Essential Steps To Managing Projects

The Essential Steps to Managing Projects
There is so much to learn to become a great project manager. You have to juggle time, money, people, equipment and materials. To do it all, some people feel like they have to be a miracle worker! But it's not the case. Just take these essential steps...
Initiate Carefully
When you start your project, wind it up slowly. Define the process by which you're going to manage your project from start to finish. Adopt a project life cycle so you know what you have to do and by when. Then take these steps:
1. Define the project goals, timeline and schedule
2. Quantify the amount of resource you need
3. Specify the project scope and deliverables
4. Decide if you need to outsource to a supplier
5. Recruit your team and set up a project office
Plan In Depth
Then identify all of the tasks needed to complete your project. Prioritize them and calculate how long each will take. Create a detailed project schedule, so you know what you have to do, when and how. Then take these steps:
6. Identify the number of resources you need
7. Set a budget and plan your expenditure
8. List the deliverables and set quality targets
9. Plan your communications so everyone is informed
10. Decide how you are going to manage risks, changes and issues
Execute Swiftly
The next step is to execute your plan quickly and efficiently. This is the longest phase in the project, so you need to work smart to complete this phase on time. Take these steps:
11. Record time spent by your team completing tasks
12. Frequently check your actual vs. planned progress
13. If you start falling behind, take action or get help
14. Resolve risks, issues and changes quickly
15. Keep your team motivated by rewarding good performance
Close and learn
When you've produced all of your deliverables and handed them over to your customer, you're ready for closure. Do this by releasing project staff, contractors, suppliers and equipment. Then close your project office and handover documentation. Take the time to identify your lessons learned, as these will be invaluable to your next project.
These are the essential steps in the Project Life Cycle.

50 Interesting Facts

1. If you are right handed, you will tend to chew your food on your right side. If you are left handed, you will tend to chew your food on your left side.

2. If you stop getting thirsty, you need to drink more water. For when a human body is dehydrated, its thirst mechanism shuts off.

3. Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.

4. Your tongue is germ free only if it is pink. If it is white there is a thin film of bacteria on it.

5. The Mercedes-Benz motto is “Das Beste oder Nichts” meaning “the best or nothing”.

6. The Titanic was the first ship to use the SOS signal.

7. The pupil of the eye expands as much as 45 percent when a person looks at something pleasing.

8. The average person who stops smoking requires one hour less sleep a night.

9. Laughing lowers levels of stress hormones and strengthens the immune system. Six-year-olds laugh an average of 300 times a day. Adults only laugh 15 to 100 times a day.

10. The roar that we hear when we place a seashell next to our ear is not the ocean, but rather the sound of blood surging through the veins in the ear.

11. Dalmatians are born without spots.

12. Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.

13. The ‘v’ in the name of a court case does not stand for ‘versus’, but for ‘and’ (in civil proceedings) or ‘against’ (in criminal proceedings).

14. Men’s shirts have the buttons on the right, but women’s shirts have the buttons on the left.

15. The owl is the only bird to drop its upper eyelid to wink. All other birds raise their lower eyelids.

16. The reason honey is so easy to digest is that it’s already been digested by a bee.

17. Roosters cannot crow if they cannot extend their necks.

18. The color blue has a calming effect. It causes the brain to release calming hormones.

19. Every time you sneeze some of your brain cells die.

20. Your left lung is smaller than your right lung to make room for your heart.

21. The verb “cleave” is the only English word with two synonyms which are antonyms of each other: adhere and separate.

22. When you blush, the lining of your stomach also turns red.

23. When hippos are upset, their sweat turns red.

24. The first Harley Davidson motorcycle was built in 1903, and used a tomato can for a carburetor.

25. The lion that roars in the MGM logo is named Volney.

26. Google is actually the common name for a number with a million zeros.

27. Switching letters is called spoonerism. For example, saying jag of Flapan, instead of flag of Japan.

28. It cost 7 million dollars to build the Titanic and 200 million to make a film about it.

29. The attachment of the human skin to muscles is what causes dimples.

30. There are 1,792 steps to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

31. The sound you hear when you crack your knuckles is actually the sound of nitrogen gas bubbles bursting.

32. Human hair and fingernails continue to grow after death.

33. It takes about 20 seconds for a red blood cell to circle the whole body.

34. The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets.

35. Most soccer players run 7 miles in a game.

36. The only part of the body that has no blood supply is the cornea in the eye. It takes in oxygen directly from the air.

37. Every day 200 million couples make love, 400,000 babies are born, and 140,000 people die.

38. In most watch advertisements the time displayed on the watch is 10:10 because then the arms frame the brand of the watch (and make it look like it
is smiling).

39. Colgate faced big obstacle marketing toothpaste in Spanish speaking countries. Colgate translates into the command “go hang yourself.”

40. The only 2 animals that can see behind itself without turning its head are the rabbit and the parrot.

41. Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.

42. The average person laughs 13 times a day.

43. Do you know the names of the three wise monkeys? They are:Mizaru(See no evil), Mikazaru(Hear no evil), and Mazaru(Speak no evil)

44. Women blink nearly twice as much as men.

45. German Shepherds bite humans more than any other breed of dog.

46. Large kangaroos cover more than 30 feet with each jump.

47. Whip makes a cracking sound because its tip moves faster than the speed of sound.

48. Two animal rights protesters were protesting at the cruelty of sending pigs to a slaughterhouse in Bonn. Suddenly the pigs, all two thousand of them, escaped through a broken fence and stampeded, trampling the two hapless protesters to death.

