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.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
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
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.
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.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Where is the box.
We hear this very often, “creative people think outside the box,” and hence this is crucial to creative thinking whether in solving problems, coming to business solutions, writing good articles or creating good designs. But where is the box?? We need to realize that “there is no box” to step outside of. We create our own imaginary boxes simply by accepting certain things as “real” when they are just as illusory. The difference is, enough people agree that certain man-made concepts are “real,” so we’re viewed as “normal.” It is this sort of unquestioning consensus that inhibits our natural creative abilities.
So, rather than looking for ways to inspire creativity, we should realize that we are already capable of creative thinking at all times, but we have to move away the imaginary mental blocks (or boxes) that we’ve picked up along the way..
Here are 10 common ways which become barriers to good ideas and suppress creative thinking.
1. Trying to Find the “Right” Answer: There’s often more than one “correct” answer, and the second one you come up with might be better than the first. Many of the following mental blocks can be turned around to reveal ways to find more than one answer to any given problem. Try reframing the issue in several different ways in order to prompt different answers.
2. Logical Thinking : Too much of logical thinking is often the enemy of truly innovative thoughts. One of the best ways to o escape the limitations of your own logical mind is to think symbolically. This makes your mind free to come up with more alternatives.
3. Following Rules : One way to view creative thinking is to look at it as a destructive force. You’re tearing away the often arbitrary rules that others have set for you, and asking either “why” or “why not” whenever confronted with the way “everyone” does things.
4. Being Practical : Like logic, practicality is hugely important when it comes to execution, but often stifles innovative ideas before they can properly blossom. You might just find yourself discovering a crazy idea that’s so insanely practical that no one’s thought of it before.
5. Play is Not Work : Allowing your mind to be at play is perhaps the most effective way to stimulate creative thinking, and yet many people disassociate play from work. You’ve heard the expression “work hard and play hard.” , they’re the same thing to a creative thinker.
6. That’s Not My Job : In an era of hyper-specialization, it’s those who happily explore completely unrelated areas of life and knowledge who best see that everything is related. Sure, you’ve got to know the specialized stuff in your field, but if you view yourself as an explorer you are likely to gain more.
7. Being a “Serious” Person : Most of us stick to conformity, consistency, shared values, and yes, thinking about things the same way everyone else does. Give yourself permission to be a fool and see things for what they really are.
8. Avoiding Ambiguity : Ambiguity is your friend if you’re looking to innovate. The fact that most people are uncomfortable exploring uncertainty gives you an advantage, as long as you can embrace ambiguity rather than run from it.
9. Being Wrong is Bad : We hate being wrong, and yet mistakes often teach us the most. The best thing we do is learn from our mistakes, but we have to free ourselves to make mistakes in the first place. Just try out your ideas and see what happens, take what you learn, and try something else.
10. I’m Not Creative : Denying your own creativity is like denying you are a human being. We are all limitlessly creative, but only to the extent that we realize that we create our own limits with the way we think. If you tell yourself you’re not creative, it becomes true. Stop that.
* * * *
Thursday, May 7, 2009
For US.. .... the Designers....
To increase creativity, you need to do two things. First, you need to encourage it. Second, you need to train your brain. Start on both of these right now, and you can experience greater creativity today.
Follow these tips to be more creative. Use your improved creativity to develop and donate ideas to help others.
Try the following tips to help you on your journey to be more creative:
1. Record your ideas on whatever is comfortable and convenient at the moment.
2. Don’t limit yourself to ideas that seem possible.
3. Change your scenery or location.
4. Read on many topics.
5. Go for a walk.
What You Don’t Do Can Boost Your Sales
Want to boost your sales and income? Then STOP…
+ advertising the old way. Instead, do what your competitors don’t: try your hand at website advertising. Or, capitalize on free publicity, the best advertising that design pros can’t buy. The media is very interested in stories by, and about you, and you get visibility and credibility when they run them. In my 16 years speaking to and coaching thousands of design professionals, I have never met one who got a big job from a big paid advertisement in a print publication. Never.
