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BPM Blog

BPM made simpler

Happy Thanksgiving

Nov 23rd, 2011 by TaskMap

Thanksgiving is a holiday I have come to cherish since moving to the USA in 1984. A time to renew and enjoy family time together, regardless of religion, race or location. We hope that all families savor this time, and perhaps even take that extra step to forgive someone in your family that needs to feel the reconnect at this time.

Enjoy.

Mike Cunningham and the team at Harvard Computing Group

 

BPM Blog–The need to refine

Posted in Process Improvement, Project Management on Nov 22nd, 2011

This blog is now in video/audio format for your listening pleasure. The need to refine narrated by Michael Cunningham Download in podcast mpg3 format The need to refine

Read Full Post »

Processes as instruction tools

Posted in Process Mapping on Nov 21st, 2011

At this time of year in the north east, I get ready to put the skis on again, as I have a weekend job as PSIA instructor. The ski industry in recent years, has become dominated by lessons for children and young adults, 80% of lessons are given to that group. So each year, at [...]

Read Full Post »

Tags: computing group, extra step, family time, harvard, instruction tools, michael cunningham, pleasure, process improvement, process mapping, project management, religion, ski industry, skis, thanksgiving, time of year, weekend job, young adults

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

BPM Blog–The need to refine

Nov 22nd, 2011 by TaskMap

This blog is now in video/audio format for your listening pleasure.

The need to refine narrated by Michael Cunningham

 

Download in podcast mpg3 format The need to refine

Tags: BPM blog, improving processes, need to refine

Posted in Process Improvement, Project Management | 1 Comment »

Processes as instruction tools

Nov 21st, 2011 by TaskMap

At this time of year in the north east, I get ready to put the skis on again, as I have a weekend job as PSIA instructor. The ski industry in recent years, has become dominated by lessons for children and young adults, 80% of lessons are given to that group.

So each year, at the mountain I ski at, I help new instructors find there way around the mountain using process maps as a guideline for what do next.

The same is true of our own processes internally, as you document your processes for your organization to change the way a process or procedure is complete, you may already have the template to distribute this to the rest of the organization.

By simply adding some graphics and color to the map, it can be made fun to read and use.  Don’t forget it’s pretty easy to create a PDF so an electronic version of the map can be printed when you need it.

Tags: electronic version, map, process mapping, process maps, ski industry, skis, target, time of year, weekend job, young adults

Posted in Process Mapping | No Comments »

BPM Blog Weekly summary 11.18.2011 with video blog

Nov 18th, 2011 by TaskMap

Thinking Things Through with Mike Cunningham

This week, we are introducing a new feature, a video blog of one of the posts from the week. Please let me know if you like this feature.

Podcast Thinking Things Through mpg3 audio file

Project and Processes (responses to the questions)

Posted in Change Management, Process Mapping, Project Management on Nov 16th, 2011

It’s been a while since we wrote about the issue of processes and projects. These often get muddled up, mainly because we tend to look at the disciplines as being very different. For example would a business analyst call themselves a project manager, or vice versa? The answer of course depends on the person. Vendors, [...]

Read Full Post »

Projects and processes

Posted in Change Management, Process Improvement, Process Mapping, Project Management on Nov 15th, 2011

It’s been a while since we wrote about the issue of processes and projects. These often get muddled up, mainly because we tend to look at the disciplines as being very different. For example would a business analyst call themselves a project manager, or vice versa? The answer of course depends on the person. Vendors, [...]

Read Full Post »

Thinking things through

Posted in Change Management, Project Management on Nov 14th, 2011

What happens when another factor in a project has changed again? How do you react to that situation? Can you deal with ever changing priorities and the moving targets of budgets, priorities, resource changes and more. It’s a complex subject, and unfortunately, one that is sometimes fraught with politics and emotion. We all feel like [...]

Tags: blog, business analyst, caption, category change, change management, disciplines, management change, management project, mike cunningham, new feature, process mapping, project management, type application, wmode

Posted in Change Management, Project Management | No Comments »

Project and Processes (responses to the questions)

Nov 16th, 2011 by TaskMap

It’s been a while since we wrote about the issue of processes and projects. These often get muddled up, mainly because we tend to look at the disciplines as being very different. For example would a business analyst call themselves a project manager, or vice versa?

