Tuesday, April 20, 2010

The Secrets to Successful Risk Reporting

[Editor's note & full disclosure: Method123 Ltd. has provided EGO blog with some free MPMM software licenses. Please write a comment below on why you want to receive this giveaway and I will announce a winner on May 1, 2010. UPDATE 05/03/10: I will announce the winner on my 8th blogiversary on May 7. UPDATE 05/10/10: The first published comment will be the winner of this giweaway.]

What is risk reporting and what is its importance to the success of a project? Risk reporting is basically a phase in the project management cycle wherein risks are predicted and then properly communicating it to the members of the team as to determine what the best ways are to handle or fix the problem. This is constantly done throughout the entire project life cycle to regularly keep in check and manage the risks, costs and resources. It is also an avenue for project leaders and its team to summarize the risks encountered and the progresses made in managing the risks. This type of reporting is very important to a project as this would help curb any severe setbacks that may deter the success of the project. To have your people report the risks would assist the project manager tin recognizing which tasks in the project need attention, so that he or she may create a contingency plan in a way that would control the threat without affecting the project’s resources.

How does one succeed in risk reporting? First and foremost, a project manager should delegate a risk officer in every division who will take on the responsibility in reporting any problems that may surmise. The risk officer should have the ability to discern what to report especially if the risk is very sensitive. Bring into play project management software or risk reporting software that would provide you with an area to easily record the risks and then helps in analyzing each one of them. It will allow you to prioritize what tasks needs to be done first to minimize the risks and what can be easily completed. You may also make use of a Gantt chart which basically graphs the project schedule, showing the breakdown, hierarchy and sequential dependencies of each task. It provides you with a general idea of what is important, what tasks are needed to be done to go on to the next task. Risks can be predicted through the chart as progression is recorded and once a project manager sees any delay in schedule, he or she can appropriately plan how to fix it.

Project planning software that offers risk management would also help in allocating your resources properly in accordance to the needs of the project. It helps in balancing the costs as well as the probability of a risk. It provides you with risk possibilities and potential costs and how they may occur, helping you decide what next step to take giving priority to more important and precarious factors. Doing this manually may prove to be more dangerous especially for larger accounts. It is best to use a project planning software that would give you the best solution in managing risks. Project tracking software is also another solution that should be considered. This kind of software will ultimately track the progress of your project, providing you with a comprehensive analysis of the development of the project, if it’s in agreement to the goals and objectives and if costs, schedule and resources are followed.

Jason Westland has been a project manager for the past 15 years. He has recently published a new book called “A Project Management Life Cycle” and owns his own project management software company. If you would like to find out more about Project management templates visit his website at Method123.com

Sunday, April 18, 2010

PUTTING THINGS OFF

I am struggling with my spring cleaning. I have now archived all my email messages in order to start from scratch with an empty inbox.



Next step is to take care of my in-basket. I will get inspiration and energy from reading Nick Cernis's post, The Importance of Abandoning Crap and his e-book, Todoodlist. [Editor's note & full disclosure: This is an affiliate link.]


I have added "Put Things Off" application on my iPhone.

CULTIVATION

I studied organizational leadership at Southern New Hampshire University and this is an area I want to explore more in the future. I am planning to interview business leaders in my new series of podcasts on Blog Talk Radio.

Listen to Jim Blasingame's interview (What are the attributes of a cultivational leader?) with Charlie Fewell.

Talking about cultivation, please go to my other blog and read my post, NEW CHILE PEPPER AND PAPRIKA SEASON.

Chile Pepper

Related: Mary Grace Ignacio's post, The Law of Seed in Social Media Marketing and my post, PRINCIPLES OF ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR.

Saturday, April 17, 2010

DRINK PHILOSOPHY

Citrus Margarita is dedicated to Jennifer Iannolo of Food Philosophy.

