New Blog Coming!

I just set up a new WordPress blog on my site. I am in the process of transferring content and taking care of the details. But if you want to see it in the works- http://blog.the315.com. I am very excited!

Project Management Advice for Start-Ups or Small Businesses (aka the basics for getting started)

Here is a quick outline of the advice I would give to start-ups intimidated by all out project management but know they need something.

1. Define your projects- Start with a simple list that includes what you are delivering, when you want to deliver it by and who is responsible for it.

2. Understand tasks- Once you have a solid list of projects start thinking about what high level tasks are required to complete the projects. Identify who is responsible for each task. Also note which tasks have to happen before another or tasks that can occur simultaneously.

3. Analyze your staff- Look for names that show up a lot on your lists or areas where you don't have a name assigned.

4. Analyze your dates- Look for periods of time where there is a lot going on for everyone or just one person.

5. Check your budget- Make sure the above analysis matches your budget or what you are charging for the project.

The steps above should really give you a good idea of where you stand with your projects and how you balance them. It should also help you discover where and what your risks are. Being aware of your risks is very important and the first step in preventing them from becoming problems.

To improve your application of project management, there are two additional things I recommend doing.

6. Analyze how your team works- Observe how your team gets stuff done. You have a current process, no matter how informal it is. Watch for how things go wrong and right. Listen to what people directly and indirectly say about the process.

7. Learn about project management software and practice- At least read a bit about it and think about how it could help you. And start using it when you find that you need it and are ready to adopt it in your process.

There is a ton of information out there about project management as a discipline. However, I find that bringing it down to these simple steps not only helps someone unfamiliar to it, but also helps to prevent practitioners like me from turning it into a mindless bureaucracy.

Personal Branding and My Brand

With all the talk about PR and personal brands, I have recently wondered how it is that one approaches creating their own brand. Do most people develop a personal brand strategy? Do they just analyze in passing on the Metro or do they actually write a strategic plan for themselves? And what drives them to desire a personal brand? Driving business, getting recognition or something else? Or maybe most people create their personal brand as an unintentional byproduct of their real goals.

This makes me reflect on my own personal brand. Not because I need one, but because I am someone with an online personality. But I don't like to think of it as a brand. I just want to think of it as an accurate representation of me. Nothing strategic, just me.

Maybe I am off base. I would love to talk more about this with people.

So, in my reflection on personal brand I did a bit of soul digging. Here are a few core things about me:
* I love technology. I am particularly interested in how new advancements change our culture, use and approaches to developing technology. Getting an opportunity to explain this stuff to people is great.
* I like adventures. Through travel or outdoor activities, adventures provide the perfect balance and perspective in my life.
* I like to be organized. I like to see how I can be more effective and efficient.
* I like art. Anything aesthetically pleasing with meaning.
* I like to help and inspire people, especially in regard to technology.
* I love to learn anything about and related to any of the above.

Does that make a brand? I guess it is more of a list of interests that drive my actions that represent me. Hopefully, this comes through all of my other posts. But would anyone argue that a representation of one's interests is still lacking the extra strategy that is fundamental to a personal brand?

Requirements Writing

After numerous meetings between the customer and the creator, I have to wonder how many people really know how to write a requirement, how to read a requirement and why we use requirements. The thing is, I like formally written requirements for large formal projects (like when there is lots of money on the line). They work.

However, for smaller projects it is still a good idea to apply the fundamentals of requirements.

Things to think about:
* requirements are What not How
* stepping through use scenarios helps
* assumed functionality requirements are the most dangerous
* coming back to ultimate goals is key to having a full set
* use previously made scope decisions as hard limits
* again, what not how

A Rant On Requirements

I spend a lot of time reading requirements for various programs and projects. Have you ever read a requirements document? If so, you know how tedious they can, and need, to be. I like detail in light of the big picture, so, I think I do pretty well at creating comprehensive requirements and analyzing for comprehensiveness. However, it bothers me a little that my project teams don't really read them. Everyone says they reviewed them and I believe most give it a good scan (at least their parts). But especially when you are working with contractors and/or budgets, a scan by everyone isn't good enough. Yet, in their defense, I do sympathize that they have other job responsibilities and probably find the RD somewhat intimidating (or boring).

