fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
What does traveling mean exactly??
By: Philip Chavez
Tags: Travel, Vacation, Why, Africa

I think a lot of different things when I think about traveling. I think of those who went on their vacation down to Mexico for the first time. I think of road trippers who are finding their calling out in Joshua Tree taking psychedelics. I think of those hopping on a flight somewhere far like Africa, and taking on Tanzania’s mountains. But what does this all mean?

How do you know if someone is a “traveler”? Does it have to do with the amount of stamps in their passport? Or their Instagram feed?… I think it has to do with their stories. It has to do with what they have gotten out of traveling and what specific memories they have to tell. Aside from the magnificent Foie Gras meal they had in France, or Pad Thai they had in Bangkok (which is a very rare find), I always ask the questions. Did you learn a bit of their language? Did you take a train versus a taxi cab and get to know the rail system? Did you eat at the local market instead of a 5 star restaurant? These are the things I want to know and what I assume other people want to know about my experiences because these answers are what seperates a vacationer and a true traveler. I would be very curious to know about how other people would define what a true traveler is and the kinds of things you speak of when telling others about a specific place or trip.
Patricia: #1 Cryptocurrency Platform in Africa
By: Patricia Technologies
Tags: Cryptocurrency, Patricia, Africa, Bitcoin, Cryptocurrency Exchange

Patricia is the No 1 Cryptocurrency platform in Africa

If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve experienced a digital take-over of digital platforms that offer the best in interactive trading benefits.

In a world where we rely on social platforms like Facebook, Google, and YouTube on a daily basis to provide basic information about a new product, application, or software, we can count ourselves among countries fast embracing a digital paradigm shift. Over the years, we’ve experienced a change in industrial, scientific, and technological advancement as we know it and what it promises in years to come.

Due to a wide proportion of the country’s younger generation becoming more inclined to performing everyday tasks online, the Patricia App emerged to leverage opportunities of ‘Glocal’ trading in bitcoin currency, with a user-friendly platform that takes you on a journey of DIY services. It is sure to capture young, inquisitive minds who see the digital space as a sustainable avenue for future opportunities.

Borne out of the sheer need to provide easy access to a single idea that will propel change in the way we transact and encourage people to invest in a future that is uncertain, especially in these uncertain times, the Patricia App has allowed the country to forge its own path in terms of technology advancement, investment avenues for today’s youth and open-doors to 20th-century job opportunities.

Patricia harnesses the power of cryptocurrency to create alternative solutions to financial infrastructure, digital payments, and global E-commerce, making trillions in trade while servicing over 300K people with services in gift cards and bitcoin trade, with a customized debit card for bitcoin withdrawals and a wallet account you can monitor at your own pace.

Patricia has garnered customer value which includes giving customers the Patricia experience of providing innovative solutions to everyday transactions.

Built on its core values of integrity and transparency, the Patricia App has become one of the world’s multi-purpose platforms for all things crypto, trading, gifting.

The possibilities for brand-to-consumer interest on Patricia is almost unparalleled when compared to other Apps in terms of engagement, and this is entirely due to the way it manifests itself in as many aspects of our daily lives as possible- via airtime purchase, trading bitcoin, owning a customized digital wallet and account you can monitor.

By tapping into the Patricia App’s data on bids, payments, and money transfers, traders can leverage on when, where, how, and why marketers sell, therefore providing room for open trade and fair negotiations.

Twenty years from today, it might be difficult to transact without the Patricia App. It is a timeless idea that is sure to bring a super safe, super secure and super interactive era of digital change closer to Africa and the world.
There were no city lights to dim the stars shining in brilliant array in the darkness; we were as far from cities as the earth is from the moon. The picture of a young woman riding a donkey on a…
By: Lynette Clements
Tags: Short Story, Christmas, Family, Africa, Relationships

Photo by Chris Stenger on Unsplash

Christmas comes to a riverbank home in darkest Africa; dark because it’s a special night that comes but once a year.

There were no city lights to dim the stars shining in brilliant array in the darkness; we were as far from cities as the earth is from the moon. The picture of a young woman riding a donkey on a dusty road to Bethlehem could have taken place here. Bronc, the veterinary horse, had a stable and we were accustomed to the smell of it; he was stabled to keep him safe from lion prides passing through the area; stables were something we were familiar with.

Copyright Lynette Clements.
12 Days of Christmas with Agro Kings
By: Agro Kings
Tags: Food, Christmasgiveaway, Africa, Agriculture, Ghana

Nana’s Chilli Sauces

Tis Christmas — Our season of love and giving! Even though this year has been a tough one, Agro Kings will like to put a wide smile on your faces with amazing treats this holiday. We present to you 12 Days of Christmas Online Promo which runs from 18th — 29th December, 2020. Every day comes with a special package. We’ve also introduced new and exciting products you will need. Get them while it lasts! Visit www.agrokings.io/shop to shop now.

