Frank Patrick's Focused Performance Blog

A Bigger Agency

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:19:00 +0000

A Bigger Agency -- I thought I joined a Top 50, 200+ person agency when I started at Rosetta Marketing this week. Turns out it just announced the acquisition of Brulant, so we're now Top 10, 600+ people.

Somehow it seems more comfortable to be on the buying end of such a deal rather than my recent experience on the "bought" side.

Curmudgeons

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:16:00 +0000

Curmudgeons --

"I have decided I�m not going to waste my time anymore with lazy, rude, self-important, self-delusional, intellectually dishonest, closed-minded curmudgeons who bark against the full moon of change."

...from Jeff Jarvis, on A Cure for Curmudgeons.

Where I'm Going and What I'm Doing

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 23:47:00 +0000

Where I'm Going and What I'm Doing -- Starting Monday, July 21, where I'm going...

A rapidly growing marketing agency serving pharma (it is in New Jersey, after all) and other industries...

Rosetta Marketing Group, Hamilton, NJ

What I'm Doing...

Program Manager - Responsible for assuring PMO methods and practices implemented within assigned Client programs. Responsible for overseeing all work activities leading to the delivery, assurance, certification and acceptance of project deliverables and solution components each assigned program. In coordination with assigned Project Managers, interface with client regarding high-level issues of project scope, status, and risk mitigation. Works closely with client to identify and assure delivery against key business objectives. Helps define and refine company standard PMO methods and practices. Primary responsibility for program-level knowledge management.

Oversees large complex e-Marketing programs consisting of multi-discipline and mixed resource (company, client, and third party) teams. Responsible for defining scope and content of programs in coordination with Account Management. Assists in contract negotiations. Assures program knowledge capture. Ensures program profitability.

May manage up to 4 client teams. Primary interface with client regarding program process/progress. Responsible for assigning and directing work in compliance with proposal or statement of work. Maintains overall program plan and coordinates high-level aspects of program activities with client and team. Acts as development Manager for 3-5 Project Managers. Performs project level and annual reviews with assigned PMs. Reviews and approves staff reviews performed assigned PMs.

The sense I get from the interviews is that the Princeton/Hamilton office culturally feels like a 100-person version of the 25-person DigitalGrit I joined in 2004 - smart, caring, dedicated people trying to do good work and strongly supported by its leadership. If my suspicions are correct, this should be fun.

From Dell to Taco Bell

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 21:24:00 +0000

From Dell to Taco Bell -- Here we go again. A few years ago, Jeff Jarvis kicked off the Dell Hell meme. This time it's Taco Bell Hell.

Focused Performance in Wordle

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 20:45:00 +0000

Focused Performance in Wordle --

A graphic representation of Focused Performance blog wordage.

Good Conversation Starts With Listening

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 17:50:00 +0000

Good Conversation Starts With Listening -- From Business Week's Blogspotting column - a long-time denizen of my feed collection - Time to Start Whacking Away At Conversational Marketing...

"...this is a moment of decadence in online marketing and the next turn of the screw will root out this baroque, extraneous set of contortions around conversation. Marketing should be dialogic. True dat. But the goal isn�t conversation...

"...what�s so powerful about going online, you can talk back. But it feels like what some marketers are taking away from this is that they should talk to us in conversational tones and should do product placement by getting the video podcasters we listen to to pitch to us in their own voices. It feels like they still want to talk at us and still keep tight control of the message�but just hide that they�re doing it."

[my added links] As in everything new, it's a learning process, and many will take longer to understand and adapt.

Recent Twitter Chatter

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:08:00 +0000

Recent Twitter Chatter --

follow me on Twitter

Evidence of Critical Chain in the Wild

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:25:00 +0000

Evidence of Critical Chain in the Wild -- One of the heartening things I've discovered during my job search is that of the two firms that I've had sufficiently successful conversations that they might be in my future, one manages their multi-project organization "the TOC way" and the other is seriously considering doing so. I knew about the first going in, the second was a pleasant surprise sprung upon me in an interview.

Cool...

No Respect

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 20:33:00 +0000

No Respect -- Scott Berkun has written a great piece in Why project managers get no respect, on the perceived roles of PMs - perceptions that are created and reinforced by all the bureaucratic trappings with which many PMs surround themselves with as proof of their value.

"This lack of respect creates a huge opportunity for people who open minds: their expectations of you are low. If you take the time to find out what it is that the people on the project need from you, or value from you, and make that as large a part of your job as possible, you'll get more respect than you expect. And you may find that people start referring to you as a different kind of PM - one who has changed their opinion of what PMs can do for a team - and you�ll earn not only their respect, but their trust and best work too."