The answer of course depends on the person. Vendors, HR, products all contribute to the confusion making you think that one technology can’t be applied to a different problem. Here are some points to determine where you stand on this issue, and my personal answers:

  1. A project is just a series of processes connected together. True or False?
    • True. Every project can be broken down into processes. Usually we add milestones and deadlines to the project, but the basis is still the same.
  2. Project management software is useful for documenting processes?
    • Most project management software is not very good at creating multiple outcomes from tasks, and the interdependencies are hard to represent in the linear input format of most systems.
  3. What tool and expert do you use to create a Work Breakdown Structure?
    • TaskMap 4 Professional has the ability to create Work Breakdown structures, and any expert who knows the requirement for the WBS could use it regardless of application.
  4. Do project managers get involved in Process Improvement projects?
    • Yes.
  5. Who is responsible for documenting standard operating procedures in your operation?
    • An interesting question that needs to be considered by all project managers and process groups.

Have some fun answering this questions, and I will follow up with my own answers tomorrow.

Tags: business analyst, confusion, disciplines, hr products, improvement projects, input format, interdependencies, milestones, personal answers, process improvement, project management software, project managers, standard operating procedures, work breakdown structure, work breakdown structures

Posted in Change Management, Process Mapping, Project Management | 1 Comment »

Projects and processes

Nov 15th, 2011 by TaskMap

It’s been a while since we wrote about the issue of processes and projects. These often get muddled up, mainly because we tend to look at the disciplines as being very different. For example would a business analyst call themselves a project manager, or vice versa?

The answer of course depends on the person. Vendors, HR, products all contribute to the confusion making you think that one technology can’t be applied to a different problem. Here are some points to determine where you stand on this issue:

  1. A project is just a series of processes connected together. True or False?
  2. Project management software is useful for documenting processes?
  3. What tool and expert do you use to create a Work Breakdown Structure?
  4. Do project managers get involved in Process Improvement projects?
  5. Who is responsible for documenting standard operating procedures in your operation?

Have some fun answering this questions, and I will follow up with my own answers tomorrow.

Tags: business analyst, confusion, disciplines, hr products, improvement projects, process improvement, project management software, project managers, standard operating procedures, work breakdown structure

Posted in Change Management, Process Improvement, Process Mapping, Project Management | 1 Comment »

Thinking things through

Nov 14th, 2011 by TaskMap

What happens when another factor in a project has changed again? How do you react to that situation? Can you deal with ever changing priorities and the moving targets of budgets, priorities, resource changes and more. 

It’s a complex subject, and unfortunately, one that is sometimes fraught with politics and emotion. We all feel like we have some control over our projects, but the reality is there are a lot of moving parts which affect them. If your new boss feels threatened or dissatisfied with the status of projects, there is a need to over communicate status and then perhaps change direction.  When we are faced with these issues consider the following five points before taking action:

  1. Sometimes communication is not enough. If we are heading the wrong way, we may have to change direction.
  2. Try and make a recommendation for actions, not just reporting problems.
  3. If education is required to allow others to understand why you are making recommendations, describe the alternatives, why you considered them and why you are discarding some of them in your recommendations.
  4. If executive or strategy direction has changed, or you think it has, find out before that all important meeting or you could be batting for the wrong side or issue.
  5. Run your new ideas past a trusted colleague or two, failing that your spouse or a trusted friend before presenting them. Advice is often just a phone call away.

Tags: budgets, colleague, education, emotion, moving parts, moving targets, new boss, priorities, resource changes, trusted friend, wrong side, wrong way

Posted in Change Management, Project Management | 1 Comment »

Happy 11.11.11 and BPM Blog summary

Nov 11th, 2011 by TaskMap

A friend of mine gave me a heads up that today would be the last day that the date would have a nice digital ring to for the rest of my lifetime.

Here is the blog summary for the month so far.

 

Monthly Archive for November, 2011

TaskMap Automated tutorial: TaskMap Capture for Excel

Posted in Process Discovery on Nov 10th, 2011

See below TaskMap Capture for Excel automated tutorial. We should have the entire set complete within the next week and on the web site. The toolbar with TaskMap Capture for Excel functions near the left hand side.

