I updated to OS X Lion a couple of days ago, and for the most part it was a smooth transition.

This is the first upgrade where Apple is using their App Store concept to distribute the OS, so it was a bit scary to hit “Purchase” and watch nothing happen for half an hour while Mac OS X 10.7 downloaded in the background.

There’s no real indication of anything going on unless you happen upon the “Purchase” tab in the App Store App (seems a bit redundant, doesn’t it?):

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App Store · Apple · Launchpad · Mac OS X · Mac OS X Lion · Macintosh · Microsoft Windows · Mission control center · Operating system · Scroll wheel · Scrolling

One of the key success factors for any project is the “vision statement“, which is the Executive Sponsor‘s opportunity to excite the team, stakeholders, and customers with their vision of where we are going and how the product of the project will improve things.

When well done, the charter can be condensed into an elevator pitch for the project, and provide a clear vision to guide the project team to a common goal.

Vision: the capacity to see into the future. It’s setting a vision that people can see where their place in that vision is, and then coming across as deeply empathetic, human and intimate. The vision has to be a generous vision, such that people not only see their path in it but is excited about it. It is not just a plan, it is an enlistment. Great leaders have to be genuine and intimate: You have to feel like they touch you, and there is empathy or humanity there.

– Keith Ferrazi

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Business · Executive Sponsor · Management · Project charter · Project management · Project team · Scott Berkun · Strategic planning

Tonight’s the night we make history …

Image via Wikipedia

This last weekend, a group of us from the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of PMI were set to attend the PMI – 2011 Region 7 Leadership Summit in Reno.  We made it to Reno and back in record time (although not in the direction one usually associates with breaking records).

It was a classic example of project management at it’s finest: we made plans, with allowances for expected risks, and the world accommodated our plans by giving us additional challenges along the way.

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California Department of Transportation · CalTrans · Google Maps · IPhone · Reno · Reno Nevada · San Francisco Bay Area · United States

I got an email from Microsoft today (Office Insider) that included an article about how to add a calendar to Outlook that would give you the March Madness schedule in Outlook as an example of publicly shared calendars.

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Clients · Google · Google Calendar · ICal · ICalendar · Microsoft · Microsoft Outlook · WebDAV

I was talking to my friend George Ross the other day about the job search that we both unexpectedly find ourselves in, and it occurred to me that I haven’t been approaching my career management with the same level of commitment to planning that I have when managing projects and programs.

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A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge · Business · Chief technology officer · Cisco · Cisco Systems · Management · Program management · Project and Program Management · Project management · Project Management Institute · Project Management Professional · Project manager