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How Distant Are You From Your Team Matters A Lot
You are a team leader at whatever level you may be. There would be multiple team designs falling under you in your organization chart. Some below the line would be directly reporting to you while the others would be reporting to your first line reportees . It matters a lot how far or close you are with your teams in terms of conveying your messages and building a culture.
Physical distances do not matter in case of maintaining a strong communication process or culture with your teams. Whatever you expect from your team can come possibly in two ways – one you keep telling them about and two, walk the talk. What they must do in the work environment, you must demonstrate them by involving them in certain activities even though they might have no role to play in during that particular activity. While demonstrating you can very easily assess who all are keenly observing and absorbing it for future purposes and who are just carefree and least bothered about it.
In fact the best way of teaching a lesson is only when you are able to teach the least attentive team member. Once the message is conveyed properly, you can be rest assured about your team behavior with customer and other stakeholders even if you are not in the picture. You need not police your team to understand their way of managing the things unless you are too strict in allowing your teams to provide them any flexibility or some of your team members are not matured enough for that matter.
Are You Nurturing Your Project Well
Nurturing of a plant, Upbringing of a teenage child and project management – all comprise of various issues, hiccups, bottlenecks, problems and troubles. All three above require a well-planned charter and its execution. The amount of fertilizer required for a plant cannot be altered in terms of quality. More fertilizer than required may incur harmful effects rather than enhancing its growth. Each child has a different set of combination of moods and in the same manner each project has its own unique experience in terms of initiation, execution, implementation and handover.
Plans, follow-ups, timelines, monitoring, alerts, escalations, meetings, alarms – usually go hand in hand along with the project lifecycle. These are not meant to pinpoint any team member's integrity but the strengthen project execution process. Basically the overall purpose is none other than timely and rightly execution of project and complete satisfaction of the customer. All the pains encountered during any project get nullified if the end result is welcomed by all stakeholders and all the objectives are met.
It is always a combination of good, efficient people; and well defined processes that build a strong team to make any project successful. As a norm if your well established processes have significantly been successful in terms of project completion; then any deviations from those processes; or for that sake, any shortcuts, would invite troubles that might not be visible apparently over the carpet in the beginning.
Never Let Lack Of Process Mar Your Efficiency
Sometimes lack of processes mar efficiency of people and establishes them as useless entities even though they do not fall in that category. On the other hand, no efficient manager would like to compromise with his performance due to lack of processes and in that case would fight for establishing them first. Time and money are two prime tools of a project that have the power of converting it into a win or loss.
Both the prime factors are interrelated too. More time consumption in a project will always call for more expenses and hence decrease in overall margins and profits. The moment project management team becomes capable of identifying time consuming activities and factors behind them; a process enhancement journey begins thereupon. More enhancements of processes mean much sharpening of your swords that are being used in the battle of project management.
The much sharpened sword you have in your hand in the battle, the higher are your chances of winning the match. The same applies in project management too.
3 Quick Questions From PMO
Project Management Office has to play three way role in the project. They have to ensure project timelines on one hand; interacting with customer on regular basis; and engaging all stakeholders throughout the project. If this synchronization does not undertaken by PMO, then probably there will be number of blasts during and after the project.
Three quick questions that come into mind in that regard are:
1. Is PMO active entity: PMO has to be active day in and day out during a project lifecycle, else wrong people would be driving the wrong train with wrong destination in mind. With so many wrongs, there are least chances of any project going to see the light of the day.
2. Does any top management member represent PMO: If PMO is not comprising of at least one of the top management member, probably it is going to get into trouble from all ends.
3. Is PMO driving the project: If it is not PMO that is driving the project, there are high chances of getting timelines getting skipped or delayed.
3 Quick Questions From QC Manager
A project is like a large container of apples having rotten ones among them but hidden well in between the good ones; if it is not QCed well. Quality has a major role to play in determining the health of any project/product and to ascertain when the product is in right condition so that it can be released to the customer.
Three qucik questions that come to my mind for a QC head/ team are as below:
1. Do you Get into the shoe of your customer: As a quality team, your prime role, while QCing the product is to get into the shoe of your customer. If you don't have that capability probably you might do a good quality check of look and feel but the lifeline of the product – its functionality; would get affected in a major way.
2. Are you Aware about the customer requirements: If you have gone through the customer requirements in detail; have clarified all your doubts cleared with the customer/ development team/ product and customer analysis team; it is very good. Otherwise you are hitting the goal in a total dark condition. You need to learn customer requirements well, complete in all aspects; get it into your blood, and then start analysis of the product built to cater to those requirements.
3. Are you engaged in the project right from begining: If you are partnering the project right from its inecption stage; it is great. Otherwise you have not checked all the compartments of the train but a sample testing.
3 Quick Questions From Project Manager
The quick questions that I wanted to post for a project manager who is managing a project come to my mind as below:
1. Do you own the project: Are you merely acting as a project manager without owning the project. If that is the case then probably you will have enough number of things not moving as per expecations in the project and on top of that you would have enought numbrer of excuses for them not getting closed in time.
2. Do you really love your job: If you have become a project manager not by choice and merely by chance then probably you are going to get in thick soup sooner of later unless you start loving your profile thereby taking project timelines passionately.
3. Are you Proactive enough: Do you have an ability to foresee any showstoppers that are going to misalign your project or derail your smoothly running project.
If you have an answer for these three questions, it is good, at least you care for your project. If your answers to these questions are affirmative, probably you are going to win the game; else be ready for a big disaster at any moment of time.
Ten Cs In A Macho Project Manager Part II
This article is in continuation from the previous one…
4. Clustering: You have different flowers in your garden. It depends on you how you carve them, mould them, arrange them, and cluster them to prepare the best of the bouquet in the world. Generating a feeling of pride in your team for working with you on a project is something that can fetch the best of results for you in any kind of testing conditions.
5. Cognizant: If you respect conscious of each of your team members, probably your will be the luckiest person on this earth to get everybody's respect from the bottom of their heart.
6. Common-sense: Apply common sense everywhere, in all aspects of your project, though it is not too common. The more you grow in life, the more you will need it. And it applies in reverse order too. The more you apply it in your work, the more chances you have to grow. Understand the nerve of customer in order to win over any kind of situation.
7. Commanding: You have to be demanding and commanding in order to get the best out of your teams and then give them the best in return.
8. Cameo: Remember that you are the hero for your team(s).
9. Cost Effective: You have to be cost effective if you want to increase profitability of your project. Walking the talk is the best way to achieve your mission.
10. Colourful: Wearing the same face expressions, presenting yourself in the same mood, talking to your team members in same manner all the time will make the journey dull and boring. Be vibrant.
Ten Cs In A Macho Project Manager Part I
Some people match with their job well. Some jobs match with the people who accept it. Doing something well is one thing, doing it in an extraordinary and simple manner is not everybody'd cup of tea. Very few project managers are there who vivaciously run the show with complete positive frame of mind with 360 degrees of integrity.
Ten Cs that can make any project manager a manager with an extra edge are as below:
1. Consistency: One time win cannot sustain a captain as captain. You have to have an urge to win all the time you get down on the field. You have to keep on achieving success not once but always. You can't sit on your laurels. Failures are unavoidable at times, but learning from failures and let it not repeat again is the mark of wise men. Never repeat a mistake. Making a mistake and learning from it makes you wise. Making the same mistake again proves you fool in front of others, unarguably.
2. Clarity: Clarity of business, clarity in mind, clarity about your product and clarity about customer is very important without which you just can't survive in the stream. If the picture is not clear to you, it can't be expected from your team members to have a better understanding and clarity.
3. Cognitive: Perception of success is as important as success itself. If you can't perceive success in advance, you won't strive for success. You must have a passion for winning and getting a smile on every face of your team.
Five Financial Constraints For Releasing Project Payments
Very few projects get cleared off in terms of timely payments. Mostly the reason is that payment terms are not clearly defined in the beginning of a project due to which there remains a scope of ambiguity or confusion. When the execution party thinks it is the right time it is not the same on the other side.
A situation of conflict, confusion and ambiguity can be overcome if following points are taken care of:
1. Clear cut Project Requirements and Scope: A clear scope and set of requirements can help in proper closure of project as and when the scope under target is completed and the requirements are met.
2. Well Defined milestones earmarked for part payments: usually complete payment of the project is divided in different parts. Each part is associated with some success factor of the project, termed as a milestone. A milestone is something distinctly recognizable and ensures that project has reached a substantial progress mark.
3. Business Goals: The purpose and goals of business justifying the purpose of going for the project must be very clear. The benefits anticipated from the deployment of the project might not be drawn immediately during the deployment but the visibility of those must be there in the picture, with clearly measurable means.
4. Payment Terms: Wherever payment terms are connected to subjective achievements. The achievements that are associated with different instalments of payment during the project must be very objective, measurable and demonstrable.
5. Management Satisfaction: Payments are released or put on hold basically on the directions of top management. Top management go by the words of other key members in the frontline or first level management. It is important to understand management goals clearly, define them black and white, and achieve them, before applying for the payment.
Black Spots Hide Well In Dark But Not In Project Task Chart
Project management is not a film development studio that requires complete dark for a good quality of film to take place. Project management can neither be treated as a long tunnel seeking light of the day. Project management has to happen in daylight, in open and with complete team participation.
So if project management is something that cannot be done in an isolated manner, it means that there need to be intelligent experts who are proactive enough to control any volcano or black hole in the making during project lifecycle. No mistakes, no errors and no separate missions in a project must be the sole goal of all members of project team. Immediate addressable process must be in place to identify any gaps, fill it appropriately and finding out the learning out of it.
Basically a project progress must be visible clearly from all angles to all its stakeholders. Every step movement in the project must be marked on the project status chart updated in all manners. The status of project should cover tasks in hand, tasks which should have been completed, tasks to be completed with timelines, tasks that crossed their deadlines and tasks seeking extra attending to get completed as per their targets set by the team.