12 Days of Christmas Outline

18th — Day 1

Buy one, get one free! Wompɛ wei, na wopɛ dɛn?! #BuyOneGetOneFree #APartridgeInAPearTree

Offers include:

Buy one 5kg long grain and get one chilli pepper powder (small) free

Buy one bundle and get one sweet potato fries (small)

Buy one 5x5 long grain/short grain rice and get 1 shito free

19th — Day 2

1 lucky customer wins double tickets to an upcoming event. #2TurtleDoves

20th — Day 3

Have you met the Trinity? Order your #TrinityBundle (Rice, chicken and shito) today! First 3 customers get an unbeatable 3% discount on the bundle. #ThreeInOne #3FrenchHens

Day 3 — Trinity Bundle

21st — Day 4

Can you hear the #4CallingBirds? Introducing the Too Much Sauce bundle (all 4 sauces). First 4 orders come with one free 1kg long grain rice. #4MoreForNanasRice #4More4You #4MoreToGetMore

22nd — Day 5

5% discount for orders with 5 or more items in cart #5GoldRings

23rd — Day 6

6th order of the day gets a whooping 60% off! #SixIsHere #6GeeseA-Laying. Also 3 random customers get a sweet potato product for free.

24th — Day 7

The 7th day is a day of rest. Enjoy free delivery on all orders! #DayOfRest #AgrokingsSabbath #7SwamsA-Swamming

12 Days of Christmas Outline

25th — Day 8

8 is a new number of new beginnings because Jesus is born! Born of the chosen handmaiden of God! #8MaidsA-Milking. Get an 8% percent discount on all orders with discount code: BRONYA

26th — Day 9

A boxing bout has 12 rounds. Get a 12% discount to knock out hunger this Christmas! Use BOXINGDAY code at checkout. #BoxingDay #9LadiesDancing

27th — Day 10

#10LordsA-Leaping Time for you to leap for joy! #HappyEating 10% discount on purchases above GH¢100

28th — Day 11

#11PipersPiping It’s not too late! You can still enjoy amazing offers at your #11thHour. Use 11THHOUR at checkout for surprise discounts. (will be changing the discounts every 3 hours)

29th — Day 12

#12 DrummersDrumming Get ready for surprise offers and discounts at 12pm! #LastHour

Agro Kings is a Ghanaian owned and operated company, rapidly growing to becoming the preferred rice farm, processor and exporter of rice and other agricultural products in the West African sub-region. Purchase Nana’s Rice at any of our distributor points at Dzworwulu, Adenta, Madina, East Legon, Tema and Trasacco. For this and more, visit www.agrokings.io/shop

Written by Naa Adei Kotey
Before Lights Out
By: Tomisin Jenrola
Tags: Coming Of Age, Adolescence, Nostalgia, Africa, Poetry

Photo by Seth Doyle on Unsplash

Our Lipton-scorched tongues told no lies

When we sang those early morning hymns.

This was before seven hours of

Dozing, learning, reciting and

Staring out of windows wondering where

The dirt-covered road lead.

\

Laundry, comic book art and name-calling

Followed hurried lunches.

Those soiled roll-on deodorant balls

We smacked around with our new sandals,

Made good tennis games better.

We would compete or cheer in the

Occasional grappling and quarrelling

Over which superhero was strongest.

\

As evening arrived and skies cooled,

A good shower or contraband perfume

Masked our uncultured selves

When we greeted pretty counterparts for night school.

\

Up to mischief after dark,

We plotted forest raids

For the one-legged baby faced spirit

From senior boys’ stories.

Stories their seniors told them.

\

Forging weapons from incomplete math sets

And traps from broken buckets and mop sticks

We swore to never return after exams.

Yet we rushed to arrive first each resumption day.

\

This was before deepening voices

And patchy beards

And jumping trousers

And shrinking shoes

Hinted the end of those golden days.
Isn’t It Time We Talked About Sports UFOs?
By: Nnamdi O. Madichie
Tags: Middle East, Referees, Football, Africa

Yes, Covid-19 is clearly a UFO, but not in the manner science has historically defined unidentified flying objects (UFOs). In any case, the virus flies, at least as science tells us, from animals to humans, and from humans to other humans. It flies as well, you know? Otherwise, why do we have to wear masks and keep a distance away from even our loved ones?

In this article, however, I take on a different slant. My UFOs are Uncelebrated Football Officials, and especially those in developing world contexts. How many FIFA certified Football Officials from Africa and the Middle East do you know?

But when you talk about football, names such as Mo Salah, Ngolo Kante, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang amongst many others, are household names.

I’m just reflecting upon my visits, in 2017, to Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) of the Georgetown University Qatar, as part of a working group held a under its research initiative on “Sports, Society, and the State in the Middle East,” where I led discussions on two working groups. First, the “Khaleeji Soft Power, Branding, and International Sports Investments” at the State in the Middle East Working Group I (12–13 March 2017). Second, “Unpacking the Internationalization of Middle East Sports Officials” Working Group II (24-25 September 2017).