Read Full Post »

Customizing fields in TaskMap 4 Professional

Posted in Process Improvement, Project Management on Nov 8th, 2011

Many new customers are making extensive use of the customizing fields in TaskMap 4 Professional. In addition to creating these new fields, there are now options to set field types, lists and even create your own custom graphics to represent those fields. Typical applications include: Project management start and end times Work break down structures [...]

Read Full Post »

Prioritization in your life

Posted in Project Management, Uncategorized on Nov 7th, 2011

I don’t know if you are like me, but sometimes there seems to be just too much going on. For me that’s always a bit of a dichotomy; as I enjoy having varied interests and am pretty good at multitasking. However, there are times when it just gets a little out of control. Chaos around [...]

Read Full Post »

The need to refine

Posted in Change Management, Legal processes, Process Analysis, Process Improvement, Project Management on Nov 5th, 2011

Yesterday I had a long lunch with a great friend of mine from Sweden. Over the years we have set up new companies together, skied the slopes of New England, seen our families grow together. We have also been through some ups and downs, but have always stayed in touch. We have one of those [...]

Read Full Post »

Happy Anniversary BPM Blog: A good first milestone

Posted in Change Management, Compliance, Legal processes, Process Analysis, Process Discovery, Process Improvement, Process Mapping, Project Management on Nov 3rd, 2011

My mother used to chide me “Michael, self praise is no praise at all!”. When I congratulated myself on achieving something as a child; or if the truth be known, also as a adult. Well at the risk of invoking her comments from heaven, I will congratulate the team and myself on our first full [...]

Read Full Post »

Training the trainers

Posted in Project Management on Nov 2nd, 2011

Every time this month, I get ready for the upcoming ski season as a PSIA instructor. I begin to worry that I have not done enough to get myself into shape for the season, and know those first few days will be harder as a result. Muscles not used for 6 months will be tested [...]

Read Full Post »

Power

Posted in Project Management, Uncategorized on Nov 1st, 2011

This weekend in New England, we suffered one of the biggest power outages since I moved there 19 years ago. Most lost power on Saturday evening, and yesterday there were over 2,000,000 homes and residences without power. New Englanders are pretty resilient and creative, so there were many working from libraries that had power, McDonalds [...]

Read Full Post »

Tags: custom graphics, discovery, excel functions, left hand side, lifetime, management project, prioritization, process improvement, project management, typical applications

Posted in Change Management, Process Analysis, Process Mapping, Project Management | No Comments »

TaskMap Automated tutorial: TaskMap Capture for Excel

Nov 10th, 2011 by TaskMap

See below TaskMap Capture for Excel automated tutorial. We should have the entire set complete within the next week and on the web site.

taskmap catpure for excel

The toolbar with TaskMap Capture for Excel functions near the left hand side.

 

TCE tutorial

Posted in Process Discovery | 1 Comment »

Customizing fields in TaskMap 4 Professional

Nov 8th, 2011 by TaskMap

Many new customers are making extensive use of the customizing fields in TaskMap 4 Professional. In addition to creating these new fields, there are now options to set field types, lists and even create your own custom graphics to represent those fields.

Typical applications include:

  • Project management start and end times
  • Work break down structures
  • Process improvement applications (e.g. Key Performance Indicators, quality controls)
  • Business function responsibilities
  • Country location responsibilities
  • Cost fields

Tags: business function, country location, custom graphics, key performance indicators, process improvement, quality controls, typical applications

Posted in Process Improvement, Project Management | No Comments »

Prioritization in your life

Nov 7th, 2011 by TaskMap

I don’t know if you are like me, but sometimes there seems to be just too much going on. For me that’s always a bit of a dichotomy; as I enjoy having varied interests and am pretty good at multitasking. However, there are times when it just gets a little out of control.

Chaos around deadlines are usually the things that inform you of when there is a need to do some reprioritization. If you are in danger of missing them, or making them happens requires too many 18 hour days, or you don’t seem to have any leisure time available, these are the warnings.

Just as we are taught in good project management to deal with “balancing resources” and keeping things on track, we sometimes should remind ourselves that we need to do this for ourselves as well. If we don’t, others (like a spouse), may remind you anyway.

Tags: dichotomy, leisure time, multitasking

Posted in Project Management, Uncategorized | No Comments »

The need to refine

Nov 5th, 2011 by TaskMap

Yesterday I had a long lunch with a great friend of mine from Sweden. Over the years we have set up new companies together, skied the slopes of New England, seen our families grow together. We have also been through some ups and downs, but have always stayed in touch.

