LiquidPlanner: Move over Microsoft Project?

I’ve been holding off writing a review of LiquidPlanner, a project management tool that is destined for greatness.  The reason is that, although they had already implemented a paradigm shifting solution, it had a flaw that I just couldn’t get past:  No dependencies between tasks.

I’ve been saying for years that project planning and management tools needed a top-down rethink, and the LiquidPlanner team has done just that.  The rest of their solution addresses my wish list very well, but, when I came to creating a plan, I couldn’t do it with just priorities; no matter how hard I tried, dependencies between different people’s tasks seemed necessary.  So I had a teleconference with them a month ago (mostly to find out where I was wrong – they seemed to be so innovative), and discovered that they were ‘coming soon’.  In fairness, their tool is still in ‘beta’.

So I’m delighted that, today, I received a notification that they have been implemented, and I now think that it’s probably the best tool out there!  Now that dependencies are implemented, I’m going to use the tool ‘in anger’ and see how it performs – I’ll post a review when I can make an authoritative comment.

Let me know what you think!

— Philip Greenwood

Tags: Project+management+tool, LiquidPlanner

LiquidPlanner: Move over Microsoft Project?

I’ve been holding off writing a review of LiquidPlanner, a project management tool that is destined for greatness.  The reason is that, although they had already implemented a paradigm shifting solution, it had a flaw that I just couldn’t get past:  No dependencies between tasks.

I’ve been saying for years that project planning and management tools needed a top-down rethink, and the LiquidPlanner team has done just that.  The rest of their solution addresses my wish list very well, but, when I came to creating a plan, I couldn’t do it with just priorities; no matter how hard I tried, dependencies between different people’s tasks seemed necessary.  So I had a teleconference with them a month ago (mostly to find out where I was wrong – they seemed to be so innovative), and discovered that they were ‘coming soon’.  In fairness, their tool is still in ‘beta’.

So I’m delighted that, today, I received a notification that they have been implemented, and I now think that it’s probably the best tool out there!  Now that dependencies are implemented, I’m going to use the tool ‘in anger’ and see how it performs – I’ll post a review when I can make an authoritative comment.

Let me know what you think!

— Philip Greenwood

Tags: Project+management+tool, LiquidPlanner

Shift Happens - revisited, with sources

My last blog post was a video titled “Shift Happens”, and I asked for feedback about the sources –  many thanks to everybody for their responses.  It turns out that the video was updated in June 07 (see below), and comes from a group of US based educators, Kark Fisch and Scott McLeod.  I’ve attached their list of sources below.  There’s also a wiki where you can join the debate at Shift Happens. 

 

Slide	Source
In the next 8 seconds 34 babies . . .	Web search on population, then did the math.
Name this country . . .	Angus King Presentation - http://web.mac.com/northeastleadership/iWeb/Angus_King/Podcast/A19C541A-7E2C-4BB3-A581-63EA068369CE.html
2006 College Graduates, college graduates in India that speak English.	Geoffrey Calvin, Fortune Magazine, July 25,2005 http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/07/25/8266603/index.htm
China #1 English Speaking Country	Somebody at the Milken Conference – reported at http://weblogg-ed.com/2006/more-musings-from-milken/
U.S. Department of Labor Statistics	Originally from Ian Jukes - http://web.mac.com/iajukes/iWeb/thecommittedsardine/Handouts_files/fgtgtg.pdf Also: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/nlsoy.pdf and ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/news.release/History/tenure.09212004.news
College Majors	New College Majors: U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration. http://www.doleta.gov/BRG/Indprof/biotech_profile.cfm (New media: washingtonpost.com, February 23, 2005)
10,000 hours of video games	Interactive Videogames, Mediascope, June 1996.
10,000 hours on phones, 20,000 hours of TV, 250,000 emails/IMs	Mark Prensky, Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, 2001.
U.S. 4-year-olds	Kaiser Family Foundation Report, 2003, http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/uploaded_files/102803_kff_kids_press.pdf
Years to Market Audience	http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/briefing/technology/tech.pdf
Number of Internet Devices	http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/
Text Messages	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_message_service
1 of 8 Couples Met Online	Fortune Magazine 8-7-2006 - http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/08/07/8382578/index.htm Quotes Diana Farrell, head of the McKinsey Global Institute
eBay Revenue	http://finance.google.com/finance?q=EBAY&client=news
Google Searches	Web search (of course!) - http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2156461
MySpace	http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?url=myspace.com
YouTube	http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?url=youtube.com
Words in English Language	Originally from Ian Jukes - http://web.mac.com/iajukes/iWeb/thecommittedsardine/Handouts_files/fgtgtg.pdf   Lots on the web, many indicating more than 540,000 – including Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language
3,000 Books	Originally from Ian Jukes - http://web.mac.com/iajukes/iWeb/thecommittedsardine/Handouts_files/fgtgtg.pdf   Lots on the web including http://www.princetoninfo.com/200405/40512c03.html
Technical Info Doubling	Ian Jukes - http://web.mac.com/iajukes/iWeb/thecommittedsardine/Handouts_files/fgtgtg.pdf Cites George Gilder - http://www.amazon.com/Telecosm-World-After-Bandwidth-Abundance/dp/0743205472/sr=1-2/qid=1172692403/ref=sr_1_2/002-0116902-0249611?ie=UTF8&s=bookshttp://www.amazon.com/Telecosm-World-After-Bandwidth-Abundance/dp/0743205472/sr=1-2/qid=1172692403/ref=sr_1_2/002-0116902-0249611?ie=UTF8&s=books
Fiber Optics	Ian Jukes - http://web.mac.com/iajukes/iWeb/thecommittedsardine/Handouts_files/fgtgtg.pdf   Some from George Gilder, some from Ray Kurzweil, some from ?
Children in Developing Countries	http://www.laptop.org/
OLPC	http://www.laptop.org/
Computers and Humans	Ray Kurzweil book - The Singularity is Near - http://singularity.com/ Also http://www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0134.html?printable=1
Students Collaborating	Specifically references the Horizon 2007 Project - http://horizonproject.wikispaces.com/ but of course there are many examples of this.
Over 5 Millions Conversations	See this post - http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/03/over-two-million-served.html - for an earlier count, then revisited some of those sites for updated counts.

