Waves of Interest

While I have read about the Google Wave previously, I am gaining interest in it. If you aren't familiar with it, I strongly suggest that you watch the video on it. It has been developed by the two guys who made Google Maps, and based on that product, I'm inclined to listen when they have something to say.

It is also gaining momentum within the PM/BA community, see this 2-part post from Better Projects. There they describe the Google Wave as the glue pulling separate elements together. I've used that phrase myself recently. The context in which I used it was in talking with someone concerning Stellent document management versus SharePoint. He asked me, what can SharePoint do that Stellent can't. I thought for a second and told him, "Nothing."

I went on to ask him what people use when they are writing and drafting a response to a piece of controlled correspondence. The answer was that they are using Word, Excel, PowerPoint and all of the Office tools. Well, I said, SharePoint allows people to integrate the toolset they are already using with the work they have to perform. Stellent allows people to use Word, Excel and Poewepoint, but their integration is somewhat clunky.

Anway, my support for SharePoint as a platform has been unwavering, but could the Wave be a challenger? Maybe.

Passive Passwords

I must admit that I'm a little disappointed to read the latest story concerning the top ten most common passwords in PC Week. Here they are:

1. 123456
2. 12345
3. 123456789
4. Password
5. iloveyou
6. princess
7. rockyou
8. 1234567
9. 12345678
10. abc123

I would like to think that the people I know generally have strong passwords, but, I have to admit that entering my strong password each and every time I want to check my email on my Droid is a pain. I know some people who protect their phone email with something a lot easier, but we should avoid doing that. Mobile devices and phones are easy to lose of snatch.

Did you ever wonder how strong your password is? Microsoft has a good password checker that will help you to understand how good yours is. Check it out - Microsoft Password Checker. My opinion, if you aren't green, make a new password.

The one big complaint I have is the requirement that we change our passwords. If I have a really hard password, is it any stronger if I have to change it every 90 days? This is just a theory, but I suspect that the fact that many organizations require that a user change his or her password every so often actually creates a higher risk situation. Because I must change my passwords so frequently I must write them down because I lose track of which password works for which service. The fact that my password is written down necessarily introduces risk because I could lose what I wrote it on.

I did review a potential hardware solution to this problem, the Logio Secure Password Organizer. I won't say that it was an epic fail, but it was not a winning solution. No, I must say that the solution to this problem is in better policy, not hardware or software.

What 2 Watch

Every once in a while Federal Computer Week releases an article that makes me laugh. This is one of those times. They currently have an article about the 10 Technologies to Watch in 2010. Their list is:

• 100G networking on the horizon
• 10G Ethernet for the masses
• Web 2.0 aims for ‘awesome’
• 4G wireless technologies take root
• USB 3.0 is nearly at hand
• IPv6 moves closer to center stage
• Virtualization moves to the desktop
• DNSSEC gets automated
• Deep packet inspection adds a layer of defense
• Next step for virtualization: Security

Some of this is good, and is definitely on the list of emerging technologies for 2010. But IP6? Haven't we been talking about IP6 for about 5 years now? How is that still something to watch for? Web 2.0 too. Really?

I have to tell you, this feels more like an article written for systems engineers more than anyone else. No offense to systems engineers, we need you to help keep the world spinning, but this is slanted entirely your way.

Some of the things that I'm expecting out of 2010 include:

• A more meaningful proliferation of mobile applications - Right now, we have lots of, kind of useful applications. I expect the really important applications to be pushed to smartphones, and I expect people will use them a lot more.
• I expect an initiative to start this year like government anywhere in which federal workers will be able to work 1-2 days at any government location in which they have the requisite clearance to enter. Want to take a trip to Miami, but have a big meeting on Wednesday, go down there, take the family, reserve a spot in the Miami Field Office and work there on Wednesday as if you were in the office, and enjoy the rest of the vacation.
• I expect a recognition of Internet connectivity to be a defining factor in whether or not a family is in need of other assistance. As a result, I expect several federally sponsored WI-FI max projects to be started targeting low-income urban areas through cooperation between the Departments of Commerce and Housing and Urban Development.
• Lastly, and most specifically, I expect that there will be adoption of a standard, encrypted, portable, personal medical record device, like a USB drive, in which patients can go to the doctor and have their medical records stored so that they (the records) can go with them to the next appointment. This device will grow with the individual. It will include dental x-Rays, results of blood tests, and a record of immunizations and vaccines. It will obviate the volumes of forms to be filled out when you go to the emergency room. It will be paid for by the insurance companies and will save billions in the second year.

