This month, a very interesting book that I anticipated was released: "The Plugged-in Manger: Get in Tune with Your People, Technology and Organization to Thrive" by professor Terri Griffith, a seasoned management and technology expert. Terri describes a game-changing approach to management that is based on the concept of being plugged into each one of the organizational dimensions - people, technology and organizational processes - simultaneously. Oftentimes, managers underemphasize one of the components - say, they address the people and organizational processes, but overlook the technological dimension. Or conversely, some consider technology to be a lifesaver per se. The balance of people, technology and process is something that I think is really important for any organization, and I often referred to this triangle in my previous posts. So it was a pleasure for me to meet Terri and discuss this topic, as well as find out more about her new book. Naturally, our conversation went way beyond defining who exactly a "plugged-in manager" is, as we proceeded to talk about the role technology plays in modern business. To know more about the concept of a plugged-in manager, the best ways to leverage technology and to discover some curious examples from Terri's experience, as well as mine, I invite you to listen to the podcast with our conversation.
On October 22-25, PMI gathered its members and friends for the annual Global Congress in Dallas to discuss the core features and emerging challenges of the project management profession. One of the key areas of focus for the Congress was the new project management trends, i.e., those trends that may impact the industry in the coming years. Together with Elizabeth Harrin and Cornelius Fichtner, seasoned project managers, popular bloggers and my fellow PMI New Media Council members, we held a session addressing agile collaboration in virtual teams. With over a third of projects being agile and more work being done by virtual teams, we aimed to look at how project managers can successfully combine the two. Having combined our expertise in managing distributed teams, we came up with a few practical, battlefield-tested tips in the area of communication practices, Web 2.0 tools and beyond, which can help bridge the gap for agile teams working across geographic boundaries.
Here comes another question – how can we better learn from the experience we get? Eric Ries, already mentioned above, uses an efficient way to tackle problems. I am talking about root-cause analysis or “five whys.”
Imagine that the problem you’ve faced has the same structure as a Russian doll. The “root cause” of it is hidden inside, and you have to remove several layers to get to it. Just as you take one doll out of another, you ask a question “Why did this happen?” five times. Each response takes you one layer deeper to the problem cause. The technique is quite easy, but when practiced regularly, it gives you a lot of great insights about what needs adjustment in your company. One of such insights is that there is always a process/human issue behind every technical one.
John Wanamaker, considered by some to be the father of modern advertising, once said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted. The trouble is, I don’t know which half.” By using carefully designed experiments, you can do a better job than Wanamaker. For example, all professional advertisers today know about conversion tracking and A/B testing. These are basic tools of the trade for specialists in marketing or advertising that enable them to evaluate the effect of every small change in banner ads, landing pages and e-mails. But this kind of testing can only answer tactical questions and normally doesn’t affect business strategy. Is it possible to make the whole business structure respond to this type of feedback?
Recently, I read an interesting book by Peter Sims, “Little Bets,” which brings up a really important question: can failure, in fact, take us further than success? The answer is: yes, if we know how to deal with it. While interviewing the executives at Amazon, General Motors and Google, as well as successful musicians, architects and comedians, Sims discovered one thing they had in common. All of them used the same approach of relentlessly “making little bets” to test their new ideas, even if they were not sure about their success. Most of these bets ended up as failures, but five or six out of 100 turned out to be the breakthroughs. According to Sims, in most cases, there’s no mysterious genius behind the great achievement, but perseverance and the willingness to take small risks.
In this series of posts, I’ll analyze how failures nurture success and describe how learning through failures can help you develop your business into a real innovation machine. Through hardship to the stars!
Today, I'd like to share a very interesting conversation that I recently had with Brian Weiss, VP of Practitioner Markets at PMI. Working for PMI since 2007, Brian brings more than 18 years of his product management, marketing and consulting experience to this global organization. Together with his team, Brian is focused on the ongoing engagement of PMI members, certification holders and volunteers, and leads a number of PMI's fundamental programs. As a person who constantly interacts with a community of more than 500,000 people who are somewhat involved into project management, Brian always keeps abreast of the latest trends in the field. Check out the podcast to hear Brian's insights into such prominent topics as the expansion of virtual collaboration, the rise of social media, the challenges and opportunities of project management in a creative economy, and more. If you prefer eye over ear, you also can read the transcript of the interview below.
Do you think innovation and revolution are synonymous in software? If so, don't be so fast. As the Chinese proverb says, even the longest journey starts with the first step. This week, I've shared some musings on this topic with the readers of VentureBeat, a popular blog that focuses on "defining innovation for forward-thinking executives."
The post discusses the "do's" and "don'ts" of business software and looks at the balance between an app's innovative functionality and ease of use. Read the article to discover the full story.