— Philip Greenwood

 

Tags: Strategic+Information

Shift Happens - revisited, with sources

My last blog post was a video titled “Shift Happens”, and I asked for feedback about the sources –  many thanks to everybody for their responses.  It turns out that the video was updated in June 07 (see below), and comes from a group of US based educators, Kark Fisch and Scott McLeod.  I’ve attached their list of sources below.  There’s also a wiki where you can join the debate at Shift Happens. 

 

Slide	Source
In the next 8 seconds 34 babies . . .	Web search on population, then did the math.
Name this country . . .	Angus King Presentation - http://web.mac.com/northeastleadership/iWeb/Angus_King/Podcast/A19C541A-7E2C-4BB3-A581-63EA068369CE.html
2006 College Graduates, college graduates in India that speak English.	Geoffrey Calvin, Fortune Magazine, July 25,2005 http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2005/07/25/8266603/index.htm
China #1 English Speaking Country	Somebody at the Milken Conference – reported at http://weblogg-ed.com/2006/more-musings-from-milken/
U.S. Department of Labor Statistics	Originally from Ian Jukes - http://web.mac.com/iajukes/iWeb/thecommittedsardine/Handouts_files/fgtgtg.pdf Also: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/nlsoy.pdf and ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/news.release/History/tenure.09212004.news
College Majors	New College Majors: U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration. http://www.doleta.gov/BRG/Indprof/biotech_profile.cfm (New media: washingtonpost.com, February 23, 2005)
10,000 hours of video games	Interactive Videogames, Mediascope, June 1996.
10,000 hours on phones, 20,000 hours of TV, 250,000 emails/IMs	Mark Prensky, Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants, 2001.
U.S. 4-year-olds	Kaiser Family Foundation Report, 2003, http://www.kaisernetwork.org/health_cast/uploaded_files/102803_kff_kids_press.pdf
Years to Market Audience	http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/briefing/technology/tech.pdf
Number of Internet Devices	http://www.zakon.org/robert/internet/timeline/
Text Messages	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_message_service
1 of 8 Couples Met Online	Fortune Magazine 8-7-2006 - http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/08/07/8382578/index.htm Quotes Diana Farrell, head of the McKinsey Global Institute
eBay Revenue	http://finance.google.com/finance?q=EBAY&client=news
Google Searches	Web search (of course!) - http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2156461
MySpace	http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?url=myspace.com
YouTube	http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?url=youtube.com
Words in English Language	Originally from Ian Jukes - http://web.mac.com/iajukes/iWeb/thecommittedsardine/Handouts_files/fgtgtg.pdf   Lots on the web, many indicating more than 540,000 – including Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language
3,000 Books	Originally from Ian Jukes - http://web.mac.com/iajukes/iWeb/thecommittedsardine/Handouts_files/fgtgtg.pdf   Lots on the web including http://www.princetoninfo.com/200405/40512c03.html
Technical Info Doubling	Ian Jukes - http://web.mac.com/iajukes/iWeb/thecommittedsardine/Handouts_files/fgtgtg.pdf Cites George Gilder - http://www.amazon.com/Telecosm-World-After-Bandwidth-Abundance/dp/0743205472/sr=1-2/qid=1172692403/ref=sr_1_2/002-0116902-0249611?ie=UTF8&s=bookshttp://www.amazon.com/Telecosm-World-After-Bandwidth-Abundance/dp/0743205472/sr=1-2/qid=1172692403/ref=sr_1_2/002-0116902-0249611?ie=UTF8&s=books
Fiber Optics	Ian Jukes - http://web.mac.com/iajukes/iWeb/thecommittedsardine/Handouts_files/fgtgtg.pdf   Some from George Gilder, some from Ray Kurzweil, some from ?
Children in Developing Countries	http://www.laptop.org/
OLPC	http://www.laptop.org/
Computers and Humans	Ray Kurzweil book - The Singularity is Near - http://singularity.com/ Also http://www.kurzweilai.net/articles/art0134.html?printable=1
Students Collaborating	Specifically references the Horizon 2007 Project - http://horizonproject.wikispaces.com/ but of course there are many examples of this.
Over 5 Millions Conversations	See this post - http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2007/03/over-two-million-served.html - for an earlier count, then revisited some of those sites for updated counts.