Here’s a brief insight on my thoughts at the time, and a call to action on framing a research agenda on this important subject matter.

Nnamdi Madichie presented a paper titled “Unpacking the Internationalization of Middle East Sports Officials.” Madichie’s paper describes the trends, attitudes, behaviors, and changing configuration of sports participation in the region.

The proposition derives from my previous assessment, and decade old research in football, especially in Africa and the Middle East.

Madichie, N. (2009). Management implications of foreign players in the English premiership league football. Management Decision, 47(1), 24-50.

Madichie, N. (2010). Giving the beautiful game a “pretty” bad name: a viewpoint on African football. African Journal of Business and Economic Research, 5(1), 135-151.

Madichie, N. (2011). Sharjah Football Club (UAE): still kings? Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, 1(4), 1-11.

Madichie, N. (2013). Ode to a “million dollar” question: does the future of football lie in the Middle East? Management Decision, 51(9), 1839-1860.

Madichie, N. (2016). Re-branding the Nigerian Professional Football League: open play or dead ball? Marketing Intelligence and Planning, 34(2), 256-280.

Madichie, N. (2019). A celebration of unsung heroes in football: a spotlight on Russia’s Leonid Slutski. International Journal of Business & Applied Sciences (IJBAS), 8(2), 93-120.
What is Jaliya?
By: Ian Williams
Tags: African Literature, History Of Culture, Africa, History, African Culture

Where do we come in?

This publication was created to share in the Jali’s work.

While the writing strives to be engaging and entertaining, that isn’t the primary focus of it. Jaliya will only publish well-researched articles with sources listed at the bottom of the page. Plagiarism is obviously not allowed, meaning that you must engage with your sources in a meaningful way.

Teaching history should be neither boring nor sensationalist.

I’ve found the more dogmatic a piece of history, the less likely that it’s true. We’ll try to present the facts in an entertaining, yet honest way. If we don’t have concrete evidence for something, we won’t state it as a fact. Instead, we’ll share the information as we understand it and perhaps give some alternative theories.

The concept of the Jali is not one that can be transferred like-for-like to articles written for a web publication. With the same breath, their language was used to both obfuscate information and shed light on truth.

That won’t be the case here. Instead, we’ll take the spirit behind the action, telling stories to enlighten and incite.

There is power in speech. And no stories hold power as much as re-tellings of the past. Jaliya will do our best to help you connect with your history in a personal — but never misleading — way.

After all, isn’t that what Jalis ought to do?
https://youtu.be/cZDvKpgJnkw
By: Panafricancoin Onsoko Africa
Tags: Bitcoin Mining, Ethereum, Africa, Bitcoin, Litecoin

https://youtu.be/cZDvKpgJnkw

SEE WHY THE FUTURE OF AFRICA IS BRIGHTER THAN EVER. Watch and share the video with others. Be sure to subscribe to our you tube channel
As a leader do you, in response to conflict, divide or connect others?
By: Martin West
Tags: Leadership, Conflict Resolution, Project Management, Conflict, Agile

Projects are a series of struggles

Effective management of conflict is critical for project managers to deliver successful projects. Systemic conflict is a natural and necessary part of projects.

Projects are a set of struggles over what, why, who, where and how including:

vision, objectives, outcomes, responses to change, requirements.

priorities, organization, execution, contracted obligations.

resources, scope, schedule and budget.

The opportunity for conflict is large. This grows when we add the more subjective conflict sources such as:

perceptions, emotions, differences in beliefs/values

relationship history, and personal/professional affiliations; and

ethics, identity and personal approaches/styles etc.

Organizations have mechanisms for managing these struggles. These include processes/ methodologies for delivery, meeting ceremonies, agreements, resource management, and numerous types of change management. These work to mitigate conflict around the struggles.

Conflict increases with project stress, which increases with higher levels of:

Complex change and related misalignment, if not addressed

Lack of clarity

Organizational constraints & risk; and

Process Quality and/or inconsistencies.

In such stressed circumstances, projects can become sources of dysfunction and conflict escalation.

The Circle of conflict

The circle of conflict helps us understand the sources of system conflict. Organizations and teams are full of people that work together and are also potential sources of systemic conflict.

Christopher Moore (1991) authored the Circle of Conflict. For me it’s biggest value is that it identifies how people’s response will either fuel or mitigate the impact of conflict. I.e. how we respond can either connect or divide people.

As a project manager and a leader, you are working within your sphere of influence. This normally is your project and stakeholder networks. You are a central influence to help teams connect.

Therefore as a project manager, you can work with your networks to mitigate conflict, drive collaboration and increase project effectiveness.

Understanding the factors in the Circle of Project Conflict can be critical to your success. It is especially important to understand how parties use these factors.