49. If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one front leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds received in battle; if the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural cause.

50. The human heart creates enough pressure while pumping to squirt blood 30 feet!!

What is Good Design?

Good Design

We all have our thoughts on what a good design is. Here are some thought provoking perceptions on what good design is by iDream family…


A good design is a combination of function & aesthetics; it enhances the value of
space. - Nishita

A good design usually improves the quality of life for the user (s). - Partha

A good design is simple, cost effective or where you capture value for the cost and where form follows function. - Anirban

Good design is the one which gets good business – Heli Desai

When a design gives e feeling of belonging to the user then it is called as a good design. First priority of a good design should be functionality and comfort and then comes aesthetics. - Aanchal

Good design is the one which have smooth and soothing appeal. And which is logical, functional, and changes with time. - Sonam

A good design is unique translation of user’s requirements into timeless aesthetics reflecting user’s core values and designer’s care for the users. – Aarati

Design is an EXTENSION of your thoughts and dreams. - Sachin

A good design is (User) Activity based planning to encapsulate team time and think time
Sustaining the ecosystem. - Rama

Good design is a combination of different qualities - solidity, commodity and delight. As our expectations of design change, so do these qualities and the relationship between them.- Madhuri


A good design is which evokes a Wow feeling at the very first look and you keep admiring it as you see more of it. – Jaswinder


Good design helps improve Standard of living. – Satish

Good design is simple to execute, technologically update. A design that has repetition of patterns or modules for the ease of manufacturing and balance in design. – Shailesh

Go Green - posted by Heli mam

"Going Green" doesn't have to be a daunting task that means sweeping life changes. Start by planting a tree in your backyard or neighbourhood. It's good for the air, the land, can shade your house and save on cooling and they can also improve the value of your property.
When taking a short trip, choose to walk or cycle. This reduces carbon emissions considerably.

Staying within the speed limit and smoothly accelerating can save upto 25 per cent of a vehicle's typical gasoline use.

Switching off one bulb for one hour saves upto 22,000 watts per year.

Lighting an empty office wastes enough energy to boil water for a 1000 cups of coffee and doubles a company's annual electric bill

Plug your computer, monitor and other home appliances into a power strip and turn them off when not in use- don't leave them in sleep mode. Sleep mode adds immensely to the electricity bill and unnecessary greenhouse gases.

Recharge your batteries. Batteries contain heavy metals, such as mercury and cadmium, which have become a major source of contamination in dump sites. They either break apart and are released into the soil or are incinerated and the deadly heavy metals are released into the air.

Plastic bags are not biodegradable. Even if they say they are, they do not decompose fully. Also the ink is made up of cadmium, and is highly toxic when it is released. Whereas paper bags are reusable and biodegradable. If your purchase is small don't take any bag, this alone could save hundreds of millions of bags. Bring a cloth bag when you shop, or use string bags.

Our oceans provide the earth with most of our oxygen, moisture, and weather patterns. To keep our oceans clean we have to start with our beaches. When you go to the beach you can help by bringing a trash bag and spend a little while picking up litter, or you can join a beach clean-up crew.

As little as ten years ago there were over 1.5 million elephants on the earth. Today there are only 750,000. By the year 2,000 they may become extinct. Over 80% of the ivory that is taken, is from elephants- Americans buy 30% of it. Over 6.5 million dolphins have been killed by tuna fisherman. To help you can: not buy endangered animal products.

Do not dump oil, grease, antifreeze, pesticides, fertilizers, paints, cleaners, and other toxic household products down the storm drain. These drains, found in the gutters on the sidewalk, are not treated by the sewage treatment plant--they go straight into rivers, lakes, and maybe even the ocean! By putting these toxic chemicals down the drain, there is a great biological threat to marine life.

Use CFC free products. ChloroFluoroCarbons destroy the ozone layer, which protects us from harmful UV rays.

One less meat-based meal a week helps the planet and your diet. For each hamburger that originated from animals raised on rainforest land, approximately 55 square feet of forest have been destroyed.

Recycling just the Sunday papers would save more than half a million trees every week.

You can reuse gift bags, bows and event paper, but you can also make something unique by using old maps, cloth or even newspaper. Flip a paper grocery bag inside out and give your child stamps or markers to create their own wrapping paper that's environmentally friendly and extra special for the recipient.

Nearly 90% of plastic water bottles are not recycled, instead taking thousands of years to decompose. Buy a reusable container and fill it with tap water, a great choice for the environment, your wallet, and possibly your health.

Brush without running your tap dry. You'll conserve up to five gallons per day if you stop.

Adjust your thermostat one degree higher in the summer and one degree cooler in the winter. Each degree celsius less will save about 10% on your energy use!

If you must water your lawn, do it early in the morning before any moisture is lost to evaporation. Have a few weeds? Spot treat them with vinegar. Not sure if you should rake? Normal clippings act as a natural fertilizer, let them be. If you've waited too long, rake by hand — it's excellent exercise.

Most lighters are made out of plastic and filled with butane fuel, both petroleum products. Since most lighters are considered "disposable," over 1.5 billion end up in landfills each year. When choosing matches, pick cardboard over wood. Wood matches come from trees, whereas most cardboard matches are made from recycled paper.