We have one of those friendships that no topics are off the table, and if we think the other person is wrong about something, particularly about business, we say so.

My friend, Ulf Arnetz, has been a long time entrepreneur and in recent years has made it his business to improve other business operations.

Over lunch we discussed many projects from today and the the past, what was working and what didn’t work. It became clear that enthusiasm and drive were not enough to make something really great happen. We needed a methodology and one that worked. However we found the real prize for us in our business life was not just having a method or approach, but refining it.

Refining your approach

When you have a bulletproof method that has worked for many years, it also needs to be refined and improved. Ulf outlined how he has refined his firm’s method now that strategic change management consulting can be done by consultants in their mid to late 20s, something unheard of for this type of work. This can only be done by following and refining a repeatable approach to meet the requirements of the specific project or market condition.

So goes it with project and process management. Following a method like a bunch of lemmings over the cliff won’t give you the results you want. Find the method that works for you, and then refine it for ever!

Tags: business life, business operations, change management consulting, entrepreneur, friend ulf, friendships, lemmings, long time, lunch, methodology, new england, process management, slopes, strategic change, sweden, target, ups and downs

Posted in Change Management, Legal processes, Process Analysis, Process Improvement, Project Management | 1 Comment »

Happy Anniversary BPM Blog: A good first milestone

Nov 3rd, 2011 by TaskMap

My mother used to chide me “Michael, self praise is no praise at all!”. When I congratulated myself on achieving something as a child; or if the truth be known, also as a adult. Well at the risk of invoking her comments from heaven, I will congratulate the team and myself on our first full year of BPM Blogs. (We started this Blog on November 1, 2010.)  During that time we produced:

  • 283 unique posts mainly focused around BPM issues (That’s a lot of content)
  • Created categories and a site map to make it easier to find the relevant information from our web site
  • Added a twitter account feed with now 287 tweets and 118 followers http://twitter.com/#!/taskmap 
  • Have created many tutorials and published new articles on topics relevant for the community
  • Published parts of Scott Helmers Visio 2010 book
  • Started to offer some vertical market content in the Legal Market
  • Expanded the amount of Project Management content in line with new applications for TaskMap Professional
  • Have made it to the first page of popular blogs when searching for BPM content on Google.

Take a look and search the BPM Blog site. The tab is right above this content. Any ideas for new content and suggestions are welcome.

Sincerely, Mike Cunningham

Tags: adult, blog, blogs, followers, google, heaven, helmers, management content, market content, mike cunningham, new articles, november 1, risk, site map, target, truth, tweets, vertical market

Posted in Change Management, Compliance, Legal processes, Process Analysis, Process Discovery, Process Improvement, Process Mapping, Project Management | No Comments »

Training the trainers

Nov 2nd, 2011 by TaskMap

Every time this month, I get ready for the upcoming ski season as a PSIA instructor. I begin to worry that I have not done enough to get myself into shape for the season, and know those first few days will be harder as a result. Muscles not used for 6 months will be tested and all when the conditions are usually at their worse at the beginning of the season.

So I will start training hard for the next two weeks and hopefully make it through the beginning. Now for most of us, it’s pretty obvious that we need to stay in shape for whatever our skill, sport or hobby. Otherwise we just won’t enjoy it so much, and of course we are usually trying to do better, so that’s another reason.

When training up to 200 instructors for the upcoming season, about 17 instructors have been picked based on qualification, ability to teach and probably more important, their skill to lead others. The skill of teaching and communicating on snow is one where you need a lot of tricks in your bag, based on the students, fear, skill level, conditions and equipment. Basically a lot of moving parts!

This year, I am pleased that the mountain I ski at has taken a great step forward by getting all the trainers on the same page. A train the trainers workshop, being organized to get everyone informed and aligned.

So training the trainers is not just a means of teaching everyone the same technique, which while important, we also need many other skills in place. These include:

  • How to deal with customers/students
  • What to do when you are in trouble
  • Refresher on safety rules. You can’t teach students in dangerous circumstances and expect them to learn
  • Shared learning experiences
  • How to help new instructors get started with their groups
  • Dealing with language barriers (many international students come to our mountain)
  • Customer service
  • Being a walking information kiosk (knowing the services and locations on the mountain)

While this example is about ski instruction, it can apply to many BPM projects. Here you have a variety of skills and knowledge for each project. Changes have to be made and agreed, and new techniques and procedures will be put in place.