This is so very much in sync with how I have tried to perform the PM role and something I've had to think about carefully for interviews in my current job search.

Project Management - the way I try to do it - is 1) about serving/leading the team (worrying about the process not to keep the team in line with it, but rather so the team doesn't have to worry about it), 2) about helping the people who do the making understand what they are making, defining (for communication purposes) the boxes, and more importantly (for modeling the effort for them), the arrows between those boxes, and 3) assuring that the promises being made are both feasible and realistic at the outset, and protected along the way (especially working with other project managers to avoid/minimize cross-project interference).

In my last four years at an interactive agency, one of the things I am most proud of is that while in the beginning, I had to horn my way into certain projects to get to know the business and its processes, in the end, teams were asking for the support of myself and other project managers in the firm. I like to think that I didn't change their opinions of project managers as Berkun talks about (because project management was not all that mature in the agency four years ago), but rather taught them by example how to rely on our project managers to help everyone do their best work building our marketing programs and web sites.

It wasn't out plans and schedules. It was our communication supporting our dedication to helping the team and the client meet their goals.

Critical Chain, ca 2003

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 13:08:00 +0000

Critical Chain, ca 2003 -- Clarke Ching points out that a pdf of a Cutter Journal issue devoted to Critical Chain is available from the Prochain site.

Thanks to Rob, Bill and the others at Prochain for passing this on.

Social Media How To

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 18:17:00 +0000

Social Media How To -- The "Where's my Jetpack" blog provides the following excellent summary of "doing" social media...

Blog. Do it daily. Link to other blogs. Make comments on other blogs that link back to your blog. Ask other bloggers for link exchanges. Write interesting posts that have a unique voice. Don't just be a link farm to a bunch of bullshit that you didn't have anything to do with. Be original. Use technorati or any of the other tag services you prefer. Create interesting titles for your posts. Use pictures - they're fun. Use relevant labels. Don't be a corporate voice. Allow comments. Moderate them when they start to get offensive. (This is the "conversation" part you will hear so much about at your conference.) Try a podcast. Give up on it. Try a webcast. Give up on it. Give up on creating a viral video before you even try it. Viral happens naturally - you don't unleash it with a marketing plan. MySpace is NoPlace for your business and you will gain nothing from it other than people hating you. Same goes for Facebook, Second Life and Livejournal. Twit if you want, but the Twitter backlash is coming. For now, it's a good monitoring tool. Oh, one other thing: Customer Service is not a phrase to be tossed about in your Mission Statement. It's a practice. When you suck at it, expect your business to suck.

Essentially - just do it.

[via Make the Logo Bigger]

Gas Price Math

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 12:36:00 +0000

Gas Price Math -- The usual rational analysis from Glen Alleman at Herding Cats.

Great Infographics

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:20:00 +0000

Great Infographics -- A visual analysis of the Dem primaries from the NY Times. Not meant to be a political post - just an example of an interesting presentation of data.

[via 37Signals]

Technical Debt

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:44:00 +0000

Technical Debt -- An interesting concept for keeping track of loose ends. From Make technical debt explicit:

"Technical debt will occur in your project, whether it is agile, 'water-falled', incremental or what not. Don't ignore it"

[via Johanna]

Do more by doing less

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 18:02:00 +0000

Do more by doing less -- A few years back, I wrote about one strategy for dealing with to-do lists...

Back when I was Director of Industrial Engineering at Nabisco's Planters-Lifesavers Division, one of my duties was to deal with the wide range of stuff that my boss (the VP of Operations) kept throwing in my direction to research, review, or report back to him on. Recognizing that he was about as curious and inquisitive and attention challenged as myself, I quickly realized that not everything he passed along to me was really top priority. Rather than go back to him and ask "What don't you want me to do?," I often found myself using my judgment to simply prune my to-do list without action. I rationalized this with the theory that if really was important, he would bring it up again. I never really got burned by doing this, so I guess my judgment was good enough.

Today, Lifehacker recommends a similar approach to Jump-Start a Dead Action List by Eliminating Legacies.

Things change. So should your plans.

Hungry, Angry, Lonely and Tired

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:15:00 +0000

Hungry, Angry, Lonely and Tired -- No. Not me yet.

The Hungry, Angry, Lonely and Tired Project Manager is a good piece on the need for avoiding "negative waves" to be effective as a project manager.

