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The NewGrange Center for Project Management is a non-profit, all
volunteer organization, dedicated to the principle of building a community
of practice among project managers.
We
want to get to the heart of how to do our job by defining what really works
and why.
The backbone of our organization is our
5 minute email list. From the topic of how we develop a project
communication plan, to defining the best reward structure, all the way
through the right way to conduct a project post mortem review we either
learn something new or encounter problems we could use help on every day.
Our assumption was that if we simply took five minutes and wrote a
quick email making note of what we’d learned or our latest problem that we
would over time develop a database that addressed the complete issue of how
we should do our job.
Probably the biggest benefit that’s occurred
from the 5 minute email list is the advice and mentoring that takes place
with some of the newer members of our profession.
The demographics of the active participants seems to be roughly half
have over 20 years experience in the field and the other half have under
five. The difference between
the discussions that take place at NewGrange and some of the other Project
management lists tends to be the depth at which things are discussed.
People are willing to put a lot of time and effort into their
responses. A recent exchange we
had on how best to communicate with the project team was detailed enough to
be considered a mini course in communications.
An example of the type of question
and answer we get is the following;
Question: I need help.
I have a new technical lead who is new to Project Management.
I have explained Milestones and Critical Path as well as I could, but
I am not sure I was understood. Can
you help me by defining these terms?
I
hoping another person might be able to phrase it better than I can.
Thanks!!!
Answer: “One concept
of communications is that if the listener does not understand you, you switch
to their language.
Skip the
technical definitions, a milestone is clearly a small block of granite that
towns placed along the roads to help travelers know how far they
had come and how far they had yet to go.
They mark these stones with the
"Miles"
to or from some objective.
Now, when YOU set
a milestone, your doing no more nor less than the town did.
Critical path is
harder because it is not a term that evolved on its own, it was defined by a
wonk at DuPont. In fact very few
PM's actually understand Critical Path and not one in 100 can explain the
impertinent difference between CPM and PERT.
The better term
is limiting factor and the best term was Gantt's "tether." To explain 'tether" take a board and fasten six or ten
ropes to it, then tell your employee you will evaluate him/her on how far
he/she can move the board. They
quickly find that the board is 'tethered" or "Limited" by one
rope. From this point it is easy
to explain the role of such tethers, their effect on progress, their effect on
the "slack" ropes, and various ways to deal with it.
One can move from
there to the TQM imagery of the rapids - first start with a smooth flowing
stream, then lower the water and ask why there are suddenly rapids. Ask how one generally prevents the rapids (with slack or
inventory) and whether this is a good way.
Show how it is impossible to find the rocks analytically, only
empirically and only if no system is working to hide them.
Use Imagery when
tech-talk fails
Our Knowledge Repository.
This is a growing area where we're compiling links, Member articles, and
selected excerpts from our email list. Over time we hope this will
serve as the source for a number of recommendations and publications on the
NewGrange view of Best Practices in Project Management.
The
Research Zone
- Our home for wayward Masters and PHD candidates. A number of our members are academics or graduate students.
NewGrange provides a wonderful opportunity for reaching project
managers around the globe and selfishly we feel that input from our members
will improve the quality of work that's being done in academia by grounding
it firmly in reality.
In summary to borrow an old phrase from Avis
"We're number two, so we try harder."
NewGrange is young, brash, and personal.
If you're looking for a place to make a difference, to have an impact
and to make a contribution to your professional community we think that
NewGrange is where the action is.
Hope
to hear from you soon
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