Soon after giving a speech at the Web 2.0 Expo conference, I headed to another event – Silicon Valley Product Camp – for a day of interesting discussions on designing better products. It has become a good tradition for me to attend this get-together, and this year my company, Wrike, was one of the sponsors of the Product Camp.
Since at this “unconference” the participants themselves vote for the topics they want to hear, it was a pleasure for me to have my proposal chosen on the event day. As usual, the camps are much more interactive than a typical conference, so it was fun. The audience loved the topic and brought up great questions and ideas.
Last year, I interviewed Phil Simon, a recognized technology expert, about his book, “The Next Wave of Technologies." However rapid technology development is, Phil does a great job in keeping up with its pace and considering all the latest trends in his works. In his third book, which was published a couple of months ago, Phil took a look at the emerging technologies from the small business perspective. The title speaks for itself: “The New Small: How a New Breed of Small Businesses Is Harnessing the Power of Emerging Technologies.” What are “the new small businesses” and how do they leverage the opportunities brought by new technologies? Phil shared his point of view on these questions when we met to discuss his new book. Read our conversation to learn more.
Traditionally, spring is the busy season for various events, and my schedule is really tight these days. On Tuesday, I took part in the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, where I gave a speech on efficient ways of delivering innovative software to business users. I was especially inspired because the practical tips that I shared were based not only on industry anecdotes, but also on the story of my own company. Thank you to everyone who was there!
Andrew Filev is an experienced project manager and a successful entrepreneur. He has been
managing software teams since 2001 with the help of new-generation collaboration and
management applications. The Project Management 2.0 blog reflects his views on changes going
on in contemporary project management, thanks to the influence of collaborative web-based
technologies. More >>
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This month, a very interesting book that I anticipated was released: "The Plugged-in Manger: Get in Tune with Your People, Technology and Organization to Thrive" by professor Terri Griffith, a seasoned management and technology expert. Terri describes a game-changing approach to management that is based on the concept of being plugged into each one of the organizational dimensions - people, technology and organizational processes - simultaneously. Oftentimes, managers underemphasize one of the components - say, they address the people and organizational processes, but overlook the technological dimension. Or conversely, some consider technology to be a lifesaver per se. The balance of people, technology and process is something that I think is really important for any organization, and I often referred to this triangle in my previous posts. So it was a pleasure for me to meet Terri and discuss this topic, as well as find out more about her new book. Naturally, our conversation went way beyond defining who exactly a "plugged-in manager" is, as we proceeded to talk about the role technology plays in modern business. To know more about the concept of a plugged-in manager, the best ways to leverage technology and to discover some curious examples from Terri's experience, as well as mine, I invite you to listen to the podcast with our conversation.
On October 22-25, PMI gathered its members and friends for the annual Global Congress in Dallas to discuss the core features and emerging challenges of the project management profession. One of the key areas of focus for the Congress was the new project management trends, i.e., those trends that may impact the industry in the coming years. Together with 
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Recently, I read an interesting book by Peter Sims, “Little Bets,” which brings up a really important question: can failure, in fact, take us further than success? The answer is: yes, if we know how to deal with it. While interviewing the executives at Amazon, General Motors and Google, as well as successful musicians, architects and comedians, Sims discovered one thing they had in common. All of them used the same approach of relentlessly “making little bets” to test their new ideas, even if they were not sure about their success. Most of these bets ended up as failures, but five or six out of 100 turned out to be the breakthroughs. According to Sims, in most cases, there’s no mysterious genius behind the great achievement, but perseverance and the willingness to take small risks.
Today, I'd like to share a very interesting conversation that I recently had with Brian Weiss, VP of Practitioner Markets at PMI. Working for PMI since 2007, Brian brings more than 18 years of his product management, marketing and consulting experience to this global organization. Together with his team, Brian is focused on the ongoing engagement of PMI members, certification holders and volunteers, and leads a number of PMI's fundamental programs. As a person who constantly interacts with a community of more than 500,000 people who are somewhat involved into project management, Brian always keeps abreast of the latest trends in the field. Check out the podcast to hear Brian's insights into such prominent topics as the expansion of virtual collaboration, the rise of social media, the challenges and opportunities of project management in a creative economy, and more. If you prefer eye over ear, you also can read the transcript of the interview below.
Do you think innovation and revolution are synonymous in software? If so, don't be so fast. As the Chinese proverb says, even the longest journey starts with the first step. This week, I've shared some musings on this topic with the readers of VentureBeat, a popular blog that focuses on "defining innovation for forward-thinking executives."
Soon after 
Last year, I 
Traditionally, spring is the busy season for various events, and my schedule is really tight these days. On Tuesday, I took part in the 