Composition Of A Project Team
Any Project team would comprise of various level and expertise carrying people. Expertise is different to technical strength. There might be a non-technical project, for instance, but would require almost equivalent level of expertise as in otherwise. Depending on the nature of project, team composition is formed that initially need some fillers in terms of generating team sense, harmony, respect among each other in a newly started project.
With the help of fillers (which may be people as well as some intellectually designed exercises/ activities) any kind of gaps that start taking shape among team members, it can be ensured that those gaps vanish soon, are short-lived and do not form again. For any composition of project team there need to be a well identification of expertise of people forming the team besides having their functional expertise. Primarily there are three kind of people that govern and drive a project – Game Setters, Strategists and Warriors.
The number of people in Game Setters category would be very few. They would have a capability of delivering lot of ideas by saying just a few words. They don't really need to be visible physically, but ensure their presence is being felt throughout the project journey. They are generally trendsetters, leaders, mentors and self-believers.
Strategists are people larger in number and are strong in mind. They strategize winning tactics on the basis of the Game decided by Game Setters.
Warriors are the executioners. They are most front runners, visible, and seemingly the people who are doing most of the work.
Project Execution Management – A Key To Success
Project lifecycle consists of many stages. It starts from Project initiation phase. Although project initiation phase is the formal beginning of a project, actual project related initiations start well prior to that which gradually lead to this stage.
Though every stage of project management has a meaning and importance, it is the Execution Phase that if starts in time, goes well meeting all its milestones within stipulated timeframe and budgets, gets least of jolts and completes its journey successfully; adds a lot of value to overall project success. Every project execution is a new journey, and a new learning. Usually if an already faced issues in any other project, repeats in the current project, it is easy to overcome it, due to already gained learning. But more important is how you manage a first time faced problem.
A well-defined process to face a new problem, document the learning out of it, and making it a repository for other teams to refer to is always helpful. Some kind of benchmarking is important in setting targets for a complete lifecycle of new and old problems, as and when they arise in any ongoing project, plays an important role in PEM (Project Execution Management).
Tackling an existing problem does not ensure that there will be no further issues in the project. Problems come and go, but need to be addressed in a better manner every time as compared to its earlier occurrence if it is a repeated problem. Logically frequent occurring of repeated problems in a project lifecycle if not at all a good sign for any kind of project.
Do You Really Love Project Management
There are various means of understanding your level of comfort in project management. You might have done good in managing a single project well in time and budget. You might have managed multiple projects in your career but one at a time. So far so good! But are you good and comfortable in managing multiple projects at the same time running at different pace and different stages.
Are you comfortable in the midst of your triangle where you have your management, your customer and your team at the three corners of the triangle? Imagine yourself tied with elastic strings and the three corners having the control of those strings, your most successful factor lies in not letting your balance go off at any moment of time, and not let any string break off, at the same time.
Balancing is a very important aspect in project management. You need to be a juggler while managing a project or a number of projects.
Ten Areas Where Project Management Is Nothing Without Quality
Project Management itself is a matter of quality. If the methodology is not quality prone, it is going to result into mishaps time to time. Yes, one way of getting 100% success in your projects is simply not to have any targets in sight. Let it go as it tends to go, without putting any extra expectations in it. Otherwise if you are part of current economic crisis hovering around the world; then you must be having tight budgets and timelines to complete your targets and hence you need to inculcate high level of quality levels in managing your projects.
Five areas where you really need to have quality could be:
1. Customer Dealing: If you know how to identify your prospective customer, covert the deal into a long term customer, then you are a winner.
2. Product Range: If you have quality product in your pocket, your efforts are decreased in getting instant nod from your customer to sign a deal.
3. Customer Requirements: You must understand what customer expectations are when the deal is being signed. Customer might not able to tell you all, but you have to have your quality measures to understand its needs.
4. Team Building: There need to be an appropriate team that faces the customer. Each team members must understand the customized manner in which a customer needs to be managed.
5. Product Sizing: Customer might have agreed for a sample product of different size but his actual needs might not fit well in this size. You need to understand the right size of product (be it a service) that will cater to all needs of the customer.
Why Project Management Carries So Much Hype
Is it that project management is denounced so often; it has become a hyped or rather an overhyped subject in the market. Does it require so many consultants, so much matter and so many companies working to correct your ways of managing projects. As a matter of fact, are those consultants, portals and companies working towards improving your project management style, they having a great level of management of their own projects?
There are two ways of learning and specializing in any field of life and profession. One is to take up any challenges and then learn by means of facing them. Second way is to learn from some experts beforehand jumping into a special task. Former would be a painful process and would also be quite time consuming.
But if everything goes well, it is the first way listed above that will produce the gem of an expert. Second way will no doubt be lesser painful and it will also product an expert in return, but those experts produced by means of method 2 will be limited to their prescribed path only and any expertise required in areas away from their path will lead to a demand of another training from expert. These guys might be lesser prone to take up new and unknown challenges as compared to the first ones.
But does it mean that project management experts keep putting their hands on new techniques so frequently so as to get the flavour of them and analyse the pros and cons out of those techniques so as to find out the best of the deal.
Twelve Project Scenarios: Scenario Twelve
Project management is a set of processes and not a tool. Rather it comprises of a number of tools depending on the maturity of an organization in relation to management of projects. It is not mandatory to have tools to manage projects but it is always a boon to have good and effective tools to make your decisions quick and responsive in time.
Tools assist in aligning your goals and targets and somewhat proactively addressing to any road-blockers in the progress of your projects. There has to be a complete sync between your processes, tools and milestones that you want in your projects.
Managing projects efficiently is a great art. Organizations that achieve this art have always an edge over the other organizations struggling
Twelve Project Scenarios: Scenario Eleven
Project portfolio management strategy seems to be a heavyweight but actually it is more about managing a project in a scientific manner so that the success can be ascertained well in advance based on the way it behaves during its progress chart growth.
There has to be a Steering Committee, a PMO, and a group of project managers who altogether decide and define the process of management of multiple numbers of projects running the business involving a large number of teams. It is very critical to understand the critical factors that contribute towards the project success. Level of understanding is a good factor to assess the maturity level of the organization managing good amount of projects. It is good to see whether project management is a struggle in the organization or it is so well defined, smooth and easily manageable.
After all everything in the business is cost based. When it is all ok, not much pinpointing is there, but it start happening otherwise thus making the situations much complex and unfriendly.
Twelve Project Scenarios: Scenario Ten
Post implementation stage comes after a project implementation has been executed well and completed. Formally there is a project sign off after which the product is handed over to the key users at customer end. Customer management also ensures that a good amount of confidence has been built in the product users at their end in terms of product awareness and usability. Ultimately if an investment has been done by the management on a product, it is for the sake of making their life better, giving them quick and useful results; thereby resulting into the optimization of business process.
But under the carpet, there is always a lot that remains to be addressed after the project completion. And that is why there has to be a very clear process defined process to manage the support function on the product from a remote location so that no disruption is faced at customer end while using the product or getting desired results out of it.
Rather than customer, it is the product owner, who knows well what all kind of issues arise usually at customer end, once the implementation team returns back and the product becomes the ballgame of end users.
Twelve Project Scenarios: Scenario Nine
Project sign off is a stage where customer has to be very cautious, and awake. Product team will always try to convince about the completion of tasks by way of some or the other evidence. That evidence has to be vetted by customer before agreeing to what the product implementation team claims about the product.
In fact a good company while launching their product in phases will always keep their customer attuned regarding achievement of targets and milestones at each stage, putting it on live, and taking sign off from customer for each step.
This way getting a final sign off at a later stage would not take more time, efforts and energy, at both ends.
Twelve Project Scenarios: Scenario Eight
If any project team assumes or has a functioning style of working in an isolated state, or away from customer (not physically but in terms of involvement and awareness); then probably, the project success would remain a big question mark. Simple reason is that you have your customer requirements drafted well and confirmed by customer, as well. And you get back into your work den to start development in a full blow.
The whole requirements understood are now transferred to development team for taking it further and translating the requirements into product specifications. What if some workflow and templates are built, even if in a document or a presentation, and shared with the customer, will get everyone involved in sync so as to avoid any confusion at a later stage.
It is always better to hang on at this stage, fully take customer' attention towards what you plan to build, in a detailed manner, and then move ahead.
Twelve Project Scenarios: Scenario Seven
Customer end involvement in a project is as the project requirements and deliverables. Very few project teams in the world exist that are highly professional in understanding customer requirements in first go, define their project specs with crisp mapping with the customer requirements, and then building & delivering the product to customer right in time.
If all this can happen with least involvement of customer, the whole credit goes to the project team. Some credit goes to customer also in this case that a high level of trust was maintained throughout and probably the business requirements were defined so well that there remained to ambiguity or confusion over it.
Usually customer has to get into the project to a large extent, throughout, so as to ensure that it moves on with right pace and direction.
Twelve Project Scenarios: Scenario Six
Development team is not sure about exact business requirements and how the final product would look like but due to high pressure of timelines and targets, they decide to carry on and produce on the basis of whatever they have understood.
Will this save time or would result into serious risk of non-completion of project. Product built in such a manner would result into a half cooked dish which nobody would be able to understand and digest. The development team would not be able to convince about what has been built if they themselves are lacking clarity of what was required and what has been built.
Had it been not better and wise to jot down the requirements even if they were not understood well and then get them vetted by the process owners so as to avoid such dark and directionless situations at a later stage.
Twelve Project Scenarios: Scenario Five
Documentation is not my cup of tea. If you are a project manager and think like this, you are going to have a bad time after some time. Team management, task tracking, milestones, risk assessment, and project management is all what you need to manage all the time.
If you don't have a proper way of recording your tasks, backlogs, target dates, tasks assigned to various team members, alarm and alert system etc. in place, then you are at high risk.
