In This Issue:
From the Editor
Kimberly Wiefling: Increased Emotional Intelligence and Teamwork through Snack Foods
Featured Bundle: Project Kickoff
Site Higlights
Keep Your Hands & Feet Inside the Ride At All Times
It's Good for the Projects. It's Good for the PMs. It's Good for the Whales.
2B or Not 2B
It's a Classic: Much Praised, Barely Read
My Brain Cell is Aching Something Fierce!
Can't We Just Use Rock-Paper-Scissors?
It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses an Eye
Where's ProjectConnections?
Next month, Las Vegas, Austin, Orlando, Scottsdale
Coming months, Toronto, Denver
Corporate Subscriptions
From the Editor
For artists, the portfolio is a critical aspect of their business, indicating their vision, perspective, and general tone and direction of their work. Project portfolios aren't much different in that respect. There is one key distinction, however; artistic portfolios are generally the work of a single person, but designing and maintaining a project portfolio is a collaborative effort -- or at least it should be. We're here to make the process easier by helping you get the buy-in you need and show your teams (and your executives) how much saner things could be. We've got three new templates for you this week: a meaty presentation template that will help you explain the what, why, and how of portfolio management; and two detailed templates to smooth the road for risk management implementation (a critical component of any successful portfolio). We're rounding out this portfolio of templates with some tools that everyone can use to make the entire project selection and launch process run a little better. Paints a pretty picture, doesn't it?
Featured Article
Increased Emotional Intelligence and Teamwork through Snack Foods, by Kimberly Wiefling
Unless you've spent your entire project management career with your face bathed in the light of your computer monitor, you've probably come across the concept of emotional intelligence. Popularized by Daniel Coleman at the end of the last century, emotional intelligence, or "EQ," can be condensed to three criteria: self-awareness, the awareness of our impact on others, and the good sense to make better choices as a result of that awareness. (I'm not recommending increased awareness, mind you, because I was a heck of a lot happier when I thought other people were to blame for all of my problems. But if you want to be an effective project leader you'll probably have to risk it.)
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How some careful observation and a bag of candy can give you a better insight into the people you're working with and what they bring to the team.
Personality Types Impact on Team Interaction – MEMBER
A guideline explaining how an understanding of the "personality types" of your team members can be useful for avoiding conflict and promoting effective collaboration among your team members, who may differ in the way they perceive and organize information, communicate, and make decisions.
"Sweet" Team Building Suggestion – PREMIUM
A "sweet" team building case study in cookbook format. This guideline provides a how-to approach using candy and Management By Walking Around (MBWA) for team building.
Featured Bundle
Keep Your Hands & Feet Inside the Ride At All Times – Project Kickoff
Remember your last project, when the team was never sure about the real goals and there was so much re-work caused by shifting priorities and unexpected feature requests that your designers were going in circles? That was last time. This time you're getting off the rollercoaster and starting off right. We've collected a dozen templates designed to help you clarify the project goals and objectives, put together the right team, and manage the tradeoffs when (not if!) all the extra requests start coming in. Launch a new project or re-launch a struggling one with everyone on the same page as the executives who started it all.