+ selling “stuff.” Clients can get nice furniture, fabrics, and window treatments elsewhere, but they can’t get you elsewhere. Promote your service and yourself. The most important sale you’ll ever make is the personal one.
+ qualifying. Why waste time – yours and your prospect’s – asking questions that you hope will determine if they can afford you? Disqualifying prospects makes more sense. Inform them that they should look elsewhere if they’re seeking the cheapest design service, wall covering, lighting systems, etc. Advise them to hire you if they’d like to work with, say, a color and space planning specialist who is an award-winning designer with 20 years experience serving a variety of clients with a variety of tastes and budgets.
+ asking about “budget.” Prospects don’t have one. They don’t have a clue about what design professionals do, or how they work, so how can you expect them to have a realistic idea about what they want to spend on your service? Focus instead on their wish list. Discuss their wants, needs and priorities, then let them know your cost for fulfilling them. That will help them decide and you to know how they’ll invest their money.
+ closing deals. Your goal, instead, should be to open long term relationships. Your best customers are your current ones. It’s much easier, and more profitable to do repeat business with a few good clients, then to try to close single sales with lots of individual customers.
+ giving away your time. The most successful design professionals all charge for their time -- all of their time, all of the time. An hourly fee has become an industry standard.
+ resisting price objections. View them as what they are: opportunities, not obstacles. They enable you to differentiate yourself from competitors who charge less. In addition, they’re buying signals. Studies show your chances of closing a sale are substantially higher when price objections are raised.
+ apologizing for your price. You’re a unique, one-of-a-kind design professional who saves clients money, time and headaches. You should be compensated accordingly. High-end clients are used to paying top dollar for top service. They question how good you are if you charge too little, and/or are uncomfortable quoting your fees.
+ working hard. Work smart, instead. Make the most valuable and productive use of your time, and you can double your income without working longer hours. How? Focus each day only on the 3-5 activities which will generate the most income.
+ advertising the old way. Instead, do what your competitors don’t: try your hand at website advertising. Or, capitalize on free publicity, the best advertising that design pros can’t buy. The media is very interested in stories by, and about you, and you get visibility and credibility when they run them. In my 16 years speaking to and coaching thousands of design professionals, I have never met one who got a big job from a big paid advertisement in a print publication. Never.
+ selling “stuff.” Clients can get nice furniture, fabrics, and window treatments elsewhere, but they can’t get you elsewhere. Promote your service and yourself. The most important sale you’ll ever make is the personal one.
+ qualifying. Why waste time – yours and your prospect’s – asking questions that you hope will determine if they can afford you? Disqualifying prospects makes more sense. Inform them that they should look elsewhere if they’re seeking the cheapest design service, wall covering, lighting systems, etc. Advise them to hire you if they’d like to work with, say, a color and space planning specialist who is an award-winning designer with 20 years experience serving a variety of clients with a variety of tastes and budgets.
+ asking about “budget.” Prospects don’t have one. They don’t have a clue about what design professionals do, or how they work, so how can you expect them to have a realistic idea about what they want to spend on your service? Focus instead on their wish list. Discuss their wants, needs and priorities, then let them know your cost for fulfilling them. That will help them decide and you to know how they’ll invest their money.
+ closing deals. Your goal, instead, should be to open long term relationships. Your best customers are your current ones. It’s much easier, and more profitable to do repeat business with a few good clients, then to try to close single sales with lots of individual customers.
+ giving away your time. The most successful design professionals all charge for their time -- all of their time, all of the time. An hourly fee has become an industry standard.
+ resisting price objections. View them as what they are: opportunities, not obstacles. They enable you to differentiate yourself from competitors who charge less. In addition, they’re buying signals. Studies show your chances of closing a sale are substantially higher when price objections are raised.
+ apologizing for your price. You’re a unique, one-of-a-kind design professional who saves clients money, time and headaches. You should be compensated accordingly. High-end clients are used to paying top dollar for top service. They question how good you are if you charge too little, and/or are uncomfortable quoting your fees.
+ working hard. Work smart, instead. Make the most valuable and productive use of your time, and you can double your income without working longer hours. How? Focus each day only on the 3-5 activities which will generate the most income.
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