Interview with PM Karma

PM Karma has caught the attention of many; the blog is as successful as the blogger himself. I fortunately had the chance of talking to Sreejith the blogger (over the web), and listen about his strategies. His strategies and experience can help many more I thought and wanted an interview with him which he graciously agreed to.  

Steppingintopm: What would you consider as the secret of your success as a project manager?

Sreejith (PM Karma): From my experience the key deciding factor of success in a field like project management is the 'quality' of relationship between the people with whom you interact during the project life cycle. I have never been dominating, bullying or aggressive in my career. I treat my subordinates and other functional people as 'Team Members'. The real attitude and quality of a person is revealed when he/she has the opportunity to be bad with some one and still he/she doesn’t do that! 

Being good with your subordinates will help you to get the best out of them. I always watch and eliminate any signs of internal politics. There is a great chance that skilled and creative young people get bullied by rather old people in organizations. This is some thing to be watched and plucked out immediately as soon as identified. People shall be promoted and given with new responsibilities based on skill & performance rather than mere 'years of experience'. When a project manager does that, a wave of confidence will blow across the team since the team members get a feeling that their skill and hard work will be rewarded. 

Project management, especially in construction industries has got lots of interfaces. The team usually used to be big of volume ten thousands. Unlike software projects, the team members need not be well educated or highly skilled. How ever delegating work packs, getting progress and performance feedback and implementing corrective actions need lots of communication and team work. 

Being good and loved by most is the best kept secret of my success as a manager in project controls. Creativity, use of technology, reading and learning comes right behind that, though! 

Steppingintopm: Do you think blogging helps boost your career?

Sreejith (PM Karma): Yes, definitely. Blogging has helped me to get connected with lots of people. The range and skills of people ranges from PMI board members to beginners/students of project management. Blogging also got a lot of appreciation from people around the globe. While looking at the 'Google Analytics' dashboard for my blog, I now understand PM Karma has earned readership far beyond my expectation. Readership has covered all the continents and the count is very good. 

I have now started collaborating with other PM Bloggers and the result is quite promising. People are approaching with specific queries regarding tools and techniques detailed in my articles. I started reviewing PM software also in my blog. 

I have few readers to my blog within my company and they quite appreciate that. Getting to be known as a 'Subject Matter Expert' is a very good feeling and I am enjoying that! 

Steppingintopm: Do you have any set of rules you try to stick to and would like to share for project managers who are starting out?

Sreejith (PM Karma): Yes. At some point in my life I have formulated 'The 3 Rules of Life' which I am trying to adhere to: 

At first look they may look like 'losers rules' but trust me; they have helped me in personal and career fronts. I started getting more friends since I started following these rules. I felt like I am more loved (than before) by people around me. Okay right to the '3 Rules of Life’: 

Rule-01: There are no sharp corners in life

This rule is not against perfectionism. It just says 'Perfect doesn't exist’! There are only good and better. Good can be made better and when we make 'better' further better, the old 'better' becomes ‘good’! So just be nice with people even when things are not really up to your expectations. Advice and find ways out to make 'good' better. 

Rule-02: Do for others what you want them to do for you

All the faces we see every day are filled with complaints and they say to me "What about my concerns?" 

Yes, we all need to get some thing done from others. We all need people to be the way we wanted them to be. We all have opinions how others should be.

But how often we thought how we are with others? How we have helped or how we will be helping them when they need the same help which you are anticipating from them. So when ever our mind complains us about some one who has not done the thing which you have expected from them, just imagine yourself in their position and thing whether you will help them in similar situations.

No one wanted to get treated badly by others, so how can we be bad with others?

So just start doing things to others, the same way in which you want them to be with you!

You will not be surprised if they behave badly with you, if you were nasty with them in the past...because you wanted them to be bad with you since you have used my rule!! 

Rule-03: Before you freeze an opinion about some one else, just take a moment, get into their shoe, think and visualize the situation from their view point. You may change your opinion.

It is very easy to frame an opinion about some one based on our view point. But try to create a critic within your mind who debates conflicts. I have been successful in bring up a critic within my mind. 

There are 3 personalities with in my mind now.

1) The Emotional Guy

2) The Critic

3) The logic 

When ever I get angry with some one over an issue, the critic takes the emotional guy to the other person's view point and debates me about his stand.

