Friday, March 4, 2011

Wireframes

I have been busy relearning Microsoft Visio this week. I am very glad that I attended a Visio seminar about 8 years ago when I was interning for the LDS Church. At that point in time, it was just something to fill my time and some free training. It has been amazing to see how much my mind actually retained from that seminar and is coming out as I familiarize myself with Visio 2007.

More important than working in Visio itself is the reason for this learning process. I am busy working on business rules for products at my organization and have been learning to create wireframes. Wireframes are basically simple drawings of the "look and feel" of a single web page.

It has been amazing to me how much I have learned in just this past week about the effectiveness of the wireframes. It has allowed me to use my creativity to determine the path that we might want to go down. Even more important, it has allowed me to see the holes in my business rules and then be able to go back and fill in those gaps.

I love when I learn a new tool or technique that takes my skills and knowledge up a notch. Wireframing has involved learning both a new tool and a new technique and is going to push me to that next level I want to achieve.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Project Management Certifications

I have set two goals for myself for 2011 and 2012. I would like to study for and pass certifications for Project Management.

In 2011 – I plan to achieve the Certified Associate in Project Management (or CAPM) certification. This is an entry level Project Management certification. As my knowledge and skills grow, I then plan to take this one step further and in 2012 (or early 2013) I would like to receive the Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.

To that end – in addition to the books I mentioned earlier this year that I am going to work through, I have also purchased the PMBOK Guide (Project Management Body of Knowledge) and am listening to the PM Prepcast series of podcasts (http://www.project-management-prepcast.com ) that I subscribed to.

It looks like it is going to be a busy year.

It’s nice when things work out

I've been working for the same organization for seven years now (ok – technically it won't be 7 years until next Thursday) and have gone through various positions in the company. This has provided me lots of opportunity for growth and knowledge and learning different skills.

In the last year or two I have been learning a lot about Project Management and Product Development. The thing is – I work for a company that is owned by another company and most of the projects/products I work on are fairly large with a long development life-cycle. So, I have not had the opportunities that I have been looking for to be involved in a project from start to finish.

Well, sometimes things work out and you get the opportunities you are looking for.

I started doing some beta testing in January for a company that develops various apps for the Kindle e-reader. Using my past experience with testing and a truly twisted mind, I was able to find some issues in the apps and come up with some ideas that helped the developers out. As a result, I was offered a part-time job heading up Quality Assurance/Testing for the organization and working as a Project Manager. This will be a great opportunity to see smaller projects through from start to finish to gain the experience and knowledge that I need for my career.

Check us out in the Kindle store at Amazon.com. The name of the company is 7 Dragons Inc.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Podcast Notes: Efficient Use of Meeting

From: Managing Software Development by James Edgell

The best meetings are ones that help effectively drive action. If you are having too many meetings, you need to calculate the cost of the meeting (in terms of both salary of participants and time costs of all participants for both preparation and participation). You will be surprised at how expensive a meeting can be.

Agendas and meeting notes lend toward more effective action meetings.

Agendas should have the purpose of the meeting and desired outcome stated. They should also include structured topics with time allocations. Also, a list of supporting information.

Meeting minutes should be provided post meeting. Good minutes require you to not attend every meeting and catch up if you miss the meeting. A summarization of topics discussed is provided.

After the meeting, send out the meeting minutes. Silence is acceptance. If a participant does not agree with the minutes, they should respond with a quick Reply All with correction or can be held responsible for the misunderstood item in the minutes.

Podcast Notes: A roadmap is NOT a strategy

Podcast by Alyssa Dver

The difference between vision, product strategy and product roadmap:

  • Vision should be the responsibility of the top manager/management team. "This is what we want to be when we grow up."
  • Product Strategy is very important. It should be driven by top management and needs buy in. This is the framework for achieving the vision. 1) What is the company capable of doing? 2) What are our current resources and market environment? 3) How do we think those are going to change in the future? The strategy is our way to get through foreseen changes and achieve our vision.
  • Product Roadmap - taking the vision and strategy into consideration, here is how we are going to get there. What are the milestones and tactical expectations.

Example: Creation of the world

  • The vision is the creation of the world.
  • The strategy is eight divine steps. Do it in 6 days. Rest on day 7.
  • The roadmap is creation of light on day 1, etc.

Podcast Notes: Why Product Management Is Critical

Podcast by Alyssa Dver


 

Product Managers are responsible for taking the ideas the company comes up with and matching them to the needs of the market.

Project Managers have a specific set of tasks that are related to the project.

Program Managers are usually over a set of projects.


 

Poor project/product management stems from:

  • Lack of intimate customer/market knowledge
  • Lack of clear strategy

Too many organizations don't take the time to talk to their actual customers. In addition, they need to talk to prospective clients and lost accounts. You need to know your market and pricing. Why are people buying/not buying your service/product instead of another company's?

Data should drive decisions. Not hopes and dreams.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Learning Goals for 2011

In 2011, I want to complete (a minimum of) the following items:

Podcasts:

  • Finish listening to all Pre-2011 episodes of the 'PM411.org Project Management Podcast'
  • Finish listening to all Pre-2011 episodes of 'The Project Management Podcast'
  • Finish reading all Pre-2011 episodes of 'Project Management Best Practices'

Reading:

  • Read the course binder materials for 'Fundamentals of Project Management'
  • Read 'The Product Manager's Desk Reference'
  • Read 'UML For the IT Business Analyst'
  • Read 'The Rational Unified Process Made Easy'
  • Read 'The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management'