Leadership Summit - Session 3 with Tim Keller

Tim Keller is the pastor of Redeemer Church in Manhattan (New York City) USA.
He's speaking now at the Leadership Summit (willowcreek.com/summit).
The church he leads has 6000 weekly attendance in 3 locations, planted over 100 churches.

He is the author of "The Reason for God" on NY Times Best Sellers List.

I'm at a satellite location in Ocean Grove New Jersey USA (oceangrove.org) attending the Leadership Summit . Even if you don't use twitter, you can see my postings at:twitter.com/henrywill It seems that #tls09 is too much traffic on twitter, so I'm blogging here.

What others are saying about him in pre-video: His vision is about changing NYC, not about him.

Points from Tim's talk for Leadership Summit:

• He's always wiling to listen to someone who says "I have the key to Spiritual Renewal" - pastors are looking for spiritually alive people. Only a few people do the work, there is back biting. Pastors are desparate for finding a way to promote spiritual renewal.
• Prodigal: the meaning is "wrecklessly extravegant" - so God's love for us is prodigal too. The story of the prodigal son is about both sons.
• Luke 15: Religious leaders were concerned about Jesus hanging out with sinners. Jesus responded with several stories about the lost.
• The brother that stays home is like the brother that stays home - that part of the story is to address those of us in the church
• The two brothers show 2 ways to reject God:
• Younger brother decides he wants everything from the Father (God) now
• Older brother decides he deserves what God has to offer, he's only giving father lip-service. He's lost because of his goodness. He won't go into the feast. He's obeying God just to get things.
• Gospel isn't moral or immoral - it's about God's love for you
• Religion operates on the principle of us trying to be good to get to God
• the Gospel operates on the principle of us not being good enough and God taking our place so we can have God's Love (grace). We do good for God out of our appreciation.
• Older brothers: want everyone else to follow commands, and they're a bit uncomfortable because they're insecure because they aren't quite sure they are good enough.
• Older brothers: not just sad when things don't go well, they get furious with God because they think God owes them.
• Need to get to a new level of repentance and rejoicing
• Repentance is not just being sorry for our wrong-doing and turning around (Pharisees did this)
• You won't be renewed until you look at repenting from the things you do right, and trying to get leverage over God
• You can't think you're doing God a favor by following him.
• You need to get to a deeper level of repentance of repenting for our right-doing.
• We need to look at what it cost the father
• Since the younger son took half, the only way to bring the younger son back would be to take what was left which was the older son's inheritance
• The older brother, if he was a true older brother, should have went after the lost brother into a foreign country and at his expense.We do have a true older brother. We need a brother that came from a distant country (heaven) and saves us at a cost (which Jesus did at the cost of his life)
• How to get spirtual renewal in the church:
• 1. As leader, need to work this in your heart (don't go into the ministry to save your soul)
• 2. All of your teaching is Gospel
• 3. Gather all the leaders together and take them through book (could use the "Prodigal God" book)
• 4. Work it in your team and followers (congregation)
• How you'll know when you're reaching people:Gracious disagreements, instead of people leaving or always fighting.When religious people come to you realizing they are not really a Christian

Great notes here: http://entermission.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/08/leadership-summit-session-four-the-prodigal-son.html

and here

http://www.timschraeder.com/2009/08/06/leading-people-to-the-prodigal-god/

Leadership Summit - live posting

I'm at a satellite location in Ocean Grove New Jersey USA (oceangrove.org) attending the Leadership Summit (willowcreek.com/summit). I will be attending both Today (Thur. 8/6) and tomorrow (Fri. 8/7)

Even if you don't use twitter, you can see my postings at:
twitter.com/henrywill

There is lots of information helpful for all of you who are leaders.
Almost everyone is a leader of one type of the other. If you look around, you'll find that there are people following you!

Posting from Leadership Summit on twitter this Thurs and Friday

I will be posting tweets from the Leadership Summit this Thursday and Friday on twitter @henrywill with hashtags #tls09 and #OGCMA

Follow me on twitter if you want to hear good information on leadership.

I hope to also do some blog posts on the topic!

Project Management is Like a Banana Split

Project Management is Like a Banana Split

My wife and I shared a Banana Split the other evening in Ocean Grove. We try to do that once a year.

I got to thinking (afterwards of course) how Project Management is like sharing a Banana Split.

• It's a joint effort - you need a team to tackle the project (even if you can eat the whole thing alone, think about the team that brought all the parts together: creating ingredients delivering them, building that banana split, and then eating it!
  
