Gauging your team’s efforts, using Velocity
If you ever find yourself walking into an ongoing project as the oncoming project manager, one of the first things you’ll want to know is how much work your team can get done in a specific amount of time. That, my friend, is the velocity (in the PM world).
Read full storyProject Management Knowledge: The Daily Scrum
The Daily Scrum aims to inspect progress toward the Sprint Goal and adapt the Sprint Backlog to adjust the upcoming planned work. This quick meeting is designed exclusively for active members of the Development Team. There are several formats accepted; however, the most widely recognized is the “what I did yesterday, what I’m working on today, and my issues/blockers are…” However, there’s a growing movement to intertwine the Daily Scrum with a task refinement session. I recommend staying the course on your journey of learning.
Read full storyProject Management Knowledge: Spikes
Trying to figure out a way to capture the necessity of your team to use some of their time to learn while doing? Enter the Spike of the Scaled Agile Framework. It’s been noted that you should try to learn something new every day. It’s a point I take literally in my everyday life, both by necessity (to keep up with my kids) and my choice of profession. While I take pride in knowing everything I can about being a professional project manager, it is impossible to know it all.
Read full storyProject Management Knowledge: Definition of Ready
If you’re looking at the project ahead of you, “wondering” if you’re ready, you probably aren’t. This is where a narrowly defined list of checks comes in handy. We call it the Definition of Ready.
Read full storyProject Management Knowledge: the Definition of Done
This is often a dreaded part of running a Scrum (or any) project, but it doesn’t have to be. So here's the quick-n-easy on creating your Definition of Done. It was once odd to me that we need to define this. However, lessons learned from my projects have impressed upon me that what I think is done may not/is not the same as the Development Team, Product Owner, Stakeholders, nor perhaps, the Sponsor (the big cheese 🧀). That said, this is a crucial step to ensure the completeness of the final product. It only takes one misunderstanding before you, too, will see its importance.
Read full storyScrum 101: Capacity Planning
Without people, the work within any project will fail. Planning the right amount of people-hours to get the tasks done is imperative to success. Welcome to the first of several forthcoming posts covering the Agile framework of Scrum project management. The specific word, Scrum, is notorious for being considered a software-only project management method. However, I’m of the camp that it’s not- it’s an excellent tool for almost any project. The great thing about it is that it’s rooted in Agile, which itself means to be malleable. By extension, Scrum is also malleable and can be shaped to fit any situation (within reason, that is).
Read full storyThe Pros and Cons of Artificial Intelligence teaching the next generation of children
The world is changing faster than you and I can see. AI is here, navigating our day already. But are we ready to let it take over the most critical point in life today- teaching our children?
Read full storyProject Management Knowledge: Milestones vs. Due Dates
At first glance, you may think that a milestone and a due date on any given project are the same things, and I'd even forgive you for thinking so. After all, both have dates that define them; you can't have either without a date and/or time. But there is a difference.
Read full storyDescribe who you are or your stance in three words.
Maybe you don’t know who you are. Perhaps you don’t know “your stance.” And that ok; we all need to figure it out. So here are my answers to this interview question. I recently applied for a job; well, it wasn’t for a job, per se, but an unpaid volunteer opportunity. I had applied to be a program manager for a non-profit. But alas, living in Hawaii doesn’t bode well with employment in the Eastern US — even as a volunteer.
Read full storyDoes It Pay To Be A Certified Project Manager? Yep.
The Project Management Institute (PMI) recently revealed their latest findings of project manager pay from around the world. One of the questions I'm asked most often is, "does it pay to get certified?" The easy answer is yes (usually*).
Read full storyHow to keep your Project Management certifications up to date, the easy way
December is typically a slow month in terms of starting new projects; thus, there are many PMs that sit idle. Don't be one of them; keep your brain in the game. Here are my recommendations on how to do just that.
Read full storyVeteran Affairs' Budget Delay Could Delay or Cut Community Care in 2022
As a reminder, this Friday, December 3, 2021, is the end of the short-term Federal Budget extension. Without another extension or outright approval of the 2022 Federal Budget, VA's health care system could suffer.
Read full storyNew PMBOK 7th edition PMP questions are here
PMI will begin field-testing new PMBOK 7 based questions in the coming weeks/month to see if they’ll work for future PMP tests. This past week the Project Management Institute quietly announced that they would start field-testing questions from the seventh edition of their Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK).
Read full storyArmy Ranger to Project Manager and the leadership lessons I learned
Making the leap from the military to a professional project manager didn’t seem like a smart move at first. However, I quickly realized that the Army and Coast Guard set me up perfectly for my new career. Here’s how I apply what I learned.
Read full storyWill being a "protected veteran" give me a leg up on getting a job?
If you’ve been job hunting over the last two years or so, you’ll no doubt have come across the questions near the end of an application asking you if you’re a protected veteran or not. Does it matter if you put yes, no, or I don’t want to answer? Maybe.
Read full storyGetting your PMP, for ordinary people
This is the same advice I give my friends on how to get your Project Management Professional (PMP) certification. This is not a sponsored post; I’m just here to help you. Over the last few weeks, I’ve gotten no less than six acquaintances asking me, “how do you get your PMP?” Honestly, it’s a matter of discipline, studying, memorization, and taking a test.
Read full storyDoes the VA have an app for that? Yes, yes, they do.
While the Veterans Administration doesn’t always make things easy for vets, they’ve got one good thing going for them- their app. I admit I’m an app and software junkie. If it’s new, I’ll try it. Even my kids try to keep me up to date — no, I don’t understand a lot of what they send me.
Read full story"Do as I say" vs. "Do as I do"
Being the guide your employees need can be hard sometimes — always. But, does “do as I say, not as I do,” really work? I think not. As a parent, I’ve oft been overheard telling my children the same thing I was told as a child: “Do as I say, not as I do.” I’m sure it was sparked from a simple question along the lines of why can’t I smoke, dad, you do?
Read full storyCOVID vs. Tourism (Livelihood) in Kauai
When Kauai opened back up to tourism in April 2021, there was a fair mix of both excitement and apprehension. After all, the virus hadn’t gone away. Instead, the world had become immune to the continual media reports and the constant barrage of studies.
Read full storyManaging the average project isn’t that hard
Managing a project doesn’t have to be hard. Nor do you need a degree or a certificate to do so. All you need is an understanding of the process. When it comes to the employment and hiring space within the project management field, it’s hard not to get discouraged when all you see is “this certification preferred or needed.” Especially if you don’t have such, however, make no mistake, you don’t need a degree or special certificate to run a well-oiled project.
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