Check out the video from my presentation at PMIWDC entitled, "5 Keys to Standing Out as a Project Manager in Today's Economy "  Lots of fun, practical tips on standing out every day, in every way, with everyone. 

Note: This is a four-part video.  Check out parts 2, 3, and 4 here.

When was the last time someone called you a "boob"?   For me, it was yesterday!  Here's how it went down:  For months, I had a Twitter account, but had not been using it much.  That was, until I read Joel Comm's book, "Twitter Power".  It's a fabulous book, one that got me really excited to take a more active interest in Twitter. 

So, I started following people - lots of them.  Mainly, I started looking for people that had something interesting to say, both famous and not so famous.  I started going through author names for books on my shelf that I liked, one of which was an author named Alan Weiss.

However, when I visited his Twitter homepage, I was immediately turned off.  The guy had a professional photo taken of him in his Bentley.  Now, don't get me wrong, I think Bentleys are beautiful cars - I just wouldn't hire a photographer to take my picture in one and then use that picture as my twitter background.  Nor would I name my Twitter account after it.  That's pretty much the domain of the late night TV "Get Rich Quick" guys, isn't it?   The ones who have a fool proof method for beating the stock market, but choose to sell it on TV instead of actually... beating the stock market?  It's a bit much.

The other thing I noticed was that he has almost 2,000 followers and doesn't follow a single person.  I don't think you need to follow someone just because they follow you, but, seriously... no one?  How is that possible?  There are so many interesting and fantastic people on Twitter!  I have learned so much from other people on Twitter that I would have never discovered on my own.  What that says to me is that he only likes to hear himself talk and doesn't think he can learn anything from anyone else.  So...I made an honest comment about it on Twitter, and that's when all the trouble started...

If I received a comment like this, my response would probably have been to say something like, "I'm sorry you feel that way" or "This is why I don't follow anyone...".  This is the Twitter response I received.

But it didn't stop there.  I guess I upset him enough, that he talked about me on his podcast too.  I'm not really sure what he was trying to say, but he called me a "boob" and then rambled on about how I should be listening to him because he creates value (and then some other stuff about his dogs and hamburgers).  Ironically, I have listened to him, in fact, I have recommended his book to dozens of people and read through his "quality" posts, like this one:

I'll let you decide what brand message that sends about the author.

There is a quote I like:  "Keep the company of those who are in search of the truth, and run from those who have found it."   Following others on Twitter demonstrates a willingness to continue learning from others, even while you communicate your own message.  It's a medium that allows a true dialogue with others.  Instead, Alan seems to have spent a little too much time in his own echo chamber and doesn't want to hear anything but praise.  People have said lots of things about me, some good, some not so good, but I take it all in and figure out how I can use it to become a better human being.  As a business owner, if someone has something negative to say, I want to hear it.  How else can I fix something if I don't know there's a problem? 

Bottom line: Networking is all about being generous, caring about others, remaining humble, and being focused on others rather than focused on yourself.  When I see someone that is completely "me focused", I have to call it out...even if it gets me called a "boob".

Stuck in a rut at work?  Don't just sit there...Change it up!
Here are some quick ideas that will recharge your excitement and help you stand out at work.  
Pick any couple of ideas that you like, and try them out over the next 30 days.

1. Get training on something new
2. Take on a new project at work (Read Tom Peter's book "Project50" on ways to make even boring projects WOW!)
3. Try to listen more than you talk
4. Share a great link or blog article with colleagues
5. Go to lunch with someone in a different department
6. Take the Strengths Finder 2.0 quiz (www.strengthsfinder.com) and think about ways you can develop your strengths
7. Share your knowledge with and help mentor others.  Heck, start a mentoring program!
8. Start or contribute to a newsletter at work
9. Write unsolicited recommendations on LinkedIn for people you have enjoyed working with
10. Nominate yourself, your team, or a colleague for an award!

Have other creative ideas or stories on how these ideas have worked for you?  I would love to hear them!  Please leave your comments...

The other day, Josh Nankivel interviewed me for his website, the PMStudent.  We discussed some ITIL basics and other helpful information for project managers wanting to learn more about the ITIL credential.  Check out the complete clip here: ITIL for New Project Managers.