• Building (and eating) a Banana Split is a temporary endeavor to produce a product or service (Now, that's the definition of project management and a Banana Split certainly fits that)
  
• Projects also have lots of different flavors
• Project team members come in lots of different flavors too
• You need to give the cherry to someone else (the cherry tops the Sunday and it's fun to give it away, just like it's best to give the credit for the project to the team and the sponsor)
  
• Sometimes when the job is done (like when you're done eating a Banana Split), you're 100% successful, yet there is a sticky mess left behind, but nobody is all too concerned about it!

This reminds me of a team I worked with in another country. We had a tough task ahead of us. It was a hot summer day and the schedule was very tight (requiring long hours). One of the team leads suggested we buy ice cream for everyone. We got management approval and went and bought an ice cream for every member of the team. Now, that's a reward that goes a long way!

I'd like to see your comments about how Project Management is Like a Banana Split!

The Battles We Fight

We know a pastor who would frequently say "Everyone is fighting a battle. No matter how happy they may look, or how well they hide it, everyone is fighting battles."

I often think about that and that's why I try to post every now and then with the label/topic of "Encouragement." (look at the link for "Encouragement" on my blog to see some of the others).

This past weekend we heard Dr. Charles Stanley speak at Ocean Grove on the subject of "The Battles We Fight."

Here are some of the main points that I hope help you in fighting your battles:

• The story came from the Bible about a King who realized that the battle was God's not his (2 Chronicles 20) to fight
  
• 1. There will always be battles (John 16:33), but greater is He who is in us than He who is the world (1 John 4:4). God gives us the Holy Spirit to live inside us (2 Timothy 1:14).
  
• 2. We must view that God is in control (Rom 8:28). He is sovereign over all.
• 3. We must fight our battles in the right way: with prayer. We must depend solely on God and obey Him.
  

When you realize that God loves us, He is with us, and He has ultimate control, you'll realize that you can have peace by leaving everything in His hands!

Now, that's encouragement!

Garden Back Rub

I'm posting this for all the parents (and maybe grandparents) out there.

I was reminded the other day of the "Garden Back rub" we found in a magazine years ago and gave to our children many times at bedtime.

The idea is to give your children a back rub with various different types of motions based on a bit of a story of how a garden is planted. It also teaches them how a garden grows.

We told our story and gave a Garden Back Rub with each of the following parts:

1. First, ask what the person wants you to plant - this is a good way to find out what they like. Flowers? What type? Vegetables? Fruits?
   
2. Turn over the soil - this was a sort of rotating motion
3. Use the rake and/or hoe to smooth it down - use the fingers spread (like a back scratch) for a rake or the edge of the hand like a hoe.
   
4. Make rows - draw straight lines down the back with a finger
   
5. plant the seeds - use your pointer finger to poke, poke, poke those seeds
   
6. Cover over the seeds - pat it down with the palm
   
7. Water it and let the rains come - gentle taps of the fingers all random, almost like randomly typing keys on a keyboard
   
8. Wait for God to make it grow - sometimes you can let this linger until the person getting the back rub tells you it's been long enough.
   
9. Pull the weeds - gentle grabbing motion
   
10. Pick the garden - gentle pinching motion - you could also ask here what we planted: are they flowers? Vegetables? A little variety?
11. Eat the vegetables and fruits - take an imaginary fruit or vegetable and put it in their mouth. Ask/tell them what you're giving them. This is the part when I had some fun: after they got used to me giving them the fruit, I'd not say anything and "give them something to eat" then I'd say "that was dirt" or "that was a rock" or "I forgot to peel that one" - It added a bit of laughter and joking.
    

The Garden Back Rub is also a good lead-in to a story about some of the parables Jesus told of the seeds and the sower from Matthew 13 or Mark 4.

Enjoy!

Wordle - see a picture of what words occur most often

Here's the brainchild of an IBM researcher: a website that will take words and show you a picture of the words with ones used most often being larger. This is sort of like a word cloud. You can click create, enter (or paste) text and see what it does.

The website is:
http://wordle.net

You can paste something you wrote in here, like an email! Or, you can copy and paste a website, or a bible verse from biblegateway.com or the Gettysburg Address in wordle.
(hint: try clicking the randomize button to see all different designs!)

Or, you can point it at an RSS feed (like the one from my blog).
Try clicking on "create" again, and then putting in the URL box (the second box on the page) the following:
http://henrywill4.blogspot.com
then click submit

Enjoy!

It all ends up in the trash

One of the lessons I learned this past weekend...

My wife and I helped with the OG Ladies Aux. Bazaar. Part of the Bazaar sales are the items that people contribute (mostly used) that are sold at a great discount (I picked up a used guitar amp for a very good price).

