At work, I am the relationship manager to our client for Business IT alignment. Sometimes, it is quite difficult to deal with my client. They have this tendancy reqiure ample testing time to do any change to their system. And they do not accept last minute changes that are needed to accomodate even the most significant of projects. I find it difficult to have to deal with this client. Hopefully when I take my negotiation course in September I will learn some useful tips to dealing with my client.
Lessons Learned from Last Stand of 300 – History Channel
July 5th, 2010 Leave your comment »What a great production. The Last Stand of 300 by the History Channel is an amazing DVD to watch. I highly recommend viewing it if you like history and learning some key lessons about politics.
Key Takeaways
- Sometimes in life you need to lie in order to influence things for the greater good
- The origin of the term Marathon is based on the victory of the Athenians over the Persians in the city of Marathon
- Timing of Attack is the Key in Military Strategy and in Life
- Choosing the Terrain is also a Key in Military Strategy and in Life
Sometimes in life you need to lie in order to influence things for the greater good
The Secret of Working Out and Distracting the Mind with TED.com
January 27th, 2010 1 Comment »
BodyBreak Elliptical Machine
I haven’t blogged in a while. This is mainly because I have been busy with finishing up last term’s final exams, course selections and starting this term’s courses. Well, over the holidays I purchased an elliptical machine. Its a good one from BodyBreak with Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod. I bought it at Walmart for a great deal. Here is a picture of it.
The first few days I used the machines were great. It was new. I worked out for about 10 to 15 minutes each session.
After a few weeks, something changed. I situated the machine in my unfishinished basement. Although I was quite excited about working out each time I found that I soon ran out of the willpower to go down there and do my workouts.
There’s a secret trick. I learned about it from pure experience.
During my workouts, there was very little to entertain me. As soon as I started working out I set the timer for 15 minutes and started my workout. Even though its not a really strenuous excerice I found myself quickly getting BORED with the workout. I didn’t have a TV downstairs to watch TV while I worked out. Nor did I have an IPOD to listen to music as I worked out on the machine. I didn’t really have a problem keeping up with the pace of the workout. I just realized I started getting really bored after I started the workout and could not wait to go back upstairs.
Just when I thought I had wasted a few hundred bucks on yet another piece of excercise equipment, I decided to try something new. I decided to bring my laptop down to the basement to watch TED videos as I worked out.
For those of you who have not watched TED (http://www.ted.com) videos you will definitely want to check it out. Its a really inspirational source of really great videos from the best speakers in the world. Each video on the site ranges from about 10 minutes to 30 minutes. This coincides perfectly with my workout requirements. Working out approximately 30 minutes is perfect.
If you find yourself lacking the interest in working out in your own home gym, try bringing your laptop with you so you can watch TED videos while you are working out. I assure you it will keep you on your elliptical or treadmill or stationary bike working out form much longer than if you were to just rely on your willpower to workout for the duration of your desired objective. Do yourself a favour. Bring something like your computer with you to distract your mind during your workout. I guarantee you will find yourself working out for far longer.
Key Takeaway
The bottom line is this. Position yourself for success when you workout at home. Create a conducive environmment for yourself to workout (just like at the gym). Bring your computer laptop with you to your treadmill, elliptical or stationary bike so you can watch really inspirational videos from www.ted.com or www.youtube.com
I am sure if you try this you will find yourself working out longer than if you had just relied on your willpower for each of your workouts.
So what happened to me? Well, prior to watching TED videos at ted.com, my workouts typically lasted between 10 to 15 minutes. Now, after I introduced the TED.com viewing while I work out I find myself working out for at least 45 minutes on average. This is a noticable improvement. Hopefully it will work for you too!
How to fold a hankerchief? A lesson on etiquette
January 1st, 2010 Leave your comment »I recently attended a wedding that required formal attire. Aside from the usual suit I had actually received a box of hankerchiefs (made by Nautica) as a birthday present. Well, I found that somewhat amusing because I didn’t really know how to fold one.
After some research I finally discovered a great tutorial on how to fold a hankerchief by Hazely Lopez of the Hazely Academy of Refinement and Modeling. If you don’t actually know how to fold a hankerchief you might find this useful. I prefer the second approach (the Puff Fold) which is the simplest.
Project Management Best Practice Tips – Planning the Project
October 22nd, 2009 Leave your comment »Tonight’s lecture with the professor was interesting. We learned about the actual planning process that typically takes place on projects. This is essentially the core of Project Management. Here are my key takeaways:
Key Takeaways:
1. Don’t confuse Technical Requirements vs. Deliverables
2. Do WBS starting from Deliverable and then go down to the Subdeliverables and Tasks
3. Choose the communication plan carefully to keep your stakeholders informed of the project
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1. Don’t confuse Technical Requirements vs. Deliveables
Deliverables are the major components not the minute specs. Rookie Project Managers typically make the mistake of treating the intricate details and specifications of the projects as deliverables. This is problematic because it makes the rest of the planning process more difficult and confusing because it gets too granular up front especially when you do the WBS (see bleow). Technical Requirements are the low level detailed requirements and should not be confused with the overall deliverables of the project. Otherwise, you’ll have a bunch of detailed requirements and no clear concept of the deliverables which makes talking to the client difficult as well as planning the work required.
2. Do WBS starting from Deliverable and then go down to the Subdeliverables and Tasks
When you do a WBS (Work Breakdown Structure), make sure to do it from Deliverables (a noun) and go down to the Subdeliverables and then further down until you reach the Tasks (a verb). Don’t jump into tasks when you are trying to identify the work. Its crucial to start with Deliverables and Subdeliverables and tasks (eg. Venue, People, Activities). Everything will eventually lead to a task at the bottom.
3. Use a Dependency Map to keep key parties informed throughout project via Communication Plan
Project Managers need to carefully choose what is the communication plan with key stakeholders in the Project.
What is to be communicated – need to cater what you want to communicate to each group of stakeholders.
When it is communicated – need to determine an optimal frequency of communication for each group
How will the communication be sent - Will it be email? A Report? Hardcopy? Need to define this.
Who will receive the communication (this is derived through the Project Dependency Map) . As well, you need to determine who will execute the communication on the agreed upon schedule.
Overall, these are some of the key best practices when engaging in the planning process of a project.
Photo by vonTom