The factors are:

Power & influence (influencing factors)

Structure & Process (organizational factors)

Information, Alignment & Planning (data management factors)

Relationships & emotions (relational factors); and

Beliefs, Values, Identity (personal factors)

Our response to systemic conflict is often at a gut level and will often be modeled based on how we see our leaders’ response to threats.

Please comment if you are interested in understanding more about the value of using the factors in the circle of project conflict to connect with others rather than divide. I.e. core principle of conflict resolution. I’ll be in touch.
The one thing agile teams miss when WFM: Osmotic Learning
By: Doron Katz
Tags: Project Management, Product Management

Overwhelmingly, tech companies have transitioned their sprint iterations from co-location to having teams work remotely, from home. The Covid-19 pandemic has forced teams to change how they interact with each other, perform agile rituals and deliver products.

If you were to ask scrum masters and developers at large companies like Apple and Amazon, or early startups, most would concur that by-in-large, they are just as efficient working from home as they are coming into the office. Collaborative tools such as as Slack, Zoom, and Atlassian’s Jira, have made the transition smoother.

But for all the technology that aims to bring disparate teams virtually together, there is a specific element that cannot be resolved through technology, and that is osmotic communications.

What is Osmotic Communications?

Concocted by one of the founders of the Agile Manifesto, Alastair Cockburn, osmotic communications is the inadvertent overhearing of background information through co-location, that may later end up being important.

“Osmotic communication means that information flows into the background hearing of members of the team, so that they pick up relevant information as though by osmosis.” (Cockburn, 2005)

In other words, the ability for members of the team to audibly pickup information flows through background hearing of other team members, most commonly accomplished through co-location, by being in the same room. When someone is talking, another person can either tune-in or tune-out, “contributing to the discussion or continuing with their work”.

Webster’s dictionary defines the term as: “a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior”.

The following video by Joshua Render provides a great mini-dive into the agile topic:

As a real-life example, when I first moved to San Francisco, taking my MacBook with me to a coffee shop on Market street. Across the shared table there is another two guys working on an app and discussing some challenges to solve a backend problem.

They were talking about a cloud solution that at the time wasn’t as mainstream, but nowadays has become more common. Eavesdropping, I overheard their conversation, and injected myself in with my thoughts, and we ended up having a long philosophical and technical deep-dive into their problem.

Being physically present, beyond the inter-personal relationship building, you also loose the ability to exchange thoughts in an informal and accidental way.
Global Total Maintenance & Asset Integrity Management Summit 2021
By: Adrian Vanhands
Tags: Oil And Gas, Project Management, Conference, Amsterdam, Asset Management

COVID-19 impact on the Global Asset Integrity Management Services Market 17–18–19 May 2021 Join us in Amsterdam OR Webinar

The pandemic has impacted several industries across the world, and the oil & gas industry is no exception. The global petroleum product consumption decreased significantly due to travel restrictions and economic slowdown. The crisis in the oil & gas industry has substantially impacted several workers and communities who are dependent on its revenues. The industry players are struggling with the oil price war, declining demand, business stability, and employee safety, and need to focus on developing a flexible business model, which can lead to long-term resilience.

The demand for electricity from the industrial sector has been reduced significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Governments across the world were compelled to reduce business activities in response to the virus outbreak. Plant-wide asset inspection and repair work is on hold and mostly in favor of high-priority production-related assets only. The current COVID-19 strategy of mitigation through working at home and social distancing is resulting in a growing backlog of inspection and maintenance work. Moreover, the situation is forcing asset inspection management services providers to perform critical asset inspections with fewer personnel. However, the adoption of key digital strategies such as remote inspection and remote collaboration is expected to help organizations to maintain safe and productive assets

https://www.epc-shutdown-turnaround-maintenance.com/asset-integrity-maintenance-2020
The three pillars of scrum. Transparency
By: Doron Katz
Tags: Agile, Agile Methodology, Project Management

Most practitioners associate the tenets of the agile manifesto as the guiding principles in executing their scrum agendas. In this article, With the premise of Scrum optimized on empirical process control, I wanted to spend some time looking into the three pillars of Scrum theory: transparency, inspection and adaption and provide some annotation on what they really mean, and why these pillars should be the foundations of your practice.

Transparency

Scrum is a framework, and frameworks work when you create a mutual set of transparent standards that are understood and accepted. From cadence in communications to understanding user acceptance criteria and definition of done advocated for during planning, transparency is key to expectations within the Scrum team and associated stakeholders.

Inspection

As opposed to the waterfall sequential process of gathering requirements, building, testing, and publishing, Scrum prides itself on a circular iterative process. You build in iterations, inspect, adjust, and build again. Throughout the sprint, it is encouraged that scrum members validate the work they are doing with the product owner, facilitating incremental inspection towards ensuring trajectory to definition of done. Inspection allows for accounting for the unexpected conditions that may either prevent definition of done, or reduce the level of its overall success, however it is also important that the inspection mechanism isn’t overused at the expense of productivity and velocity, ultimately disrupting work. This of course sounds very familiar to engineers who employ test-driven programming, asserting a test suite of use cases accounting for known variances that map with the definition of done.

