Posts Tagged reading
Getting Things Done
Posted by Thomas in Reflexive blurbs on January 21st, 2008
I started reading David Allen’s book Getting Things Done. Am at chapter 1 so not much meat yet. Nevertheless started looking at implementation of this for Ms. Outlook. Below what I found as free:
There a lot of stuff for Mac but I’m not implementing GTD at home so…
The future tense of “I give”
Posted by Thomas in The Project Manager on August 17th, 2006
In a concious effort to improve my influencing skills recently began reading a book on it by R. Cialdini. I’ve found it to not only to be an informative but also a very entertaining read. The examples for the psychological tools used are vivid, to the point and quite frankly amusing.
One particular part which I liked was regarding Reciprocation - a concept stating that we try to repay in kind, what another person has provided us. To illustrate the pervasiveness of this rule an illustration was given regarding a fifth grader. When asked to give the future tense of “I give”. His response was “I take”.
Death March
Posted by Thomas in The Project Manager on November 19th, 2005
Currently on my reading list:
Death Marches: A death march project is one for which an unbiased, objective risk assessment (which includes an assessment of technical risks, personnel risks, legal risks, political risks, etc.) determines that the likelihood of failure is [larger than] 50 percent.
A funny quote from chapter 1:
“Corporate insanity is doing the same thing again and again, and each time expecting different results.” - email from Richard Sargent to Ed Yourdon Jun 24, 1996
PM Reading
Posted by Thomas in The Project Manager on October 25th, 2005
While browsing for some support doc over at books24×7 I came across the following title:
I didn’t have time to read through the whole thing but found the part that I read on defning a functional manager’s role quite helpful. Unlike many PM books that I’ve read so far this one actually bothers to take the focus away from the PM role and explains the constraints under which the functional manager works and thus how this may influence his relation to the project.
Dealing with Project Charters
Posted by Thomas in The Project Manager on October 4th, 2005
On Project Management
Posted by Thomas in The Project Manager on September 10th, 2005
While browsing a PM book recently I came across the following point:
Provide executives with project sponsor information, not project management information.
I’ll have to dig into this a little deeper.
Fiction at Kuro5hin
Posted by Thomas in Reflexive blurbs on April 11th, 2003
I just came across a nice piece of fiction over at Kusro5hin. The storyline is set in a not so distant future relaying a “tranche de vie” of an undescript knowledge worker. We follow him as his daily routine suddenly gets jarred by events outside his control. It is well written and leaves much to the imagination. I especially like that, the author sets a framework but does not load you down with details leaving your imagination running wild.
Here’s a little taste:
T.E.U. (Fiction)
The bump was enough to spill a small quantity of his drink.
He reached over to the table, close at hand in such a confined space, and picked up a napkin. He carefully blotted up the spill, avoiding the printouts strewn across the desk.
As he opened the trash panel and threw the napkin in, it belatedly occurred to him that the bump had been unusually strong. He frowned, then checked his watch. Time for a break anyway. Time to play his favorite mental game–where, exactly, was he?
By adamba - read more…