The emotional guy is not very easy to convince. He has record of all the previous deals and bad words from the other person. He will take them all out. But the critic will place all his cards on the table and keep debating. 

Now 'Logic' is the referee, he watches all the debates and quantitatively and qualitatively analyses the stands and come up with the final verdict. 

I know this may sound quite weird to many people, but I have succeeded to certain extent to implement this setup with in my mind. This evaluation has helped me to change opinion about many people during many occasions when I felt their words or deeds are bad.

Steppingintopm: Thank you Sreejith.

(Picture: Sreejith from PM Karma) 

Does twittering help you focus?

Just when you thought, what am I doing and where is my life going, I read this wonderfully inspirational article about the Twitter CEO. 

I am a great fan of Twitter, so much so that my newly brushed up resume has it as my contact along with the email. Most of my friends, bloggers and relevant people in my life are on Twitter and I think it keeps you really updated with the latest happenings. 

I'm always moved by stories because somewhere down the line it makes me feel that my dream of "I have  so much more to do" can come true. Honestly, reading this article has made a lot of difference. The journey from a farm in Nebraska to running Twitter must have been exciting and what an amazing journey.

I 'm always curious to know how people push for their next move, how they beleive in themselves, how they can do so much- what inspires them? I've been through my highs and lows and there have been times when I have sat down and wrote in a piece of paper as many times as possible that " I want to do xyz" or whatever the thought was. It does help, more you think about it and write it down and see yourself writing it; it helps you to move forward psychologically. The rest is easy. From the extremely introverted shy girl who wouldn't go into a store when there were people around to the individual who got acknowledged in school for being a leader, team player and outspoken- it honestly was a long way. 

The story goes on, may be the rest of it for another time in this blog. 

So, if you thought, your dream is too big or really not for you- think again, how hard have you tried? Or how much do you really want it to happen? 

(Picture: Google Images)

Women in Technology

I just signed up for my PMI membership and found something very useful. Here is perhaps a new section that has been added, where you can actually take a free PMP/CAPM simulated exam.

Something interesting is also the Ada Lovelace Day which celebrates women in technology, if you would like to support the cause you can sign up the pledge and simply write about your favorite woman in technology on March 24. How cool is that. 

I sure have signed up and you will read about my favorite Woman in Technology on March 24.

Have a good weekend everyone!

How to get a mentor?

I happened to read this article 5 minutes ago and Tweeting about it wasn't satisfying enough, because this is something I really wanted to save for myself and share it with you.

Mentors have always been an important part of my life, some have helped me see my potential or help me look within, others have helped me manage my problems better. 

Anyways, back to my original point, if you want to have a mentor and a really famous, influential, successful and popular mentor, here is how you should pitch.

Point taken.

(Picture: Google Images)

Treasure Bag for February

Here's the treasure bag for February and yes I am posting it a day late, sorry about that.

Keeping in mind the job market these days, I thought these articles can bring out the best in each one of us. Inspiring and essential, this is what the experts are saying.

• Antidotes to gloom by Alec Satin
• Ways to train mental flexibility by Baas De Baar
• Put a face to your brand by Chris Brogan
  
• Three ways to give a good interview by Penelope Trunk
• Soft skills for employees by Raven Young

Enjoy your Sunday!

...........................................................................................................................................................................

Here's the special offer, still valid- you can actually get a £50.00 off training on any Prince 2 courses that you take up at the-PSO.

Here's what you have to do, so pay some attention now. Email to julia.carton @the-pso.com with the subject line as "Voucher Id- PSO 1189/03- stepping into project management". Please mention your full name, email address and contact number. Only 1 winner  gets the discount. So, if you are interested for you or your loved ones please email within March 15. The lucky winner will be announced here. The voucher is valid till 12 June, 2009.

Thank you readers

I'm running a little behing schedule. I tend to feel or rather be lazy during the weekend and  my work list builds till I decide I need to step it up.

So, there's a lot of new things coming up on this space very soon, couple of cool interviews and a PM tool review- as seen by the newbie!

Thanks for reading.

(Pic: Me and Kate, the PR Manager for the APM Group at the BPUG Congress)

Creative- are you?

Have you thought over how creative people perform, their motivations and their unique psycholgy behind their actions?

If you are creative or handle a team of creative people, this is the best collection of chapters I have read. It wonderfully engulfs you in the fascinating world of creatives, is filled with facts, research and thought provoking content. 

I enjoyed reading it so much over the weekend, that I downloaded the rest of the free e-books. 

While I try to re-write my plans for the day, now that I have more to finish and do- I found this site by Mark McGuinness very useful and inspirational. You can also learn about the daily routines of the famous and see which one works for you. 

With all the inspiration at work, I'm hoping to get through my PM certifications, learn Spanish, exercise regularly and of course create better posts for the blog along with my full time job. 

So, enjoy the free e-books while I try to find my rightly packed daily schedule.

(Picture: Google Images)

Interview with Karen Macdonald

I met Karen Macdonald at the BPUG seminar and while talking with her over lunch I asked if she would interview for my blog. I'm excited that she agreed to do it and here's the what she thought about the seminar. 

Stepping in2 pm: What did you think of the BPUG seminar?

KMD: The seminar was useful to keep up to date on the various APM Group methods, meet the people behind the methods and assess what other PM professionals wanted to keep abreast of.

Stepping in2 pm: Who topped your list among the speakers and why?

KMD:My favourite speaker was Don Mason from Emirates Airlines because he had applied a structured method on a large and critical programme, in a difficult working environment with many cultural differences and sensitivities to cope with.

Stepping in2 pm:  Your suggestion to new project managers on "how networking can help" and what they should do to network?

KMD: Networking is an underused tool to learn effective hints, tips and strategies from others.  Project Management in my opinion is an art.  The application of methods such as Prince2, MSP, MoR attempts to put some science into it, but there are so many varying dynamics in any project, no size fits all.  That of course, is what makes Project Management interesting and challenging.

Stepping in2 pm: Thank you Karen.

Karen has 20 years varied business experience with around 10 years in Project and Programme Management.  She is a Prince2 Practitioner, PMP (from PMI) and MSP and currently is the Project Services Director at Better Gameplan Consultancy in London, Uk.

(Picture:Don Mason from Emirates Airlines getting ready for his talk at the seminar)

Prince 2 Information

If you already work or are planning to work in Europe, you might want to check out what PRINCE2 is all about. Do you really think it's necessary to actually be PRINCE 2 certified?

The APM Group, is the body responsible for accrediting training organisations and administering the PRINCE2 examination scheme. Like PMI, PRINCE 2 also has their new version lined up for 2009. However, they have been advising candidates that the differences between 2005 and 2009 will not be major ones. So, now that you know- relax and prepare for your exams. If you have recently taken your exams, be ensured that the your accredition will stay valid, unless otherwise notified. The 2009 version will only be implemented only after the manual has been published.

The PRINCE2:2009 examinations at foundation and practitioner level will be available in all the languages as it was with the PRINCE2:2005. They are Chinese – Mandarin, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Spanish – Castilian.

Here's the special offer for the Vday- you can actually get a £50.00 off training on any Prince 2 courses that you take up at the-PSO.

Here's what you have to do, so pay some attention now. Email to julia.carton @the-pso.com with the subject line as "Voucher Id- PSO 1189/03- stepping into project management". Please mention your full name, email address and contact number. Only 1 winner gets the discount. So, if you are interested for you or your loved ones please email within March 15. The lucky winner will be announced here. The voucher is valid till 12 June, 2009.

BPUG International Congress - Part 2

So, now that the blog is going places, it's time to let you know more about Project Management groups and accreditions.

Ofcourse after we have gone through some details of the 2 day's of seminar.

Among all the sessions I have heard in the seminar, they are a few which seemed very interesting. The information and the content were great however a few speakers had a charm of their own. Humor sure helps, to lighten up the subject and keep the listeners entertained. The list of speakers can be found here.

Oliver Buhr, the Danish Project Manager working in Germany was full of humor. The audience enjoyed the occasional laughs as they did the subject. Alan Harpham of the APM Group was remarkable in his wit. Alan made sure every speaker in the seminar was at ease while he chaired the sessions.

One of the session that I think everyone enjoyed was Plenary workshop: Discovering your mental cribsheet. It was simple, easy to follow and one of the most interactive sessions of the seminar. While the audience was left scribbling and talking among each other - it was everyone's involvement in the room that grabbed the attention. It turned out to be a great topic to network over at lunch.

It began with an exercise of how you come back from a leave and suddenly realise that one of the project managers is sick and you are taking over the project. So, you can write down the 5 questions which come to your mind and share it with the person sitting next to you. I actually took my original scribbling from the session and re-did it in "paint" so I can put it up here (see picture).