Adaptation

The fundamental superpower of Scrum is in its ability to encourage pivoting, shifting gears and direction based on feedback. Following on from inspection, adaptation allows you to learn and change what isn’t working, rather than commit to the project based on steadfast requirements gathered at a singular point in time. But not just the idea is open to change, but the process itself. As a framework, Scrum allows you to augment and adjust to your needs, and this pillar gives you the mandate to adjust communications, cadence, sprint length, inspection checkpoints accordingly.
The Annual Global EPC Contract & Project Management Conference Webinar 2021
By: Primo Eventi
Tags: Amsterdam, Project Management, Construction, Conference

The Annual Global EPC Contract & Project Management Conference Webinar 2021 is an owner-driven event, with programming designed to deep dive key issues in Engineering, Procurement and General Construction implementation and project performance.

In developing the EPCMP conferences, we engage subject-matter experts from the project owner EPC, constructor and engineering community. These experts lend its knowledge and experience to the task of defining the conference themes, developing the program and planning great networking opportunities for attendees.

Thanks to the efforts of these experts, we can design an event that best addresses the challenges and priorities in EPC.

Some of the biggest global owners, constructors, engineers and technology providers attend this conference. This is an opportunity to network with hundreds of industry leaders, about 60% of which will be represented by project owners and EPCs.

We are pleased to invite you to take the opportunity and make benefit of it.

https://www.epc-energy-projects.com/
Ruling emotions
By: Lech Ambrzykowski
Tags: Project Management, Projects

Alain de Botton on Emotional Education @The School of Life

Source: https://youtu.be/W9X7u-MeJz0

“Whenever you are talking about your project, you seem to be sad,” my friend’s words struck me like lightening. Sadness was clearly not the emotion I wanted to stir up with relation to the initiative I felt responsible for. Sadness brings us dangerously close to doubt. Ideally, change should be linked with hope rather than fear, and doubt. Granted, some longer projects seem to run forever and project participants might become anxious — concerned about the end result, tired of the pressure of time, the constant stream of challenges. But this is something we, as project managers, should find ways to counter. Even when circumstances are tough. After all, we are supposed to manage the change. Of course, a sense of urgency by itself isn’t necessarily a bad thing. But we should deal with any negative emotions arising from or exacerbated by that change. Best — before they even appear. The worst thing we can do is allow them to rule us.

Personally, I link maturity with the ability to manage one’s emotions. Consider this for a moment — what’s typical in a child’s behavior? Emotions control the child rather than the other way round. Tantrums are one noticeable example. By contrast, a responsible leader seems to roam the sea of organizational challenges steadily, seemingly emotion-less, wielding emotions like a weapon or tool, drawing upon them only when required. The leader’s stability, predictability with respect to her emotions provides a solid ground for all the leaps the team has to make. Instability fosters doubt and mistrust. A positive outlook will be shared, so will a negative one.

See also

I Made A Mistake — https://progressblog.com/2012/04/07/i-made-a-mistake/

The Stage is for the Child — https://progressblog.com/2008/08/07/the-stage-is-for-the-child/
We need a 5th category: Action items
By: Alina Von Davier
Tags: Management And Leadership, Project Management

You can use this system not just with meetings, but in any area of work or life. Try it for yourself. It’s like a filing cabinet for your brain — one that stores what you need for whenever you need it.
Global EPC Project Management Summit Amsterdam 2021
By: Primo Eventi
Tags: Webinar, Oil, Project Management, Industry, Conference

The Annual Global EPC Contract & Project Management Conference returns to Amsterdam ,Netherlands , this year. This is the world’s Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) industry summit for thought leadership and networking in the contract & project Management domain. This summit elucidates challenges and special risks and how to manage them.

Join the top owners, EPCs, engineers, constructors, suppliers, consultants, researchers and developers making typical projects involving Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) happen on real-world in an exploration of current challenges and priorities.

Learn about real project successes, share your experiences, gather practical knowledge that is directly applicable to your business, and find partners and vendors that are currently using — or are seeking to implement best practices.
The Lesson of Good King Wenceslas
By: Paul Coogan
Tags: Lyrics, Project Management, Medieval, Christmas

Good King Wenceslas looked out,

on the Feast of Stephen,

When the snow lay round about,

deep and crisp and even;

Like so many Christmas Carols the opening lines are unforgettable and instantly bring the melody to mind but what are the words, and more importantly what is the lesson in the lyric?

“Good King Wenceslas” is the story of the Duke of Bohemia (modern day eastern Czech Republic), in the 10th century who was determined to give alms to the poor on the day after Christmas known for the Feast of St. Stephen. The cold was harsh and the snow was particualry harsh as he and his page made their way thorugh the struggled to keep up. The Duke suggested stepping into his footprints to make the going easier.