Near the end of the two days, they have a "$3 a bag" sell. People can just fill it up with as much as they can for $3.

Then, much of the better items that are left are donated to the Salvation Army. Almost everything that's left after that is tossed into a big dumpster.

Some of us were talking about what a shame it is to throw away items that some people might need. Then, my friend, Mike, made the point that everything eventually ends up in the trash. You can't take it with you.

It really got me to thinking (those that know me, know that I think a real lot about things). I was thinking how true it is; just about all the stuff we own eventually ends up in the trash. It's just a matter of how long it takes to get there. It makes you realize how temporary things are and how much we should value people more than things.

I think this is one of those posts that is best to keep short and let you think it through.

Starting a PMO

For the past few months, I've been starting a PMO at work.
A PMO is a Project Management Office.

I thought it might make sense to blog about some of the goals, challenges, and plans.

PMO Goals (for our PMO at least):

• The PMO needs to demonstrate ROI (this is a tough one and honestly one we need to start working on)
  
• The PMO must promote and "sell" the value of Project Management to the members of all of the project teams it oversees and upward to management (this includes coaching, development of people to be better Project Managers, and educating people in the PM processes, templates, and tools)
  
• The PMO must provide a means of common, standard reporting and common PM processes (templates and tools should also be included)
  
• The PMO must collect all the status and roll this up to the mangement/executive it reports to (eventually, this status should be proactive in providing suggested solutions)
  
• The PMO must provide PM administrative support to each project

Challenges - The challenges of our PMO and how we are handling them:

• PMO Resources - there always seems to be more work than resources. We're handling this by tracking every responsibility and request and then constantly re-priortizing. We also are in weekly communication with our executive to discuss our priorities.
• Balancing Priorities - There are a few high priority activities on our lists. We need to take a time slice for each to at least get each one started (sort of like taking a bite of each item on your plate). Many times we are waiting on others to move ahead, so getting a little progress on each item is a big help toward accomplishing the goal.
• Finding the answers - Especially with the compliance items we're working on, it's difficult to find the person who has the answer to the questions we need to resolve. For Example: we might be looking for the person who has responsibility for all of the desktop software licenses. In our big organization, it takes a while to track that down. We're working to solve this by asking people who have tracked down this information in the past.
  
• Scope Increase - The two "biggest baddest" words in project management! Yes, it happens in a PMO too. People are constantly trying to put a bunch of "monkeys on our backs" by trying to delegate more work to us. We handle this by keeping our roles and responsibilities clear. Actually, just writing this helps me to realize that we should document our Roles and Responsiblities. Maybe I should review my recent presentation on PMlessonsLearned.com on the subject of "RACI Roles and Responsibilities" and apply it.

Plans: - The plans of our PMO

• Common and standard reporting templates and Metrics: We're working on a standard reporting spreadsheet that records all the basic data we need from each Project/Program to insure that the metrics we're reporting are supported by hard data. This is a very high priority at this time because we just started work on a new project that can be used to create all the reporting and then we can roll it out to other projects.
• We're concentrating on Compliance. This is compliance with all rules, regulations, business operation guidelines, controls, and any other directives that would be required to pass an audit. This also includes contract compliance. This is one of our main measurements at this point that would be rolled up above our sponsor, and so we need to be working on this.
• Some lower priority elements of our plan:
  
• Process Improvement: We hope to promote and participate in process improvement to improve project efficiency.
  
• Quality: Later we hope to add some spot checks to give feedback and improve on the PM artifacts
  
• Coaching: We are constantly involved in coaching people, giving feedback, and promoting the PM processes
• Education: We have already begun doing some Lunch and Learns to help people discuss the PM processes and improve on them

These are just a few quick thoughts I've had this morning (since I wasn't able to sleep). I'm sure that I probably missed a few "200 pound Gorillas" that I will remember in a few minutes. Hopefully I'll be able to blog more on this in the future.

I'd like to hear your comments.

For all you fathers out there who have daughters

A good friend of mine sent this video of Michael W. Smith singing a great song.
He sent it because we're preparing for our second daughter's wedding next year.

For all you fathers out there who have daughters, my advice to you is to watch this. Then, go spend the next few years with your wife and children as much as you can.

Your children need to see you setting an example of you spending time with your wife, it's a role model for them.

And, you need to spend time with your children: Quantity time is even more important that Quality time. They grow up so fast! Believe me, I know!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk5K-eTTkfM&feature=related

Note: my advice to those of you with a Daughter who is about to be married is to watch the movie "Father of the Bride" with Steve Martin.

