1. Are there many parties involved?
2. Are there many parts/modules/systems?
3. Would you describe the functionality/services expected from the system as more complex that a good Mercedes?
4. Do you expect people to use the IT systems?

If you answered ‘Yes’ to any of these, your project is likely to be complex. If you answered ‘Yes’ to the 4th question, your project is also messy. For more, send me an email and I’ll share the highlights of the Best Practices Report.

• Avoiding project failure
• Improving real value
• Improving investment

Given the size of the Asian banking portfolios, much good can be done!

See you there.

the SHC in hand

even before it stocked me as an author. Books Kinokuniya. Better yet, in the hands of a buyer! Get your copy now!

Book reviews are coming in from all over the world. Three continents so far. Radio interviews too! This virtual world is fun.

I was lucky enough to be at Shelton and have this inspirational view as my editor and I discussed what we needed to focus on next.

Getting to a final version that felt right and then one last huge edit. This time to really prune the book. I wanted wider margins so that there was room for a reader to make notes… yet we didn’t want the book to be too large.

More copy editing, then to layout. And another round of copy editing. It’s amazing that even with this number of eyes on it ( 5 people) numerous times (4 each), it is still possible to pick up typos.

I hope I found my last one today. In all places, on the dust jacket inside cover.

A single proposal, acceptance. Success in Action!!

An object lesson for me: I can either focus on the result I want – a great publisher and a contract that works for both of us or time.

I created a summary of the book for book reviewers. Tom who designed the visuals, based this on the colors and style of the Olympic archery target. Gold surround the white clarity of perfection in the center. Red outlining the gold. A blue band, then later still, black and white.

However, today I’ve done it! 90,000 words, 40 case studies, some pretty cool analogies and a 3 part structure… I have written a book.

This makes me an author. A new label.

A fantastic end to the year. Off now to celebrate with fireworks and bubbles.

• Having a goal that inspires me. One that is clear in my mind. Or when consulting, to my client and myself.
• A process that while I might not know each step of the way, I’m willing to trust. As a great man once said, ‘change is a journey not a station’.
• Companions on the way. To share stories, motivate and connect with.
• On a personal level, to be willing to step into the unknown, to be present to myself and to who I need to be. I think Ghandi said ‘to be the change I wish to be’.

Stepping into the unknown world of writing a book on what does it take for projects to succeed. After 15+ years of working with projects (both successful and not), researching it, and applying the next level of ‘just what does it take’, now a personal goal: to create something in book format that others can use, that reflects reality and allows people (be they a CEO, CFO, CIO or sponsor, or project manager, team member or person affected by a project) to be more effective in the changing world of projects.

By more effective – that each person is clearer in what it takes to succeed. And more at ease with the natural uncertainties that change seems to create in most of us.

A reflective moment later, I responded… as performance or for that matter, productivity improvements come from all parts of a system working together. If we focused on one factor and got it ‘perfect’ there was no guarantee that it would be effective with the rest of the business system.

(Burke-Litwin’s organisational performance model covers this in great depth. I may post a practical summary one of these days).

It’s the challenge that John Nash (in the movie ‘A Beautiful Mind’) called local optimisation. When in practice, results come from optimising the full system. In organisations, that’s technology, people and processes.