Main Hurdle in a project - Scope Creep

We all have been there, when we are in Delivery phase, we are asked to make changes every now and then. In most cases, the requirements change but not the end dates. The usual argument is that "but that was one of the requirement". This happens in cases where the Requirements dicument is not detailed enough or is light touch. Of course with Agile, its a different story altogether! How to Scope your Projects The "project scope" consists of all of the things that must be produced to complete a project. These 'things' are called deliverables and you need to describe them in depth as early in the project as possible, so everyone knows what needs to be produced. Take these 5 Steps to scope your projects: Step 1: Set the Direction Start off by setting the direction for the project. Do you have an agreed Project Vision, Objectives and Timeframes? Are they specified in depth and has your customer agreed to them? Does everyone in the project team truly understand them and why they are important? Only by fixing the project direction can you truly fix the project scope. Step 2: Scope Workshops The best way to get buy-in to your project scope is to get all of the relevant stakeholders to help you define it. So get your project sponsor, customer and other stakeholders in a room and run a workshop to identify the scope. What you want from them is an agreed set of major deliverables to be produced by the project. You also want to know "what's out of scope". Run the workshop by asking each stakeholder for a list of the deliverables they expect the project team to deliver. Take the full list of deliverables generated in the workshop and get them to agree on what's mandatory and what's optional. Then ask them to prioritize the list, so you know what has to be delivered first. Step 3: Fleshing it out You now have an agreed list of deliverables. But it's still not enough. You need to define each deliverable in depth. Work with the relevant people in your business to describe how each deliverable will look and feel, how it would operate and how it would be supported etc. Your goal here is to make it so specific that your customer cannot state later in the project that "when they said this, they really meant that". Step 4: Assessing Feasibility So you now have a detailed list and description of every deliverable to be produced by your project, in priority order and separated as mandatory / optional. Great! But is it feasible to achieve within the project end date? Before you confirm the scope, you need to review every deliverable in the list and get a general indication from your team as to whether they can all be completed before your project end date. If they can't, then which deliverables can you remove from the list to make your end date more achievable? Step 5: Get the thumbs up Present the prioritized set of deliverables to your Project Sponsor and ask them to approve the list as your project scope. Ask them to agree to the priorities, the deliverable descriptions and the items out of scope. By getting formal sign-off, you're in a great position to be able to manage the project scope down the track. So when your Sponsor says to you in a few weeks time "Can you please add these deliverables to the list?", you can respond by saying "Yes, but I'll either have to remove some items from the list to do it, or extend the project end date. Which is it to be?". You can easily manage your Sponsors expectations with a detailed scope document at your side. The scope document is the Project Manager's armor. It protects them from changes and makes them feel invincible! Courtesy : Method123

Simple Sales principle

There are 2 acronyms which all sales people use (we also use this to sell ourselves maybe unknowingly)

KISS – Keep it simple stupid
Instead of blabbering, always speak in terms short, crisp sentences which deliver big results

AIDA
1. A = Attention = Make someone aware that they have a problem.
2. I = Interest = Tell them that you have the solution.
3. D = Desire = Describe what it will do for them in sufficient detail that they start to think they should buy it. This involves a list of all the features and benefits with an emphasis on What It Can Do For Them.
4. A = Action = Ask them to place an order.

Thought(s) for the day

Hi Readers,
Here are few interesting thoughts for the day that I have come across, I intend to keep this list growing:

1. A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the crowd.
2. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
3. Most things which are urgent are not important, and most things which are important are not urgent. - President Dwight Eisenhower
4. When our memories outweigh our dreams, we have grown old. - Bill Clinton
5. Nothing travels faster than the speed of light, with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own set of laws. -Douglas Adams
6. Delegating work works, providing the one delegating works, too. 
   