You don’t need a large budget or a lot of time to make your project “stick” in the minds of those within your organization.  With a little ingenuity, you can get people engaged in the mission of your project and have a lot of fun too.  Here are three things we “did right” in a recent  enterprise project that captured stakeholder attention and brought excitement to our project:

• Involve the entire company in a project naming contest
• Communicate project messages frequently and in unexpected ways
• Put some creative thought into the “project completion” celebration

I was working with a pharmaceutical company that was struggling to communicate real-time project information across locations and allow leadership to view the progress of projects across departments and for drugs in various stages of development.  We found an Enterprise Project Management (EPM) solution that would meet the company’s needs, received funding approval, and presented the project to the executive team.

In the middle of my presentation, the CEO stopped me and asked, “What’s the name of it?”  I proceeded to explain the different technologies that made up the solution, and he responded, “No, this project needs a name!”  Rather than name the project ourselves, my team decided to hold a company-wide naming contest.  We saw widespread awareness of the project as a critical success factor, and wanted to generate a buzz before kickoff.  We sent out an email to everyone in the organization saying, “Help us name our project!”  We gave some very general guidelines (This project will help improve company-wide project communication and collaboration) and offered a $100 gift card for the person with the winning idea.

The contest was an immediate success, and nearly everyone in the company submitted at least one idea - Some submitted five or more!  The submissions were clever, very funny, and thoughtful (I mean, who doesn’t like P.I.E., the project information exchange?).  We asked the executive staff to select the winning name, and the name Mercury (the god of communication) was chosen. 
Aside from a great name, we were able to reap significant rewards from our naming contest.  Since all of the suggestions came from outside the project team, there was a level of interest in the project across the whole enterprise.   Further, the executive leadership team was responsible for choosing the winning name.  Not only did this keep our project top of mind with the executive board, the board got a chance to see the level of enterprise wide participation and interest in the project firsthand.   Everyone knew that “Mercury” was on its way, and they wanted to see what it was.

Once the name was chosen, we decided we needed a face to go with it.  We were able to find a great picture of “Mercury” online: a simple, blue smiley-face with a winged hat.  He became our logo and mascot.  We included his smiling face in our team communications, and, eventually, within the web-based solution itself.  The Mercury “character” made a transformative technology personal and friendly.

Once the project was underway, we knew we needed to keep the project “top of mind”.   Our strategy was to grab attention by communicating our message in unexpected ways.   One week, we selected a number of magazine photos with famous (and not so famous) people on them.  We then replaced the celebrity faces in the photos with images of project stakeholders throughout the company, attaching cartoon captions on the ads.  One featured a Manager saying, “I can’t wait to see what Mercury will do for my department!” while playing basketball with one of the Directors (and George Clooney).  The Director was shown responding, “Yeah, I’m pretty excited too.”

Early one morning, we taped up the doctored photos all over the building, and the response was immediate.  People were walking from one department to another to see the different photos, and who on their team would be “featured” from each department.  The clippings were hilarious, and spurred even greater buzz.  The level of interest also pushed our team to ensure we were successful; we knew we had to deliver a good product on-time and under-budget.  We sacrificed a lot of nights and weekends to make sure everything was done and done well.  It was an exciting time, and everyone on the team was focused on making this project successful.  

As the go-live date was approaching, the team decided we should celebrate in a unique way.  We planned a birthday party on the day that Mercury would be “born”.  The day of go-live, we sent out an email telling everyone that cake and ice cream would be served at 1pm in one of the conference rooms to announce the birth of Mercury.  We brought in blue balloons, candy cigars, streamers, and had a party.  Everyone came (seriously, who doesn’t like cake and ice cream at work?), and our CEO said a few words congratulating the team and communicating his enthusiasm for the new project management system.  Naysayers at the beginning of the project were happily stuffing their faces with cake and celebrating the success along with the rest of us.  It was a great moment, and a project the entire team could be proud of.  We delivered a solution that brought tremendous benefit to the company; and we couldn’t have done it without the end to end support we received from our fully engaged stakeholders.  It’s amazing what a little creativity and resourcefulness can do!

I just finished the book "Made to Stick " by Chip and Dan Heath (really enjoyed it) and found some great resources on their website.  One in particular is an article entitled, "Making Your Presentation Stick".  They have other great resources like "Making You Stick" for standing out in job interviews and "Teaching That Sticks".  You have to register on their website, but the articles are a quick read and very helpful.  I highly recommend checking it out: http://heathbrothers.com/resources/#mts

If you are a Project Manager working in an IT environment, you may have heard the acronym ITIL^® (IT Infrastructure Library, a set of books similar in nature to PMI’s PMBOK Guide) or ITSM (IT Service Management – the concept of IT as a “service” to the business). If you haven’t heard of ITIL, you will.  Why?  Simply put: in terms of industry adoption, ITIL is one of the fastest growing frameworks in the IT industry today.