Other sessions I have to talk about includes Keynote address: the 40 minute business bootcamp by Colonel Bob Stewart DSO. A natural speaker, he taught about the necessity of careful planning, risk assesment and what leaders should be. Elizabeth Harrin, the youngest speaker talked about the emerging world of web 2.0. I think the trends of web 2.0 startled a lot of the audience and how they needed to keep up with the younger generation. It was a fresh approach with most wondering what "twitter" actually perhaps did. Funny I thought, it's time our generation brought something unique to the table.

Watch this space, more on Prince 2 exams and a discount voucher worth 50 pounds from the- PSO coming up.

(Click on the picture: Scribblings from the seminar. )

BPUG International Congress - Part 1

The idea of going to a seminar on this scale for the first time is quite scary really but it seemed alright. Thanks to Kate (PR manager for the event) and the APM group, it all seemed very easy.
There's a ton of things I've learnt from this seminar and yes I'm sharing it all right here. Three things you should always be ready with-

• Your updated business card, so you are not trying to get one printed within 2 days of notice.
• The right dress to be worn at the seminar (keeping in mind your changing waist line perhaps).
• Your 30 second elevator speech (I took my tips from here)

Of course your passport.

Make sure to check out the location before and be there on time. The rest is really easy, you just go with the flow of the sessions and the people. However, a new country can be challenging in a lot of way. For me, being in a room full of people almost twice my height was really challenging. My height is not one of best assests.

Conversing with senior project, programme, portfolio managers and authors/experts/trainers could be really hard, specially when you are just starting out. It's such a thrill to just share the space with all of them and frankly most are really nice people only if you can master the guts to say, hello.

The most surprising part was meeting people right there who actually read my blog. Now, that was huge and inspiring.

Here are the websites of organizations present in the information booths:

• http://www.sigma-uk.com/
• http://www.programframework.com/
• http://www.the-pso.com/
• http://www.theusergroup.org.uk/
• http://www.pmtoday.co.uk/
• http://www.aspireeurope.com/
• http://www.outperform.co.uk/
• http://www.mundanesoftware.co.uk/
• http://www.est-management-practise.com/
• http://www.maventraining.co.uk/ (they actually have my site in their blog)
• http://www.dsdm.org/
• http://www.pearcemayfield.com/
• http://www.ninthwave.co.uk/
• http://www.cps.co.uk/
• http://www.apmg-businessooks.com/

More on the seminar coming up soon.

(Picture: At the Lancaster Hotel during the seminar tea and networking break)

Meeting Elizabeth Harrin

Finally I get to meet Elizabeth Harrin today at the BPUG International Congress. It was wonderful and overwhelming (as you may figure out from my clumsy expression in the picture).

Elizabeth's talk on how web 2. 0 tools can be integrated with Project Mangement was fascinating and to find her so down to earth was the best part ever.

More on the 2 day's seminar coming up soon.

(Picture: Elizabeth Harrin and me in Lancaster Hotel for the BPUG International Congress and me in Hyde Park, doing what all first time visitors do- sight seeing)

CAPM- is it time?

If you have been thinking of taking the CAPM(certified associate of project management) exam or trying to get into the profession, here are some links that might help you take the initiative and make it hassle free.

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

You can download the CAPM handbook here and to know how it helps you in the current job market, read this.

To know more about the certification, you can always refer to the PMI site.

Lovely London

I'm in London and it's lovely.

Yesterday was spent in the Thames river cruise, in Oxford street and dinner at an Lebanese restaurant. It's fairly easier to go around the city if you have a map in hand and have an idea about the public transport.

Meanwhile you can listen to these videos about project management and see what you think.

Flight to London

I have my tickets for London and I leave tonight. The flight's really early which means I will need to be in the airport around mid -night. 

I still need to pack and my apartment right now looks like a complete mess. I need to be in office within the next couple of hours, which means I have to rush.

If you missed out the story about why I'm off to London, click here.

So, stay tuned for more updates right here. 

Reads for the Month

I promised to let you know my favorite reads for the month, here's my treasure box for you.

Project management related reads-

•  Breaking In: Your First PM Job by Elizabeth Harrin
  

The article is worth reading even if you have to sign up for the free registration. So, please sign up at “projectsatwork”, if you want to get the know how to bag your first Project Management job. 