Page and monarch, forth they went,

forth they went together;

Through the rude wind’s wild lament

and the bitter weather.

Wenceslas’ good deeds and kindnesses earned him the posthumous title of king which has a better ring than “Good Duke Wenceslas…” This elevation in title by Holy Roman Emperor Otto I served to strengthen the rule of monarchy by affirming rex iustus, the concept of a “righteous king” whose power comes from kindly acts of good as well as military might.

Use your experienced project resources to guide the way for the less experienced. It is not enough to cross train in the final stages of the project, the novice needs to witness the master in action and follow their example. It can be more costly but the transfer of direct knowledge will be invaluable for operational support, reduction of project risk, and job satisfaction of your resources.

Be sure to sing the praises of your people when they forge ahead. The Holy Roman Emperor knew well that acknowledgement strengthens the whole team.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_King_Wenceslas

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenceslaus_I,_Duke_of_Bohemia
Project Retrospective
By: Bogdan Suchok
Tags: Retrospectives, Project Management

Analyzing projects

When you face a problem in your project, don’t get frustrated. Take another perspective: It’s an opportunity to learn, an opportunity to improve yourself or your team. Failure, however painful and stressful, is a resource, so embrace it.

Of course, in order for problems to benefit you, you should take time to review and learn from the experience. To simplify the learning process, start collecting postmortem data from the very beginning. Along with the project plan, set up everything to make gathering feedback as easy as possible.

Below is the minimum set of data I usually collect and review on my projects. I do it during the project execution while my and my team’s memories are still fresh.

Issue List

This list is designed to store all the issues discovered during the project execution. Every issue belongs to a defined category. When you start the analysis, you can easily identify some common patterns (for instance, which types of issues cause you the most trouble). Having this data handy not only helps prevent the same issues from happening in the future but also helps make positive process changes at the organizational level. It’s pure gold!

Risk List

Similar to the issues, the risks grouped by categories will give you insights. The next step is to collect data on the risks that became issues later on and try to understand why they turned into issues even though they were discovered early on.

Schedule Variance

Projects don’t always follow their schedules exactly, and it’s always interesting to see the variance between the baseline and the actual dates. For that, you need to define the baseline start and end dates. When the project is done, compare those dates to the actual start and end dates.

One step further is to match delays to the issues from the list above. A report like this will give you an understanding of which issues caused the timeline slippage.

Lessons Learned and Action Items

When you’re looking back at the issues, you typically form an idea of what you could have done better. For each issue, write down a lesson worth reflecting on. Sometimes it might require an action item for your team or a change request at the organizational level. Take action to really benefit from the lessons learned.

When the project is done, schedule a meeting with the internal stakeholders to review the collected data, have a good discussion, and think of ways of how to improve.

To conclude, I’ve written this note from a project manager’s perspective, but I do not believe retrospectives are something that only PMs need to do. All team members who are keen to learn from their experiences should do them to some extent. Simply journaling your thoughts and issues throughout your workdays will provide lots of benefits. Happy learning!

Originally published on bgdn.me on 31 July 2019.
Software Programming Inefficiency: I am part of the problem
By: Mike Gilronan
Tags: Attention Management, Project Management

This article was originally posted on November 09, 2007.

I don’t know how I found it. It was one of those times when one just starts reading an interesting blog post or article, sees an interesting link, clicks through, and repeats that process, oh, 4 or 5 times. [Note: This is why the last 30 minutes of my work day often consists of closing stray browser sessions, I suppose.]

However, my browsings led me to an article entitled “Why Does Software Work Take So Long?” that, while not of recent vintage, held great interest. About a year and a half ago, I joined a technology consulting organization that is much more developer-centric than my previous employer, where I worked most closely with the more application-focused and business-focused people. I have worked hard to study the culture and work habits of developers as we work together to sell, scope, and deliver projects.

The article underscored that my work style, namely that of a project manager and business development resource — multi-threaded, furiously paced, and interrupt-driven, is not a healthy thing for developers. I suppose I knew from prior lessons (yes, went through some of that training) that this is not healthy in general, but it can be particularly acute when working with software developers, and the article explained to me exactly why this is the case, and what we should do about it:

track time minimize extraneous interruptions vary your work build in time for breaks establish rules about time and enforce them (especally on yourself!) plan your work leverage administrative support

This is all very basic “blocking and tackling” type stuff, but we all get into bad habits from time to time. From now on (OK, for a while), I will be more conscious of the cost of my interrupting my colleagues frequently. Of course, in return, I expect that they’ll deliver more high-quality work faster…
01 — Introduction to Product Management
Tags: 產品管理, Product Manager, 產品經理, Project Management, Product Management

in Getting Started in Product
A Leap Of Faith: My Journey From A Developer To A Project Manager
Tags: Career Change, Project Management, Leap Of Faith, Project Manager

At some point, every developer will have to make a decision: will they stay a developer, focusing on code, or will they move into a management level position, managing others?

