Nico Joos (Avanade)

Remember the milk

2008-08-14T06:52:00Z

Long time since I posted something here. Sorry, I forgot :)

How many of you forgot the milk lately? Forgot to put the trash outside? Or even worse, forgot to get the kids?

This great online task management app does it all: http://www.rememberthemilk.com

The pro version even synchronizes this all to your Windows Mobile device. And to keep things nice and clean, it doesn't install a new app on your WM. It just synchronizes to your default WM tasks list. No more, no less, and just what it needs to do to remember you from time to time to get things done.

Cayra: free mind-mapping tool

2008-07-14T07:32:00Z

Need a mind-mapping tool? Check out this free WPF tool called Cayra. I was just playing around with it and it's great. Not overloaded with features, it does just what it needs to do, and you don't need to study a 500 pages manual to get you started.

http://cayra.net

Silverlight Styling & Skinning Quick Start

2008-07-09T15:05:00Z

Jesse Liberty posted a great article to show the most appropriate way to start styling your controls in Silverlight:

http://silverlight.net/learn/tutorials/StylesTemplatesVSM.aspx

Belgian Drunk Puppy ends 2nd in Microsoft Imagine Cup

2008-07-09T14:53:00Z

A Belgian team called Drunk Puppy Productions ends 2nd in the 2008 edition of the Microsoft Imagine cup for students. The Imagine Cup winners have been announced and Team SOAK from Australia (David Burela, Dimaz Pramudya, Ed Hooper, and Long Zheng) pulled out the win in the competitive Software Design Invitationals. Read all about it here:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/jul08/07-08ICWINNERSPR.mspx

ARCast.TV post on becoming an MCA

2008-07-09T14:45:00Z

Want to become an MCA? Then this video gives you an idea what you can expect from the certification process and interview:

http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/ARCast.TV/ARCastTV-Bill-Guat-discusses-the-Microsoft-Certified-Architect-Program/

Getting things done

2008-07-01T06:56:00Z

Getting things done is hot these days. People have so much things to do, that time management is becoming extremely important in order to deal with your time as good as possible.

Getting things done is more like, getting 'all' those things done. But there are so many things!

Let me give you one, only one, good advice in this post, more to come later in future posts.

Get your 'things' out of your system!

Believe me, try it perhaps, you will see this will clear your mind, and you will start focussing on the things to be done in stead of focussing on the fact that there are so many things to be done.

How?

Start by making lists. Lists of tasks:

Professional tasks
Tasks in general
Tasks on ongoing projects
Private tasks
Things you would like to do (but never had time for)
...

Getting all these tasks out of your own system (mind) and into offline tasklists, will help you to get a grip on everything. Even the simple action of completing a task and therefore erasing it from a list, will give you a great feeling.

Doing this you will become on top of things. You will look down to the lists. Now you may feel like looking up to a mountain of tasks. It is key to get on top of that mountain and look down.

To be continued ...

Regards,

Nico

MOSS on Windows Server 2008

2008-07-01T06:54:00Z

For people trying to install the MSDN version of Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server 2007 on a Windows Server 2008, please use the SP1 (trial) version download from the Microsoft download site. The msdn version (without SP1) has an incompatibility issue with Windows Server 2008, which is solved by the SP1. In order to install MOSS on Windows Server 2008, just download the SP1 (trial) and register it using your license key.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=2e6e5a9c-ebf6-4f7f-8467-f4de6bd6b831&displaylang=en

"This is the x86 version of SharePoint Server 2007 Trial for Standard and Enterprise editions. The downloads on this page include the original release of SharePoint Server 2007 Trial (OfficeServer.exe) and the original release of SharePoint Server 2007 Trial with Service Pack 1 included (OfficeServerwithSP1.exe).

Note: In order to install SharePoint Server 2007 on Windows Server 2008 you have to install the version of SharePoint Server 2007 Trial with SP1."

Regards,

Nico

Integration projects

2008-06-17T07:18:00Z

Previous posts in my blog, for those who have read them, were about some general project management related topics. This post will cover some thoughts about integration projects in specific.

In IT we all know that the integration of 2 systems is often not more than 1 line between 2 objects on a canvas, but the line implies a lot more than it suggests. We all love to draw those objects, and to connect them using simple lines. In fact this is what we do when we want to convince people about an integration opportunity, in order to put things as easy as possible.

Nevertheless we should take a moment to consider the things that should be taken into account when we are planning to implement.

Integration is about communication. 2 systems are going to work together to exchange information from to the other. There will be senders and there will be receivers. There will be a medium and there will be a language. I already stated in previous posts the importance of communication in PM. Now we'll match this to integration projects.

Please review the following key tasks:

Define the actors: senders, receivers
Define the medium: LAN, WAN, Internet, ...
Define the language: XML, flat files, EDI, ...

Once you have considered these key elements of classic communication fundamentals, you will be coping with lots of other details. You find yourself defining the communication messages; the layout of these messages; the schema they should comply with.

It is not the intention of this post to explain from a to z each step in order to analyse an integration project. I just want to provide you with the fundamentals, and even a different approach on how to think about integration. Don't fall into the trap of getting too technical too soon in the project. Try to analyse things rather technology independant. Soon you will find yourself creating a blueprint of a complete architecture, ready to be translated into the best technological architecture, dealing with the overall requirements you stated in the blueprint.