— Philip Greenwood

 

Tags: Strategic+Information

Are you looking for an inspiring project?

Let’s say you’re a great Project Leader…you know how to do it!  You grok it!  And you’re asking yourself the question: “What shall I do next?”

You know it’s going to be big and you know it’s going to be important because it’s GOT to be inspiring. It’s got to be something that is worth you and your team spending your most precious and irreplaceable resource on (time)…

Well here a couple of sources of inspiration for you:

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

http://www.geni.org/

The Catherine Jones Foundation – A small project with huge Implications.

Do something meaningful to you, today! 

— Philip Greenwood

P.S. This IS my meaningful project.

Tags: Projects

Are you looking for an inspiring project?

Let’s say you’re a great Project Leader…you know how to do it!  You grok it!  And you’re asking yourself the question: “What shall I do next?”

You know it’s going to be big and you know it’s going to be important because it’s GOT to be inspiring. It’s got to be something that is worth you and your team spending your most precious and irreplaceable resource on (time)…

Well here a couple of sources of inspiration for you:

http://www.storyofstuff.com/

http://www.geni.org/

The Catherine Jones Foundation – A small project with huge Implications.

Do something meaningful to you, today! 

— Philip Greenwood

P.S. This IS my meaningful project.

Tags: Projects

Have you read it?

Have you read “7 Secrets of Project Leadership” yet?  It’s free, and you can get it at www.realprojectleadership.com !

— Philip Greenwood

Tags: 7+secrets, Project+Leadership

Have you read it?

Have you read “7 Secrets of Project Leadership” yet?  It’s free, and you can get it at www.realprojectleadership.com !

— Philip Greenwood

Tags: 7+secrets, Project+Leadership

Falling (back) in Love with the Future

I don’t know when I lost it, but I think I lost my way.  Somehow I lost my love of the future.  I became content to just be neophilic – to love the new.  If I was to put a date on it, I would say that some time in 2001, I stopped thinking about wonderful, possible, futures.

I was reading this free e-book: Life…what a concept!!!  Here’s the recipe:  Get a group of big-brained scientists who work at the leading edge of their diverse but related fields, put them on a farm retreat for a couple of days, give them license to speculate about the future, and publish the conversation.  It’s fascinating (and sometimes challenging) reading, and as I was reading it I realised I’d found my optimism again...welcome, old friend.

It’s published by Edge, and there’s much more on thier site to stimulate the grey matter.  Enjoy!

— Philip Greenwood

 

 

Tags: Life, Optimism, Future

Falling (back) in Love with the Future

I don’t know when I lost it, but I think I lost my way.  Somehow I lost my love of the future.  I became content to just be neophilic – to love the new.  If I was to put a date on it, I would say that some time in 2001, I stopped thinking about wonderful, possible, futures.

I was reading this free e-book: Life…what a concept!!!  Here’s the recipe:  Get a group of big-brained scientists who work at the leading edge of their diverse but related fields, put them on a farm retreat for a couple of days, give them license to speculate about the future, and publish the conversation.  It’s fascinating (and sometimes challenging) reading, and as I was reading it I realised I’d found my optimism again...welcome, old friend.