I don't know if any of this will come true. It is possible, but I think it is better than dragging IPv6 out for another go-around.

Be Mindful of the Forest

This is an honest to God true story. I received a design from a contractor that was really good. It was creative but still in line with expectations. I sent it over to some technical people for their review. About 20 minutes later I got an email from one of them saying that it is in violation of some policy or procedure he has been putting together.

I wrote back, "Are you telling me that we are not going to allow this design because of a policy that we haven't published?"

The answer was 'Yes'. Some people are so rule-oriented that they can't see the big picture. They are so myopic that they only see the rules they have created and can't get past that. As Project Managers though, it is our responsibility to be bigger than that. We must see the big picture and take appropriate steps when a single tree is not allowing us to realize the forest.

In this particular case, I literally put my project on hold for a year to allow the technical team the opportunity to put all their stuff in order. This is a clear case of Parkinson's Law.

Filling in the Gaps

Project Managers must do more than set and monitor the schedule. A lot of times a PM must step in and fill in the gaps in a project to make sure things stay on course. Such was the case yesterday although I didn't think I would be filling that role when the day started.

It actually all began on Monday when I arrived at work early (yeah I know, who shows up to work early on a Monday after a long weekend?). But I'm walking in and there is a sign posted on the door telling people not to turn on anything because of the flood. So there I was on Monday, pitching in by pulling desktop computers (why are they called desktop computers when they are always on the floor?) out of 2 inches of water. That was the obvious work, duh, let's try to keep the electronics out of the water. The less obvious thing to many people was to try to save the paper files. A lot of people have paper files in boxes under their desks. I saved many, but I know that a lot of paper was lost that way too. But this is not part of the story, just the set-up.

But I needed these people, my stakeholders, to be up and running as quickly as possible. The reason for this is essentially Maslow's hierarchy of needs. I need them to do project work, but they can't perform project work unless they have a computer and all the stuff that goes along with it. As such the more basic needs must be met before they can even consider addressing my needs.

The Technology Division worked through the night to prepare a bunch of hardware and get a bunch of mobile offices set-up in areas that were dry. They probably established about 100 new workstations in one night, which is awesome. So when everyone showed up on Tuesday there was a space and computer for almost everyone. The problem though, was that setting up that many workstations creates a lot of trash. Think about how many boxes are involved with setting up just 1 workstation including a computer, monitor, keyboard, mouse, cords, docking stations etc. Now multiply that by 100. So there was a mass of trash just in the hallway.

And that is how we Project Managers contributed to getting through this crisis. We broke down the boxes, carted them out to the trash compactor and made them go away so that everyone can continue to get the critical work done and Technology didn't have to divert resources away from helping people working in a sub-optimal situation. Yes, I became a trash man for a day, and I enjoyed the work. It is good to feel like I did something to help during a crisis. And it was super cool to run the trash compactor. Every time I ran it I thought about Star Wars and that Luke, Han, Chewbacca and Leia were in there trying to brace the walls.

Anyway, it was the most rewarding work I've done all year. Of course it was only January 5. I have some time to try to top it.

Constrained by the Triple Constraint

The biggest problem that I have with project management is that people keep telling you to manage the Triple Constraint. Typically when you are in a training seminar they do this with 3 pieces of string, one each for Time (schedule), Resources (cost), and scope. The problem is that if you only manage those variables, you are missing about half the project.

Defenders of the status quo will tell you that risk, quality and satisfaction are functions of schedule, cost and scope. And indeed they are, but people often don't consider risk, quality and satisfaction to be as important as as schedule, cost and scope. As a result, we have people who are good at using a Microsoft Project Plan to lay out a schedule, and assign people to the activities to generate a budget, but they lack the ability to account for quality and risk issues and rebound from satisfaction issues.

That super stinks. Instead of thinking about the triple constraint, think about the hexagonal constraint. BTW, I made this image.