Week 2- It’s tailored for busy and fast moving professionals

The best feature of this course is that is tailored for fast moving people.

The course comes with options:

•You have the hard copy- the course material and the 5 CD’s.

•You can access the material via the web, so you don’t have to carry around the reading material if you don’t want to.

•Download the files in either audio or video format (in compressed file format) and you can watch it offline as well now. Or upload it in your ipod and carry around with ease.

The Course

The course is available in chapter wise like structure, so you are not all loaded with too much information.  The course if of 4 weeks which means, each week comes with its lectures.

•Week 1- 15 lectures

•Week 2- 8 lectures

•Week 3- lectures

•Week 4- 12 lectures

The video and the textual material compliment each other and so you can move back and forth drilling down the material or referring to the other when in need. 

The videos are usually of shorter duration, precise and narrate the chapter well and in required details. 

I have been trying to log on to the site and then listen to the videos, but since I have been lagging behind (blame the new job), I decided to download the videos so I can listen to them easily.

So, when readers like you comment or mail and let me know that you are waiting for the review because you are interested in this prep course, it does help me. 

For week 1 click here.

Resources/Tools

For the last 2 weeks, I have had my share of  trying to find more time.

However, I managed to watch the Royal Wedding and fancied having one of those hats in my closet!

These few mentioned resources are great time savers and worth a try:
•Radbox.me- great tool to bookmark all your videos in one place, so you can watch them later from anywhere.
•Instapaper- save sites to read later.
•Ipod- great way to learn more, while you laze around, fly or wait in terminals or simply cook. I download podcast on weekends- some work related, some just for information or fun. If you don’t have one, no worries, just listen to it online.
•Evernote -  when remembering is no longer a task, great resource for regular use. You can sync it also with your iphone app.
•Meebo- one stop IM, you can log into multiple accounts at the same time, I use it everyday.
•Tweetdeck- to time your tweets for the rest of the week. If you have interns working with you, opt for Hootsuite, lets you add more than 1 contributor to an account. So, now, you and your interns can all tweet for the same account without having to share passwords.

For those following the Villanova course; I’m lagging behind and hope I’ll catch up soon.

Communication 101

You can communicate by writing a paragraph or a page OR simply by a pictorial representation/graph.

Now, which one you use will depend on a lot of reason:
•Analyze which medium drives the point home better
•What your target audience prefers- words or picture?
•Which is an effective mode of communication?

Now communication is not a standard template that caters to everyone. Communication is customizable. It is personal.

How you communicate with your client/team will depend on who they are and what they want from you.

So, how will you figure out what to give and to whom?

There are a couple of ways:
•See who they are- Browse their website and read about their corporate image to find out the company culture. Your presentation cannot be the same for a advertising agency and for a hi-tech industry. You want to be creative with the advertising agency and include more logic for the hi-tech one.

•Do I know you? - It helps to know who will be in the meeting.  If you have names, please make the effort to find them out through Linkedin, Facebook and even Twitter. See what they like other than their jobs- it will help you strike a human bond- very essential. You’ll know what to talk (sports, films, gadgets). You will also know what impresses them- data, graphs, stories, case studies (hint: see their Linkedin profiles and analyze their background, their college degrees and even hobbies and groups they belong to).

•Show you are interested- Try to make them feel comfortable. If they are global clients, write a thank you note in their native language perhaps. Duh- you don’t need to attend language classes, just use Google Translate- works like a charm.

•Listen- Don’t just hear. Listen what they want, what is missing and what can be done. Let your clients speak, don’t cut them off while they are speaking just because you have handled the same question 50 times before. It’s disrespectful and makes your client look like an idiot. Take the time to listen and then solve the problem slowly- even if you have done it 50 times before, it’s the first time for your client.

•Smile and be there- Smile through the phone, it shows. Even if you are stressed out and busy don’t rush your client through his session. Make him/her feel special, like your entire job for the day is to listen to him/her. Who doesn’t like to feel important?

(Pic Courtesy: Google Images)

Villanova University-PMP Prep Course

I have signed up for the PMP prep course and I hope I can write as honestly as I can about it while I take this one month journey.

Week 1- Introduction

Once you are enrolled in the course, the rest of the process happens systematically without any glitches. The course is complimentary  and I have to write about it in the blog. The Villanova team were gracious enough to mail me the course materials to India.

The course material includes a set of 4 books and 2 CD’s. Books include the detailed course materials almost in a workbook like structure.

It comes with an online access that is sent before the course begins. The login gives you access to all the materials as well the videos that you can choose to watch online or through CD.

So, even if you are on the move you can always access your course as long as you are connected to the web.

The course

It’s precise and well represented. If you want to prep in details you can always read the course material before. I went for the online video directly. While you listen to the video, you can also read through the texts available in the left side of the screen.

It’s to the point, simple and structured as you would expect the course to be.