Twelve Project Scenarios: Scenario Four
PMO is a controlling hub or facilitation hub – is always a point of debate among project management specialists. Is PMO a group of highly powered people in the organization aimed to take control of all kind of situations in a project? Or is it a group of highly resource rich persons in order to provide all kind of support and assistance to any member of the project.
PMO's role is to take a project out of crisis? Or proactively ensure not to let project getting into any kind of crisis. Both kinds exist, and work. One situation is opening of umbrella when it starts raining; and the second one is working under an umbrella under any kind of weather conditions.
Does it take more out of life of umbrella if it is overly used or does it make an umbrella jammed if not opened and used for long.
And then there are those kind of third category of people who know before getting out of house that it is going to rain – but don't bother to pick up the umbrella. They might be some special kind of people able to manage any kind of situation even under high level of resource crunch.
Twelve Project Scenarios: Scenario Three
Can a project run without a project manager? There are two ways of looking at it. One – the ship is so strong in technical aspects that it does not require a captain; and another – the boat is in so bad shape that whether it has a rower or not – does not matter.
Well there is no project in real life that can not be revived back from its doomed shape. If there is a way out for coming out of a bad situation, it need to be thought of and worked out instead of leaving all hopes and lay down all your weapons.
Twelve Project Scenarios: Scenario Two
A project team decided to run the complete project lifecycle – initiation, development and deployment – without any involvement of a quality person. Does it mean the project team is totally ignorant about the quality factor in a project? Or does it mean that they are overconfident about managing the quality part on their own without engaging any quality specialist in the project.
Or it could mean that they have already been doing it in the same manner and have been quite successful in their past.
There could be a third angle to it. The project team itself comprising of dual specialists in each role. Meaning thereby, that the development team is specialist in two aspects – development and quality. And the same implies to each and every member of the team – doing whatever role – is a quality expert besides being expert in his/ her running role.
Twelve Project Scenarios: Scenario One
Project manager is too technical and less business savvy. In today's world is it possible for a project manager to be highly tech savvy but lack in business knowledge of the domain or vertical in which he is assigned to run the project successfully.
It is possible, if it is too technical a project in which very less business domain knowledge is required. Something like setting up of a data center for a rubber producing company. Here the technical knowledge of the project manager in such projects will be highly important. It does not matter whether the project manager knows anything about rubber industry or not.
But same thing does not imply in all cases. If it is required to set up a data center for a media company or a call center, it is very important to understand the business needs as this would be a unique case for the project manager.
Scope Creep Can Turn Your Whole Project Into Creep
Based on a report published on a research site, scope creep is one of the biggest culprits responsible for failure of project. Scope creep is nothing but shortfalls in the requirement gathering from customer during the customer requirement documentation phase of the project. It is quite relevant to a wrong map in your hands will never be able to land you in right destination.
Howsoever clearly designed map you have in your hand, with clearly defined paths and directions, but if it is wrong map, if will certainly never let you reach the desired destination. Probably a small shortfall in the requirement specifications could lead to a huge gap in acquiring the goal within stipulated budget and timeframe. Extrapolated budgets and schedules do not lead to internal or external satisfaction of the stakeholders in a project. It impacts hard on all fronts and thereby resulting into disharmony and loss in involvement of stakeholders in ongoing project.
It is not that a risk can't be mitigated. But before going for a mitigation plan, it is important to understand the level and severity of risk. Once you understand the gravity of a risk, it becomes easy to hit its causes and put all efforts in mitigating the risk.
Any risk and its mitigation cost – directly or indirectly – and put its negative impact on the performance of a project. Therefore it is always better to leave a scope of higher amount of risks in your project.
An International Research Group Says only 15 Out of 100 Projects Face Success
As per a report published by Info-Tech Research Group, in last two years there is a meagre 15 percent of organization across the globe that have been able to finish projects within the projected limits of time, budget and scope. It is really good to see that somewhere some group is able to achieve with some proven or innovative kind of strategy, philosophy and tools. But it is bad that the percentage is too low.
Why is it not possible for all projects to have a good ending meeting all desired targets and achieving a high level of success? This research report identifies four major buckets that cause project failures. It also helps in identifying those four categories of failure traps and how to prevent getting into those traps.
There are different ways of looking at it. You start a big project, follow some preset methodology by forming a strong team and adhere to your plans. Success usually doesn't come by fluke. It involves a big amount of every step introspection and team discussions. It never happens that everything goes as per plan. Some failures, hiccups or roadblocks do arise but that doesn't mean that this is the end of road.
A proper management and mitigation of internal and external opposing forces paves a smooth path for project roadmap and ultimately a grand success. At the end of the day what matters most is where do you decide to fall in during your project life-cycle – in a small chunk of 15% successful companies or the other side.
How Much Sales Pitch Is Required In Project Manager
Sales department is the one that brings in the business for any organization. Most of the sales start with leads and cold calls which gradually transform into hot calls, though not all. Once customer show willingness towards product, sales team pushes the lead to techo-team so as to educate customer about the technical details of the product and overall cost impact on the solution desired by customer.
After signing of the contract it is the project team that starts managing the customer. Once specs are defined, during project initiation phase, when customer requirements are studied and understood in detail, it is taken over by the development team. One entity that is project manager has to continuously keep a track of project progress and health; be it at any stage in any of the phases. Project manager is the longest phase window to customer. Project manager in a way is front office of the organization to face the customer front during project lifecycle, with no doubt, a good amount of team members at the back end engaged in various amount of tasks.
There are ups and downs during any project, and there are a number of doubts, queries and questions raised by the customer which have to be faced by project manager. It is the sales pitch in project manager that has to come handy during these interactions with customer. Even if grass has not grown as per expectations, project manager has to convince customer that it has started growing, and is all green.
Five Deadly Sins Of PMO
PMO comprises of the core members of project management responsible to drive project in right direction under all kind of opposing situations. It is responsibility of PMO to ensure that project has to meet all milestones in project timeframe so as to reach to its final destination of success. Any risks arising during project lifecycle need to be understood well in advance by PMO with an immediate course of action to mitigate those risks so that the project does not deviate from its path of success.
Still there are many mistakes done by PMO that lead a project in wrong directions resulting into a big disaster. Some of those serious mistakes could be:
1. Start with a big bang and then lose the track: A high noise is created to start the project but it is so loud that the actual essence of project gets lost.
2. High Speed but without real sense of directions: There is high level of meetings and plans but all teams working 180 degrees to each other. What it means is that there could be some alignment in some teams among various present in the project but overall resultant comes out to be negative.
3. Rewards: Give big rewards to team/ members for smaller achievements thereby creating a big amount of disharmony among team members overlooked for serious achievements and hence a downgrade in momentum and tempo.
4. Respect Customer: Respect customer blindfolded, so much so, that unreal demands are accepted.
5. No Controls and Checks: There might be some there on papers but not in reality, hence creating a big chaos.
Do You Make Your Apple Tree Project Bear Poisonous Fruits
We all are human beings. Projects are made to be driven not only by human beings but it implies to all living world. Project comprise of deadlines, targets, follow-ups, meetings, team creation, team management, and so on. An apple plant has a target to bear apples when it grows into a tree. How does it know that it has to bear apples and not some other fruit?
What drives an apple tree to bear apples is an amazing topic to introspect. The same water, air, sunlight and other natural ingredients that go into a weed plant go into a plant borne to bear fruits. Is it bound of any compulsions of others wishes to bear any other kind of fruit, if it is an apple tree. What it means is that the tree decides on its own that it has to bear what kind of fruit. Or rather it is the seed that designs the complete project plan of plant growing to tree and bearing large amount of fruit, which is apple in our case.
What does it implies? It implies that if a good quality of seed, which can be correlated to project initiation plan, it can never give any chances of failures during its complete lifecycle. The air, water, soil, sunlight in this case is various teams that are formed to be part of project team. It is now the responsibility of these teams to ensure that the seed grown with a high amount of responsibility grows at the desired pace and bear the right kind of fruits, in right time.
Five Ways to Ensure Project Failure
There are ways to make a project successful and more number of ways to find out excuses for failures. There is no project that does not encompass of showstoppers, critical or serious issues. Most of the senior team members are always prepared to come across any unwanted or untoward issues arising of a project and finding out suitable measures to overcome them. The top most priority of core project team is to take care of such untoward incidents and ensure a proper mitigation of such risks.
There are ways to ensure a project go fail and gradually you can get accustomed to it where no extra effort shall be required to do so. The top few ways can be listed as below:
1. Overlook troubles and hiccups in a project and thus find no ways out to recover through them.
2. Make no plans and if someone else does that effort, never take it seriously. It is not mandatory to adhere to the timelines marked in the plan.
3. No plans will also ensure no monitoring, follow ups, alerts etc. thereby making your life smooth and hiccups free.
4. Don't rely on your people or processes to make it successful. Don't let your team be guided in right direction to make a project successful. Also ensure no good processes in place to take people in right direction.
5. Never give a priority to your customer. Lead your product's development in 180 degrees rather than in alignment of customer requirements.
There are more ways than mentioned above. It is not difficult for you to find out in real world.
What Is The Carbon Footprint Of Your Project
Project execution comprises of various efforts done by team members. This becomes a pool of energy moving in the direction of making a project successful. More collated form of energies generates higher chances of success of their efforts.
Right form of energy in right direction at right moment of time with right level of thrust returns higher chances of success in its goals. Logical right mix of team member leads to timely completion of project tasks. An individual, a team, a project; all have their specific carbon footprint. What factors would mainly contribute in determination of carbon footprint of a project. Let us try indicating few of them as below:
1. overshooting budgets and expenses
2. delayed decisions
3. missed targets, deadlines and milestones
4. team losing focus, tempo, momentum and goals
5. No Learning from mistakes
All points listed above if go in affirmative direction, will lead to a higher level of carbon footprint in the project. The same can be reduced by negating the points mentioned above.
