A Little Black Line... With Big Impacts

How can a little black line that is 4 inches long by a 1/4 inch wide cause 3 hours of extra work? I learned it the hard way... 

Thanks to my wife at Erin's Creative Energy

Wacky Wednesday - A Man Walks Into A Bar...

From one of the movies I grew-up with:



A Man Walks Into a Bar...

From George Takei's Facebook Page

High-Powered Stakeholders and Communication

Several months ago I presented two sessions on Change Management for the Project Management Institute of Houston. The title of the presentation is: Without Change Management, It Can All Come Crumbling Down.
 

Image courtesy of sheelamohan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

One of the key components of Change Management is Effective Communication. As with many leadership examples, without Effective Communication in a project, the chances of failure increase exponentially. After all, you can have the most fantastic plan in the world, however, if you don't let the team know about it, then the whole project will fail.

Wacky Wednesday - Bubble Wrap

Bubble Wrap can be so relaxing. I can't be the only one who takes pleasure in the soft pop each bubble makes when squeezed. But this guy may have found a cure for Road Rage:

George Takei's Facebook Page

Who Else Needs To Know - 2

Sometimes we need to relearn the lessons of the past. In recent weeks, I've been coordinating efforts across several organizations to get witnesses to a specific event for signatures. About a week out I received an email from one of the representatives asking if I had contacted Richard...

Image courtesy of cooldesign at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Oops. Richard is a representative of a one of the organizations whose signature MAY be required. Now, I had discussed the event with him, provided a tentative window, and even shared the plans for the event; however, he did not receive a formal invitation to the event.

Fortunately, I got lucky. He did not need to witness the event, and in fact considered it outside of his scope; however I cannot always count on luck.

Wacky Wednesday - Tetris 2

Since Tetris is a Favorite:

May even give my wife a run for her money...

Shanghai, Part 2

Last week I discussed an experience in Shanghai were I learned to Get Out Of The Way. However, that wasn't the only lesson I learned on the trip to Shanghai. I also learned about the importance of frame of reference and the difficulty of language barriers.

When I travel for work, I tend to carry an inspection kit. The kit contains: safety glasses, ear plugs, protractor, tape measure, small calculator, pencil, paper, flashlight, string,  and a plumb bob. All these items fit into a small square plastic case, which is easy to transport. I typically throw the kit into my checked bags for long trips, or carry-on for shorter trips. It's seen a lot of use in the last 10 years.


I'd already escorted the customer representative to the airport the day before, and was packed and ready to go myself. The kit was in my checked bags, which I dropped off at the ticket counter as I checked in for the flight to Korea, then LAX. I moved through the security checkpoint without issue, and boarded the plane without incident. Then things got interesting.