Think hard today about training your trainers for your upcoming season.

Tags: Customer service, dangerous circumstances, experiences, first few days, how to deal with customers, information kiosk, international students, language barriers, moving parts, muscles, safety rules, shape, ski season, skill level, skill sport, train

Posted in Project Management | No Comments »

Power

Nov 1st, 2011 by TaskMap

This weekend in New England, we suffered one of the biggest power outages since I moved there 19 years ago. Most lost power on Saturday evening, and yesterday there were over 2,000,000 homes and residences without power.

New Englanders are pretty resilient and creative, so there were many working from libraries that had power, McDonalds and lots of home sharing going on. Fortunately, we were pretty well able to manage through this by relocating our license server (which activates new customers), otherwise it was an inconvenient day but we worked around the problem.

We get a couple of lessons when a big outage like this happens.

We understand what is was like to spend a family evening quietly and by candlelight. Just sharing with each other without the incessant banter of a TV in the background. We also understand the importance of contingency planning in an emergency. As many of our main systems are distributed, databases, support materials, email, instant messaging and the web are available, once we have a computer and power. So that was the search yesterday morning to keep all the systems running. Without an effective VPN we would not easily have been able to service clients today, or for the rest of this week, if that’s how long it takes for the power to return to the offices.

By the third day questions regarding the response and infrastructure of the power grid are starting to come up again. Why New England utility companies are so dependent on over ground wires, and why they let customers grow trees around and above wires. It’s hard to fathom, but we don’t seem to want to infringe (excuse the pun) on the rights of even tree branches in Massachusetts.

Anyway, we are pleased to be able to serve our clients this morning and while not quite business as usual. We are thankful for being up and running.

Tags: 19 years, banter, candlelight, contingency planning, family evening, ground wires, instant messaging, license server, mcdonalds, new englanders, power grid, power outages, pun, saturday evening, service clients, support materials, third day, vpn, web area, yesterday morning

Posted in Project Management, Uncategorized | No Comments »

BPM Blog summary for week ending 28 October 2011

Oct 28th, 2011 by TaskMap

 

Customized process mapping

Posted in Process Mapping on Oct 27th, 2011

By the sheer number of tools out there, and symbols to chose from it would appear that having more to chose from is a good thing. It seems like it is everywhere else, more movies, songs, theatres, cars, boats, homes … you get the idea. However in process mapping that may not be such a [...]

Read Full Post »

Agile methodology: The case for a blended Agile

Posted in Project Management on Oct 26th, 2011

Most of my life I have been involved with projects. Many of them large, complex and involving creating innovative software products; my career has not been for the fainthearted. Over the course of these last 25 years a great deal of water has passed over the dam in the development of Project Management methodologies. [...]

Read Full Post »

Additional displays: Are they worth the money?

Posted in Process Mapping on Oct 24th, 2011

I spent a good deal of time today on a support call to a company that had provided us with a USB based graphics controller which stopped working on Friday. I was down to 2 displays and was amazed at the impact on my personal productivity. When you do a lot of process work, or [...]

Read Full Post »

Tags: agile methodology, cars boats, fainthearted, graphics controller, innovative software, management project, money, personal productivity, process mapping, project management methodologies, sheer number, software products, time today

Posted in Legal processes, Process Mapping, Project Management | No Comments »

Customized process mapping

Oct 27th, 2011 by TaskMap

By the sheer number of tools out there, and symbols to chose from it would appear that having more to chose from is a good thing. It seems like it is everywhere else, more movies, songs, theatres, cars, boats, homes … you get the idea.

However in process mapping that may not be such a good thing. When we learn a new language we have to understand the grammar, words, pronunciation,  tenses etc. When we have enough knowledge, we start to have a breakthrough. We can understand what others say, and reach that eureka moment when we respond by talking to them in the new language.

Glasses on old books

This is an exciting moment, for now we are participating in the communication process. So what has all this to do with process mapping you might ask.

Well if we use symbols without a pre agreed grammar, if we lay them out in different directions, if we put different detail and labels on them, the results are inevitable. They are hard to read and inconsistent. 

