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Posts Tagged ‘Projects’

Here are 5 common reasons why your projects are going over schedule, over budget, and generally under expectations of quality.

1. Overextending on your resources: Or simply doing more than what your resources whether it be in finances, human capital, strategic partnerships, time, etc.

2. Micromanaging: Instead of looking over the shoulders of your team mates, focus more on the overall strategy alignment and faciliate intra/extra departmental communications.

3. lack of strategic vision, feature-creep, too tactical (putting out fires, playing catch-up vs how to sustain long term competitive advantage)

4. Eating an elephant whole: no matter how well thought out the project is, the individual pieces may be perfectly executed on time and on budget but then it’s impossible or extremely difficult to integrate the pieces. Instead it is probably a better idea to chunk out the projecs to produce measurable results such as described in the “rapid results initiative” where specific quantifiable milestones are set, and once reached can be either built upon or scrapped depending the the goal discovery process.

5. Poor communication between cross-functions: Bureaucracy is part of the game, get used to it, or better yet, learn to be a better communicator and have not just let the marketing or engineering head decide on the project requirements but set aside time to get insight from all constituents and stakeholders.

The untold story, beyond financial losses

Not only do failed projects cost time and money, sometimes amounting to several years, and millions of dollars. But it demoralizes all the stakeholders to the project, especially the frontline employees and managers that had direct reign and input into the project.

As has been quoted in the media and surveys, the majority of projects fail to meet expectations or even sustainable results. Therefore an improvement in the knowledge of the field of project management is perhaps the bare minimum in advancing one’s career, or business success in this high paced environment.

Don’t force yourself out of the most profitable hobby in the universe because you think it’s too hard to learn …It isn’t!

Gardening is fast becoming the world’s number one hobby, and with all the latest ‘alternative’ information we have to hand, gardening as a natural science is fun to learn about and rewarding in the extreme…

Produce your own fruit and veg – cut the shopping trips.

Keep it organic!- be nice to the planet, and your body.

Stay fit and healthy with exercise and fresh air.

Spend quality family time in the outdoors.

Turbo boost your creative spirit

And if that isn’t enough to be going on with, learn about plant-kind in all it’s glory. From trees through to fungi, there are millions of plants to research, grow and eat- no chance of getting bored!

First you have to take your first step.

Start gardening, be a gardener, enjoy your garden.

Starting from scratch? Let your imagination run wild. Stand in the centre (-ish) of your garden and imagine..close your eyes if you like.

Don’t hold back. Let your creative thoughts flow. How much can you do with your space? Don’t imagine for one minute that a simple lawn will let you off the hook here. A lawn needs maintaining, and mowing regularly – for EVER…and it can get kind of boring to look at as well! How about creating

a butterfly patch

a wildflowers corner

a vegetable plot

a herb garden

a water feature

Then you will need a shed to store your tools. Where would that be best placed in your garden? Don’t waste a sunny position with a garden structure. Sheds don’t need to be in full sun to survive!

Is there enough space to place garden furniture? Rather than going for the table-and-four-chairs-on-patio style, can you place benches and small tables in semi-shady spots near the honeysuckle or round the herbs?

When you think you have a reasonable idea of all you want from your garden, take some notes and think about it for a while. Don’t leap in too soon-more often than not you’ll land up doing the same job twice. Browse through garden catalogs, take a little time and do a little planning.

But not for too long! Don’t let the ideas wither into another was-gonna-do-one-day file.

If you have enough of a budget to buy your garden structures and furniture, do this first, and position them in your garden. Then create your flower beds, vegetable plots and wildlife patches around these structures.

If you don’t have cash up front, don’t worry. The things you need will come to you. For now, prepare the space as if you DID have the shed, or bench or whatever, and work around these areas.

Start all the patches and work on them as and when you can, or start one patch and get it finished before moving on to the next. How you work in your garden depends on a number of things…

size of land and budget

helping hands available

seasons and the weather

time slots and energy levels!

Treat gardening as an ongoing hobby rather than a project to be started and finished. Plants are growing life forms and will always be changing the shape and feel of your garden. Go with it where you can, and prune heavily where you have to!

The National Science Foundation is an independent government agency in the United States. The National Science Foundation is responsible for providing support to basic science research, which is primarily accomplished through research funding.

The National Science Foundation mostly provides research funding in the form of grants. These grants are most often given in the form of individual grants to graduate students and professors. In fact, with an annual budget of approximately $5.5 billion, the National Science Foundation provides about 20% of federally supported funding for basic research to America’s universities and colleges.

Under the leadership of its director, Dr. Arden L. Bement, Jr., the National Science Board meets six times per year to determine the policies of the National Science Foundation. The National Science Board consists of 24 members, all of which are appointed by the President of the United States to 6 year terms.

History of the National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation was originally established as the result of the 1950 National Science Foundation Act. The mission of the National Science Foundation, as stated within this act, was “To promote the progress of science; to advance the national health, prosperity, and welfare; and to secure the national defense.”

The National Science Foundation has competed with defense research agencies, such as the Office of Naval Research, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, for funding. This battle for funding has led many science historians to claim that the National Science Foundation is an “inept compromise” between visions within the federal government in regards to the scope and purpose of the foundation.

Programs of the National Science Foundation

Fields within the National Science Foundation include: astronomy, physics, behavioral science, biology, chemistry, and computer science. Economic science, social sciences, science education, engineering, environmental science and education, polar research, geoscience, mathematics, and statistics are also fields covered by the National Science Foundation.

In addition to working within its regular fields, the National Science Foundation promotes a variety of special programs. These programs are sometimes put into place in order to increase the participation of under-represented minorities in the sciences. The Research Experience for Undergraduates program, for example, targets minorities and women. This program provides grants to institutions in order to assist them in providing opportunities for summer research to undergraduate students.

In addition, the GK-12 Crosscutting Program was established by the National Science Foundation to provide universities with money to encourage graduate students to interact with k-12 students. The goal of this program is to increase science retention in children at an early age.

The National Science Foundation also funds projects on a national scale. One such project is the National Science Digital Library. Also, the National Science Foundation helps pay for the establishment of the Materials Research Science and Engineering Centers that are located in some research universities.

Space exploration and the National Science Foundation

At times, there is conflict between the National Science Foundation and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This is because both agencies strive to increase knowledge regarding the universe, space, and the human body. Neither, however, wants to pay more than its fair share for this research. Furthermore, clear guidelines concerning which agency is responsible for which aspects of the fields have not been established.