Well, this is where I feel the pressure as the program/project manager. The responsibility to make sure we have a comprehensive set falls on me. I am comfortable with this - yet this is where it is crucial that I know my scope and stakeholders before beginning the requirements gathering process. So, if you ever participate on a program or project team, please be patient through the initial steps. You may know your stuff, but the PM needs to get that information from you as well as possible.

Let me know if you want a 3,000+ requirements document to chill with and I will send you a link ;)

You Need Project Manangement

Yeah, you may think you get stuff done without project management. But that isn't the point - anyone can get stuff done. The key to sustainsblity and growth is to get stuff done efficiently and effectively. That is the purpose of project management to me. More effectively means a better product or service and happier customers. And more efficiently means quicker and with less resources.

I have been around the DC tech community for almost 2 years and I want to get some discussions going about how to get stuff done more efficiently and effectively. I don't mean anything too formal or process heavy. I mean some simple application of the project management theories that work.

Email me, liz[at]the315[dot]com, if you want to talk about project management with me. This is what I do for a day job and I actually enjoy it.

Direct from the Philippines

At the time I am riding a bus towards Manila, on my way to the fourth largest mall in the world- the Mall of Asia. I am coming from Pagsanjan where I saw the most amazing waterfalls- as seen in Apocalypse Now. I also have gotten to experience Manila, the best part being Intramuros, the historical district and some cute restaurant in Malate. After which I travelled to Baguio in the mountainous Cordillera region to see some rainforests, in the pouring rain. And that was followed by crossing Lake Taal for a climb up Taal Volcano for beautiful views.

Its been an amazing trip so far. But that's not all that I wanted to write about.

I love technology. I have had access to all of my regular addictions and conveniences. If it wasn't for the change in content and strange times, no one would know I was really halfway across the world. The only thing I couldn't do was attend the Twin Tech event. I hope it was as much fun as it sounded!

Photos to come.

Road Safety

I know I usually blog about tech but today I have a more serious post.

A close neighbor of mine was bicycling to work this morning when she was struck and killed by a vehicle. If you know her or read the news, you know the details, so, I won't cover them.

But please take a moment while reading this to appreciate the importance of safety on the roads. I know I will try to be more aware of it the next time I drive, walk or bike.

The Downside of Gadgets and Travel

Next weekend I am heading to Asia- the Philippines and Japan to be exact. And besides loving the travel, I love that gadgets can help me stay connected while traveling. You all know how much I have blogged about gadgets and convenience (if not, just look).

However, one major point of frustration is the fact that I need a 3G phone for Japan. The last few days I have pondered my need for connectivity and what I could use to survive in Japan without voice, text, GPS and email at the tip of my fingers at all times. I think I have concluded that it will be WiFi with my Eee and calling cards with pay phones. Admittedly, this solution hurts a little. It is so old-school. I feel a bit lacking in my gadgetry that I don't have a better idea. And renting a phone will just get me ripped off - I would be better off buying a 3G phone on eBay, which is also a waste, but at least you keep the phone. (Still, I might cave in to the rental idea.)

A day before I leave the new 3G iPhone goes on sale. It is so tempting! But I can't imagine signing up with AT&T right now and parting with my BlackBerry - I want to wait for more options.

My final thoughts- I had believed that there were a lot of really cool phones out there. I am not sure why all "world" phones don't support 3G. After this research, I realized that devices and service still have a way to go. However, maybe I will see some awesome and inspiring stuff in the electronic neighborhood (Akihabara) of Tokyo.

Did you know that BlackBerry Pearls can be possessed?

I can mostly blame my recent lack of blogging and tweeting- and even my lighter emailing- on my recent issues with my BlackBerry Pearl. If you google "possessed blackberry pearl" that is what I had to deal with. --The worst was the night my phone resent the same text message 40 times in 4 hours to my friend. Seriously, it selected the required menu options repeatedly, I watched it when I noticed the unexpectedly lit screen. [open message window > open last message sent > open menu > select resend > exit > repeat in 1-3 mins] Kind of creepy, really. This experience was varied over tasks and times.

I took it apart a couple of times and cleaned off everything. The next time I tried scraping off the corrosion on the motherboard.

Yes, corrosion means I got it wet. I think it was a mistake to take my BlackBerry into the cloud forest at the top of a volcano in Costa Rica. For some reason I didn't think about the moisture and the potential damage to my trusty device at the time. But in my defense, it turns out that Pearls are extra sensitive to moisture.

