Project Management

PMP Exam Tip: Interpersonal Skills a PMP Needs: 7. Political and Cultural Awareness

In Appendix G, the PMBOK Guide discusses Interpersonal Skills for the project manager. In the sense of a free PMP exam guide we are currently reviewing these one by one in our weekly PMP exam tip. Let’s talk culture and politics. In today’s world, project managers operate in an environment that is more globally focusedRead… Read more »

Getting Government to Use Performance Data

Academics sometimes hit the nail on the head! University of Wisconsin professor Donald Moynihan, a thoughtful observer of the evolution of performance management in the U.S, along with colleague Stephane Lavertu from Ohio State, examine historical GAO survey data to understand why recent federal performance improvement initiatives haven’t resulted in the hoped-for increase use ofRead… Read more »

Why Government Should Not Go Lean

Just after I posted “Business Process Management As If People Mattered: Adaptive Case Management” the latest issue of the Harvard Business Review downloaded to my Color Nook. This was a special issue devoted to talent management and so I flipped through it pretty quickly until I came across “Lean Knowledge Work” (Staats and Upton, OctoberRead… Read more »

SEPTA gets closer to open fare system

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority expects to award a contract this month for an electronic fare payment system, according to The Inquirer. The $100 million system will allow customers to pay their fares by tapping SEPTA smart cards or bank-issued contactless credit or debit cards on an electronic reader. The system will be designed toRead… Read more »

Eight Humor Styles in Action: Building Stress Resiliency with Interactive Humor – Part I & II

After my essay on the 9/11 Anniversary, I decided to make room for my basic Yin-Yang nature: here is an article on eight styles of humor. (The 9/11 essay, “Ten Years After: A Personal Remembrance of Sep 11th – Strategies for Grieving, Surviving and Evolving: (http://www-stressdoc-com.blogspot.com/2011/09/ten-years-after-personal-remembrance-of.html). The early-mid 20th century pioneering film-maker, artist and comedienne,Read… Read more »

California passes DREAM act

Illegal immigrants will be able to apply for state money to attend American universities in California thanks to a new law signed by California Governor Jerry Brown. Under the terms of the law, illegal immigrants who have attended school in California will be eligible to apply for Cal-Grant aid to continue their educations. Last yearRead… Read more »

Slides Available for CTC 2011: Court Technology Conference

Slides are available for many of the presentations given at CTC 2011: The 2011 Court Technology Conference (Twitter hashtag #ctc2011), held 4-6 October 2011 in Long Beach, California, USA. The presentations included: Dean Peter W. Martin of Cornell University Law School on Abandoning Law Reports for Official Digital Case Law; James E. McMillan of theRead… Read more »

New IARPA Program Aims To Discover Tech Trends

The Intelligence Community’s Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) office of “incisive analysis” has been evaluating plans, projects and proposals submitted in response to a broad solicitation of inputs on a very interesting construct. They have embarked on a new, smarter way of gleaning technology trends. We first learned publicly of this activity in 2010 whenRead… Read more »