Numeracy Skills are Undervalued
I believe that the most important attribute for any business person to possess is great communication skills. However, this is followed closely by numeracy skills. Numeracy is defined as “the ability to use numbers, especially in arithmetical operations”. Communication and numeracy skills are very different in that there is a very broad range of communications skills but with numeracy, it has been my experience that you are either strong in this area or you aren’t. Here’s an...
Read MoreBill Walsh and Projects
I’m a big fan of many sports. I don’t watch them on TV as much as I used to but I love big sports events, whether they be team events like the Super Bowl or the Stanley Cup play-offs, or major tournaments like the Masters, Wimbledon, etc. The people involved in sports at the highest level are a constant source of interest to me. While there have been many personalities who have changed the game they were involved with, one of my favourites is Bill Walsh. Bill Walsh came to fame as...
Read MoreAgile and Common Sense
Agile is hard. Agile is mistaken for a silver bullet. This is a great blog post. There is a fair degree of common sense in both these statements. I love common sense. I love it even more when it gets applied to the process of software development in companies. As a PM who made his PM bones using predominantly (but not exclusively) PMBOK-based methodologies, Agile-based approaches worry me only in that they appear to be driven more as a reaction to negative experiences with existing software...
Read MoreThe Struggle
“It is only in his work that an artist can find reality and satisfaction, for the actual world is less intense than the world of his own invention and consequently his life, without recourse to violent disorder, does not seem very substantial. The right condition for him is that in which his work is not only convenient but unavoidable.” Tennessee Williams, the American playwright, wrote this in a piece entitled A Streetcar Named Success, published in the New York Times on Nov. 30,...
Read MoreLean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit
This book was written by a husband and wife team who have extensive experience in software development as well as a host of other industries that have been touched by the lean movement. It is an excellent read. The authors are not shy about expressing their disappointment in how strong the Project Management Institute’s influence has grown over how software development projects are planned and managed. The book outlines 7 principles derived from lean methods. Among these are eliminate...
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