Do You As A Project Manager Fail To Manage Your Virtual Team
Do you feel physical presence of your team around you is important and is the only way to manage them or control them. Do you think that your team should report to you and keep you making feel important all the time because you are Project Manager and as per your perception you are one of the key pillars of your project?
If you think traffic police constable standing on a crossing and controlling traffic resembles the role of a project manager whose overall responsibility is to control teams, project and management; you might be right. Only thing is that you have to manage the show more tactically and less mechanically. Your movements have to take place more in mind rather than the physical ones.
Basically a project manager must be able to manage the teams which are far off, as effectively as the teams around. It is the way you find out to manage in an effective manner which need not be a proven and orthodox. It may be a totally new and innovative manner of handling your teams.
Technically an engineer these days doesn't require going and inspecting a machine physically. There are tools and ways to manage remotely and quite effectively. This does not only saves time and energy but give a more economical leverage to shell out project completion in a highly productive manner.
Five Important Tips for Test Team in a Project Part II
This is in continuation from previous post…
3. Test Cases: Never underestimate product's capabilities, customer's expectations and development team's performance. Besides all good factors, there are always chances of things going weird, not because someone intentionally wants it to happen but due to any kind of ignorance, miscommunication or misunderstanding. Build all kind of test cases to cover up the product testing completely.
4. Perform Testing as Prayer: Don't keep a difference between the product testing that you perform and the prayer done for the supreme power. With a great amount of clarity in mind and set goals of delivering the best to customer, there are least chances of getting things going wrong.
5. No Gap with Development Team: Ensure that whatever you are doing is for the improvement of organization and not for the purpose of pinpointing anybody's mistakes. Same should happen with the development team too. It must be very clear to them that test team is not there to point out their lack of knowledge but to find out leakages in the product so that there are no eruption of volcanoes at a later stage thereby causing higher amount of damages.
There are many more important factors that are required to be kept in mind but if above 5 points are well adhered to, probably the chances of winning the battle are higher.
Five Important Tips for Test Team in a Project Part I
Test team has an important role to play which leads to project success. It is said that the time required for development and testing should never be compromised. A small amount of ignorance at any of these two stages may lead to a big disaster at a later stage. This does not mean that all other stages are of lesser significance.
Although a significant amount of attention is given at all stages of the project but test team need to adhere to some important points which should not be overlooked or compromised in any case. Those important points can be listed as below:
1. Start with open and fresh mind: Every project has its own merits and demerits. It is good to carry on with the good deeds done during that previous project that made it a grand success but move on with a mission of overcoming the mistakes done during the last project that caused certain delays or hiccups. There has to be no regrets about any failures in the past and equally important is to forget any ill feelings about any of the team mates if project is desired to move smoothly and strongly.
2. Focus intensely on customer requirements: Don't hesitate in performing a post mortem of each and every clause mentioned in the customer requirements document. Ensure that the document is well in place, complete in all respects, has been signed off by all respective and responsible representatives and is well documented in a manner that it is not going to create any kind of confusion among development and test teams.
—– to be continued/-
If Plans Lead to Hiccups Project Should be Executed in Without Plans
There are least chances of failure if you let life go as it is. Having no targets in life, no plans to execute, no aspirations to achieve, no dreams to live with and no ambitions can give you a trouble free time in life. Do you think it is true?
Real way of achieving success in any kind of project is not to lose hope and fight with all hurdles arising during a project. Overall if you see, project is a team effort and its success (or failure) cannot be assigned to a single person of the team. Team in a real sense is a combination of all complimenting and supplementing factors so that to lead, follow, execute, assist, drive, assign, plan, achieve, approve and provide resources.
Various Tangential Impacts of Project Management
Probably it is quite uncertain to predict that a project will run smooth throughout and will face no troubles of any kind during its any of the phases. It is practically impossible to believe it and claim at all about any kind of project sizing from very small to any big size. Troubles and hiccups are integral part of a project and that is why a project comprises of involvement of good amount of persons in the project team.
Project basically is a triangle with stakeholders, project executioners and customer at its three corners. Project deliverables, timelines, milestones, plans, meetings, targets are all ingredients that are the fillers of the triangle. Some of these ingredients are singularly connected to any one corner of the triangle; some could be jointly connected to two corners while rest would be linked to all the three corners of triangle. It denotes basically that more or less everyone is connected to the project at all points of time and get affected due to success or failure of project. Sometimes it could not end up in total failure of the project meaning that it might result into a final sign off but any unexpected delays during a project lead to loss in revenue, confidence and team momentum.
As long as project is running smooth and hassle free, it is harmonious and happy atmosphere around. But in otherwise conditions, it results into conflicts, disharmony and unhappy atmosphere. Who doesn't want every project to be successful but still everyone faces some or the other challenges during its lifecycle.
All Tech Blogs on Project Management and Quality Assurance on ITKE in 2011
Hey this is the last blogs post for the year 2011. Here is a list of my all blogs written during the year 2011 at ITKE.
Jan 12 2011 10:11AM GMT http://bit.ly/hL2AHA
Business Value And Software Product
Jan 12 2011 10:15AM GMT http://bit.ly/fKzupE
Business Value And Sustenance
Jan 13 2011 10:43AM GMT http://bit.ly/gt4xqr
Business Value And Its Consistency
Jan 13 2011 10:46AM GMT http://bit.ly/fBx0aw
Treat Bugs As Software Enhancers
Jan 17 2011 11:21AM GMT http://bit.ly/h4aUUM
Consistent Delivery Does Matter In Case Of Project Manager
Jan 17 2011 11:25AM GMT http://bit.ly/fENhBw
Project Management Lessons From Cricket Coach John Wright
Jan 19 2011 11:45AM GMT http://bit.ly/f0qQhe
Ten Facts About Product Backlog
Jan 19 2011 11:49AM GMT http://bit.ly/enJsL8
Backlog Monitoring Helps Greatly In Accurate Estimations
Jan 28 2011 11:17AM GMT http://bit.ly/f0adVq
Lean Organization Architecture And Project Management
Jan 28 2011 11:22AM GMT http://bit.ly/ek66Xj
Key Difference Between Lean And Agile Testing In Project Management
Jan 31 2011 10:41AM GMT http://bit.ly/fhK4ur
Some Teammates Make A Big Difference
Jan 31 2011 10:45AM GMT http://bit.ly/f6BDoO
Quality Control Of Bug Report
Feb 3 2011 10:58AM GMT http://bit.ly/gP5vIn
Project Management Versus Change Management
Feb 3 2011 11:01AM GMT http://bit.ly/g7cXsX
Project Management And Total Involvement
Feb 4 2011 11:07AM GMT http://bit.ly/gN260E
Project Management And Project Strategy
Feb 4 2011 11:12AM GMT http://bit.ly/ij7Ixo
Business Process Management And Business Process
Feb 7 2011 10:57AM GMT http://bit.ly/ehIZ4f
Different Training Methodologies During Project Management
Feb 8 2011 12:02PM GMT http://bit.ly/fW3JFz
Project Management And Team Management
Feb 8 2011 12:06PM GMT http://bit.ly/hxx6Ir
Five Golden Guidelines While Heading For A New Customer Win
Feb 9 2011 10:43AM GMT http://bit.ly/fuGJhY
To Choose Between Initial Quality Expense And Later Product Interruptions
Feb 9 2011 10:47AM GMT http://bit.ly/gOMN6X
Is Quality Expense Or Income For Software Development Organization
Feb 11 2011 11:42AM GMT http://bit.ly/fe3T6J
How Important Is Project Dashboard For Project Management
Feb 11 2011 11:51AM GMT http://bit.ly/fZCdi2
Compliance And Testing Coverage Against Project Specifications
Feb 23 2011 11:48AM GMT http://bit.ly/gDFqrA
Innovative Project Management And Project Harnessing
Mar 4 2011 11:16AM GMT http://bit.ly/dQwAT6