[via Raven]

Culture and Change

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Thu, 29 May 2008 15:04:00 +0000

Culture and Change -- In Corporate Visibility and Environment from Atlantic Global's Programme and Project Portfolio Management Blog, a good point is made...

...all PPM projects have to be managed as change management initiatives. The leadership involvement and cultural change expected from stakeholders is essential for the successful completion of the project portfolio process.

This echoes conversations I've recently had with Critical Chain-savvy software providers like Realization and ProChain as well. One of the biggest stumbling blocks to successful implementations that are expected to have sustained longevity are the people who expect the software (with a little process change) to provide the solution.

It ain't just process and technology. If significant improvements are expected, it's the thinking and culture of those involved that will have to significantly change. Nothing kills benefits of a change quicker than a failure to "walk the talk" on the part of the leadership. That's a cultural change that requires careful management and some serious coaching until the desired way of thinking is automatic.

Common Sense PMBOK

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Wed, 28 May 2008 14:32:00 +0000

Common Sense PMBOK - In A Simple Way to Put PMBOK to Work, Glen Alleman translates the PMBOK to a set of 3 to 6 questions for each of the 8 PMBOK knowledge areas. Nicely done, in terms of keeping things as simple as possible, but not simplistic. Some of the questions might not be so easy to answer, depending on your PM maturity level, but having them in front of you should move you to developing answers for your project.

Work-in-Process for Knowledge Work

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Fri, 23 May 2008 01:49:00 +0000

Work-in-Process for Knowledge Work -- From Joe Ely...

"Zero is easy to measure and observe. Impossible to fudge. And, I have found, amazingly liberating."

If you want/need to move things through your system faster, you need to minimize tying up work-in-process in queues (in-boxes). And you can't get more minimized than zero.

Best Explanation of Credit Crisis

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Wed, 14 May 2008 11:05:00 +0000

Best Explanation of Credit Crisis -- The Giant Pool of Money (mp3), from "This American Life" and NPR.

New PM Blog I'm Reading

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Sat, 10 May 2008 00:29:00 +0000

New PM Blog I'm Reading -- Raven's Brain is now a regular subscription on my feedreader. Check it out.

Friday Fun - May 2

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Fri, 02 May 2008 11:36:00 +0000

Friday Fun - May 2 --

Someone had too much time on their hands - Creme That Egg! for Rube Goldberg fans - this is impressive.

Hubble images of merging galaxies, celebrating 18 years of Hubble

Variation on a meme theme - Muppet Rolling

Animal cuteness

Thought I had enough for this week, but here's some un-fun

Generalists Contribute to Success

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Thu, 01 May 2008 14:18:00 +0000

Generalists Contribute to Success -- Steve Hardy at Creative Generalist points to some research that shows...

"...there are conditions under which it actually helps to have some generalists, especially for fairly small groups, some individuals that you might think of as Jacks- or Jills-of-all-trades or multitaskers,' said Waite. 'You might actually have to pay them more and they might often do the wrong task, but if you don't have them, this whole notion of specialisation leading to greater economic productivity might actually be wrong."

Yet another reason someone should hire me.

Job Search Networking

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 02:01:00 +0000

Job Search Networking -- Just wondering if any of my readers are associated with or know anyone in a number of Central New Jersey companies that are posting jobs that have caught my fancy.

United Healthcare (Princeton or Bedminster)
Sanofi-Aventis (Bridgewater)
MetLife (Somerset or Bridgewater)
Covance (Princeton)
J&J (Skillman)
Chubb Group (Warren)

If you do, and if you are willing to chat or introduce me, reach me at f p a t r i c k at g m a i l dot com (Tighten up the spacing and replace the "at" and "dot" appropriately) or at my LinkedIn Profile, on Facebook (mention my blog in a friend request), or via Twitter if you've got accounts there.

Thanks mucho.

Test, Test, Test

noreply@blogger.com (Frank) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 12:15:00 +0000

Test, Test, Test -- For those of you designing web assets to serve a purpose, how do you know which elements of your landing page, site, or emails are contributing to success in terms of your purpose? You could do basic A/B tests of different versions, but there are often too many bits involved to get a complete picture in a reasonable amount of time.

Another alternative, more efficient and effective approach is multi-variate testing, using what some folks call "design of experiments" and others call the "Taguchi methodology.

Jonathan Mendez - he who lives to test and improve web performance - has put together an excellent 4-part series about multi-variate testing. The series consists of:

Multivariate Testing Overview

Multivariate Testing - Test Design

Multivariate Element Selection - Strategy & Tactics

Multivariate Element Test Variations

Check it out.