2007 January :: Reforming Project Management

Archive for January, 2007

What Are Your New Year’s Lean Resolutions

Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007

Ralph Bernstein writing at Lean Insider for Productivity Press posted his proposal for 10 Lean Resolutions for the New Year. I've not been able to keep more than two resolutions. So, here are my two favorites from his list of ten (but do visit Bob's list.):

(For managers:) I will step back and not try to substitute my judgment for the team’s.
I will try to learn about lean from other industries, not just my own.

Step out from your usual project setting to learn from others.I like the challenge in these two resolutions, particularly for the highly successful manager. The successful manager knows what contributed to success. Just do more of the same and one will be more successful. Right? Maybe not!

The lean approach celebrates the wisdom of the team. Read the rest of this entry ¶

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Lean Construction Summit

Messer Construction — On a Lean Transformation

Get on the List

Norman Bodek Invents Ninth Waste

Lean Projects Require Lean Accounting

A New Idea…Can I Face the Pain?

Monday, January 1st, 2007

I read the following quote from Walter Bagehot in Time Magazine's end-of-year farewell to John Kenneth Galbraith.

"One of the greatest pains to human nature is the pain of a new idea."

The quote reminds me of the theory-trap we are in with projects. So with this posting I am updating my Notes on the Underlying Theory of Project Management is Obsolete.

While our tools are ever more sophisticated and there is more project management training, our project results languish. The new idea — projects are conducted in an unfolding network of commitments — challenges the very nature of what people do today in the project setting. The PMI is going to great lengths to teach people the old ideas.¹ In essence saying, "Just get good at doing what we've been telling you to do all along and your projects will come out just fine." Following that teaching with certification is producing a world-wide paradigm that is having the affect of blinding practitioners to alternative ideas (theories). In the face of that, the agilists are dealing with the pain of their new ideas; so are those adopting lean construction. Read the rest of this entry ¶

The PMI is succeeding. Membership has swelled from under 100,000 in 2002 to over 300,000 going into 2007. Attendance at conferences is at an all time high. And a cottage industry including top universities has grown to prepare project managers for the certification, CPM®. [ ⇑ back ]

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Why Don’t We Make the Lean Change?

Story-Telling Prepares for Uncertainty

And I Thought Seth’s Speech Was Good!

Good, Fast, Cheap — Pick Two or Three

Reduce Project Variability…Start Listening

On the Side

Construction Software Selection Checklist
08/23/2008
Houston Neal offers a high-level feature comparison checklist for beginning a software evaluation.

Wisdom from Professor Rao
08/22/2008
"Smart organizations make difficult things simple," from Bob Sutton's Work Matters.

Think Visual
07/20/2008
Check out Dave Gray | info, a new website giving attention to ways of meaning, thinking and working by the founder of XPLANE and chief blogger at Communication Nation.

Who Knows Engineers?
07/14/2008

Curious blog We Know Engineers on A/E firms. Worth checking out.

Comparing Lean and Agile
06/29/2008
Scott Reynolds writing at Tales from the SharpSide, "Lean forces you into a culture of quality. Agile is about interactions and people, and Lean is very much concerned with tools and processes." Read more about Lean vs. Agile...

Glen Alleman's Models of PM Success
06/24/2008

Glen makes two big claims:

If you don't have a credible plan and schedule, with a handle on the cost all the "soft" skills won't get you back on track
If you don't have a definitive description of what "done" looks like, so the "soft skills" class won't make those appear

Have a look at his comprehensive stand on organizing and managing projects.

Read Robert Sutton's Blog
05/16/2008

Learn from a Stanford d.School prof. Robert Sutton has a great weblog Work Matters and he's the author of The Knowing-Doing Gap and The No Assholes Rule.

Humility Makes Toyota Different
02/20/2008

From the Lean Insider: Speaking to Toyota employees at the Detroit Auto Show President Watanabe asked that they take responsibility for recent quality problems.

"I do not regard the problem as something that suppliers are responsible for. We must work together so that we are fully aware of where suppliers are."

Bernstein closes saying, "At Toyota, they know that doing the best job of serving the customer is what makes the company profitable."

Lean Project Management
02/19/2008

Brad Appleton reviewed Lean Project Management, by L Leach concluding, "I found Lean Project Management to be a fairly quick read providing a good overview of some TOC and CCPM fundamentals and how they align with Lean thinking."

Claude Emond, Guest Blogger
01/11/2008

I'm glad to have Claude posting at RPM. It was Claude who gave name to these wonder filled times -- the project age. Please welcome him with your comments.