Despite my best repair efforts, the possession persists. So, I bought a new one. And I am falling comfortably back into my normal habits.

(Let me know if anyone has any suggestions for what to do with my possessed Pearl...)

I wish I could try Zenbe

In the past I have blogged about my frustrations with and ideas about improvements to email. I just now saw the TechCrunch post on Zenbe. I missed out on an invite but it sounds like great progress towards the next generation of email. This makes me very very happy. Whether or not Zenbe is the answer, I think it is great that they are at least challenging the status quo for email management. Hopefully this will lead to even better opportunities.

Web 2.0 and Being One

So much of Web 2.0 is fundamentally different then how I remember the web initially. I remember clever screen names, self describing email addresses and having the freedom to represent yourself as whatever online personality you desired. And now, in the era of Web 2.0, we are just online extensions of our regular selves.

However, I like it. Maybe its my personality and my generation but I like that I am one- in that my online me and my real life me are the same. The idea that they blur is comforting...

TechCocktail DC 2 Tomorrow Night (and why we need it)

Tomorrow night is TechCocktail DC 2 and I am very excited. I am looking forward to seeing both old and new faces in the DC Tech community and just having a good time.

Now, I know there has been a lot of discussion about defining and organizing the community along with goals for DC Tech as a whole. But I really like the undefined part of tomorrow night. I think all of the focused events are very important to the individuals, the small defined groups and the larger community in DC. However, all of that can be nicely tempered by events like TechCocktail. I know I have been able to talk a few people into attending this as their first DC tech event because of this vagueness and the more cocktail party side of it.

We should keep this in mind. Having a mission is great. But sometimes just getting together and socializing is just as healthy for our community, (whatever it is).

Email Tagging and Auto-Filing

I dislike sorting my email inbox at work. It isn't that it is difficult, I have more of a problem with the fact that is inconvenient. I have to notice that it has become overwhelming and then tediously sort through it (search helps). Perhaps, the answer is to sort right away. Well, I don't like that idea.

So, I have come up with an idea that I like better: creating tags for email topics and inboxes that auto-file based on them. Now, I know the Gmail conversation sorting solves part of this, mostly for personal emails. However, in the work email context some "projects" span multiple conversations. And I have folders for these projects/topics to file my emails in but I have to do it manually. And auto-filters are an imperfect and obtruse alternative. If in the initial emails (non-replies), one could tag the email having that tag carry through the subsequent replies. If it is a new tag, there might be some prompt for all contacts involved to ok it. And a similar prompt could be used when someone wants to change the tag. A tag would be synced to an email folder for all involved contacts (mapping would be automatic). Ideally, one could control the timing an email remains in an inbox before being auto-filed and an action flag could also potentially delay that.

This is just some random rambling about possible improvements to the current way email is done. And I know I am not the first to notice or attempt to solve the fact that email is broken.

Also, not to get ahead of myself but the syncing of contacts, projects and emails could be integrated across software and users in a much better way than it is currently. MS Office seems to still be the norm but I think its time we revolutionized our approach to this stuff. (Google?)

Mobile Phones

So, after spending an hour yesterday cleaning the trackball on my BlackBerry Pearl while hoping I didn't break it, I have been thinking a lot about mobile phones:

First thought, can I even call it a phone anymore? I definitely email more from this mobile device than I speak into it. But then again, VOIP and Fring might revive this for others.

Second thought, how much does size matter in relation to capabilities? For those of you that know me in person, you know that the pockets on my clothes cannot be that big. That is why I own a little Pearl with little buttons on it. It fits me. If Apple was to release an iPhone with 3G and GPS, would I consider it worth the extra bulky pocket?

(Side thought, the new Google Maps app makes a pretty respectable attempt at finding me without GPS. Not creepy at all!)

Third thought, the cameras in phones still leave something to be desired. My digital camera is small and cute and has nice features and takes good pictures. The BlackBerry Pearl camera, well, I have to be pretty desperate to use it. (To be fair, I like that they got a flash in there.) And I know the iPhone takes pretty good pictures. But admittedly, they still have a ways to go.

Fourth thought, and you know what, I want video, too. (So, demanding!)

