This is part two of my interview with Sophie Kain, director of Prior Kain Ltd, in honour of Ada Lovelace Day. Missed the first bit? Find it here. One of the biggest issues for programme managers (well, for me) is the transient nature of a team over the lifecycle of work, especially when a programme…
It’s Ada Lovelace Day, and in honour of the great woman here is an interview with a modern great woman in technology, Dr Sophie Kain. My conversation with Sophie went on a bit, so I’ve split it into two pieces: one for you to read with morning coffee and one for afternoon tea. Sophie is…
I have reviewed ConceptDraw PROJECT and MINDMAP. The third and final piece in the ConceptDraw Office suite is ConceptDraw PRO. This, according to the vendor, “is a powerful diagramming and drawing tool that enables users to effectively visualize and communicate information and processes.” It’s a fancy drawing package, a bit like SmartDraw. It’s software that…
“Most books on branding,” Adam says, “focus on what it takes for a brand to be great: follow these steps, tick the boxes on a flow chart.” “PRINCE2® training is just like that,” I reply. “If you complete these documents your project will be a success. That’s not how things work in the real world.”…
ConceptDraw PROJECT is the second piece in the ConceptDraw Office suite. Last week I reviewed MINDMAP. I reviewed version 3 of ConceptDraw PROJECT back in 2007, so now they are on version 5 I was interested to see what had been improved. The interface is attractive and easy to use. Hitting Return puts a new…
“Every day is pancake day,” says Charles Seybold, co-founder and CEO of LiquidPlanner. “Any excuse.” It’s Shrove Tuesday, traditional day for pancakes, and I haven’t had any. What I have had is a look at the new version of LiquidPlanner that was released yesterday. The main differences since I last looked at it in May…
ConceptDraw Office is an entire software suite designed around the project management lifecycle. The first piece in the suite is ConceptDraw MINDMAP, which is “a business and personal productivity tool that collects ideas and organizes them into a visual map.” It’s a tool for on-screen brainstorming. I’ve never used mind mapping software before, being more…
If a visitor came into your office looking for you, and asked a colleague to point you out, what would they say? The short, messy one? The busy one with her glasses on her head? If a colleague was describing you to someone from another department, how would they sum you up? A good project…
A new study* has shown that nearly half of Project, Programme and Portfolio Management Offices (PMOs) rate themselves as Fair or Poor in terms of effectiveness. I think that’s terrible, especially as it was the PMO team or those close to them who responded to the survey. As the purpose of having a PMO is…
Josh Nankivel of PMStudent.com is running a survey on the impact of the currect economic situation on project management. If you have an anecdote to share, complete the survey. He’s had responses from all over the world so far: Costa Rica, India, Mexico, Holland, Germany, France, Canada, the US, China, Australia, but no one from…
One Saturday in 2008 I made Monica Enand, CEO and Founder of Zapproved, get up extra early to demo her new software for me. It was 8am on the Pacific Coast, and she didn’t sound like she was sitting in her pyjamas in front of her PC. Given that it was the weekend before launch,…
You will need: One department store One friend wearing flat shoes (ideally someone with better dress sense than you) The underwear you will be wearing under the dress Optional: The shoes you will be wearing. Cocktail dresses are short, so any height of heel will be OK. If you are adapting this method for a…