video. Sometimes there’s no explanation!

I ran across this info-graphic on a LinkedIn post. I find the conclusions fascinating.

Help achieve a more productive and collaborative environment at your office with these super fun team building games. Just try not to laugh!

Source: 10 Super Fun Team Bonding Games

Monday night, 2/19/28, is Passport to Employment’s tenth (10th) year anniversary celebration.

This evening will be a special event with a special speaker, Gerry Dick. Gerry is the creator and host of Inside Indiana Business. He’s a former WRTV news anchor, a Sagamore of the Wabash recipient (top honor in Indiana), an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year recipient, and a recipient of 5 Emmy Awards. He’ll be speaking to us about jobs, business trends, and economic development in Indiana. Do join us!

Location: Church at the Crossing, 9111 Haverstick Road, at THE HAVERSTICK café/conference center, located near door 10 at the back of the church. 7- 9 p.m. but do feel free to come early, business cards in hand, to network.

We’d love to see some 200 peeps at this special event! Always FREE. We have invited former staff volunteers, former speakers/employers and collaborating partners, Passport alumnus, current Passport participants, etc. Fabulous place to meet new peeps, network, and learn what’s happening in Indiana!!

According to RightScale’s 2018 State of the Cloud report, 66% of enterprises expect to spend at least 20% more on cloud this year. Ironically, those same expectations are almost certainly wil…

Source: TechRepublic – How cloud computing surveys grossly underreport actual business adoption | Doug Theis

Looking forward to Walk A Mile, coming February 10.  My company supports the effort. We have formed a team, and anyone is welcome to join us. Leave me a comment if you have questions.

Find CFD Kokomo on Facebook or search @cfdserveday on FB

The professionals at this company share some great tips. This one is about managing issues that arise on a project. Having a process in place to manage issues will save the PM tons of grief, especially when in the “heat of the battle.”

Learn Jennifer’s 7 strategies for effective issue management for your projects so you can successfully monitor & minimize project issues.

Source: Issue Management for Projects

During the Summer of ’17 my company provided a Summer Internship Program and I became heavily involved in it – and I’m as convinced as ever that it’s a powerful opportunity for the student as well as for the company. We’ve said goodbye to our Interns for this year and wished them well – yet I’m amazed at the positive experience it was for them… and us.

I’ve had Interns in my former life as a youth minister, as a matter of fact, it was serving as an Intern that started me on that path years ago.  However, managing an Internship for a business, since I have moved to Project Management, made me wonder how it would go. In addition to “hire the right people” which thankfully, we did – there are a couple of things we got right, I think – that helped us have a successful program. Nothing like this is perfect, but these things stand out to me as helpful.

Plan Ahead

As the Project Manager, I touch most of the departments in our company. So long before the Interns arrived, I called a meeting with members of each department that I work with, to explore how the Interns might help them, and how they might help the Interns. We figured out that not only could we keep them busy with the backlog of things we can’t seem to get to but we could make them a part of each team.

Include

A big piece of our Internship Program was to keep our Summer folks busy – and that we did. There’s always a need for catching up on a number of processes. However, we strove to also include the Interns in our team meetings, and seek their input – and it was helpful information. Our Interns left not only having contributed to tasks, but participating in active discussions.

Guide to Lead

We included our Interns on actual project work and had them lead and present. Each Intern was able to make a short Project Update presentation at our Department Head Meeting. They stepped up to the challenge. To help them, I previewed their presentation with them to make sure it wasn’t all “new”. This was very well received all the way around.

Mentor

Toward the end of each day, I met with the Interns briefly to talk about their day. Sounds like too much work? Not a chance, it was enlightening for me, and I think for them. I was able to answer questions, explain the business models, and receive helpful feedback from them.

I’m a strong believer that an Internship Program is some of the best money spent for a host of reasons.  If given this opportunity again, I’ll jump on it. It was a value add to our company, staff, and to our Interns.

Do you have a favorite soup? Do you like a Lean Gumbo? Or do you prefer a Six Sigma Stew? The strength of your efforts depends upon what goes in the bowl. Why limit yourself? Let the situation serve up…

Source: Infographic: Lean – or – Six Sigma? – GoLeanSixSigma.com

Sister Maynard, the “Hillbilly”
As I progress through this journey called life, I have come to realize that life is a Great Production. When we arrive on the planet, a Script is envisioned. As we leave home, another Script is likely written, and the actual Script of Life is altered day to day, year to year. Those who rely on the Great Script Writer inspire me the most. Such is Jane Maynard, commonly known as “Jane the Hillbilly”. She’s not only my mom, but a pillar demonstrating unswerving faith in God’s will regardless of her circumstances. She has navigated many a Script change, and now has arrived at a point to acknowledge that the Great Script Writer has another plot twist and different kind of adventure ahead.

A High School dropout (to care for ailing family) would seem to limit the Script, in most reader’s eyes. Hard work lay head caring for family and eventually completing her High School Diploma through correspondence courses. Not to be side tracked, she fell in love with a gentleman from the Air Force, married, and they became my parents. The story took a devastating turn – few can appreciate – as my dad’s severe mental illnesses raised their head at a time in history when such things were vaguely understood. Tasked now – not just with being mom, but being mom and dad – while loving God and dad enough to make dad think he was dad – a Script complexity that would endure so many years. She now says that made her more dependent on God. There are no words to adequately describe this part of the Story. Dad’s journey ended in final rest some years ago but Jane’s Script continues. However, it’s now taking a different turn.