It’s published by Edge, and there’s much more on thier site to stimulate the grey matter.  Enjoy!

— Philip Greenwood

 

 

Tags: Life, Optimism, Future

On-line Project Management Tools

I recently started a question on LinkedIn:

On-line project management tools - what is the state of the industry?

There's been a recent serge in the on-line project management tools available, and web 2.0 seems to be making them more user friendly. I'd like to evaluate industry awareness, so without doing research, which on-line platforms do you know of?

Also, if you've experienced using them in earnest, which ones, and what was your experience?

I’d appreciate your responses posted on the LinkedIn site (though posting here will do fine too).

If you’re not a member of LinkedIn, why not join? It’s free – and I will accept your link to get you going.

— Philip Greenwood

P.S. Beaufortes (www.beaufortes.com) is NOT affiliated or sponsored by any supplier organisation. Please note your affiliations (if any) in your response.

Tags: Project+Management, Software, On-line, Tools

On-line Project Management Tools

I recently started a question on LinkedIn:

On-line project management tools - what is the state of the industry?

There's been a recent serge in the on-line project management tools available, and web 2.0 seems to be making them more user friendly. I'd like to evaluate industry awareness, so without doing research, which on-line platforms do you know of?

Also, if you've experienced using them in earnest, which ones, and what was your experience?

I’d appreciate your responses posted on the LinkedIn site (though posting here will do fine too).

If you’re not a member of LinkedIn, why not join? It’s free – and I will accept your link to get you going.

— Philip Greenwood

P.S. Beaufortes (www.beaufortes.com) is NOT affiliated or sponsored by any supplier organisation. Please note your affiliations (if any) in your response.

Tags: Project+Management, Software, On-line, Tools

Gantthead.com catches the 'Project Leadership' vibe

I’m not sure if the editors of Gantthead.com read this blog, but they seem to have gone all out today with four short articles on leadership in the project management space. (registration is necessary to read the articles)

Leadership-Powered Project Management – 5 good tips for leading projects, provides a subjective, and somewhat random view of tips about project leadership.

Now, a word from your sponsor - This article suggests that project leadership is specifically the role of the project sponsor with project management handled by the ….errh… well… project manager. It’s an interesting perspective, akin to the President / Chief of Staff model. But definitely underplays the value of “project leadership” skills in significantly enhancing the effectiveness of standard project management processes.

The importance of followship – A philosophical piece discussing ‘followship’, and the importance of the ‘vision’ over the ‘leader as a charismatic individual’. I’d definitely agree!

The Yin and Yang of Adaptive Leadership – Probably the best article of the bunch. Although I think that the term “adaptive” is superfluous, and somewhat proprietary. Michael Wood does a good job listing the symptoms of a project lacking leadership, and the behaviours associated with good project leadership.

It’s nice to see a group of articles addressing ‘project leadership’, even if there is a general fragmentation and confusion over what ‘leadership’ is or represents. Maybe the project management world is coming around to the idea that successful ‘project leadership’ really does represent the next evolution of how projects should be considered!

-Jason Bates

Tags: gantthead.com, Project+Leadership, PMP

Oi! You've been poking my friends...

I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Facebook is the new big thing in professional networking.  I signed up while researching an earlier blog piece, and I’ve started to receive friend requests at an increasing rate.  It blur's the line between the wildly successful social networking site MySpace, and the wildly successful (but oh! so frustrating) professional networking site, LinkedIn.

I think that the big difference between Friendster and LinkedIn is the inclusion of a photograph…it sounds trivial, but you get a totally different scale of reaction to finding the picture of a friend, than finding the name of a friend.

There is another huge reason:  Its underlying technology allows other companies to write applications, using Facebook as a platform.  For a detailed analysis of the pro’s and con’s of this approach, have a look at Marc Andreessen’s blog (He founded Netscape, so he knows a thing or two).

One of the quirky aspects of Facebook is the idea of “poking”.  Apparently you can just poke people, and then they are informed you’ve poked them.  And you can see your friend’s friend’s pictures.  I wonder if it’s safe.

— Philip Greenwood (Your Open-networking Project Leadership Friend)

Tags:  Facebook, Professional+Networking, Networking, LinkedIn, Social+Networking

How to Add Impact to your Presentation

Avoid Powerpoint…

The Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation.

I particularly liked the inclusion of the speaker notes on the last page.

My thanks to David Gurteen for pointing this out.

— Philip Greenwood

Tags:  Gettysbury+Address, Powerpoint, Presentation, Abraham+Lincoln