Good Service And Good Product Alone Does Not Drive Business Growth
Mar 9 2011 11:40AM GMT http://bit.ly/ekdGB4
Never Panic If Captain Departs From Ship In Mid Of Troubled Waters
Mar 9 2011 11:48AM GMT http://bit.ly/fMciCy
At No Stage You Can Claim Project As Fully Matured
Mar 11 2011 12:37PM GMT http://bit.ly/gCzfkH
Thoughts On Recruitment And Employee Retention In Software Company
Mar 11 2011 12:40PM GMT http://bit.ly/dSHSrb
Outsource Or Recruit Or Hire Contract Is a Big Question In Software Project
Mar 14 2011 11:28AM GMT http://bit.ly/efim7L
Project Growth And Organization Work Culture Progress Hand In Hand
Mar 15 2011 12:04PM GMT http://bit.ly/i9IkRU
Outsourcing Or Hiring Is All Situational Game
Mar 16 2011 10:29AM GMT http://bit.ly/hwD4CB
Who Actually Drives Your Project
Mar 18 2011 9:46AM GMT http://bit.ly/h1Etia
Project Management And Innovation
Mar 21 2011 11:35AM GMT http://bit.ly/hOvt7o
Five Pillars Of Quality Drive
Mar 29 2011 11:46AM GMT http://bit.ly/gIESvR
Check If Project Manager Fits The Bill Or Not
Mar 29 2011 11:52AM GMT http://bit.ly/gp2gd8
A Classic Sad Tale About Project Management
Apr 5 2011 9:48AM GMT http://bit.ly/fsyhH9
Constituents Of A Test Plan
Apr 7 2011 11:10AM GMT http://bit.ly/hszPKZ
Steps For A Process Head To Become Innovative
Apr 7 2011 11:16AM GMT http://bit.ly/eO9mvA
Limitations of QC
Apr 13 2011 10:07AM GMT http://bit.ly/fWTrV4
When And Why Build A Test Plan
Apr 13 2011 10:12AM GMT http://bit.ly/gvdRex
If Following Traffic Rules Is A Process There Are Many Violators On Road
Apr 16 2011 9:22AM GMT http://bit.ly/fQBoKn
Most Of Software Delays Are Because Of No Proper Requirements Gathered
Apr 16 2011 9:27AM GMT http://bit.ly/hOLuob
Good Process Quality Can Put Appropriate Checks
Apr 25 2011 5:05AM GMT http://bit.ly/guySiN
Lean In Software Project Management
Apr 25 2011 5:16AM GMT http://bit.ly/eyH73B
Six Sigma Can Be A Catalyst To Project Management
Apr 26 2011 11:29AM GMT http://bit.ly/e1mJYo
Success Failure Product And Techies
Apr 27 2011 10:52AM GMT http://bit.ly/gqaAAk
Five Testing Angles For A Tester To Perform Efficiently
Apr 29 2011 9:54AM GMT http://bit.ly/lIMIdi
Segregating Customer Desire Need And Greed Carves Project Success
May 12 2011 11:50AM GMT http://bit.ly/iK8Hlo
Some Thoughts On What Makes Software Product Lose Credibility Or Touch Sky Heights
May 12 2011 11:56AM GMT http://bit.ly/iWldAC
Six Standard Norms Customer Seeks In Software Product
May 14 2011 8:22AM GMT http://bit.ly/itu8Fn
Four Critical Places To Ignore Quality And Invite Disaster In Your Software Project
May 14 2011 8:29AM GMT http://bit.ly/ilyp3j
Why Quality Manager Cannot Be Project Manager And Vice Versa
May 17 2011 9:59AM GMT http://bit.ly/j79z1L
Five Requirement Based Face Saving Statements Against Customer To Hide Shortcomings
May 18 2011 12:20PM GMT http://bit.ly/7AgpBz
Dynamic Team Vs Static Team
May 23 2011 10:49AM GMT http://bit.ly/la7fZB
Project Team Sizing And Optimizing
May 23 2011 11:31AM GMT http://bit.ly/lot4hM
Understanding A Complex Situation Is First Mantra Of Success For A Project Team
May 24 2011 11:03AM GMT http://bit.ly/mPsOMl
Positive And Negative Traits Of Project Say A Lot If Analysed
May 25 2011 11:20AM GMT http://bit.ly/ld7YiD
Three Initiators To Lead A Team Without Being Team Leader
May 26 2011 12:24PM GMT http://bit.ly/jkvjZe
Test Environment Versus Live Environment
May 30 2011 11:00AM GMT http://bit.ly/moa0kF
Four Simple Tools To Enhance Project Success Rate
Jun 24 2011 6:06PM GMT http://bit.ly/imDPnw
An Insight Of How To Turn A Good Developer Into A Good Tester As Well
Jun 24 2011 6:37PM GMT http://bit.ly/meMxKa
Testing And Project Progress Go Hand In Hand
Jun 25 2011 6:15PM GMT http://bit.ly/mILf4K
An Approach To Ascertain Leverage Of Developing Bugs In Place OF Neat Software Product
Jun 25 2011 6:39PM GMT http://bit.ly/jM9E0T
Each Bug Has An Element Of Cost Associated With It
Jun 26 2011 6:23PM GMT http://bit.ly/mRuibG
My Earlier Pains About Testers And Developers Are Still Intact
Jun 26 2011 6:51PM GMT http://bit.ly/lWJiC5
An Approach Of Project Cost Estimation And Another For Software Testing
Jun 27 2011 6:24PM GMT http://bit.ly/mMxTxK
Why Software Testing And Importance
Jun 27 2011 6:42PM GMT http://bit.ly/k59DP8
If Doctor Starts Curing His Patients Like A Programmer
Jun 29 2011 7:40AM GMT http://bit.ly/imZdtr
A Checklist Is Must To Ensure Complete Coverage Of Software Testing
Jun 29 2011 8:09AM GMT
Five Good Blogs On Testing
Jun 30 2011 5:38PM GMT http://bit.ly/mHmCUG
Seven Blogs In A Row On SDLC Software Development Life Cycle
Jun 30 2011 5:48PM GMT http://bit.ly/jhTPbQ
Software Requirement Gathering Is Most Prime Stage Of Project
Jul 11 2011 2:27AM GMT http://bit.ly/oYSvCC
Testing Methodology Has To Vary For Development And Support Phase
Jul 11 2011 2:37AM GMT http://bit.ly/pV04kW
Implementation Phase Is Acid Test For Software Project Success
Jul 14 2011 5:59PM GMT http://bit.ly/p4Yz8r
Test Strategy Can Not Be Same For Different Software
Jul 14 2011 6:05PM GMT http://bit.ly/qHKvAK
An Extra Mile Of Testing In Initial Phases Saves A Lot Of Project Fuel
Jul 15 2011 4:55PM GMT http://bit.ly/oAg6ut
Eight Blogs On Project Manager
Jul 15 2011 5:02PM GMT http://bit.ly/pGB424
Nine More Blogs On Project Manager
Jul 24 2011 2:03PM GMT http://bit.ly/nIIgdP
Seven Blogs On SDLC Software Development LifeCycle
Jul 24 2011 2:18PM GMT http://bit.ly/oHcSNA
Six Sins At Product Development Stage That Can Lead Project To Disaster
Jul 26 2011 5:17PM GMT http://bit.ly/qHkEpo
Six Blogs On Release Management
Jul 26 2011 6:07PM GMT http://bit.ly/oYjr1I
Sixteen Blogs On Identificaiton Of Customer Requirements
Jul 31 2011 2:36PM GMT http://bit.ly/p56V3I
Twenty Nine High Fiver Blogs On Project Management And Quality Assurance
Jul 31 2011 6:42PM GMT http://bit.ly/re6yzG
A Dozen Of Super Sixers On Project Management And Quality Assurance
Aug 7 2011 7:40AM GMT http://bit.ly/og91RQ
Everyone Is A Born Project Manager
Aug 7 2011 8:00AM GMT http://bit.ly/pPJHtc
Quality Is Not Something We Are Not Aware Of In Our Day To Day Life
Aug 15 2011 6:28AM GMT http://bit.ly/oqjydr
Dream Based Projects Prone To Fail In Lack Of Vision And Clarity
Aug 15 2011 6:35AM GMT http://bit.ly/pjGtMt
Projects With Least Involvement Of Sponsors Do Not Do Well
Aug 18 2011 5:50PM GMT http://bit.ly/pgdaFS
If Sponsor Is Weak It Is Better To Drop Project
Aug 18 2011 5:58PM GMT http://bit.ly/qgzq6s
Project Starting Without Project Plan Is Like Driving With No Route Knowledge
Aug 22 2011 4:47PM GMT http://bit.ly/nGGmZA
Project Ends With Either Win Win Or Lose Lose
Aug 22 2011 4:52PM GMT http://bit.ly/r2WSZx
With No Measurement Of Plan Project Failure Is Not Too Far
Aug 26 2011 5:28PM GMT http://bit.ly/nZm5ml
Quality Speaks: Product Review: Wondershare Video Converter For Mac
Aug 26 2011 5:34PM GMT http://bit.ly/oIbKTT
Quality Speaks: Product Review: DRM Removal From iSkysoft
Aug 31 2011 1:10PM GMT http://bit.ly/qUYGGB
Project Estimations Is Not Management Ballgame
Aug 31 2011 1:12PM GMT http://bit.ly/rpkOOu
Ten Major Constituents Of Project Estimations
Target 468
Sep 5 2011 4:20AM GMT http://bit.ly/nFgpPJ
Product Review: Geosurf ™ Secured Private Local Surfing Without Being Local
Software Review: A Software Development Company For Real Estate Business
Sep 8 2011 6:23PM GMT http://bit.ly/omHSgL
Two Products Reviewed: Mac The Ripper And iMedia From iSkySoft
Sep 14 2011 11:48AM GMT http://bit.ly/nznZVa
Quality of A Product Says Everything about Success: MTS Converter for Mac
Sep 14 2011 7:21PM GMT http://bit.ly/obEluH
Can My Project Management Office Learn From This Kitchen Friendly Website
Sep 19 2011 8:56AM GMT http://bit.ly/q0GiEr
iTube Studio for Mac is Incredible
Sep 20 2011 10:49AM GMT http://bit.ly/q9L7Oe
When You Want To Outsource A Facebook Application Development Company
Sep 20 2011 6:33PM GMT http://bit.ly/p3S7DY
Do You Need A Customer Appreciation And Retention Expert
Sep 21 2011 5:07PM GMT http://bit.ly/qtuiL1
Have You Tried The Power Of DVD Ripper For Mac
Sep 29 2011 3:59AM GMT http://bit.ly/pcjANb
How Often A Project Manager Goes Out Of Shell
Sep 29 2011 4:29AM GMT http://bit.ly/r5aC6B
Why Is It Important For QA Head To See Other Products
Sep 30 2011 5:59PM GMT http://bit.ly/okPxxt
Xilisoft iPad Magic 4 for Windows – A Real Magical Experience
Private Label Solutions Suite Offered By Solution Union
When Did You Last Take Your Information Security Awareness Program
How About Some Entertainment During An Overseas Project Implementation
An Innovative and Unique Project in Electronic Recycling and Other eCycling Services
Something About Private Label Products For Getting Quality Valued Products
Are You Aware About Quality of Tippmann
Solid Management and Reporting Tools for Asset, AD, DC and Computer Management
Should We Not Learn Some Project Management From These NHL Teams
Can A Project Manager Think Of Customer Comfort Like This
Beautiful and Powerful Features of Office Tab
iSkysoft Video Converter for Mac is Enormously Wonderful Tool
Do You Help Your Project Get Slim and Energetic Like This
Quality Review of a Quality Service Company in Order Fulfillment
Are You Ready to Learn Computer Languages?