• Link Fest for Project Management Newbies  by Jen
  

All the information you need to get into the gig. 

• A Rising Talent by Elizabeth Harrin
  

For those of us who need the inspiration- who said you cant be a top-notch professional in PM if you are young?

Articles that Inspire you

• Nine Tips to Keep Yourself Exercising by Gretchen Rubin 
  

Just when you thought, your New Year resolution to exercise more often was failing- this will do the trick. 

• I Don’t Feel Like Writing, Yet I Write by Jurgen Appelo  
  

If blogging/writing seems too tiring for you, here’s something to learn.

• How to be a free thinker by Scott Berkun  
  

Being alone will help you think better, so stop complaining that you feel lonely and do something about it. 

Lesson Learnt (essentials of PM) - Stress and Time Management

My work week has been extremely stressful and I feel completely burnt out. I have started realizing this craziness has led me to deviate away from myself- the inner me. I have been functioning in an automated mode in creating the work list, getting work done, write reports, document change requests, email clients, fret over problems  and coming back home so late that I almost never have time for myself anymore. 

I wanted some rest (for the sake of my over alert mind) and really felt I had to slow down. I needed creativity and free thinking back in my life. 

I decided to fight out the stress- I read somewhere that challenging your mind and your self brings back creativity. I didn’t want to do Sudoku for sure, my mind was already over functioning and I had to slow it down and relax. I gave my bedroom a makeover, not new stuff, just re-arrange the furniture so it makes me feel different- feel new. I shifted my study table nearer to the window, I wanted some open air and the view of the long stretch of trees, blue sky, natural light and the birds chirping. I changed what was constant in my everyday routine. I will even be lazy today and read what I want to read, listen to some good music, catch up on movies and eliminate too much surfing on the net, tweeting, IM and try to keep my mind as free as possible. 

I always go in for a haircut when I want or feel I am ready for a personal change. Don’t ask me why, I really don’t know but it sure does pick me up. I tried the hair -cut thing but it didn’t transfer the instant pick me up feel this time. Either I was too stressed out or the bad haircut at this really expensive place made it worse.  

So, I found this great new blog  and I started reading it first thing in the morning. Sometimes, hearing or reading positive things you -already- know helps. It re-affirms your belief and soothes you over. Reading some random writings on how you can be happy was relaxing. Happiness is expensive.

I finally get this collection of everyday inspiring thoughts in a spiral bound format which I keep in my cubicle; I flip through it and read a new one the moment I feel I am starting to fret. I like what it says and it calms me down. 

So, I decide to talk it out with the System Administrator. He’s a great guy, insightful, calm, pleasant, non- judgmental and his casual, smiling, shuffled hair look makes him very approachable. We talk quite often; from discussing new ideas to “suggest me how I can focus more” and “how much do you think I’ve improved in the last 6 months”. It’s not about how insightful he is, I think simply talking about some random subject breaks the routine and brings in freshness and gets me in touch with myself that I sometimes miss. 

I think there are 2 major lessons learnt from what’s been going on - stress & time management are two essential things that you have to know to become a Project Manager. You can’t be out of touch with yourself and everyday should be a learning experience for tomorrow. After all Project Manager’s aren’t perfect, how they handle imperfection is as close as it gets in trying to be perfect!

As Raven (Young) mentioned- "Project management is more than a full-time battle...and half the battle is finding ways NOT to let the field take over your life."

(Picture : Google Images)

Interview Questions for the to- be PM

This gets interesting, we have talked about how you can pave your way to getting into the coveted profession but here are some questions that you might face to get the JOB as a PM! 