And then there came a point in my career too, where I had to decide if I want to continue my technical path or pursue a management career.

I knew that switching from the role of a developer to a project manager would require a big mindset change but I was more worried that if I don’t take any step now, I may end up in a position where I am not doing what I enjoy on a day-to-day basis.

For me, project management wasn’t just a new job or a role, it’s a potential next step in my career. It’s kind of like entering the Tardis for the first time, a role that is much deeper and complex than it looks from the outside. To be frank, I was not exactly sure where it will lead me but I knew it would be exciting and indeed it is.

Now the question was, what’s next? How do I proceed?

I consulted a few seniors and they told me about project management classes or certification courses. I did my first project management course on “Introduction to Project Management Principles and Practices”, certified by UCI, Irvine from Coursera and it gave me the foundation that I needed to take that great leap into the unknown.

In my first year of project management, I have realised that there’s an entire skill-set that I have to learn which doesn’t come naturally to everyone. One has to spend days conducting one-on-ones, giving reviews, handling variants of stakeholders.

One of the hurdles that I faced when transitioning from a position of a coder to a manager was to let things go. I cannot jump and solve all technical issues every time. I had to learn (still learning) to let my team solve these problems on their own.

You need to keep balance in the system. Middle managers, in particular, are often wedged between upper management and their respective teams. At times, you end up feeling that you have a lot of responsibility without much power.

In the beginning, I used to conduct meetings with the mindset that it’s just to check on my team’s temperatures and remove any kind of roadblocks they are facing. I always had a dilemma about which leadership style should I follow? Should I believe in Transactional leadership, Servant leadership or Transformational leadership? Then one day while going through some websites I got to know about Leader-Member Exchange Theory, this was a perfect blog for me or any novice manager. The theory explains how building a strong relationship with your subordinates will increase their levels of productivity and happiness.

I still miss some things from the technical days like meeting-less, flexible calendars, and being answerable only to my seniors. But I couldn’t be happier with my decision to be a project manager. I do not see myself going back anymore. It’s still just the beginning and I have a long way to go!
Is Project Management the Right Career Path for You?
By: Clément Bourcart
Tags: Career Advice, Careers, Project Management, Jobs, Work

Is Project Management the Right Career Path for You?

Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash

Project Management is a popular career choice for young graduates, and also a skillset that is in high demand amongst employers.

And the demand for project managers is predicted to grow even faster, in fact, that any other occupation over the coming decade.

A great way to gain exposure to all sorts of projects and industries, you will find project manager roles in all organizations — large and small. Getting things done right is the bread and butter of any company, after all, and project managers are a key part of this.

Wondering whether this could be a suitable career path for you?

While I’m all for developing your own skills and improving on your weaknesses, there are some inner traits that will make Project Management a more natural choice for you.

Read on for the top 3 qualities you should ideally have, before jumping into a Project Management career.
Is your organisation run like a Taylorist machine or a human-centric organism?
By: Ben Davies
Tags: Leadership, Organizational Culture, Project Management, Agile, Business

The past 250+ years of technological innovation:

During the past 250+ years of technological innovation, management styles have needed to adapt with the rate of change.

Many traditional today still have their operating models firmly rooted in early technological revolutions, and simply put, the world has changed.

Legendary, legacy management principles:

1. Taylorism (1870’s):

Frederick Taylor, foreman at the Midvale Steel Company in the US put the practice of Taylorism a.k.a Scientific Management into place in 1882.

Taylorism focused around standardisation of work methods in order to gain efficiencies in production.

Examples of the results of Taylorist efficiency:

Drove the cost of overhauling boilers down from $62 dollars ($2000 today) to $11.

of overhauling boilers down from $62 dollars ($2000 today) to $11. Reduced the time for machining a tyre down to 1/5 of the previous time.

for machining a tyre down to 1/5 of the previous time. Dropped material costs from $75d to $35d per tonne.

People management with Taylorism:

While Taylor achieved efficiencies that impacted the growth of manufacturing industries, the criticism was around lack of focus on the behavioural and human aspects of work — Treating workers as if they were interchangeable components of a machine-like system of working.
What is a Delivery Lead?
By: Ian Schuyt
Tags: Agile, Programing, DevOps, Project Management, Software Development

A Delivery Lead’s role is to enable the successful delivery of a portfolio of initiatives or features for a particular team or product area. They’re an enabler; they think strategically, and they provide leadership.

The Delivery Lead works with a software development team and throughout the Software Delivery Lifecycle (SDLC). The most important touch-points for a Delivery Lead are the beginning and the end of the lifecycle; specifically the planning & requirements and deployment and operations management.

At the beginning, they work with the team to ensure initiatives are well-defined and ready to work on. Near the end of the SDLC, they work with the team to ensure completed features get into a production environment and into the hands of stakeholders—with confidence and ideally with minimal manual intervention.

Delivery Leads also work to enhance communication and continuity across teams by assisting their particular team or product area to better communicate and co-ordinate initiatives with that of other teams or product areas.