Some interesting lines (most compiled from the internet)

1. "Stress on things that you have control over and appreciate those you can't as they exist to complete your worldly experience"
2. “What’s the common element in all the successes and failures you’ve gone through in your life? You!”
3. “You can spend your whole life whining and complaining and annoying everybody, or you can suck it up and think positively.”
4. "don't be a victim, make your own path"...
5. "Wake up in the morning and look forward to going to work, pack up in the evening and look forward to going home"
6. Original in kannada - Odu vakkalu, buddhi mukkalu, loosely translates to "Read once, and use that knowledge several times". - told by my mother when I was in school to state thatb mere reading is useless unless i use and apply that knowledge, 1990
   

Long weekend trip plan

Hi Readers,
We had a long weekend here in UK during the last week of August and also this is the last long holiday before Christmas, which means no holidays till December!
To make the most of it, we decided to go out and enjoy the final rays of summer sun.

We made the following outline plan of what we wanted to do:
Day 1 (Saturday) -> Prepare for the trips and rest after the long week
Day 2 (Sunday) -> Visit Notting Hill Carnival in London
Day 3 (Monday) -> Visit Bath Spa, Lacock village and Stonehenge


Then it was down to forming a group of 4 to optimise the travel costs(which are exorbitant in UK) and booking the tickets. More details in the next posts

Tip:
In case you didnt know FGW (First Great Western) has a group travel deal which allows 3 or 4 people travelling at the cost of 2 tickets. This means a 50% reduction in the fares. This is good if you are travelling in groups of 4.

My First flight experience

How many of you remember your first flight experience or for that matter your first long journey outside your home on your own?

If I am not mistaken, all you have to do is close your eyes and it all comes back to you with crystal clear details.

My first flight was when I flew to start my first onsite assignment with Nokia in Finland.

There was a fear mixed with anxiety of going away from my home for a long period and also a sense of adventure about visiting a place which I had never heard of before. I was also curious how any place on earth could be covered in darkness for 6 months and that the sun never set during summer. The only information I had was from my geography lessons from school and from my stamp collection hobby as a kid. I didnt even remember where exactly on an atlas Finland existed! I guess my family was as shocked as I was when they heard that I was going to Finland. They were curious too and my dad actually looked up an atlas to tell me it was between Russia and Sweden.

Few months later, I took my first step when i entered the Air-India flight bound for Frankfurt. The first take off experience was amazing and I was wonder struck at the ingenuity of mankind. I felt like I was a school kid all over again trying to comprehend how on earth could such a massive thing keep afloat in the air. After these pensive thoughts, I had my dinner and dozed off dreaming about the "land of thousand lakes" and all the things that I would do when i reached there.

When I opened my eyes the pilot was showing us the snow clad Alps on our way to Frankfurt.

There was more in store for the kid in me when I reached Frankfurt. Coming from a small place in Southern part of India, I had never seen the huge infrastructure in place!

The sky train in particular made me feel as though I was in a futuristic movie, then onto my connecting flight to Helsinki which was smaller than the earlier plane. While waiting in the boarding queue I got a glimpse of the people I would later interact in the course of my 18 month stay in Finland.

The flight route to Helsinki was very scenic. I had slept very well during my earlier flight so I was looking through the window through out the flight. Also on the way to the plane I picked up a Finnish newspaper (think it was Helsingin Sanomat) and I was surprised that it is written using English alphabets (except for few specialise alphabets). Also I was quick to observe the very long words they had!

Breakfast was served as it was a morning flight and here is where the vegeterian confusion began when I asked for a vegeterian option. I was given a baguette which was supposedly vegeterian and I started eating it only to realise after the first bite that it contained cold smoked salmon ! I was pretty angry and I told the hostess that I asked for vegeterian breakfast to which she argued it was a vegeterian and that she had nothing else. I finally had to eat some peanuts and orange juice

For Asians, vegeterian means "no fish, no eggs, no meat, no sea food".
My tip for people travelling to Europe, pls specify what vegeterian means, else you will definitely get a sandwich with fish or seafood.

The view is very beautiful from the air over Finland, you start to clearly understand why Finland is called the "Land of thousand lakes". As it was summer, it looked very green and covered with lots of water.
The plan landed and when I got out the plane I enjoyed the cold breeze and the taste of fresh air. When I left Bangalore, the temperature was around 39 degrees celsius and here I was in Helsinki with temperature measuring 2 degrees celsius, what a contrast!

Another interesting incident was when a colleague flew from Chennai to Helsinki during peak winter(January). He had to suffer a massive temperature change, from +40 degrees in Chennai to -30 degrees in Helsinki!