Fifth thought, I want my music to listen to and videos to watch without carrying another device. Again, still lacking here. My music collection wouldn't fit on any of the current phones.

Sixth thought, back to the dirty trackball. I will trust my friends with iPhones that touch screen is the way to go. At least I wouldn't be cleaning a tiny trackball for an hour every few months.

Last thought, I think Wi-Fi would be fun, too.

So, the final equation is: BlackBerry Pearl features and size + 3G + GPS + Canon SD1000 + video + 60 GB iPod + touch screen + Wi-Fi = perfect mobile device!

Now, I just have to wait for someone to make it - which is ok, I am stuck in a contract anyway :/

One Thing That Has Always Bugged Me About Facebook and Photos

This is pretty simple. Why are my profile pictures separate from my photo albums? Why can't I just select a photo from one of my albums to be my profile picture? A part of me cringes to say this, but think MySpace style. I can't imagine a good reason for not doing this.

In fact, their entire approach to photo management is a bit off. So, I have to go to three places to see photos of someone: profile pictures, photo albums and tagged by others. Conclusion: Facebook needs to rehash their approach to photo management. They could one-up MySpace if they added the tagged-in photos seamlessly, too.

DC 48 Hour Film Project

As the title implies, I am participating in this year's 48 Hour Film Project! Thanks to an invite, I was inspired to join a team: Green Llama Productions.

This year's competition will be held the weekend of May 2-4.

This will be my first big film project in a while - its been years of vacation filming and the occasional music video for a local band. So, I am very excited to be part of a larger and more organized project. The last time I participated in the production of a real short film had to have been in college.

Although, I am not heading the team, I am happy to be a part of one. I will keep posting updates. If anyone else is participating, let me know!

I Would Prefer My Centralized Me Reside Here

First, read this TechCrunch article.

I am a fan of multiple online services and the creation of new services. However, I have a bit of an issue with the idea of my profiles and content reside in multiple places in multiple forms. It has always felt like a necessary evil in the field. So, I have come to accept this decentralization although I still question its sustainability.

With the advent of FriendFeed and the opening of platforms like on Facebook, etc., I think it is safe to say that a movement towards re-centralization may have begun.

And long ago, I began thinking about profile aggregation to solve the issue of maintaining multiple profiles. But I have never been sure that creating a profile aggregation/alignment service wouldn't just further complicate this problem by merely acting as an icing on the cake. Nonetheless, more than one company is trying this.

To me, what I desire is one step beyond the Data Portability Project in that it is data that resides here that is made portable not just all of my data shared by major services. In short, I have no ultimate solution but I would really prefer that my Centralized Me was here- on my site and under my ultimate control. One main profile on my domain that feeds all of my other profile pages with varying granules and privacy controls. As for content, I want it here, too. And other services can be applied to my content to provide the extra features for accessing and further connecting to others' content. I am not sure where the monetization exists in these suggestions but a lot of current services lack monetization strategies, too. And if I came up with that, well, I'd have a startup...

Personal websites/blogs are kind of a centralized location for us in a conceptual and forced way, but I wish I could have it all for real and here.

Discovering New Music Part II

Thanks to Last.fm, I bought a few new albums today.

I finally got into Last.fm a few weeks ago and for a while I ignored it. And I'm sure I am still not completely utilizing it. But the similar artists feature has already led me to some new music. The Amazon MP3 link is a great add, too.

Ah, listening to a great new album... nothing beats the feeling.

Behavioral Economics and Predicting the Future of Social Media

Lately, I have been reading a book on behavioral economics called Predictably Irrational and I have been noticing quite a few articles and blog posts analyzing the future of social media.

Behavioral economics is a bit of a buzz phrase right now but I don't think that diminishes the strength in the lessons we can learn from that field. It seems to me that people are comfortable with the current state of social networks and are busy theorizing about advanced applications. I enjoy reading the different perspectives and predictions. However, most of them seem to be purely opinion and based on personal experience. Which is also reasonable but not theories I feel comfortable completely buying into.

I would love to see an analysis of the future of social media that took into account behavioral economics. (I haven't even finished reading my first book on behavioral economics, so, it won't be me doing the analysis right away.) I also think more companies should read into the basic aspects of human irrationality, especially the aspects that could directly impact their users' experiences and therefore the company's bottom line.