How Good Are Your Project Management Skills? - Project Management Tools from MindTools Project managers need a broad range of skills. © iStockphoto/ez_thug Whether or not you hold the official title of project manager, chances are you'll be called upon to lead some sort of project at some time. From initiating a procedural change in your department to opening a branch office in a different city, projects come in all shapes and sizes. As the complexity of your projects increases, the number of details you have to monitor also increases. However, the fundamentals of managing a project from start to finish are usually very similar. This short quiz helps you determine how well you perform in the eight key areas that are important to a successful project. How Good Are Your Project Management Skills? Instructions For each statement, click the button in the column that best describes you. Your last quiz results are shown. You last completed this quiz on , at . Questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 still need to be answered! (Questions 6, 11)
Systems thinking Impression of systems thinking about society[1] A system is composed of interrelated parts or components (structures) that cooperate in processes (behavior). Natural systems include biological entities, ocean currents, the climate, the solar system and ecosystems. Designed systems include airplanes, software systems, technologies and machines of all kinds, government agencies and business systems. Systems Thinking has at least some roots in the General System Theory that was advanced by Ludwig von Bertalanffy in the 1940s and furthered by Ross Ashby in the 1950s. Systems thinking has been applied to problem solving, by viewing "problems" as parts of an overall system, rather than reacting to specific parts, outcomes or events and potentially contributing to further development of unintended consequences. Systems science thinking attempts to illustrate how small catalytic events that are separated by distance and time can be the cause of significant changes in complex systems.
Top 10 Thinking Traps Exposed Our minds set up many traps for us. Unless we’re aware of them, these traps can seriously hinder our ability to think rationally, leading us to bad reasoning and making stupid decisions. Features of our minds that are meant to help us may, eventually, get us into trouble. Here are the first 5 of the most harmful of these traps and how to avoid each one of them. 1. “Is the population of Turkey greater than 35 million? Lesson: Your starting point can heavily bias your thinking: initial impressions, ideas, estimates or data “anchor” subsequent thoughts. This trap is particularly dangerous as it’s deliberately used in many occasions, such as by experienced salesmen, who will show you a higher-priced item first, “anchoring” that price in your mind, for example. What can you do about it? Always view a problem from different perspectives. 2. In one experiment a group of people were randomly given one of two gifts — half received a decorated mug, the other half a large Swiss chocolate bar. 3. 4.
Problem-Solving Skills From MindTools Find the fundamental cause, and you're half way there. © iStockphoto The 25+ tools in this section help you solve complicated business problems. By using these techniques, you can start to deal with problems that might otherwise seem huge, overwhelming, or excessively complex. Start by taking our How Good Are Your Problem-Solving Skills? quiz – this will help you quickly master the fundamentals of problem solving. Then browse the list of tools below: the techniques that you'll find will help you in many different situations. Enjoy using these tools! General Problem-Solving Tools Problem-Solving Approaches Finding the Cause of a Problem CATWOE Developing a Robust Problem Definition 5 Whys Quickly Getting to the Root of a Problem Improving Business Processes Flow Charts Understanding and Communicating How a Process Works Diagram-Based Tools Join the Mind Tools Club ... and get 65 in-depth Bite-Sized Training™ sessions as well as more than 900 articles like the one you've just read.
The Fifth Discipline The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization (Senge 1990) is a book by Peter Senge (a senior lecturer at MIT) focusing on group problem solving using the systems thinking method in order to convert companies into learning organizations. The five disciplines represent approaches (theories and methods) for developing three core learning capabilities: fostering aspiration, developing reflective conversation, and understanding complexity.[1] The Five Disciplines[edit] The five disciplines of what the book refers to as a "learning organization" discussed in the book are: "Personal mastery is a discipline of continually clarifying and deepening our personal vision, of focusing our energies, of developing patience, and of seeing reality objectively Senge describes extensively the role of what it refers to as "mental models," which he says are integral in order to "focus on the openness needed to unearth shortcomings" in perceptions. The Learning Disabilities[edit]
How to Learn (Almost) Anything This is a guest post by Glen Allsopp of PluginID. Have you ever read an informative book, only to later remember just a few main points — if anything at all? The problem might be that you’re using one of the least efficient ways of learning available. The Cone of Learning I remember back about 7 years ago when I was taking music lessons at school, there was a poster on the wall that really grabbed my attention. Image Credit After doing some research, I found that the contents of that poster were based upon the work of Edgar Dale back in 1969. Today, many of you may know this as the Cone of Learning, but beware: although the cone is in fact based upon the results of Dale’s research, the percentage figures were never actually cited by Dale, and added by others after the initial investigation. Based on the research we can see that: The Cone of Learning suggests why you are more likely to remember parts of a movie than you are from a book on the same topic. Learning Almost Anything
Project Management Tools from MindTools As you move ahead in your career, you are likely to face more complex and difficult challenges. Some of these will involve the coordination of many different people, the completion of many tasks in a precise sequence, and the expenditure of a great deal of time and money. Whether you succeed or fail with these projects depends on how good you are at project management. This section of Mind Tools teaches more than 50 individual project management skills . The Browse by Category box below will help you target specific project management skills areas, while you can look through the full list of tools to find interesting topics. Free Tools Mind Tools Club Project Management Framework Scheduling Scope Management Building Support for Your Projects The RACI Matrix Structuring Accountabilities for Maximum Efficiency and Results Communication Change Management Project Improvement and Review Join the Mind Tools Club Where to go from here: Next article
How Does Your Project Portfolio Stack Up? -INNOTAS From day one, we are conditioned to compare. Whose baby has the cutest smile, who had the most hits in the Little League game, and what is your GPA and SAT scores? As we grow older the comparisons shift and the stakes increase – how am I doing vs. my peers, is my company performing well vs. my sector or industry, and how can I beat the competition? Project management professionals – PMOs, CIOs, and IT Management – must focus on how the project portfolio stacks up. 1) Over 50% of organizations say their projects and resources are not well aligned with business goals I once heard someone say a successful project that is not aligned to business goals is like a doctor saying, “The operation was successful, but the patient died.” 2) Resourcing is the #1 challenge for most organizations Organizations reported that resourcing is less of a challenge than in 2014, but it maintains the top challenge heading into 2015. 5) 45% are investing in a project portfolio management (PPM) solution
Born to Learn ~ You are Born to Learn 7 Things I Learned from My 8 Greatest Teachers Altucher Confidential Posted by James Altucher Yesterday was my 25th high school reunion. I wanted to go. I had a car key and I could’ve driven there. When you are rejected so much you build a tough skin. - I liked a girl in my drawing class. - I liked a girl who had thick curly orange hair. - There was another girl I liked who was sort of ditzy but she was smarter than she let on. - There was a girl I liked who was a year older than me. - There was a girl I had a massive lust-crush on who lived around the corner from me and she was even in my Hebrew school carpool when we were younger. (maybe girls like chess) - I finally got a girl to go out with me. - I liked the girl with the paper route next to mine in 10th grade. - There was the girl in English class. What I Learned I learned how to handle “No”. I learned how to Ask. I learned that I had to be stand out in some way. I learned to be polite to other people who found themselves rejected in various ways. I learned to be persistent.
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