I advise you to read more information about how to architect the integration of systems using the following resources:

Kind regards,

Nico

Deliver, Delivery, Deliverables

2008-06-10T13:28:00Z

Like the title already suggests, this post will be about delivery. After all, our customers are most interested in what they are going to get for the money they spend on you, your team and your company you are representing.

Defining the right deliverables at the beginning of the project, will be one of the first tasks to perform in order to prevent not being aligned with the expectations of your customer.

It is important at the beginning of the project, to clearly align with your customer, which tasks, which fases will be gone through during the complete project. This means you will have to provide your customer with a project outline, using different tasks and subtasks. Each of these tasks should have one or more deliverables in order to sign off each task at completion. The sign-off of the deliverable is a good way of dealing with the completion of a project task.

Taking this all together will bring you a list of deliverables. Please discuss this list with your customer in order to align the project outcome. These deliverables can be word documents, sharepoint lists, a deployed version of a complete solution, an new version of a complete solution, ... Each of these are examples of what a deliverable can be. These are the things your customer can see, can touch, can review, and will pay for!

To proceed, your next task is to introduce these deliverables as milestones into your work plan. It will structure your planning and it will make it more easy to put deadlines on specific tasks for specific resources.

It may be of help to provide the development team with samples and templates of these deliverables. This is good practice especially when team member are not completely sure about the expected outcome of their task. Especially the level of detail of a deliverable can cause misunderstandings between a project lead assign the task, and a team member dealing with the task. It is important that each project member feels comfortable with the expectation, and the deliverable for his task.

As this may seem as basic project management, it is often seen that project managers aren't able to satisfy their customers because the customer expected 'something else'. Aligning what the customer expects at the beginning of the project is therefore very important for the succes of the complete project. It is a small step at the beginning of the project, but it clarifies the exact expectations of the customer towards the project team.

Once the deliverables are set, and the work plan is updated with the different milestones, it is time to assign the deliverables to team members who will be assigned as the owner of each deliverable. Each owner will be committed to deliver the deliverable on time. A project sign-off will be closely related to the sign-off of each of the deliverables. As the project team will work towards each of the milestones, the deliverables will progress towards final version, ready to posted to a formal delivery repository.

That's it for now. More to come on this topic in future posts.

Kind regards,

Nico

Lessons learned in PM

2008-06-08T13:23:00Z

What I would like to spend this entry on, is a few lessons learned while managing projects. Just to have some thoughts about them, not to have a complete list. That would bring us too far.

Here we go:

"Don't listen to the customer, listen to your intuïtion"

Listening to your customer is key, but do it with trust in your own experience. Expect the input from your customer being coloured. You are the consultant, you have the project experience, so use it. You will find yourself in doubt from time to time, but in most cases, afterwards, you will see you were at first. PM is about experience. In each project, big or not, you will get something to put into your backpack. Take it along the way, and open it when needed. You will find yourself much more confident after a while.

"Don't fall into the tool trap"

In a PM role on an IT project, it seems to mandatory to use the most fancy tools around. Be aware of the tool trap! Your tool will not do your PM tasks. It is you as a PM to use a tool to help you. If the added value of the tool is not enough, then simply don't use it at all. PM is about being on top of your project. Knowing what is going on, yesterday, today, tomorrow. If you feel confident about your tool skills it's ok, but don't take each tool for granted. Try to avoid that tool management is taking more time than actual project management.

"90% of PM is communication"

Now we know that there is more in our job than just using some tools, than what is left to do? Communicating! Being on top of your project means you have to communicate to your stake-holders. Every person contributing to the project needs to be aware of you. You need to stay in contact, formal and informal. You will see once people know your face, working together will be much more comfortable. People will react differently once you have them on the phone, people will send you e-mails more often, people will say 'hello' when they see you walking by in the office. Does this mean that being nice to people is a guarantee for a succesfull project? Not at all! But it will help avoid people to go their own course in stead of aligning with you, the PM. You want people to think of you when they run into something unclear. You have to be on top of their mind. Clear communication is key to achieve this.

So, I hope you enjoyed this. Don't hesitate to provide feedback.

Cartoon: How projects really work

2008-06-07T13:20:00Z

source: http://www.projectcartoon.com/cartoon/2/

Prepare for take-off ...

2008-06-06T06:22:00Z

Dear Blog Readers,

I'm excited to announce the birth of my first ... blog. As every blog reader or contributor knows, starting to blog is a much more easy decision to make, then to predict whether you will be able to provide good content frequently.

What is the percentage of blogs that died a silent dead after a while? I guess pretty much!

So I admit, I doubted a lot on whether I should really start this blog. But finally I decided to go for it, for one reason. If you don't try, you will never know!

So, here I am. Hoping to provide good content from time to time. And hopefully people will appreciate my contribution to the community.

What to expect from me? As an Avanade consultant I am very much into project management, delivery and development team leading. This means the topic of most of my blog entries will cover facts and findings about my experience, working on Avanade projects, dealing with day to day issues about project management and team leading.

This is it for now. Catch you later!

regards,

Nico