Learn more »
Site Highlights
NEW - It's Good for the Projects. It's Good for the PMs. It's Good for the Whales. - Introduction to Project Portfolio Management - PREMIUMEver feel like you're overselling portfolio management in order to get your point across? This new presentation template by K.C. Yelin of ICS Group can help you make the case without sinking to such depths. Presentation slides are organized in three sections explaining what Project Portfolio Management is, why it's valuable, and how to implement a PPM process. Unmodified, it's a great overview of portfolio management for an individual or small group. When you add your own company-specific examples, you'll have a customized presentation for explaining and promoting PPM to stakeholders and decision-makers in your organization. (No whales were harmed in the creation of this template.) Download the presentation »
NEW - 2B or Not 2B - Risk Management Process - PREMIUM
Do you want your project managers to spend time prioritizing risks, or just list them? How structured should the process be? The answers are different for every organization. This template by Carl Pritchard provides guidance on implementing a risk management process -- what steps will be included in the process as a whole. Establishing a consistent process for all projects brings you that much closer to a common vision of what is really important to the organization from a risk perspective, and means you're less likely to end up with risks assessments ranging from 2B1c5 to "really big ouchie." And having a process at all encourages everyone to be more proactive about identifying risks. Download the template »
NEW - It's a Classic: Much Praised, Barely Read - Risk Management Plan - PREMIUM
Sound like your last risk management process? If it's only getting lip service in your organization, you will find broader success with a consistent, company-wide risk management plan that walks people through the requirements. This template by Carl Pritchard provides a full-length annotated document outline to help you establish one. A high-level plan like this one provides guidance for managers and team members responsible for managing risks. Both table and outline versions are included, covering the risk process, responsibilities, thresholds, finances, evaluation, and process timing, with example text for each section. Download the template »
My Brain Cell is Aching Something Fierce! - New Project Proposal - MEMBER
One of the biggest challenges in new project screening is wading through the pile before the selection committee expires of boredom, frustration, or old age. A consistent format for capturing and evaluating project ideas can streamline the process considerably by supporting more rapid, systematic screening. This template provides several different examples of crisp, coherent proposal formats. Used with a business case or our Opportunity Screening Worksheet, the selection committee will also have a broad sanity check on the project idea and its potential importance, value, and risks, so initial vetting can be done on more than gut instinct. Download the template »
Can't We Just Use Rock-Paper-Scissors? - Strategic Project Prioritization Worksheet - SPECIAL
This Premium resource is free to registered Members until June 10, 2008
Arbitrary ranking scales can turn project prioritization into guesswork (or just make-work, since it's all top priority). Instead of arguing trade-offs between priority .5 and .75, try ranking against top strategic priorities. This Excel template provides a format for analyzing how, or whether, various projects contribute to the company's overall goals and related strategies. Extra columns are included for capturing related project sizing information, including economic return and resource utilization estimates -- useful for making the inevitable trade-off decisions. Download the worksheet »
It's All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses an Eye - Resource Leveling in Microsoft Project - SPECIAL
This Premium resource is free to registered Members until June 10, 2008
Summer vacations are looming, staffing levels are fluctuating wildly, and here you sit with a shiny new project. If you're wondering whether or not you really want to try resource leveling to cope with it ... you probably don't. Honestly. But if you're absolutely determined (or if your boss or project office is), or if you've already gotten lost halfway through the attempt, download this guideline. It will walk you through the concepts of resource leveling in general and resource leveling with Microsoft Project in particular, as well as providing tips about leveling actions you can take without a tool or to tweak things after using the automated process. Use it in good health. (Then schedule a vacation. You're going to need it.) Download the template »
Where's ProjectConnections?
When they're not writing for ProjectConnections, our expert contributors and columnists keep a pretty busy calendar. The following appearances are not associated with ProjectConnections, but we think you ought to know about them anyway. These folks are worth hearing.Kent McDonald is headed to Las Vegas June 9-12 for the Better Software Conference, where his sessions will address Effective Portfolio Management and Helping Product Owners Define and Prioritize Requirements. Later this summer, August 4-8, you'll find him at Agile 2008 in Toronto, where the weather is substantially cooler. In addition to speaking at the conference, our Ambassador of Agile will also be serving as Stage Producer for the Customer and Business Value Stage—right next to a big waterfall in the hotel. Yes, really.
Carl Pritchard is busy with PMI this June. On June 12 he's speaking on "Project Presentation Success" at PMI Austin, at the University of Texas JJ Pickle Center. (You have no idea how hard it was to resist calling it "a dilly of a session.") June 25-26 he'll be at PMI SeminarsWorld in Orlando with his "Risk Management" seminar. He's also booked for a Breakfast Keynote Address for PMI MegaSeminarsWorld that week.
Randy Englund will be participating in a PMO Panel with other thought leaders at the Center for Business Practices "Strategy & Projects Summit" in Scottsdale, AZ, June 24-26, 2008. Plus, start planning now to attend SeminarsWorld in conjunction with the PMI Global Congress in Denver, CO, October 22-23, 2008 (www.congresses.pmi.org). Randy and his co-author, Alfonso Bucero, will present their seminar on "Creating Excellence in Project Management."
Corporate Subscriptions and Licensing
Want your team members to have their own access to templates and how-to resources for their project work? Need to share documents and deliverables beyond your project team? We make it easier with affordable corporate subscriptions and licensing. Detailed information regarding corporate options is available online. Give your whole team, or even the entire organization, cost-effective access to our comprehensive online library of resources. You already know how helpful it's been for you. Now it's time to share with everyone else. Find out more »Not sure if corporate terms apply to you? Check out our licensing terms at the top of our Terms of Service page, in refreshingly ordinary, everyday English.