Exploration of a High Quality DVD Ripper
A Powerful DVD Creator to Burn iTunes Movies to DVD
A Glance At One of the Best Video Converters
Top Twenty Pitfalls in Project Management
Why Does A Project Manager Need A Break From the Project
ERP implementation in a Greenfield project
It Doesnot Matter SAP or BaaN more than Implementation Process
When Top Management Becomes Helpless During Implementation
It is Business Functions that Spoil the Show Mostly
Reducing Project Cost can Itself be a Project
Project Stakeholders are Project Watchmen or Drivers
Accelerating Your Project Does Not Need You To Be A Magician
A Rude Project Manager Cannot Have Caring and Connected Team
The Size of Team Decides about the Project Success Well Not Exactly
Post Project Stage is Beginning of a New Project In Fact
DEC 24 2011 8:26AM GMT http://bit.ly/shXg2y
Evolution of Team Work in Project Management
What Makes a Project Successful
DEC 25 2011 7:15PM GMT HTTP://bit.ly/rx8F3r
TV Channel Browsing and Project Management
If the Water is Still There is Something Wrong in the Project
Can a Tester be Called Anti Coder
Testers are Either Friends Or Foes of Project Managers
7 Ways in which a Tester can Help in Removing Ambiguities in Business Requirement Document
Benefits of Using Correct Vision During Product Development
A Customer Can Be Blindfolded But Not For A Long Period
Try Swallowing the Pill Smilingly That You Made For Your Customer
A Rich Product Does Not Require Long Praises To Customer
A Rich Product Does Not Require Long Praises To Customer
Product benefits, if really are there, in it, need not require any long explanations to the customer. Mostly a product rich in features and functionality do not require long introductions. Rather if a product is being tried to be sold with extra bounce of praises, it should be taken as a word of caution. A deep probing or investigation in the product in terms of examining what is being told about it may reveal the truth.
It may give both types of experiences when you buy a new product. Logically whenever we buy a product we already have some level of expectations set in our mind for it. If product performance and functionality goes beyond that level, it touches mark of excellence as per our perceptions. And if it stays lower than that level, it might become a nightmare during its usage, depending on how low or high it is.
Higher expectations, mostly, are set by product selling company while presenting the product qualities at the time of initial discussion of cracking the deal. Usually at this juncture, product is either not ready or is ready not as per the customer requirements. So all kind of dreams are shown to the customer when customer puts forth his requirements and all sort of promises are also done to build any kind of functionality whatever is being expected.
And then it is two kinds of vendors, one who do whatever needs to be done, to build in whatever has been promised. And there are ones who don't bother whatever has been promised and try to cheat by presenting a wrong picture.
Try Swallowing the Pill Smilingly That You Made For Your Customer
It is very tough to swallow the same pill that you manufacture for other when the need is to cater to yourself with it. A product can be counted as product when it generates, not customers, but admirers. It is in real sense a best product, when customer praises about it in front of hundreds of people across the board and highlights about its hidden benefits that would have been passed as a bonus.
A number of customers buy a product bundled with lot of promises when it is sold. But in actual it starts giving pain to the end users and hampers business rather than acting as a supporting or boosting function. A product, if rightly developed, to cater to a business, need to act as a partner of customer in a sense that it helps in lowering pains and increasing gains.
When you develop a product for your customer, keep this thing in mind that whether the customer is going to realize pains after some time or will face bundles of sweet surprises hidden in the product. If the product crosses the level of stipulated of perceived ease of functioning and start giving better results during its usage, it definitely is bound to get full praises from the customer.
A Customer Can Be Blindfolded But Not For A Long Period
A customer during product development might not be able to assess the sincerity and integrity factor in a deeper manner but it can't be hidden during implementation stage and post-handover stage. Product team or organization may feel happy if the ignorance or non-serious attitude embedded in the product during development stage is exposed post-implementation, post-handover and post-payment stage but that is still, in reality, a loss in business for the product selling organization.
This is mostly taken for granted sort of factor on product side and is almost never realized that one such instance may create a higher amount of loss in business than otherwise. The life is not as simple as it is supposed to be. It cannot be taken for granted for doing a serious kind of stuff in life. Best way of delivering a great product to customer is by having a highest level of seriousness right from the beginning.
One way of developing the product for customer is by keeping in mind as if the product is being developed for your own use. Once product is taking some shape, have a right kind of assessment, whether you would like to buy this product at the price you plan to sell it to your customer?
Benefits of Using Correct Vision During Product Development
6/6 vision is not bad. But having 6/6 and not having a capability to look beyond is something that degrades the value of even the correction vision. It is like something valuable that you possess but are not able to get the best out of it, ever! Planting is one time activity, but it is watering and caring that helps in growing the plant. That does not mean that the later could have happened without former activity. It is sequential having both the activities in prime important category.
Testers do have a different blend of vision. They are bound to develop that extra edge of visioning through which they are able to look at the product more from a customer perspective rather than the vendor or product developer perspective. A tester is required to virtually slip into the shoe of end user so as to assess the capabilities and functionality of a product that is going to be delivered to them after passing through QC. Technically and functionally, a product must be able to cater to customer requirements to make business functions smoother, trouble free and less time consuming with higher level of accuracy.
That is what is about a product should be. One should understand, the earlier the better, that which situation is more important in business – merely selling the product by blindfolding or faking the customer or giving a state of the art product to the customer which in turn incurs manifold business through word of mouth and otherwise. Usually a good product even if sold at a lesser margins give greater benefits in longer term.
7 Ways in which a Tester can Help in Removing Ambiguities in Business Requirement Document
A tester always has an extra edger over developer in terms of looking at the product or requirements through a critique's angle. If the requirements or product is not analyzed in a different manner, it might look straight, precise and up to the mark at times. The moment you go deeper or look at it through a different angle, the whole straight thing may appear as the most complex puzzle on this earth.
That is what is important to know that involvement of tester in the beginning gives lot of benefits to the project and various teams involved in the project. Tester or test team when goes through the business requirement document, would like to understand following points:
1. Have all requirements which are business critical and can be catered through development of business application been taken or not.
2. Does it cover the complete business cycle thereby catering to all major business functions
3. Does it cater to main business transactions
4. Does it cater to top management requirements, dashboard and analysis
5. Does it tend to ease out end user's life or intends to make it more complex
6. Is there a buy in from top management
7. Is system being imposed on users or functions; or is being imposed without them getting involved
This is not the only list that can be a checkpoint for test team. There could be more points, sometimes depending on a typical kind of business having some very unique kind of requirements which are not required in general kind of business.
Testers are Either Friends Or Foes of Project Managers
There are different kinds of project managers – those who take testers as a threat and thus treat them as foes and those who take testers are friends and hence always welcome them to put hands on the product in pipeline. Neither of the two is a strange factor. Both scenarios are natural and realistic.
If the situation is former, it becomes quite tough for testers to break the ice. It is not the question of just putting your hands on the product but also a good amount of cooperation and alignment is required from the development team. Without understanding business requirements on the basis of which the product in question has been developed, it is impossible to test the product. It is something like deciding to ride on a bicycle without knowing about the destination, road condition and distance to travel. Without knowing about the exact functionality requirements, it is next to impossible to test a product.
But logically, if you see, those project managers who treat testers as a threat lack confidence in themselves, their team and the product developed. Though this might not be true if some amount of probing is done in such cases, but it is the project manager that needs to introspect on such kind of behaviour. It could merely be lack of confidence and knowledge of project manager only that forces them to develop such atmosphere of hide and seek. The development team and product might be well in place! And the project manager would have placed them in a poor situation.
Can a Tester be Called Anti Coder
Shall we treat tester as a code destroyer? If on one hand a developer develops a code, a tester always tries to find out the holes in the pot. That is where a conflict on personal level originates when a programmer or coder takes it too personal by getting faults being found out in the code written by him. But internally a coder knows very well that the whole exercise of bug finding by tester is for a good cause that is going to benefit all involved in the chain.
Howsoever a programmer is treated as a constructive builder; he is prone to inherently bring in some bugs in the code. Even if a code is sure about some leakage in the code, he would not regret in falling love with his style of coding. That is where a jealousy begins when the code undergoes post-mortem by testing team. As any human being, we prefer to listen to the praise for our creation rather than somebody criticizing it.
Usually why a coder doesn't have flair of a tester. Does it mean that tester is a saviour for coder? Tester is able to look at a code through a critic's angle, and only then is he able to find out the shortcomings in the code. But on the other hand, a tester is supposed to possess a good knowledge of product and business requirements behind the building of that product so as to examine the product in right manner.
Probably coder and tester are made for each other to compliment each others' efforts.
If the Water is Still There is Something Wrong in the Project
Still water leads to getting things rotten or stale. Flowing water keeps it fresh and healthy. Nobody
likes a project in a standstill position. It needs to be in a 'move-on' condition all the time till it reaches
its final position of successful deployment and sign off. Who does not want their project to finish in
time, successfully and without hiccups? But everyone knows it happens very rarely. What could be the
Why is it that among all kind of plans and monitoring activities a project faces delays, hiccups and
troubles? At a broader level a project team can be divided into following categories – planners,
executioners, monitors and decision makers. All four are very important components of a project. A
right mix and timely action from each of the component makes a larger sized positive impact on the
project and vice versa. Higher mix of planers and lesser count of executioners will lead to good amount
of thinkers but lesser amount of doers. Similarly lack of visibility or presence of decision makers in
a project will lead a project to a standstill. And that is where the stagnation and rottenness begins.
Monitoring gains momentum in the project and lack of it acts as a decelerator.
Actual need of presence of eagle's eye is very important in a project. Someone has to take that role and lead in the project by smelling, sensing and foreseeing 'Still Water'. This person must have the power to raise an alarm in time and activate the trigger for taking right action by right members of the team. A
universal sync among prominent team members is a must.
TV Channel Browsing and Project Management
I had some spare time that I planned to invest in watching some useful program on TV. Starting with
channel one, moving on to next channel and trying to figure out how useful the coming program would
be; I reached to the higher limit of double figure digit of channels but ending up to nothing of my taste
so far. By this time I had spent almost 20 minutes while switching over from one channel to another and staying there for a while in trying out to figure out if something good or bad was there.
