Compact Calendar - Indonesia Version

Adding to the variations I have created to David Seah's Compact Calendar please see the tentative version for Indonesia for 2008.

This is to add to the Thailand and Singapore versions already available.

You can find the versions here:

Indonesia
Singapore
Thailand

Also go and look at David's work:

Compact Calendar
Printable CEO

David Seah's Compact Calendar - Singapore Version

Having already created a Thailand version of David Seah's Compact Calendar I like the format so mush that I have created a Singapore 2008 version to complement it.

How would you use it?

If you use Excel for any planning, like creating simple Gantt Chart's, this is an invaluable aide to quickly seeing by month how many working days there are. Put both the Thailand version and a Singapore version in the same workbook and you can get an idea of the influences on a project team based on the public holiday's in their respective countries.

A little bit more tinkering in Excel and you could build a table that allows you to see which days all potential resources are in the office (unless on vacation) so you can plan the best days to have your all hand's meeting or Community Centre (smaller than a Town Hall) meeting.

Get the Singapore version here
Get the Thailand Version here

I would also recommend taking some time to look at David's Printable CEO series.

David Seah's Compact Calendar - Thai Version

I have used a lot of David Seah's excellent Printable CEO series outputs.

He has kindly shared his candy bar style compact calendar and there are many versions available for different countries from his site and his readers. I wanted to add the Thailand version into the pool.

You can find the Thai Version here

Creative Thinking: Brainstorming

Invention and thinking of new solutions to old problems is one of the key skills required for today's manager. This could be applied to Projects and People; wherever there is a problem there could be a need to be creative in the solution.

One of the key tools is Brainstorming. For this I use MindJet's MindManager Pro. A great tool and very easy to use. But there is more than the tool....

Blockers: Premature Judgment
Nothing is so harmful to inventing and idea creation as a critical sense waiting to pounce on the drawbacks of any new idea. Judgment hinders imagination.

Blockers: Searching for the single answer
If the first impediment to creative thinking is premature criticism then the second is premature closure. By looking from the outset for the single best answer, you are likely to short-circuit a wiser decision-making process in which you select from a large number of possible answers.

Brainstorming Objective: Separate the inventing from the deciding
Before brainstorming:

• Define the purpose
• Choose a few participants
• Change the environment
• Design an informal atmosphere
• Choose a facilitator

During brainstorming:

• Seat the participants side by side facing the problem
• Clarify the ground rules
• Brainstorm
• Record the ideas in full view

After brainstorming:

• Highlight the most promising ideas
• Invent improvements for promising ideas - use the SCREAM technique
• Set up a time to evaluate ideas and decide

There are some great podcasts on Brainstorming.

I recommend the two part Manager Tools series:
Part 1: 2006.07.10 - Brainstorming part 1 of 2
Part 2: 2006.07.17 - Brainstorming part 2 of 2

In addition there is also a nice summary available in the PMO Memo.
The PMO Podcast Episode 19

The PMO Podcast is presented by Mark Perry.

The PM Podast - a review

As I start to expand into a new role as a project manager I wanted to get some real first hand knowledge to learn by. Book smarts are OK so I did go out and get a language book, the PMBOK third edition, if I'm going to be a project manager I might as well speak the same language right?

Anyway to get beyond the book smarts I started looking for a way to use my newest toy, my iPod, to help. I had already found Controlling Chaos so I went looking for another, complimentary, resource. This is how I found Cornelius Fichtner and The PM Podcast.

Cornelius has a good structure as he leads you in to the interview du jour. His light hearted style leads to easy listening and the length of the 'cast hovers around the 40 minute mark.

He has been very active and his is well into 60 episodes. The supporting website is a very valuable resource and some of his guests have taken me deeper into the world of Project Management.

Well worth listening to.

MindJet's Mind Manager

My former boss and good friend starting using MindJet's Mind Manager and got me using it.

Now, more than one year on, I am still scratching the surface on this excellent tool's features and abilities.

I find myself using it for the traditional uses of brainstorming and defining scope, and initial work breakdown structure, for project initiation.

Having listened to Dina on Mind Manager, an interview with Tim Bombosch, I have taken the time to listen to a couple of the webinars available on the MindJet website. The series looks to be shaping up nicely.

I would recommend the following webinars to learn more of the ability of the software

• Creating a Project Dashboard
• Running Effective Project Team Meetings
• Planning & Initiating projects
• Improve Project Performance - Integrate Mind Manager with MS Project

Now with some of these new features at hand I will using my software for

• Managing meetings more effectively
• Project Dashboard
• Knowledge Management
• Resource tracking - applying some of MT's tools.
  

Controlling Chaos - Review

I found Dina Henry-Scott's Controlling Chaos when searching though Podnova for podcasts on project management.

I have since worked through her back catalogue of 'casts (currently up to 32 episodes) and found her friendly style, particularly when interviewing, to be very refreshing and it makes it a lot easier to listen to.

For those of you working in the software industry, opposed to more traditional PM environments such as Civil Engineering, there is a strong focus on Agile Methods which I have found particularly useful and I am rapidly trying to apply some of those learnings, even though the company I am in at the moment doesn't use agile.

Well worth listening to, Dina herself is currently working on her MBA so the regular 'cast schedule is changing to fortnightly (or more).

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