This week we had an important meeting with a new prospective customer. We mapped their existing processes into TaskMap format and when completed, found ourselves defending why the maps read top to bottom right to left, why all the role information was contained in the task and why we didn’t use swimlanes to lay them out.

Sometimes, we forget that we already have the grammar built into the system, because we use it all the time. If someone is used to using another language, they will want to relate the new language to the one they already know. Doesn’t matter that it’s easier, the point is it is different.

So next time you take a look at a TaskMap with a client or staff member for the first time, don’t forget to explain how this relates to other means of communicating processes. Then, and probably only then, will the lights go on, and that eureka moment occurs.

Tags: background image, benchmark, breakthrough, cars boats, communication process, glasses, grammar words, labels, new language, old books, process mapping, pronunciation, prospective customer, tenses

Posted in Process Mapping | 1 Comment »

Agile methodology: The case for a blended Agile

Oct 26th, 2011 by TaskMap

 

Most of my life I have been involved with projects. Many of them large, complex and involving creating innovative software products; my career has not been for the fainthearted.

Over the course of these last 25 years a great deal of water has passed over the dam in the development of Project Management methodologies. Also process based technologies have made for a more systematized approach to creating successful products.

During this time many of these methods have become institutionalized, certified, authorized and pasteurized. We now have PMBOK, Prince2, Agile, Scrum, CMMI, ISO, ITIL and a whole lot more to choose from to prove our credentials in an industry discipline that had little to start. Times have changed.

Agile may be been a late comer to the Project Management ball, celebrating a ten year birthday, but it has made a huge impact. Because of the radical nature and departure from “other project management” methods then in vogue, it got noticed. It also focused heavily on software development, which seemed to be (and perhaps still is), more art than science.

The squabbling continues

Articles abound purporting the benefits and problems associated with one method or another. Agile has been no stranger to this criticism; however the search for innovation does not just lie in technology development, but also in the manufacturing process, itself. The difference being not just one way doing the work, there are many.

The tremendous improvements that are core to Agile development include; transparent and continuous communication within development teams and customers; willingness to listen and integrate changing requirements and total interdependence of team members. These are foundational principals that should be a part of any project; regardless whether the end product is a software system or a residential home.

However, believing that Agile alone will instantly create a Kumbaya atmosphere for your project is not a good assumption. Team members also need structure to work successfully, and much the elements from other Project Management methods can be integrated with Agile to get the best of both worlds.

Imagine having an argument for which drink is best … coffee or milk? They are different but both serve a purpose to satisfy a need for refreshment, and provide nourishment. The bottom line is many like to have both coffee and milk together. So goes it with Agile and Non-Agile Project Management methods; different but not incompatible.

Researcher and Project Managers agree on a blended approach

Many organizations are now taking a blended approach and organizations such as Forrester Research recommend including traditional and Agile skills, traits and methods.

Project Management’s PMBOK advantages

Agile promotes

· Clear guidance on project initiation and closure.

· Communications management and project integration management.

· Project cost management.

· Risk management

· Cross-functional, empowered teams.

· Flexibility and adjustment throughout a project.

· Encouragement of strong working relationships with customers.

· Just enough rigor and documentation


The table above illustrates the benefits of such a blended approach as recommended by Forrester Research

There are thousands of projects that individual Project Managers (Owners) where the benefits of such a blended approach have been espoused. So the combination of different methodologies is now becoming very commonplace in many industries, not just software development. When you see leading legal firms such as Seyfarth adopting lean and Six Sigma, you just know that things are changing.

Agile Stepping Stones Approach

As a part time ski instructor in the winter, I have come to learn that you need a lot of skills, lessons and techniques in your bag. The Professional Ski Association of America teaches these skills to instructors with a combination of observation, lesson planning and execution is required. If a student cannot learn a technique through one approach, then you can try three others that may resonate with them.

This approach is known as stepping stones. Where progress is made by selecting different skills, models and examples and then traversing up the learning curve from there.

We can learn much from this approach by applying those agile attributes and methods and creating “our own agile blend”. This will allow an organization to take the best of each approach as it relates to their particular problem or project.