ITIL helps organizations increase IT efficiency, improve quality, and control costs.  In fact, AMR Research  reports that IT organizations that have implemented ITIL best practices have saved up to 10% in IT costs without sacrificing the quality of service delivery.  That is why U.S. Computer Economics  has projected that approximately 45% of all organizations, both large and small, in the US and Canada will have adopted ITIL best practices in some form by the end of 2008.

High Demand for ITIL Expertise
Companies are turning to ITIL, and the demand for individuals with skills and expertise in this area is increasing.  So much so, in fact, that ITIL certifications rank as some of the highest paid certifications in technology, along with PMI’s CAPM and PMP credentials.  In recent salary surveys from ZDNet’s Tech Republic , PMI and ITIL credentials consistently rank in the top three IT certifications industry wide.  With ITIL’s continued growth in the United States, the demand for IT Project Managers with expertise in ITIL will continue.

Focus is on Process, not Technology
The most compelling and interesting similarity between PMI’s PMBOK Guide and the ITIL books is that both are descriptive frameworks centered around process, not technology.

What this means to you is that both are extremely approachable standards.  For example, the PMP exam does not ask how you would go about creating a milestone task within Microsoft Project.  Rather, it makes sure you understand the importance of creating milestones.

The ITIL books are the same way.  In order to really understand IT Service Management as a practice, you do not need to understand servers or switches.  Rather, you need to understand things like the importance of controlling change, defining service levels, and maintaining a catalog of all your services to the business in terms the business can understand.

Both are bodies of knowledge covering simple principles that are drawn from deep industry experience.  They both detail concepts that are scalable and adaptable to each organization.  For example, the Project Plan for a small, simple project is going to look very different for a large, complex one.  In the same way, the process for managing a minor software patch release is going to have a different scale of requirements compared to a brand new, enterprise-wide software release.

Frameworks on a Similar Mission
In the PMBOK Guide, the goal is to provide project results, on-time and under budget, that meet the needs of the customer.  In the ITIL best practice set, the goal is to provide IT “services” that provide value to the business in an ongoing and cost efficient manner.

Both the PMBOK Guide and ITIL guidance have the same mission, to elevate the profession by adding structure and rigor around what is done.  Both strive to create a common language and deliver predictable results in a repeatable manner.

For example, in projects, there is a tendency to compress planning and/or testing under the pressure of an aggressive timeline.  However, a good project manager knows the importance of planning to alleviate rework later.

In the same way, businesses want IT to be agile and quick to make changes, while avoiding unforeseen consequences.  This is done by putting processes in place to prevent unauthorized changes to the IT infrastructure.  By having the discipline to develop and follow a formal Change Management process, IT organizations can handle more changes and lessen the risk to the production environment.

My Own Experience
I found ITIL to be a great compliment to my Project Management skill set as it covers topics in Change Management, Knowledge Management, etc.  I really wished I had become certified when I first got involved in technology as it would have set me up with an understanding of how IT processes work (or should ideally work) and would have allowed me to better “speak the language” early on with others in IT.

Getting certified has also given me a greater appreciation of the importance of effective Service Management. I would highly recommend that other Project Managers working in (or with) technology look into ITIL certification  as a way to compliment the PMP. In today’s competitive market, it sets you apart from the pack and provides you with an expanded toolset for successfully managing projects.

A colleague recently asked me how to get 60 Professional Development Units (PDUs) in a few short weeks without breaking the bank.  Here are some of my favorites:

• PMI's IS Specific Interest Group (SIG) has lots of free webinars (1 PDU per webinar) available to SIG members ($35/year to join).  This is a category 3.
• You can write an article on any area of expertise you have and submit it to your local chapter of PMI.  This is a category 2B and earns 15 PDUs.
• For each 12-month period you work as a Project Manager, you can claim 5 PDUs.  Over the course of three years, you can earn 15 PDUs.  This is a category 2H.
• You can claim up to 15 PDUs for category 2-SDL, Self Directed Learning.  This includes articles, books, instructional manuals, videos, CD-ROMs or other material resources.  Podcasts are a great way to earn 15 PDUs under this category.  Here are two popular ones: www.pm-podcast.com and http://www.controllingchaos.com
• Attend local PMI chapter meetings!  Many chapters have breakfast, lunch, and or dinner meetings that will give you 1+ PDUs under category 3 per event.  
• If you already volunteer for a non-profit organization, you can claim 5 PDUs per year.  Thus, you can get up to 15 PDUs under category 5 for giving of your time. 
• Last, you can take a "hot topic" course (Agile / Scrum, Six Sigma, ITIL/ITSM, etc.) that will earn you lots of PDUs and give you a certification that looks great on your resume.  Look for Registered Education Providers (R.E.P.s) with PMI to earn PDUs under category 3.  Here is an example of one for ITIL v3 Foundations certification that gives you 18 PDUs under category 3. 

Once you sign into PMI's website, you can submit PDUs online.  The PDU site has been recently redesigned and is really easy to use.  So, you now have ideas on a total of over 80 PDUs that you can get in a few weeks time.  No more excuses on maintaining your Project Management Professional (PMP) certification! 

Years ago, I heard this great quote that has really stuck with me and become somewhat of a mantra. It is as follows:

There is no limit to the good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.
General of the Army George C. Marshall

What a fabulous concept! Often, we are so worried about our own jobs and careers that we don’t take the time to think about those around us and make sure we help them get what they want. Ever since I started making a conscious effort to really “let go” of who gets the credit, my work attitude has completely changed. In addition, the way my team and others around me view my work has completely changed. They realize that I am their champion, and they work hard to perform to the best of their abilities. Rather than spending time worrying about whether executive management sees all the great things I am doing, and position myself accordingly for that next great promotion, I focus on mentoring others and helping those around me get recognized for their hard work. I actually spend part of my work week thinking about how I can bring visibility and kudos to the efforts of my teams.

Too often, when employees are surveyed in their companies, many of them say that they feel their work is not valued or that no one has told them in the last six months that they appreciate them. How terrible! The best thing we can do for our coworkers, direct reports, colleagues, and project teams is to find creative ways to show them our thanks and make sure everyone in our company knows that they are making a valuable contribution. We all love to get praised for our hard work. Make sure you are taking the time to proactively do that for others.

Many companies have put great examples of this concept in place. When I worked with Pfizer, they implemented something called a Pfish program where you could send a Pfish card to a colleague for a variety of reasons (being a team player, going the extra mile, or even just making your day). Every week, the people that had received a Pfish card were entered into a raffle for a gift card. However, the very best thing about the Pfish card program was that the recipient’s boss was copied on the email that they received. It was a really fun program and one that made employees feel special and appreciated.

However, you don’t need a company program to show your appreciation for others. Here are some really easy things you can do to make a big difference in the lives of those around you – Submit your project team for an internal company award, external “Project of the Year”, or other award. There are lots of professional organizations that look for a variety of award submissions and, many times, are excited to get new submissions from companies or people they have not heard from before. Log onto LinkedIn and write unsolicited recommendations for people you have enjoyed working with. Send a short email to a coworker’s boss thanking them for going the extra mile on a difficult project. Start a “Thanks a latte!” newsletter that thanks your team members by name and post it up at work, maybe even leave a small Starbucks gift card on their desk before they get into work. The more creative and silly, the better! You will be surprised by the results. It seems counter-intuitive, but we as managers end up shining the brightest when our teams shine. What other examples have you seen or done to brighten the day for those you work with and help them get the kudos they richly deserve?

A few weeks ago, I listened to Dr. Jackie Freiberg, the opening keynote speaker at itSMF's Fusion conference in Dallas.  During her presentation, she gave the following quote from author Eric Hoffer:

In a time of drastic change, it is the learners who inherit the future.  The learned find themselves equipped to live in a world that no longer exists.

I have found this to be true in my own experience.  Today's learners are the ones that get the new job opportunities, the sought after promotion, and the next client.  They are the ones that are not afraid to try (and even fail at) new things.  Do you consider yourself to be a learner or one that is learned?  Has your learning stopped?  Right now, more than ever, we cannot afford to rest on our laurels and stop learning and trying new things.  Those that do will be quickly passed by those that chase after knowledge.  If you have let yourself become learned, think about ways you can join those that are learning.  Your career depends on it.