Instruction Guide for WHG

If you have ever wondered How To interact with me, this could become your “definitive” guide.

Health and Medicines:

I have very persistent allergies to almost everything that grows: grass, flowers, weeds, trees, bushes, and all their pollens, etc. And I am also allergic to milk except for soy milk; wool; and probably a few other things I have more rececntly forgotten about. I am also allergic to Pennicyllin.

The best cure I have found for when my allergies are truly debilitating is to get a Hot Compress over my eyes, take one or two extra allergy pills (over the counter Zyrtec or …), and recline in a dark room for at least 15 to 20 minutes.

If / WHEN my blood sugars drop I can usually just follow the “15 and 15” rule: Eat 15 mg of carbs and wait 15 minutes until my blood sugars come back up. One typical behavior pattern that can indicate that my blood sugar is low is that I will, sometimes, appear to be drunk or just goofy.

If / WHEN my blood sugar goes up dramatically, the only thing that has worked for me so far is to keep moving (I can’t walk fast or run anymore) for at least 15 minutes and hope that my blood sugar comes down after that little bit of exercise. A typical behavior when my blood sugar is high is that I will get a headache or may appear to be unsteady on my feet.

If none of these two blood sugar remedies work real well in less than one hour, it’s probably best to take me to an Emergency Room for more specialized treatment. Please do not try to inject me with insulin if you are not sure of the dosage.

In a Project Setting:

Communication is critically important to me and most other Project Managers.

I would prefer that my clients, users and my team members let me know if they are having difficulty with something we have decided or that we intend to build and install or where someone may be having doubts or difficulties in accomplishing their assigned tasks.

The earlier you let me know about any of these concerns the sooner we can develop a plan to resolve any of these issues. If you wait too long to tell me about these things, I will still figure out a way to resolve any issues but you may no longer be part of the team going forward.

I believe that self-assessment is absolutely critical to a project team’s success. And, it’s pretty clear to me that if we don’t SELF-assess, we will still be evaluated / judged by others.

Other Areas…

PPM Operational Flows

A Portfolio Project Management (PPM) function will consider implementing operational work flows similar to this list:

  1. Identify Metrics for tracking all PPM data and processes
  2. Produce a Dashboard of current Metrics
  3. Measure PPM Process Compliance to published processes (SOP’s)
  4. Evaluate PPM Process Compliance metrics and recommend mitigation steps
  5. New Work Request Submission process and data collection
  6. Work Request Vetting and Revision processes
  7. Work Request Prioritization settings
  8. Portfolio Development / Proposals
  9. Proposed Portfolio Reviews / Recommendations
  10. Portfolio Review Board Selections and Communications
  11. Project Staffing, Scheduling, Kick Offs
  12. Project Execution Metrics Collection / Dashboarding
  13. Project Execution Oversight / Compliance Measurement Processes
  14. Project Delivery Quality Metrics Collection (Product, Process, Opportunities)
  15. PPM Feedback Review / Procedure Revisions (KPIs) Submissions to Step 5

Please review this list of suggested PPM Processes and advise us about your experiences and recommendations.

Thank you, bgbg

Portfolio Project Management – Level Zero

Portfolio Management is an organization’s process for capturing, vetting, budgeting and scheduling the execution of Work Requests from the users and other contributors within an organization.

A fundamental working assumption for any Portfolio Management process is that it has a high probability of changing on a regular basis to take advantage of new thinking, changing organization goals and objectives, and new capabilities within the implemented architecture.

As part of this expectation of continuous change, it is critical that a dedicated portion of this department be accountable for measuring the compliance, effectives, value of the results and also be looking for opportunities to improve the processes as a way to achieve the current goals of its organization.

The Portfolio Management function needs to include a tool for capturing the information about each Work Request and another set of tools for tracking the metrics of all the submitted history of Work Requests.

To get started an organization must ask itself some initial questions which will later evolve to much more insightful questions. To start, let’s discuss these questions:

  • What information should we start to collect to describe and categorize each Work Request?
    i. Submittor details
    ii. Targeted Business Function
    iii. etc.
  • How will these data be reported to the user audience (mail, text, mobile app, etc.)?
    i. Visual Dashboard / Graphs
    ii. Presentation Slides
    iii. Detailed Reports
  • What information will be collected to describe the execution of each approved project?
    i. Actual Costs
    ii. …
  • What information will be collected to describe the quality of the results?
    i. Match to Organization Goals
    ii. Match to Project Requirements
    iii. …
  • How do we intend to use these metrics to assess the effectiveness and value of the Portfolio Management processes and collected data to date?

Agilist Working Definition

In 2022 I started research into the Job Title of “Agilist”. This title appeared to me to be an evolution from SCRUM Masters, Project Managers, and uses of the Agile Manifesto.

For today, I am proposing and working job definition for “Agilists” which I would really like to hear about from those who are willing to read, advise, critique, or influence.

Please review these suggested job attributes and let me know how I should revise, review, or replace these characteristics.

An Agilist:

  • Subscribes to the Agile Manifesto / Methodology
  • Approaches Software Development emphasizing:
    • Collaboration
    • Flexibility
    • Rapid Iteration
    • Frequent Deliveries
    • Continuous Improvement
  • Focuses on:
    • Customer Engagement
      • During the Delivery Process
      • During Usage and for Support
      • During Revisions and Evolving Business Needs
      • Up to Sunsetting and Replacement
  • Adapts to:
    • Changing Infrastructure
    • Development and Delivery Tool Capabilities
    • Testing Techniques and Bug Tracking tools
  • Role Titles or Names include but are not limited to:
    • Project Manager
    • Application Developer / Tester
    • Team Leader
    • Agile Coach / Consultant

Two Things

It’s the Old Philosopher’s first appearance here and I wonder what some of you might think about these topics.

Let’s start with this idea:

There are Two Things I Know I am Responsible For

Feb 17 ’23: I am thinking about posting this on my YouTube channel (@b.henrygutches5704) also but am wondering how many folks listen to YouTube rather than this WordPress source. Any suggestions? Whendoyoustoplooking@gmail.com

My Mission Today

What is your mission?

Today is January 11, 2023. I turned 76 this passed November and I remember when I tried to retire back when I was around 64 – 65. Retirement was brief (just days really), awful, boring, and drove me nuts – more nuts than my usual “nuts”.

My Mission has had many aspects over recent years. Here are some points I can still remember:

  • Continue to provide coaching to individuals who want to find new income sources. Check out my website for some details: http://www.thepathtoinkc.com
  • Expand my knowledge of new technology software, hardware and capabilities.
  • Write some more stuff: Blogs, Books, Articles, Video / Audio Training
    • Lately I have been writing some more on my RetroPublican blog (www.retropublicans.wordpress.com) about how I would really love to return the Republican party to its earlier platforms, beliefs, values, behaviors.
    • My second book is an autobiography titled: “A Cowboy’s Reflections” which was a result of a subscription that my son gave me to StoryWorth. I responded to about 48 of their 52 weekly emails with suggested topics so it is now available on Amazon. The first book is also available on Amazon: “IT’s Lost Art of Software Engineering”.
    • I write lots of Opinions (www.opinionsarefree.wordpress.com) some of which are getting responses from my readers. I truly love the dialog but I am NOT trying to change anyone’s personal choices or opinions. I just want to have some meaningful discussions.
    • Started a video training offering on “How To…” for spreadsheets, word processing but, for the moment, I need a new name for that business. Tried “Five Dollar Bill”, “Technically Retired”, and “TECHnical.E.Retired”, but neither of those worked well. If you have any ideas, please reach out (see my Contact Page). A friend suggested I deliver video on my Small Business Advice topics which I am considering once I have a NEW NAME!
  • Advise small businesses in the areas of: Data Collection (Mobile Apps, Spreadsheets, Pivot tables, Reports); Business Metrics (SOPs, Dashboards, KPIs, Mitigation / Revision Strategies); Delivery Practices (Process Maps, Decision Tables, Methods and Techniques {SDLC, PMLC, Agile / Kanban, Hybrid-s-}, etc.);
  • Make enough money for myself and family so that I can pay my bills with less stress and give enough money and myself when warranted / requested. AND, be able to recognize when my attention is “warranted” or needed.
  • When I think of some other “Mission” goals, I will try to remember to add them here.

bgbg – 610-662-5658 –
whendoyoustoplooking@gmail.com –
bgutches@thepathtoinkc.com

How Many P’s in Your PMO?

Many years ago, I decided that we should not limit ourselves to only three PMOs:

  • Portfolio Management Office
  • Program Management Office
  • Project Management Office

Even though these were very obvious and have immediate value to those who sought more management for these functions, I still thought there could be MORE.

I started writing notes about how to structure and operate these initial three PMOs and came up with two more that I thought could make sense for some organizations and/or institutions:

  • People Management Office
  • Process Management Office

Attached here is my latest presentation about my thoughts on:

The Five P’s Of PMO

How Many Ps WHGutches V0002 20220213Download

I hope that you will have some observations, opinions, suggestions, even criticisms of this piece and that you will send me your thoughts.

Thanks for reading and, please, stay in touch, bgbg

Bill Gutches, 610-662-5658, bgutches@thepathtoinkc.com

The Hybrid Work Model

I saw a survey for topics that a technical networking group might be interested in. This survey was taken on LinkedIn by a group that has approximately 2,000 members.

One of the interesting results of this survey was that the topic of “HYBRID WORK MODEL” got ZERO responses while the three other topics received the rest of the responses.

In my mind, I thought that this ZERO result could be indicative or might even be an opportunity. It might be possible that no one selected this topic because there was no interest OR because the audience wasn’t really sure what this HYBRID WORK MODEL was about.

So, I decided to prepare a checklist of what I thought made up this work model and, finally, came to the Powerpoint slides that are attached here for your review.

Please let me know what you think of the presentation AND the idea / definition of this HYBRID WORK MODEL.

Thank you, Bill Gutches

Hybrid Work Model V001 bg 20230108Download

Please feel free to download, review, and give me some feedback on how this could be improved for future use.

bgbg

Your Resume Summary

The summary section of your resume is the first opportunity, in writing, to delivery an effective “Elevator Speech”.

If you have information about a specific position you are applying for with each resume, then you can focus your Summary on those requirements of the job for which you are most qualified. This type of impactful, focused Summary will have a strong effect on the reader if your capabilities clearly fit what they are looking for.

Be strong in your quantifiable claims. Be positive in your attitude to succeed. Be ready to defend your claims.

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