What you need to know about ITIL v3

Sometimes you try to create THE article that contains great resource links on one particular domain so that if someone ask you questions about it, you just answer "man, the greatest resource list in on my blog" :-). Few weeks ago, I started to collect information related to ITIL V3, also to try to stay updated about this methodology, as I do not practice it so often.

While searching those videos or interesting article on Google, I found this blog post, from Ahmad Salah, Project Manager and Process Improvement Engineer, in Egypt (his Blogger profile is here). This kind of information collection work that is just amazing.

Read the article if you want to know ITIL V3.

http://motagaly.blogspot.com/2011/11/free-itil-v3-videos.html

Video: How To Tell If A Project Schedule is Good

Excellent 6 minutes video, from http://www.cogtechinc.com, presented by John Rigoli, PMP about "How To Tell If A Project Schedule is Good".

Microsoft Project 2010 - Creating a resource pool without MS Project Server

Without having Microsoft Project Server, here is a way to manage shared resources through various projects. By using this method, the program manager or unit manager can check team member allocation and plan projects.

The first thing is to create the resource pool. To create a resource pool:

·         Create a new blank project

·         On the Resource tab, select resource sheet

·         Enter your resources and their information (different type, working time, calendar…)

White papers on Microsoft Project Server 2010

I found on some blog posts many interesting white papers related to Microsoft Project Server 2010. Honestly I don’t read everything yet J but I am quite confident about the high quality of such documentation. These white papers have been writing by Microsoft employees, partners, MVP’s…

Mainly in English, there are also some white papers in French:

·         Demand Management in Project Server 2010

·         Project and SharePoint Server 2010 — Better Together, workflow creation techniques…

·         Portfolio Server migration guide

·         Portfolio strategy with Project Server 2010

·         Meilleures pratiques des systèmes d’entreprises

·         Création d’un plan de déploiement EPM

·         Capacity planning in Project Server 2010

·         Project Server 2010: A financial management solution for projects, programs and portfolios

·         Testing Project Server 2010 deployments

·         Microsoft Project Server 2010 Reporting with Excel Services

·         Creating Dashboards for Microsoft Project Server 2010

·         Livres blancs « Depuis les tranchées » (Project Server 2010)

·         Enterprise Project Management Content Pivot Viewer

Of course you can also check the reference in term of documentation:

·         Technet

·         MSDN (more for developers)

10 Questions PMs Should Know the Answer To

I read an interesting article by Philip R. Diab about what are the 10 questions a project manager should know the answer to, here they are:

1. Why did we undertake the project and is that reason still valid?
2. What will it take to make the customers/stakeholders happy once the project is complete?
3. Where are we?  Which tasks were completed and which ones are left?
4. How much of the budget has been expended and how much is left?
5. How close are we to the finish line (resources & tasks)?
6. Do key stakeholders understand where things are with the project?
7. Are there critical (high probability/high impact) risks that may cause the project to derail?
8. What are the top issues the project is facing and causing delays?
9. Are team members optimistic or pessimistic about the project’s chances of success?
10. What happens when all the deliverables are complete?

The full article can be read on Philip R. Diab’s blog, I really encourage you to read it and other papers he published.