Margarita Ingredients

5 cl (1.69 fl oz) juice from a lime fruit.
8 cl (2.71 fl oz) Tequila. [Editor's note: I this case, Sauza Gold Tequila.]
4 cl (1.35 fl oz) Cointreau.
8 cl (2.71 fl oz) Schweppes Lemon Fusion.
4 cl (1.35 fl oz) orange / blood grapefruit juice.
2 cl (0.68 fl oz) Rose's Lime Cordial Mix.
Ice cubes

Citrus Margarita

Do you have a drink recipe you want to share?

Friday, April 16, 2010

NEW MOBILE COMMUNICATION ALTERNATIVES

I have been adding new applications on my iPhone. It is interesting to see how a specialized browser for the mobile market, like Opera, is getting downloaded a million times in 24 hours! For more on the mobile market, read Lisa Barone's post, 4 Questions To Ask Of Your Mobile Site.

Here are three examples of mobile applications that could change the way we communicate in the future.

You could now use Skype mobile on a Verizon wireless smartphone. Here is an excerpt from John C Abell's post, Verizon + Skype Not Mobile VoIP Nirvana, But Closer:

The integration of Skype mobile does give Verizon one huge advantage — you can now receive internet calls spontaneously on a standard handset — but it falls far short of an implementation that would unleash the full power of Skype on a mobile device.

And it isn’t really internet telephony at all: Skype calls are routed through Verizon’s network, you can’t receive calls placed to your online numbers, you can’t use Skype (and its cheaper calling plans) to place calls to other telephones. Skype on Verizon doesn’t even work under Wi-Fi, where Skype sort of lives.

Still, it’s a bold maneuver by Verizon that would seem to benefit the original internet telephony upstart even more. Exposing people to the idea that you can use the internet to make and receive free and dirt-cheap phone calls — that you don’t need expensive calling plans and contracts — could be madness. Or, it could be a brilliant way of managing an inevitable shift that eluded other industries to their peril. In a way, this is just a continuation of the trajectory that saw telcos tack hard to wireless when it was clear the landline business was cratering. (Wired, 03/31/10.)

A new-generation mobile service called Nimbuzz. With this application, you could make mobile calls, do instant messaging, and communicate on different social networkings. From Andi's post, Trends and predictions – Worldwide smartphone application market:

Just a week ago we talked about VoIP in 2013: trends and predictions and how mobile VoIP users will be reach 288 million by the end of 2013. Today we come back with another interesting story about mobile world: trends and prediction in worldwide smart phone application market. (Nimbuzz Blog, 03/18/10.)

A network of communication and collaboration tools called GreenWin (formerly Sqip Com). [Editor's note & full disclosure: This is a referral link. It's free to sign up for the service.] For a background, listen to Nick Hetcher's interview (March 2009) with Christian Fortune, CEO and co-founder of GreenWin (Sqip), and then check out the latest webinar (04/14/10) with Christian Fortune.

Have you found some new communication tools lately? Do you think that these new applications will change how we work and interact during our spare time?

Related: My post, EGO IS NOW MOBILE FRIENDLY.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

VALUE-ADDED TAX

Washington, DC "Taxation Without Represen...Image via Wikipedia
It could be a good idea to discuss the future tax situation on a day like this...

I have listened to Jim Blasingame's interview (Is a VAT tax in the future for the United States?) with Brian M. Carney and I plan to listen to the following podcasts in the near future:


In the news: U.S. Consumption Tax Is Tempting VAT of Poison by Caroline Baum.

Congratulations! You’ve just finished working for the government. April 9 was Tax Freedom Day, the day on which Americans have earned enough to pay their federal, state and local taxes, as calculated by the Tax Foundation, a non-partisan tax research group in Washington.

Enjoy it while it lasts. As Americans awake to the 2009 tax-filing deadline today, they can look forward to working longer and harder for the government in the future -- at least the dwindling share that pays individual income taxes.

Enter the VAT, or value-added tax, a whole new source of revenue for the government. The VAT, a fixture in Europe for decades, is a broad-based consumption tax levied at each stage of production on the “value added,” as the name implies. (Business Week, 04/15/10.)