1. How do you handle non-productive team members? 
2. How do you motivate team members who are burned out, or bored? 
3. How do you handle team members who come to you with their personal problems? 
4. What are your career goals? How do you see this job affecting your goals? 
5. Explain how you operate interdepartmentally. 
6. Tell me how you would react to a situation where there was more than one way to accomplish the same task, and there were very strong feelings by others on each position. 
7. Consider that you are in a diverse environment, out of your comfort zone. How would you rate your situational leadership style? 
8. Give me an example of your leadership involvement where teamwork played an important role. 
9. Tell me about a situation where your loyalty was challenged. What did you do? Why? 
10. In what types of situations is it best to abandon loyalty to your manager? 
11. In today’s business environment, when is loyalty to your manager particularly important? 
12. Why are you interested in this position? 
13. Describe what you think it would be like to do this job every day. 
14. What do you believe qualifies you for this position? 
15. What have you learned from your failures? 
16. Of your previous jobs, which one did you enjoy the most? What did you like the most/least? Why? What was your major accomplishment? What was your biggest frustration? 
17. Tell me about special projects or training you have had that would be relevant to this job. 
18. What are some things that you would not like your job to include? 
19. What are your current work plans? Why are you thinking about leaving your present job? 
20. Describe an ideal job for you. 
21. What would you do if you found out that a contractor was in a conflict of interest situation? 
22. If I were to contact your former employee, what would he say about your decision-making abilities?
23. Give me an example of a win-win situation you have negotiated. 
24. Tell me about your verbal and written communication ability. How well do you represent yourself to others? What makes you think so? 
25. Give me an example of a stressful situation you have been in. How well did you handle it? If you had to do it over again, would you do it differently? How do you deal with stress, pressure, and unreasonable demands? 
26. Tell me about a tough decision you had to make? 
27. Describe what you did at your work place yesterday. 
28. How would you solve the following technical problem? (Describe a typical scenario that could occur in the new position.) 
29. What strengths did you bring to your last position? 
30. Describe how those contributions impacted results? 
31. What are the necessary steps to successful project management? 
32. How do you plan for a project? 
33. What is important to consider when planning a (your type of project)? 
34. What are things that you have found to be low priority when planning for (your type of project)? 
35. What distinguishes a project from routine operations? 
36. What are the three constraints on a project? 
37. What are the five control components of a project? 
38. What qualifications are required to be an effective project manager? 
39. What experience have you had in project management? 
40. Name five signs that indicate your project may fail. 
41. Tell us about a project in which you participated and your role in that project. 
42. When you are assigned a project, what steps do you take to complete the project? 
43. As you begin your assignment as a project manager, you quickly realise that the corporate sponsor for the project no longer supports the project. What will you do? 
44. Your three month project is about to exceed the projected budget after the first month. What steps will you take to address the potential cost overrun? 
45. Tell us about a successful project in which you participated and how you contributed to the success of that project. 
46. You are given the assignment of project manager and the team members have already been identified. To increase the effectiveness of your project team, what steps will you take? 
47. You have been assigned as the project manager for a team comprised of new employees just out of college and "entry-level" consulting staff. What steps can you take to insure that the project is completed against a very tight time deadline? 
48. What is a "project milestone"? 
49. What is "project float" 
50. Your project is beginning to exceed budget and to fall behind schedule due to almost daily user change orders and increasing conflicts in user requirements. How will you address the user issues? 
51. You’ve encountered a delay on an early phase of your project. What actions can you take to counter the delay? Which actions will have the most effect on the result? 
52. Describe what you did in a difficult project environment to get the job done on time and on budget.
53. What actions are required for successful executive sponsorship of a project? 
54. How did you get your last project? 
55. What were your specific responsibilities? 
56. What did you like about the project and dislike about the project? 
57. What did you learn from the project? 
58. Tell me about a time when you ran into any difficult situations. How did you handle them? 
59. Tell me about the types of interaction you had with other employees. 
60. Tell me of an accomplishment you are particularly proud of and what it entailed. 
61. Do you have people from your past consulting services who would provide a professional reference?
62. What other similar consulting or independent contractor services have you rendered? 
63. Discuss how you would envision working as an independent contractor or consultant for us. 
64. What conflicting responsibilities will you have? 
65. What would be your specific goals for this new role as a consultant or independent contractor? 
66. What experience do you have that you think will be helpful? 
67. This assignment will require a lot of [describe]. Will that be a problem for you? 
68. This assignment will require interacting with [describe the types of people]. What experience do you have working with such people? 
69. What would you like to get from this new assignment? 
70. What are two common but major obstacles for a project like this? What would you do in the face of these obstacles to keep your team on schedule?
71. What is project charter? What are the elements in a project charter?
72. Which document will you refere for future decisions?
73. How will you define scope? 
74. What is the output of scope definition process?
75. What is quality management? 
76. Do you inspect or plan for quality ?
77. What is EVM? how will you use it in managing projects?
78. What is a project? and what is program?
79. What are project selection methods?
80. Which tool would you use to define, manage and control projects?
81. What is risk management and how will you plan risk response?
82. What are outputs of project closure?
83. What are the methods used for project estimation?
84. What methods have you used for estimation?
85. How would you start a project?
86. If you were to deliver a project to a customer, and timely delivery depended upon a sub-supplier, how would you manage the supplier? What contractual agreements would you put in place?