Photo by Jay Wen on Unsplash

A Delivery Lead is also an enabler for a software development team. They have a solid understanding of software delivery methods, Agile principals and methods, and classic Project Management approaches. They use this brew of knowledge and provide insights and make decisions that help to elevate a team, ultimately building more productive and resilient teams to achieving more impactful and transparent outcomes.

A Delivery Lead often also has acquired knowledge of best-practices in software integration and delivery. This could include best-practices in testing, continuous integration/delivery, and cloud-native engineering, to name but a few. Applying this knowledge — along with their own experience, background, and insights — Delivery Leads are well-positioned to identify practices that are well-suited for a given team to further elevate teams to achieve successes.

Photo by Laura Ockel on Unsplash

Delivery Leads also provide key insights to stakeholders — Product Managers, Software Delivery Leads, Executives, and Stakeholders — on the progress of an initiative or feature from inception to delivery and into production. They keep stakeholders informed by enhancing the visibility of development efforts and providing regular insights through metrics, charts, and status report. This allows key stakeholders to stay informed and enables them to make better business and product decisions.

Delivery Lead is also a strategic and leadership role. Delivery Leads are actively involved in helping to define and shape the features and products they’re working to deliver, almost always alongside a Product Manager and frequently a Software Manager too.
The New Ethereum Improvement Process
By: Edson Ayllon
Tags: Project Management, Cryptocurrency, Ethereum, Standards

The new changes to EIP-1 center on one thing: Separating the EIP repo from the hard-fork coordination process.

The EIP repository is intended to be a place for technical specifications. However, by introducing the hard fork coordination process, politics were introduced into the EIP repo.

The new process intends to reduce the amount of politics within the EIP repo by separating the hard-fork coordination process as much as possible.

In the U.S. legislative process, bills are drafted, then a separate process occurs to pass them into law. The EIP repo is seen as a place where EIPs are drafted and kept as records. The hard-fork coordination process now is a separate process that passes EIPs “into law.”

This starts with the removal of the ACCEPTED status.

With the removal of ACCEPTED the EIP process, once one process for Core EIPs, and another process for all other EIPs, now is a single process within the EIP repo.

DRAFT -> REVIEW -> LAST CALL -> FINAL

A new repository has been made to track the hard-fork coordination process, and which EIPs are in mainnet — Eth1.0-specs.
IaC at the Management Level: Using metaprojects
By: Jose Antonio Hernàndez Martínez
Tags: DevOps, Project Management, Terraform, Iac

So, let’s get started: What are the common resources we are going to need in a modern software project?

Repositories, cloud provider projects, SaaS services (such as databases, email platforms), base templates, roles… All these things can be created with Terraform.

Starting with the repositories, for every project we choose a Git provider (Bitbucket, Github or Gitlab), create a project and assign users and roles.

Instead of doing this manually, we can have a metaproject (or admin project) for the selected provider and follow IaC pattern.

Image 1: Gitlab Admin Project

The meta Gitlab project is comprised of the following files:

· Users: We can import or create users to assign it to the proper project.

· Groups and permission: We establish a root repositories folder (also called group, project, organization…) to set common properties.

· Repositories: Here we configure all the repositories that will forme the project. Fine grained permissions and base configuration can be easily tracked

· Backend and pipeline configuration: The backstage configuration that makes everything work. There’s a good guide in this link. In our implementation, we store the tfstate in a Gitlab managed HTTP storage, so that we don’t have to worry about buckets and permission, the state is stored in the same meta project repositories with a CI token.

There are more advanced resources available like variables, hooks, review rules… therefore, the leaderships can established whatever company standards need to be followed (such as merge request policies, secret management, guest access, etc.).

With the project repository structured with code easily engaged in a pipeline, further project changes can be done with ease.

Image 2: IaC CI/CD Pipeline

Next stop: Environments

Any typical cloud project has also some manual tasks that need to be initialized: creating the GCP project itself, assigning a billing, enabling the API, creating the first buckets to stores states, assigning users and roles… this can be achieved in a tidy manner using code.

Most of our projects are hosted in Google Cloud, so we have an administration project that manages the organization projects as explained above. Google has also a nice guide here.

Have in mind that normally we have to replicate the cloud resources per every environment. 3 environments means that we have to repeat it three times. IaC is a great improvement.

Our GCP admin project has bit different structure (for the sake of clarity we have 1 Terraform file per software project) but same approach: A God project will create the initial structure with the following components:

Image 3: Google Cloud Admin Project

· Project specific configuration:

We have as well advance options such as configurable budgets, retention policies, alerts…
SaaS Project Management Tool
By: Abhimanyu Patra
Tags: Project Management

Orangescrum is awesome Project Management and collaboration software to organize projects, teams, and tasks in one place. No matter where your team or customers are keeps everyone on the same page. It has awesome features to simplify your work to get more productivity.