I have no memory of her ever doubting the Great Script Writer – even though I have often. Somehow in the midst of raising her children, and fostering other’s children, and caring for her husband, she found time to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Bible. Even though I spent years in the ministry, I always marveled at her wisdom and teaching at home and abroad. She easily and justifiably could have written a sympathy laden Script – but not Jane. She has been and continues to trust and seek the Great Script Writer for her next move. I recently sat beside her in a little church in Arkansas that hasn’t changed in all my years.

I enjoyed her prominent Alto singing like I have never before. This time my mind did not run to suggestions for the church to improve, as it has before. I just listened and appreciated the blessing of the moment. You see, recently Jane had a Stroke that took her and all of us by surprise. Her temporary inability to talk or function not only shocked us – it brought about a reality. I’m happy to tell you that this was a light stroke, and she is recovering well – and she’s still open to whatever God wants. We all want that because she wants that. But, it is time for Jane to serve in a different way. The Great Script Writer has something else in mind. In partnership with her God, Jane allowed God to write an unlikely story that included some of the following:

• For 50 years she has taught ladies’ classes and planned and coordinated events honoring Christ for Ladies.

• She has traveled all over the nation speaking and counseling ladies in the name of the Lord. It makes her mad, but I still say no one can preach better than she can – but only to ladies of course.

• I never visit when she isn’t cooking food for someone, helping someone tend to their business, or just listening and offering godly counsel. And the list could go on and on.

Jane’s Script now includes stepping down from leadership roles but she’ll still include in the Story the encouraging and assisting of others to lead and bring the healing of Christ to God’s ladies. She’s comfortable and confident that God will use her where He wishes – and that is what she wants. She probably won’t travel as much in this this new Script. Likely she will serve by writing and encouraging with few if any speaking engagements. However, she told me plainly, “I will always serve the Lord.” And I believe it. As her son, I know she trusts the Great Script Writer most of all. And I know she wants me and YOU to always do the same.

There’s a reason that the professional PM courses are so meticulous about the scope of your project. I’ve learned the hard way that either you manage it, or it will manage you. I have come to really appreciate the need for managing change through a change board or incrementally managing it through Agile methodologies.

While on a journey of any sort, when you arrive is one thing – and how much it costs to get there is an other – but where you end up is the biggest kahuna of all –usually.  I am involved with an IT Project on which I let that slip away from me. No question about intentions or plans – that was very clear, and very public.  In the midst of targeting specific deliverables, I had another regulatory firm changing project enter my sphere that I allowed to take my eyes off the original project – for just a short time. When I regrouped, I realized that the urgent and focused deliverables we started with – had been sidelined by well-meaning team members, in favor of escalating another deliverable planned for a later date.

I have now taken corrective action and am relieved that the deliverable I need done first will be delayed only a short time with the added benefit of the next deliverable phase being finished earlier than expected. Not too much harm in this situation. I recognize that it should not have happened in the first place, and that stops at my door. I also recognize that I could find myself working a project where the consequences for allow this to happen could be grave. Here are some of my lessons learned:

• The size of the project and environment in which your project develops may call for various levels of the PMBOK levels of planning, but you would do well to at least visit each of the 10 main subject areas with some kind of plan. The more extensive the project the more important to do these items in detail.
• It’s a hard balance, but don’t get so absorbed in “doing work” to help the team, that you neglect (inadvertently or not) the project plan and if you are hitting the milestones you set. I pride myself in “leading” more than managing, which means I work with the troops. However, the PM’s main role can slip, and that’s a problem that will come back to haunt. All that paperwork and documentation serves to prevent the problem I allowed to creep into the mix.
• Take communication seriously – don’t give up on clarifying – until you know you are clear on what’s going on. I heard it and appreciated it in my training, but now I get it. I am not satisfied with a status quo update. I want to know exactly what is going on with my project – and ask till I am comfortable that I have the facts.

I’m definitely learning a lot in my Project Management Career. Any suggestions or add ons are welcome!

Kokomo, Indiana isn’t a huge city, but just like any other city, there are people who struggle and are displaced from shelter and basic needs. Our Rescue Mission is a terrific area wide ministry that assists homeless men with the transition from homelessness to gaining a better life. In the same vein, Open Arms performs this function for women and children. Each year, our city has “Walk A Mile” to support Open Arms. It is a gentle fund raiser for which individuals or teams of people can collect free will donations to support Open Arms. It all culminates on a Saturday in February. On that day, money is turned in and participants are invited to walk the mile between the Rescue Mission and Open Arms and learn how life is for folks there.

I’ve participated as a youth minister in years past, and this year I was privileged to lead a team as the Project Manager for my work place, cfd Investments, Inc. There were about 20 walkers on February the 11^th of 2017. In addition there were hosts of donations by our staff and many paid money into the fund in exchange for jeans day – a common practice at CFD.

The event was amazing! We raised a significant sum of money, especially for the first year of doing it, and participated in the Walk. It was great to add it to the total the community raised for Open Arms. We should be making a difference wherever we are, and this is a great opportunity for those in the Kokomo and Open Arms is doing exactly that. I’m proud of the people in my company for taking on this challenge and I look forward to other opportunities to do the same in the future.

I love this product!  This company is a great friend to Project Managers!

Source: XMind » Blog Archive » How to effectively use XMind for project management?