That is what happens in a project. Project starts, initiation activities are performed, teams are formed,
plans are made, methodology is adopted, project moves, milestones are monitored and delays are
justified. Actually does it move as it should move or things keep slowing down whilst during assumptions of them moving at right pace? Sometimes project owners are not able to catch hold of the things in right time. And by the time they become aware of the situation, probably it already has resulted into cracking of the egg. In this case the egg has not cracked in a natural manner but by mistake, done by someone in the team.
Point is not to zero down on the mistake doer, but to catch hold of the mistake and get it rectified at the earliest. It is never possible to rectify a mistake until it has been identified as a mistake and someone takes charge of it.
After half an hour I realized if I had browsed newspaper page that gives channel wise programs
beforehand, I would have headed to the right channel in right time without wastage of much energy and time.
What Makes a Project Successful
No project is executed and completed without encountering troubles and hiccups. If that could happen
plans were not required. There were no monitoring, follow ups, alerts, alarms; if the projects were there to run smoothly and end up in time with success all over. Is it people or process that makes a project successful?
The same set of people without a good execution plan in hand and well defined processes to drive the
project, will never be able to make a project successful. Similarly the same set of execution plan and well defined processes in place will never end up in completion of a successful project in all places under all kind of circumstances.
So what is it that makes a project more problematic? Or what makes a project sail smoothly on troubled waters. Is it the people who are real driver of project or is it the well defined charter or project that makes it more successful. Even in presence of both, there are good amount of examples of failed projects even in large establishments. Does it mean that there are some more driving forces than the process and people that can win or lose a project success?
Actually it is very difficult to pin down the exact percentage of various factors that are responsible
for the success of a project. But is it a right mix of management, approach, system, people, process,
methodology, plan and control mechanism that makes it successful.
Did I mention that passion and fire in the belly are other two hidden ingredients that play a major role in the whole journey?


text:
12:0475(93)RO - HHS, Boston Regional Office, Region I and NTEU and AFGE Local 2909 -- 1983 FLRAdec RP
[ v12 p475 ]
The decision of the Authority follows:
12 FLRA No. 93 DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES BOSTON REGIONAL OFFICE, REGION I Activity and NATIONAL TREASURY EMPLOYEES UNION Petitioner and American FEDERATION OF GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, LOCAL 2909, AFL-CIO /1/ Intervenor Case No. 1-RO-27 DECISION AND DIRECTION OF ELECTION Upon a petition duly filed under section 7111(b)(1) of the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute (the Statute), a hearing was held before a hearing officer of the Authority. The hearing officer's rulings made at the hearing are free from prejudicial error and are hereby affirmed. Upon the entire record in this case, including the parties' contentions, the Authority finds: /2/ The Petitioner, National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU), seeks an election in a unit currently represented by the Intervenor, American Federation of Government Employees, Local 2909, AFL-CIO (AFGE), and composed of all nonprofessional employees of the Department of Health and Human Services, Boston Regional Office, Region I (the Activity). The parties agree and the Authority finds, in accordance with the criteria set forth in section 7112 of the Statute, that the following constitutes an appropriate unit: All nonprofessional employees of the Department of Health and Human Services, Boston Regional Office, Region I, but excluding all professional employees, management officials, supervisors and employees described in section 7112(b)(2), (3), (4), (6) and (7) of the Statute. The sole issue before the Authority is whether a July 14, 1980 agreement between the Activity and AFGE bars NTEU's petition of July 16, 1980, pursuant to section 7111(f)(3) of the Statute. /3/ AFGE contends that such a bar exists, while NTEU argues, pursuant to section 2422.3(f) of the Authority's Rules and Regulations, that the July 14, 1980 agreement constitutes a premature extension of a March 1, 1980 Memorandum of Understanding between AFGE and the Activity and therefore cannot serve as a bar to its petition. /4/ Following AFGE's certification in 1970, AFGE and the Activity (referred to as Region I of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW) prior to its reorganization in 1977) entered into a collective bargaining agreement with an effective date of November 13, 1972. Article XXIV, section 1 of that agreement stated: XXIV. DURATION, AMENDMENTS AND MODIFICATION Section 1. This agreement will remain in full force and effect for two years from its effective date and automatically renew itself from year to year thereafter. However, either party may give written notice to the other party not more than 90 nor less than 60 days prior to the two year anniversary date, and each year thereafter, of its intention to reopen and amend, modify, or terminate the agreement. When such notice is given, the parties shall meet for the purpose of negotiating the amendments or modifications not later than 30 days prior to the anniversary date. The conduct of such negotiations shall be determined at that time by a memorandum of understanding. If negotiations are not concluded prior to the expiration date, the agreement will terminate on the anniversary date but may be extended by mutual consent in increments of 30 days. This agreement may be modified or amended at any time upon mutual agreement of the parties. Any such request for an amendment or modification from either party shall be in writing and shall include a summary of the proposed amendments or modifications and the reasons therefor. This collective bargaining agreement was in effect for a period of two years and was automatically renewed for one additional year. On September 9, 1975, AFGE informed the Activity of its desire to reopen the agreement and proceed with negotiations. From May 1976 to the spring of 1977, bargaining proceeded on a sporadic basis. In march 1977, pursuant to a reorganization within HEW, negotiations were stopped by mutual consent. On June 10, 1980, following a request by AFGE, negotiations once again took place and a new two year collective bargaining agreement was signed on July 14, 1980. However, prior to commencing negotiations in May 1976, AFGE and HEW on April 5, 1976 had signed the first of a series of 16 memoranda of understanding in order to extend the collective bargaining agreement and "to insure that everyone understood that the terms of the agreement would continue and that we will get back to negotiating and have a new contract." /5/ These memoranda, which established specific expiration dates for each extension, covered an overall time period of April 5, 1976 through September 30, 1980, with some lapses. The Memorandum entered into on March 1, 1980 stated: The agreement between Local 2909, AFGE and Boston Regional Office dated November 13, 1972 has been and will remain in effect until end of business, September 30, 1980. This agreement will remain in full force and effect until the date of expiration and represents the sole written agreement between the parties. In early 1980, NTEU had asked the Activity about the status of its agreement with AFGE and was furnished a copy of the November 13, 1972 agreement and the various memoranda extending that agreement through September 30, 1980. On July 16, 1980, NTEU filed the instant representation petition. AFGE, in essence, argues that the new collective agreement entered into on July 14, 1980 serves as an agreement bar so as to mandate dismissal of NTEU's petition. The Authority disagrees. Pursuant to section 2422.3(f) of the Authority's Rules and Regulations, the July 14, 1980 agreement between AFGE and the Activity would not constitute a bar if it were to be deemed "an extension of an agreement having a term of three (3) years or less," and was "signed more than sixty (60) days before (the) expiration date" of that agreement. Thus, the controlling issue herein is whether a written collective bargaining agreement was in effect between AFGE and the Activity on July 14, 1980 and, if so, whether the signing of the July 14 agreement occurred more than 60 days prior to the expiration date of the other agreement. In this regard, the Authority notes that in their memorandum agreement of March 1, 1980, AFGE and the Activity mutually agreed to extend the terms of the original 1972 agreement up to and including September 30, 1980. Further, it was agreed at that time that "the agreement will remain in full force and effect until the date of expiration and represents the sole written agreement between the parties." In the Authority's view, such a written extension of the terms of the original agreement for a specified period of time and purporting on its face to be referring to "the sole written agreement between the parties" is controlling for pu

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Soon They'll All Be Asking for "The Blagojevich"
Image Source & Image Source
Patty at [frockwriter] pointed out the obvious similarity between Tom Ford's new campaign and Rod Blagojevich.
Labels: DC-tastic
6 comments:
LOL! who knew! haha. i love love love that tom ford suit. i love tom ford ads in general. and i love your blog! =]ReplyDelete
yikes. though I like the tom ford one better. that blue blazer is the shiz.ReplyDelete
I think the Tom Ford campaign is very Chuck Bass...ReplyDelete
Yes, the Tom Ford suit itself I'm a fan of.ReplyDelete
And Kat, you're totally right.
Heh heh. My cousin was rockin' the Blagojevich bangs after getting off an early morning flight from Chicago a few weeks ago. She was ahead of her time.ReplyDelete
haha oh god no! ANYTHING but that weasel Blagojevich!ReplyDelete
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text:
Registration is still underway for the Upper Michigan Brain Tumor Center's single biggest fundraising event of the year.
The 7th Annual Hope Starts Here Challenge is on May 12 at the Lakeview Arena and will feature a new event for participants.
"This year we've added a new event--it's competitive half marathon. We do have chip timing. In addition to the half marathon, we're continuing with the duathalon which we started last year," said Dr. Richard Rovin of the Brain Tumor Center. You don't have to be competitive to turn out though, there are leisure walks and runs to participate in as well. In previous years, the center has raised between $20,000 and $25,000 from the event. The funds go toward supporting ongoing research at the center's Northern Michigan University research lab and the purchasing of new equipment for the center. For more information about the event and how to register, click here .


text:
Best New Approach to Mass Transit (2011)
Metro CEO George Greanias
Few local government agencies were as dysfunctional as Metro for the last ten years or so. Run by a secretive, defensive management that disdained transparency and any criticism, the agency ran up big costs, got little done and put Houston's projected light-rail system at great risk by trying to cut legal corners. Not long after Mayor Annise Parker took office, things began to change, and the biggest change was putting in George Greanias as CEO. A former city councilman and shoulda-been mayor who lacked only TV-age charisma, Greanias is a numbers guy who demands things be run ethically, cheaply, smartly and openly. For people used to dealing with the old Metro, the 180-degree turns can sometimes cause whiplash. And yes, he needs better habits when it comes to porn and Metro computers. But if that's the biggest scandal of his time there, we'll take that any day as compared to his profligate predecessors.