Need more tips newbies, try this link.

What a blog can do for you?

It can get you an invitation to the "International Congress for Project, Programme and Risk Management" at London. 

If you would like to know more click here.

Sounds to good to be true, few days back I got the inivitation and accepted it ofcourse. The initial email said that the blog was being read by  "lots of people who are reading it and liking it".

I'm thankful for the oppurtunity to Kate Winter from Perceptive PR and it's my first Project Management

 seminar. It actually got me  nervous (I still am). With a few more days to get my visa and manage everything else, I hope I can be there.

It's happening on the 10 and 11 of February and I get to meet Elizabeth Harrin!

Want an inivitation, start your blog. 

On a serious note, it opens new doors for you, something you can only dream of. If it's happening to me, it can happen to you .

(Picture: The BPUG congress Brochure and Me)

Why Blog?

If you have noticed, I have added a new section “Why Blog”? 

Blogging is emerging as the most popular and powerful tools to communicate and network among fellow professionals. Little did I know before starting, so I want more and more of you to have access to the information that I did not. 

Check out the links and who knows yours might be the next big blog!

(Picture: Google Images)

Advantages of working in a small company

To learn about projects, I firmly believe that working in a small company helps. You can always switch to the bigger one's after you have gained the right knowledge. Working in small companies comes with it's numerous added advantages.

Advantages of working in a small company are-

• You get to see the entire project lifecycle upclose which is very important. Amidst few people, it's easier to learn (and grow).
• You get to know every individuals work list  in the team and how it's handled.
• You have (in most cases) direct access to the project manager- you volunteer to learn more
• Easier access to information and knowledge from the team- you know everyone by their first names.
• You are valued for your skill and chances are they're not a lot of people with the same skill set.
• You have more creative freedom and you don't have to go through one layer after the other to get your ideas to work.
• Greater exposure- to clients, to work- you name it!
• Your have chances of your work getting noticed.

Most of it comes from my experince in working with a small company, while I would love to work for a Fortune 500 company , I think being here and doing what I do has  given me much more exposure that would have taken me perhaps years to get had I started with a bigger name. 

So, if you want to know more about Project Management and see it first hand before commiting and deciding to enroll in a degree/certification, getting into a small company might help.

Here are some other interesting articles that might get your attention- article 1 and article 2.

(Picture: Google Images)

Learning basics of database

This year I will push the envelope a little more and I started it with learning database designing. 

I think having a good idea about the knowledge areas are required for a PM to be successful and understand and handle the project better. Since I work in IT- it was database time.

Things I did to learn database-

• I told everyone that I was interested in learning about database.
• The guy who handles databases the best (and a good friend) agrees to help me out.
• So, he gives me a problem and I try thinking about it.
• Next day- he explains me further and shows me how to start conceptualizing about it and excel is a great help. I implement the basics in a table format in excel- I get the basics correct.
• I'm told to read Codds Law
• I'm supposed to map out the relations among the tables- which I will get done today.

The bottomline is- if you are really determined in what you want make sure you learn as much as possible. No one said it would be easy, if you willing to learn it- work hard at it. So, whoever is helping you out is also encouraged by your genuine interest and learning pace.

(Picture: Google images)

5 New Goals for 2009

It's New Year and I haven't posted yet.

There are five important changes this year-

• I'm travelling public (on a try-it-out mode) and it's been ok.
• Reading a book/week and learning something new everyday
• Re-organizing and re-structuring my life to do a lot more. Finding out time saving tips and generally keeping myself happy. Being positive is important. 
• Of course Projects- I'm handling projects under the supervision of the Senior Project Manager and I want to do a good job at it. New Year came loaded with more responsibilities which is something I'm happy about.
• Getting fitter (Comes with public travelling, you tend to walk more and I keep time to medidate and exercise)
  

Since, I will be reading a lot this year I'm looking forward to post my 5 favorite links related to PM and Non- PM readings at the end of each month. 

To save some of your time, I decided to enable the "subscribe by email" feature. Now you don't have to visit my site to review the postings, it just gets delivered to you.

(Picture: flickr.com)