I’ll continue writing about in the coming weeks, so till then enjoy your Monday and plan out what you want to do to get certified.

(Disclosure: this is a complimentary package, I haven't paid for the course)

Pic Courtesy

Wait- are you done?

And giving up?

Stop, get out of the room you are in and get some fresh air.

Behind every successful person are some bigger failures and your life is no exception. So don’t think you aren’t made for the job, or you can’t make it.

It happened to me and perhaps it has happened to so many.

If you are feeling really low, talk to your mentor or your friend and let the feeling out. 

Once done, walk back to your board/diary and write down objectively why things are happening they way they are and if you can change.  Work on yourself and at least for a few days try taking yourself not too seriously.

Let time take its course and then see what changes.

Bottomline- stop freaking out and don’t give up impulsively. 

(Pic Courtesy: Google Images)

Guest Posts and Podcast

Hope you are having a great week, while I juggle my timer schedule and try to squeeze in more – here’s some guest posts and interview I did over the last few months:

Podcast 1 

Podcast 2 

Guest post at PM 4 Girls

Guest post at PM Bistro

Enjoy!

(Pic Courtesy: Google Images)

Direction- leads your team

As simple as it sounds- clear direction is a key component of any project.

I have seen organizations where everyone assumes the other person knows everything and can move ahead. This doesn’t make sense.

So if you are a new project manager, do your team a favor and make sure they have what they need to get the work done.

Don’t assume:

• New member of your team know their role like the oldies do. They don’t, so tell them what you need from them .
• Any given work, should come with direction of deadline, limitations, what needs to be done, where the information is stored, whom can they communicate with etc. 
• By sharing information and giving directions you save time and your project by clearing off complications and wasting time.
• If you have written documents, share them. If you don’t email with bullet points, so the job role is defined.
• If you haven’t done any of the above, don’t barge in one day and tell your team that they have been lousy and not done their job on time.

Practice what you preach.

(pic:Google images)

What's in a winner?

What makes someone a winner?


You can say being at the right place at the right time, having a great networking,  and all sort of things we all say…but to top it all here is the story you can relate to. 


The drive, that’s the topper. 


So, do you have the drive in you to become a PM? What have you done? Whom have you talked to? What risks have you taken?


Write down your goals and out it somewhere you can see- on the mirror, your car dashboard, your purse. Work towards it and don’t be shy to ask for help- everyone does. Go for it even if it ends up being a mistake- you will learn on what not to do.


By the way the SIPM site has lots of Experts from all over the globe available for mentoring, even some whom you can follow for a day so you end up seeing the real life of a project manager. How cool is that!


Be you, find yourself, work on your expertise and don’t be scared to do what you are not comfortable with.


For more inspiration, read here

(Pic courtesy: google images)


Be the winner!

Stand out for your dreams

There are 5 things to keep in mind when trying out for a PM position:

·Consistency-the goal should be loud and clear in your mind, you have to know what you want to do and rest will happen with time and your effort. You will know when opportunity knocks if you know what you want in life.

·Focus- bad days will always be there, as well as bad bosses. Look out for the good ones who will look out for you and encourage you.  Don’t get distracted on smaller job roles and not getting the right opportunity- your day will come, just be prepared for it.

·Knowledge- don’t compromise on this one because it’s all upto you. Read up, join groups, meet people and talk to them.

·Networking – its clichéd but it helps. Knowing the right people at the right time will open up doors for you.

·Be yourself-never under estimate the power of you. You are unique, so is your talent. Explore them, nurture them and train them for the moment. Don’t give up and fight for what you want.

Have a great week!

(Pic Courtesy: google images)

Rants, events, and trying to settle in

The last few weeks have been exhausting. For those of you who don’t know, I moved to India and there has been nothing but continuous running around trying to set up the new place and make it a home.

I couldn’t write for so many days, didn’t know what to write about and nothing seemed to fit in. Yesterday, I cut my own bangs/fringes- an impulsive decision which turned out pretty ok.

For the last one month, I have read, thought and socialized with people I know and people I don’t know; attended week long Indian weddings and while its nice to play dress up- couple of days later all I want is to sleep at home.

I haven't tweeted in like a century and most of my plans are behind schedule because I couldn’t say "no" to events, friends and to myself.

So, now  it’s "no" to everything- no more parties, no more weddings, no more entertaining friends at dinner with 7 course Indian menu.

I call it quits.

It's time to get back to what I like doing the most- project management.While I'm working on a couple of personal projects, it’s hard to explain to people why I blog. I don’t make any money out of it- I just keep on working at it. More time, more energy, more ideas- all gets poured into it including some from my pocket to keep the site running.

So, while I have few more guest posts to write and more things to do- I hope things will turn normal, boring and in schedule very soon.

Here are some of the reads to keep you busy till then:

• top 15 system thinking books
• Women PM's- less pay and more maternity pay 
• debugging fun
• Adventures