2007/10/26

Teaming

Aquest estiu, llegint "El Periódico de Catalunya" vaig trobar una notícia que em va cridar l'atenció.
Parlava de l'entrenador del Barça, Frank Rijkaard, però no anava ben bé sobre futbol, sinó sobre el treball en equip i un concepte que no havia sentit anomenar: "Teaming".

El cert és que el contingut de la notícia em va semblar interessant, però no li vaig donar mes voltes fins que aquest dimecres, en la primera "Executive Sessions" d'EADA, a la que vaig assistir, em vaig trobar de nou amb el "Teaming".

I és que el primer convidat d'aquest cicle de trobades-conferències era el "Jil Van Eyle" i ens presentava, precisament el concepte-idea-proposta de "Teaming": 'Una iniciativa solidària per unir microdonacions a qualsevol causa benèfica'.

Per a resumir-ho, l'objectiu és que els membres d'una empresa, organització, entitat,..., s'organitzen de manera 'voluntària' per a donar 1 € del seu sou cada mes, a una entitat, escollida democràticament entre ells.

Ni mes ni menys.

A partir de 'micro-esforços', aconseugir resultats màxims.

No us explico mes.
Només us convido a què consulteu la seva web: www.teaming.info o el blog del Jil, http://www.blog.teaming.info/

2007/10/21

eEspaña 2007. "España no va bien"

Un año más, y ya van varios, desde el 2001, la Fundación Orange (antes Fundación Auna y despues, France Telecom) ha elaborado el estudio "España 2007. Informe anual sobre el desarrollo de la sociedad de la información en España".

Antes que nada, para poder acceder al mismo, sólo tenéis que acceder a link.

Como podréis comprobar, el estudio es muy exhaustivo y cubre muchos aspectos y variados, desde "El sector TIC en España", "La telefonía móvil", "El capital humano" y "El capital financiero", hasta el "Uso de las TIC en los hogares españoles", "La eSociedad", "La eAdministración" o el uso e impacto de las TIC en las empresas.

Durante los próximos post, intentaré compartir algunos de los resultados publicados en este estudio.

Me gustaría empezar, sin embargo, por las conclusiones del estudio en cuanto al desarrollo de España respecto a los difrentes paises europeos.

Reproduciendo textualmente algunos párrafos del estudio:


"Durante el año pasado, España se ha alejado de los países más avanzados en Sociedad de la Información en Europa.

La desaceleración del proceso de convergencia ha sido muy leve, sin embargo ha permitido que otras economías emergentes como República Checa, Eslovenia, Eslovaquia, Lituania o Letonia hayan superado a España en términos de desarrollo de la Sociedad de la Información.


De esta forma, España ha pasado en 2006 del décimo tercer puesto al vigésimo en términos de desarrollo de la Sociedad de la Información."

"...De tal forma, se puede afirmar que el grado de desarrollo de la Sociedad de la Información en España, que corresponde a un valor del Índice eEspaña de 41, equivale al 56% del grado de desarrollo de los países líderes como Finlandia o Islandia. También es importante destacar que esta distancia ha aumentado del año 2005 al 2006, ya que en 2005, el grado de desarrollo de las TIC en España correspondía al 61% del grado de desarrollo en el país líder."



Y si lo que analizamos, en este caso, es la comparativa entre los diferentes países, atendiendo a tres variables: Entorno, Acceso y Uso, nos encontraremos con la siguiente tabla.


2007/10/14

The activity of a Project Manager

I've found a very interesting web in Internet, looking for articles about "The role of Project Manager": www.pmjob.ca.

Three of the most interesting articles in this website are:
  • The job of Project Manager
  • Project Manager Skills
  • Place of the Project Manager within the company
I would to reproduce some of the content for the first two articles.

"Project managers are catalysers.
They see projects through to successful completion and coordinate all the players concerned by a project, for both its implementation and its deliverables.
They manage project impacts while the work is under way and after completion."

"They guide the various players in order to deliver the symphony on time.
Conductors don't necessarily have to be good pianists; they are not required to specialize in a particular instrument, but must know the music and how to coordinate the whole thing." (
Hélène Bénéteau de Laprairie, project manager at Keyrus Canada and Vice-President of PMI-Montreal)

There are three main categories of activity in project management:
  • Management
  • Communicating:
    • Informing all players
    • Maintain the link between all players
    • Seeking out information
  • Managing risk:
    • Planning and preventing change
    • Confronting contingencies (e.g. budget, players, needs)
    • Adapting in order to remain on coursse
Let's talk about these three different activities
  • Manage. Project management requires a liking for management. The teams involved on a project are often quite varied, including personnel across all levels and divisions. Relationship management, leadership, negotiating expertise and conflict resolution abilities are essential to rally all the players around the same objective. Project managers are also good stewards: they know how to organize, manage a budget and are familiar with the legal framework.
  • Communicate. Project managers must have excellent oral and written communication skills, and be able to talk to all kinds of people.They know how to listen, and where to look for information, then how to summarize and convey it.
  • Manage risks. Project managers are independent and familiar with all the issues. They know how to define problems, evaluate the potential of resources and find creative solutions. Always vigilant, they continually assess the appropriateness of the project in accordance with changes in the environment. They are able to make timely decisions, and even put a stop to things as required. Stress management is included under managing risks. Deadlines are tight and the ability to adjust to changing priorities is key.

2007/10/10

Project Management Bibliography (in english)

In a previous post I listed some interesting books around project management, most of them in spanish.

There are a lot of bibliography in english, of course.
But I want to enumerate some 'practical books' I consider are very useful to improve our skills in project management and to apply different techniques and tools.

First of all, some books I have:
  • "Succesful Project Management". Second Edition. The Sunday Times. Trevor L Young.
  • "Project Management. Planning & Control Techniques". Third Edition. Wiley. Rory Burke.
  • "The Project 50 (Reinventing Work): Fifty Ways to Transform Every "Task" into a Project That Matters!". Borzoi Book. Tom Peters
I recommend you first and third. They are very useful.

Of course, there are some books edited by the "Project Management Institute".
Over the years, PMI have developed a library of global standards.
All of them are interesting, but I recomend you, first of all, the PMBOK, of course.
  • A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide)—Third Edition
  • Construction Extension to the PMBOK® Guide — 2000 Edition (Provisional)
  • Government Extension to the PMBOK® Guide Third Edition
  • Practice Standard for Earned Value Management
  • Practice Standard for Project Configuration Management
  • Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures — Second Edition
  • PeopleProject Manager Competency Development Framework
  • Organizational Project Management Maturity Model (OPM3®)
  • The Standard for Portfolio Management

And of course, you can find a lot of web resources on Internet.

I recommend you: