Sharing a guide about Project Management for beginners

[rak2]

Hello fellow Spyderco fans,

Writing to share an original paper with you that might be useful for the younger, less experienced, folks you know or may be trying to mentor.

The paper is titled 'Down to Earth Project Management for Beginners' and is available at:

https://dtepmfb.wixsite.com/dtepmfb

(Was not able to attach the pdf to this message.)

The story behind the paper is that after retiring with almost 50 years in the workforce (which includes a 20 year Air Force career plus commercial and state government employment as a computer programmer and certified project manager), I created this paper about project management oriented towards inexperienced beginners.

My original motivation was to provide some young relatives with ideas on things to do and things to look for when they find themselves faced with a 'project' that life presents them. Another way to describe it might be as a non-technical / big-picture / here's whats really going on description of project management to provide some situational awareness to lesser experienced folks now facing projects - whether at home or at work.

Please pass it on to anyone you think might find it useful among your associates or friends and family. I should emphasize that this is free to copy and pass along for personal use as long as no fee is charged to others.

And thanks to everyone in the community/forum for your advice and insights that have resulting in my owning way more Spydercos that I really really need.

rak2

[RustyIron]

Nice! If old guys possessed their wisdom when they were young, in three generations we'd all have personal hovercraft, world peace, high-speed internet, and beer would come out the kitchen faucet. Hopefully the youngin's will read your article and take away something that will make their lives more streamlined. Maybe even some of us old guys will read your article and come away with a useful lesson or two.

[rak2]

Thanks RustyIron for the positive words of encouragement.

Much of the content in the paper is drawn from personal experience, but I can promise you that hidden between the lines is an overall approach, or structure, that is gleaned from over 300 hours of formal training and verified by real world experience. Although the paper is somewhat long, my attempt is to communicate situational awareness and useful actions without getting bogged down in academic or technical language. One might never apply _all_ of the actions outlined in the paper, but I am guessing that everyone will see many of the 'watch out for this' and 'you might need to do this' hints and tips mentioned as they navigate life and are tasked with new assignments.

Please pass it on to anyone you believe might find it useful.

rak2

[standy99]

Thanks for posting.
Had a read..loved the alligator references

[Naperville]

From 2000 to 2003 I co-managed a project in Silicon Valley for the complete replacement of all communications for a business unit doing biotech research for a larger medical involved corporation. HQ was on the East Coast. IT Dept was in Huston, TX.

Around 2001 - 2002, NASDAQ crashed. A lot of the networking and telecommunications corps were going bankrupt. I interviewed and visited (several times) the local HQs of the top 3 installation companies, and even some of the network gear manufacturers.

The project was for the alarm system, all network and telecommunications hardware / software / cabling / racks / switches / routers / power backup supplies / deisel generators / ....and I had a hand in all of it, every part, every contract, and I wrote the project proposal.

NEVER UNDERESTIMATE CORPORATE HQ TO SCREW EVERYTHING UP

They called a meeting. Honcho from IT dept coming in. He scrapped everything. He chose a networking corp that was nearly bankrupot to get a better deal...he was a bean counter. He did not want converged media. We had a bioinformatics group and he did not want to support them with high speed network gear.

They stiffed me on $35,000 in salary and sold the entire corporation less than 5 years later to a big player.

[Scandi Grind]

Haven't read it yet but I plan too. I am young and inexperienced in some ways, but I have also been involved in a few tech projects acting in part as a project manager. It is a skill I want to continue to learn and improve at. I'm curious to go through your paper and see what experience you have to share.

[rak2]

Standy99,

Thanks - I found it fun to add in some quotes from Einstein to Yogi Berra to lighten things up and find some affirmation from some other, smarter sources. Here are a few more that I have found since then:

One-half of the ills of life come because men are unwilling to sit down quietly for thirty minutes to think through all the possible consequences of their acts. --Blaise Pascal

Wisdom consists of the anticipation of consequences. — Norman Cousins

Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Naperville,

Sorry to hear about your bad experience in that situation. Sounds like you were caught up in a tidal wave of overpowering forces where no amount of skill and organization applied to your assigned task was going to save everyone and every thing.

Scandi Grind,

Yes - if you feel the paper is for you recommend downloading it and passing it around. Not sure how long it will stay on that web site.

Thanks!
rak2

[jwbnyc]

Thanks for sharing your hard won knowledge and experience.