More People & Places Awards
Best Act of LarcenyAndy Surface, Cond� Nast Swindler
Best ArchitectPeter Stone and Kelly Barlow
Best Place to Reinvent YourselfHouston Public Library
Best Place to Change a Child's LifeTexas Children's Hospital
Best Thinker: Flood Control InnovatorCity Councilman Stephen Costello
Best Local RepublicanState Representative Dan Huberty
Best Place to See Wildlife in the CityMemorial Park Mountain Bike Trails
Best Cultural CornerBissonnet and Rampart
Best Thinker: Getting Electricity into HomesWind Power in Texas
Best Local DemocratState Representative Scott Hochberg


text: Tatsugo Yoda's AR label continues to take in the many influences of his travels and turn then into collections that are void of unnecessary detailing while focusing on functionality and quantity. His forthcoming Fall/Winter 2013 collection is no different. The proverbial accepted color palette of fall is firmly in place while familiar military silhouettes are made modern via rethinking in terms of material usage and construction. The collection's range from tailored suiting to functional sweats makes for pairings that are as cohesive as they are progressive. The collection can be found at Aloha Rag as well as AR retailers around the world.


text:
English tea party 3 by W-miSANAgiWatch
©2013-2016 W-miSANAgi
love this . ^^
This is great!
;v; love ur cosplays <3
This is fabulous! Can totally imagine the scenario to be like this if fem!UK and UK were to spend the afternoon together XDD
Awesome job
I also think that they spent the day together that way ХD
Thank you!
Thank you!
cool cosplays x3! I love it !
love it (especially the flying mint bunny)
Thank you very much!
XD I love it
I love it 0u0


text:
Colorado Skiing: The Big Mountains
Why Ski There: Breck averages 300 inches of the white stuff every year on its four peaks; the recently added Imperial Express chair whisks you to the 12,998-foot summit; and you'll stay in a town with real Victorian charm (not to mention a sometimes raucous nightlife).
Don't Miss: The new Mountains of Discovery kids' school (www.breckenridge.snow.com), which combines ski lessons with an on-ski hunt.
Where to Stay: The Valdoro Mountain Lodge (800/673-8082; www.valdoro.com), midway between town and the mountain, offers luxury condos, while the Hyatt Main Street Station (970/547-5200; www.hyattmainstreetstation.hyatt.com) has deluxe slopeside condo accommodations.
Where to Eat: The essence of Breck casual are the burgers and brew at the Breckenridge Brewery (970/453-1550; www.breckbrew.com). For more formal fare, try the New York strip steak, Rocky Mountain trout, and killer wine list at the Hearthstone Restaurant (970/453-1148; www.hearthstonerestaurant.biz), set in a restored Victorian house.


text:
American Christmas Tree Journal, Volumes 18-19
National Christmas Tree Association, 1974 - Christmas tree growing
From inside the book
45 pages matching percent in this book
Where's the rest of this book?
Results 1-3 of 45
What people are saying - Write a review
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Common terms and phrases
American Christmas Tree annual Baler balsam fir blade Board of Directors buds Christmas Tree Association Christmas Tree Farm Christmas Tree Growers Christmas tree industry Christmas Tree Journal Christmas tree plantations color Colorado Blue Spruce Committee conifers Connecticut Convention cost Douglas Fir eastern white pine equipment EVERGREEN fertilizer field fir first Forest Forestry Fraser Fir GREENZIT growing growth harvesting herbicides Husky Transplants illus inches meeting Michigan moisture National Christmas Tree natural trees NCTA needles North Carolina Norway spruce Ohio operation P.O. Box Park Rapids Pennsylvania percent Phone planter planting stock President Price List production pruning real tree retail lot Rooted Cutting Scotch Pine season Seedlings sell Session shearing simazine sociation soil species spray sprayer stump Tags tion tour tractor Tree Baler Tree Growers Association Vexar Virginia weeds weevil white pine white spruce Wisconsin wreath Write


text:
Domanique Moser moves the ball
Saturday, December 22, 2012 4:55 PM
Inappropriate photo? Alert us.
Pocono Mountain East's Amber Reisenwitz, #25, pursues Easton's Domanique Moser, #5, as she moves with the ball during a game Saturday afternoon at Easton Area Middle School. Express-Times Photo | MATT SMITH
Related articles
- Easton girls basketball team handles Pocono Mountain East for first win of season - SEE PHOTOS December 22, 2012, 6:00 PM


text:
Manistique Papers Inc. announced Friday that it will be filing for bankruptcy, ceasing production, and looking for a buyer. MPI has been in financial trouble since January 2011, when the cost of raw material increased one million dollars per month. Although the company has been making loan payments on time, its lender informed MPI it would no longer provide capital.
According to director and General Manager, Jon Johnson, when a search for other sources of financing came up empty, MPI had no other choice but to declare bankruptcy. Johnson added that the company is for sale, and he is hopeful a new owner will reopen MPI.
The company starting producing papers in 1920. MPI became the first manufacturer of recycled content newsprint in North America. They've printed on 100 percent recycled content since 1984.
Manistique's City Manager, Sheila Aldrich, says Michigan Works! will be on hand to train and council employees affected by the closure.


text:
It was a kneejerk reaction to a kneejerk reaction. That's my assessment of Rep. Bobby Rush's incendiary assault on Sen. Mark Kirk's gang-fighting proposal.
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text:
Published: December 21, 2010
Youngstown Lions Club celebrated its 90th annual Christmas party for visually impaired and special-needs children recently at the Saxon Club in Youngstown. Funding for the party was provided by generous sponsors of the Youngstown Lions annual Turtle Derby, its only fundraiser. About 120 children from Chaney, Leonard Kirtz, East, McGuffey, P. Ross Berry, Southside Academy and Volney Rogers schools attended. The children ate turkey dinners and sang Christmas carols. The highlight was a visit from Santa. He and his helpers gave each child a gift bag that included a scarf, hat, gloves, candy and a gift.
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.


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More Products By KAYTEE PRODUCTS INC:
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Kaytee Supreme Daily Blend Finch Food
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(3.8 out of 5, based on 8 reviews)
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Reader's Reviews (8)
Good quality bird seed
posted 6 years ago
We have several feeders that hang in our backyard and this is one of the types of seed we use to fill them. It is a quality blend that really attracts manny wild species. I've never had a problem with it being fresh and the cost is no more than other varieties that we buy. We usually can find it at our discount stores.
Pros: Good blend that attracts many types of birds
Cons: none
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Finches Fancy It
posted 6 years ago
The majority of the birds that we attract to our yard are finches. They empty the feeders so it must be fresh when we put it out. We add other blends to it to attract other kinds of birds as well. This is a good quality seed which isn't any more expensive than other brands out there.
Pros: Good mixture of seed for attracting finches
Cons: none
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Definitions for family convolvulaceae
This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word family convolvulaceae
Princeton's WordNet
Convolvulaceae, family Convolvulaceae, morning-glory family(noun)
morning glory; bindweed; sweet potato; plants having trumpet-shaped flowers and a climbing or twining habit
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text:
Canal city by MarkBulahaoWatch
©2010-2016 MarkBulahao
I intended to go further with this one but got sick and tired of it so I 'll just call it finished. I might work on it more but chances are I won't haha. Time to move on to another painting. Hope you like this one.
(Image is blurred again on my screen. Hope it's not on yours)
(Image is blurred again on my screen. Hope it's not on yours)
Hey Could i use some of your scenery images in my text based RPG? it's non profit and i'll link back to your deviantart profile
WOW!! Incredible job!!
Love this!...isn't strange how sometimes a piece will make you tired of it, like eating too much candy
Great artwork, a really strange Place!
I love this. Do you think you would like to be the background cartoonist for an independent animation movie? If you do then follow the link in my signature and please send me your email. Thank you
Amazing Details!
wow~ love the detail in the BG
good job since it's really hard to draw BG lol
good job since it's really hard to draw BG lol
WOW. Awesome work
amazing work! XD
the third amazing painting I see from you today
I really like your style, keep up the good work!
I really like your style, keep up the good work!
It looks great as-is. No need to change it. I like it a lot!
Could I use some of your scenery pictures in a movie?
Very very beautiful
it looks like atlantis but then with some spices from asian countrys
Wow, I wish I had the patience to do this kind of thing.
Reminds me of Waterfall City from Dinotopia , except there are no dinosaurs.
love it!
Amazing. Quite compelling.
Very beautiful painting
This is soo beautiful!
galing ng lighting mo men!! mahina ako jan! lalo na pag environment
Wow! This is very pretty, it gives me a "nice weather today" feeling. Those golden, red and turquoise hues fit together very well. The citizens have cute hats x) Awesome work, indeed.
Very beautiful scenery! And it's not blurry on my screen.
Really great work!
Really great work!
The detail is really amazing, I absolutely love it.
i'm doing a cityscape for my class but i hate doing it because its frustrating but yours look so amazing can you give me some tips
nice work!
very nice..


text:
The impact of these research studies is far-reaching, as they have been recognized outside of the scientific community. Research published in FJ has been covered by major news outlets, such as Reuters, The Chicago Tribune, ABC News, Scientific American, Voice of America, Bloomberg News, The Washington Post, The New York Times, MSNBC, U. S. News and World Report, and BBC News. FJ also continues to strengthen its partnerships with institutions through co-branding opportunities.
The online version of FJ (www.fasebj.org) provides a comprehensive research tool for life science researchers. FJ Online also includes thousands of abstracts from the Experimental Biology meetings.
For more information about FJ, please visit the journal website.
As disciplines in the life sciences continue to overlap, readers are drawn to FJ for its interdisciplinary coverage, which gets researchers "up to speed" in new areas of research that are vital to their interests. Readership of FJ spans the broadest range of research interests among the AdNet publications.