As an example, much of my current software development work is carried out across different countries and time zones. By using a more “heavyweight” documentation approach, there is a reduction in corrective iterations of the software that could be very costly. So we put more emphasis on user interface designs and detailed use cases to remove ambiguity from the early stages of a project. Conversely we use all available communications tools in reviewing and problem solving during the development cycle. These include Web conferencing, Chat, Skype and revision controls.

By picking our spots to use Agile, it may well be that less is more. We only force the benefits of agile where they are adding value to the project, and avoid methodology wars amongst our colleagues and teams. Just was different materials are used in creating products, we can apply the same principles in techniques and perhaps make it to the other side with our team and goals intact.

 

Tags: agile development, agile scrum, cmmi, continuous communication, fainthearted, foundational principals, innovative software, interdependence, itil, manufacturing process, project management methodologies, project management methods, radical nature, software products, software system, team members, technology development, vogue, whole lot, willingness

Posted in Project Management | 1 Comment »

Additional displays: Are they worth the money?

Oct 24th, 2011 by TaskMap

I spent a good deal of time today on a support call to a company that had provided us with a USB based graphics controller which stopped working on Friday. I was down to 2 displays and was amazed at the impact on my personal productivity.

When you do a lot of process work, or in my case work with a lot of people doing wildly different process documentation. There are documents open, TaskMaps in process and Excel spreadsheets in abundance. These different data sources are the meat and potatoes of organizational processes.

I had forgotten how useful having three screens are, and had fortunately found a fix that got my additional screen up and running by lunch today. Here are some of the benefits:

  • No need to keep opening and closing files to see relevant information
  • Avoids having to print source documents as you have them available on the screen for reference purposes
  • Makes it simple to move from one screen to another when reviewing with clients. (WebEx or live meeting)
  • No need to visit the sun tan parlor with all that radiation on your desktop Winking smile 

It is amazing how little this upgrade costs, about $50 for a decent USB graphics controller and another $100 for a LCD display screen and you have a lot of productivity for very little cash outlay. Anyone spending time on process maps will benefit considerably from this investment.

Tags: abundance, case work, cash outlay, data sources, graphics controller, lcd display, lunch, meat and potatoes, organizational processes, personal productivity, process mapping, process maps, radiation, screens, source documents, spending time, spreadsheets, target, time today, usb controller

Posted in Process Mapping | No Comments »

BPM Blog summary week ending 21 October 2011

Oct 21st, 2011 by TaskMap

 

Thoughts matter: How thoughts affect our actions in everyday life

Posted in Change Management, Project Management on Oct 20th, 2011

I recently was at a meeting where someone outlined how we sometimes get off track and react negatively to situations. The presenter was talking about was Dorothy Day and a book called Tools Matter; while not in the arsenal of most Project Managers, I liked the way the information was presented. How thoughts affect us [...]

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BPM Summary of automated tutorials on the TaskMap menu

Posted in Process Mapping on Oct 18th, 2011

BPM Blog A summary of new tutorials direct from the TaskMap Menu. Automated tutorial—Save as process folder Posted in Process Mapping, Project Management on Oct 17th, 2011 Read Full Post » Automated tutorial—Task Links and how to use them Posted in Process Mapping on Oct 14th, 2011 Read Full Post » Automated tutorial for Task [...]

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Automated tutorial—Save as process folder

Posted in Process Mapping, Project Management on Oct 17th, 2011

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Automated tutorial—Task Links and how to use them

Posted in Process Mapping on Oct 14th, 2011

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Automated tutorial for Task Details

Posted in Process Mapping on Oct 13th, 2011

Automated tutorial for task details.

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TaskMap Tutorial—Save as PowerPoint

Posted in Process Mapping, Project Management on Oct 12th, 2011

This short tutorial shows how to save as PowerPoint with TaskMap. Simply select the TaskMap or Visio file you want to create follow the simple instructions.

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Check my TaskMap

Posted in Uncategorized on Oct 11th, 2011

Here is a short tutorial on the methods and benefits of using Check my TaskMap. Check My TaskMap helps to validate the correctness of your TaskMap. You can use it to: Ensure that both ends of all Task Links are glued to a Task, Connector, Start or End shape. Ensure that every Task has a [...]

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Tags: arsenal, category change, change management, dorothy day, everyday life, mapping project, menu font, process mapping, project management, project managers

Posted in Process Mapping, Project Management | No Comments »

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