From my post, QUIPTOON FOR TAX DAY (4/11/09):


John Cox Art.

"We contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle." -- Winston Churchill. (QuoteDB.com)


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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

BENEVOLENT SOCIAL MEDIA UNIVERSE

Do you want to see an example of the Benevolent Universe Premise in action?

Jennifer Iannolo's (@foodphilosophy) message on Twitter:

Sometimes when bad things happen, a hero like @shlevy steps in. I am so incredibly honored by this post. Thank you. http://bit.ly/bpOW6c (04/13/10)

From  Shea Levy's post, A Truly Worthy Cause:

Through her tweets at @foodphilosophy, her blog posts at Food Philosophy, her work with the Culinary Media Network, and her efforts to make Sex On a Plate revolutionize the way we experience food, Jennifer is an inspiration and an amazing example of a woman who loves life on a visceral, emotional, and intellectual level and who works to make life even better. Unfortunately, her apartment was broken into recently and, among other things, her laptop was stolen. If ever there was a person who deserved assistance in facing a crisis that occurred through no fault of her own, it's Jenn. Whether you want to consider it a payment for her past work or an investment to allow her to continue producing amazing things, please consider donating to the fund I've set up to help her replace her laptop. The donation is through Paypal, and you can get to the donation page by clicking this link, clicking the button below, or clicking the button on the sidebar. (Cogito's Thoughts, 04/12/10.)

Click on the Donate button (powered by PayPal):











If you want to support her work, buy her & Mark Tafoya's book, The Gilded Fork - Entertaining At Home: A Year of Dinner Parties.

I want to create a "sassfully delicious" drink for Jennifer Iannolo... Do you have any suggestions? Maybe I should make a Margarita with a twist?

Related: My post, FOOD TRIP.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

SPRING CLEANING

It is time to spring forward, jumping on the springboard and start getting busy with spring cleaning... I have as a goal to get everything in the right buckets and to have a clean working space within four weeks.
On May 7 is my 8th blogiversary and time for the annual blog report.

Morris in the washing-up sink
Morris will help me with the cleaning!

I have had my iPhone for about a month now and I am slowly getting used to it. I see it more as a multi-tool than a regular mobile phone. [Editor's note: Do you use MobileMe? I got a free trial for 60 days. I am not sure that I will continue with this service.]

I have to take some time and explore iTunes and update the iPhone to the 3.1.3 software version, so I could use Tod's iPhone application called Goal Meter.


In order to get back on track with my workflow, I really have to take time for my weekly review. I recently joined the "OProducers @ OList.com" and I look forward to get tips and suggestions on worklife productivity.

I have to take care of my email inbox in the near future. I look forward to read Merlin Mann's forthcoming book, Inbox Zero. Have you read Inbox Detox by Marsha Egan?


I have "lent" time for introspection and I have to invest more time on this in the future. I will sit down and draw a mind map. I will get inspiration by reading Unfolding the Napkin: The Hands-On Method for Solving Complex Problems with Simple Pictures by Dan Roam.

Do you want to see a sign of the spring season? Check out my post, SARIT GAT, on my other blog...


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Friday, April 2, 2010

T.G.I.L.F

From my post, T.G.I.F:

In the Swedish calendar, Good Friday is called "Long Friday." I think that the word long is more suitable than good. It's nothing good with this Friday at all. But luckily the secularization has emerged and the market forces have taken over, so nowadays you could conduct some business, eat at a restaurant, go to the movies, et cetera. I have learned that people from an older generation had a hard time to come up with something fun to do during this day. This day was totally "dead" (if you don't mind the pun) and the only thing you could do was to sit at home and wait for the next day to come. (EGO, 04/09/04.)

TGILF
Morris is taking a nap and I am watching Lasse Hallstrom's movie, Chocolat.

Check out Friday Ark #289 at The Modulator.