Pilgrim's Progress Presentation

Last night I saw a wonderful "Pilgrim's Progress" Presentation (note: follow the link for free copies). It was given by Jim Winder (Website about the presentation here: thehardbutrightway.com) in Ocean Grove and was based on the book by John Bunyan.

The presentation was a bit of acting/telling the story interspersed with songs.

I enjoyed reading the story to my daughter years ago. This presentation re-sparked my interest in the book. I'm hoping to read it again.

I would say that the main thread of the story is based on the scripture:

Matthew 7:13-14 (New International Version)

¹³"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Jesus said these words. He also said that he is the narrow road that leads to life (John 14:6).

I hope you find the narrow way. If you want to know more, just contact me.

I watched and listened to the presentation last night while sitting next to a family of our good friends. It was great to see the play through the eyes of someone almost 10 years old. She was very perceptive of the meaning of the allegory, which is very impressive for someone her age. It was a joy to see her rejoicing in the triumphs of the main character.

At one point, the main character of the story meets someone who is going the wrong way on the path. They had believed at one point, but had wondered for a long time and had given up. They no longer believed. At that point I noticed the countenance changed in my young friend sitting next to me; she was looking downward, was very sad, and said "this is horrible." Later, I asked why, and she said "because he was going the wrong way." It was so deeply touching to my heart to feel her sadness over someone who was lost. I, too, have felt a deep sorrow for people who are lost on life's way. Jesus is so close and wants to give them life. I pray for them individually.

I encourage you to read the story of "Pilgrims Progress." I know that I intend to read it. If you do too, it will give you strength and understanding to know Him better. And, that's the best encouragement there is!

Business Email Guidlines

These are some "Business" email guidelines that I've learned over the years.

I'll share my "Personal" email guidelines soon too!

I'm posting these here because I told my manager that I'd write them up so he can distribute them to the team.

He has far too many emails coming to him. Following these guidelines will help everyone to be more effective with email.

1. Keep emails to one subject each

Since so many people have so much email to skim through, they often read the first two sentences and decide what to do with the email. By putting separate subjects in separate emails, you’ll help people to know which ones they need to take action on and which are informational only

2. If there is someone who is responsible for providing something, make it clear

Help the person(s) receiving the email to know who’s expected to do something.

If you need Jack to supply the latest report, make sure that Jack knows that. If there are multiple people needing to supply things, you might consider spelling it out in the beginning of the email and then bolding their names on the items they’re responsible for.

Example:
It was a great meeting today: Jack, Jan, and Sally all have action items assigned, see the details below.

3. If there is something with a due date, make it clear when it is due/needed

Stating a due date helps the person receiving the email to schedule their time. If the due date is flexible, then say so. A good way to state a flexible due date is to suggest a date and ask if it’s obtainable. Example: I have to have this to my manager by Monday, but I need to compile what you give me with the responses of three others. So, could you have this back to me by Monday?

4. Put the action and/or assignee(s) in the subject

Help the person(s) receiving the email to know what’s expected of them.

Suggested Subjects:
FYI: We’re going ahead with the plan
Jack: Decision required by Tue. 5/19/2011: open or closed security?

5. Always end with the recommended action or suggestion

It’s great to point out the issues, but conclude with the suggested action. Actions can include: assigning an action to someone, have a meeting to discuss or to leave things as is.

6. If it’s long and detailed, put a synopsis at the top and detail below

A sometimes a lot of information needs to be communicated, but some of the audience doesn’t need to know all the details. Some people want the overview and to have the detail in case they need it for backup later. Help them out by giving them an overview and detail. Example:

Overview: We are going ahead with the plan to remove the ten widgets as discussed last week This will result in a 10% savings over the previous plan.

Detail:
Last week the team came up with a revised plan that would result in removing the ten widgets from the external widget generator. The following list of tasks will now need to be done, but it will save us substantial cost …

8. Think Twice before sending "Thanks" emails - the other person may already have enough emails in a day. Think about limiting your "thank you" emails.

9. If you have an email "discussion" going, it's time to pick up the phone - if it's a discussion that's gone back and forth more than twice, then the phone makes more sense.

10. If, when replying, you add or remove other email addresses, identify this at the beginning of the email

Phone Interview Pointers for interviewees

Well, It's been a bit since I conducted phone interviews, but I had to do some more today.

I know a lot of people out of work right now and thought they might benefit from what I found myself doing in these phone interviews (most of them apply to face-to-face interviews as well):

1. It's true - phone interviews are to screen people out. So, don't give the interviewer any ammunition. Give as little information as required so that you get called in for a face-to-face interview. Keep in mind the entertainers credo: always leave the audience in a way where they want more.

2. Keep your replies brief - I had a few too many times when I asked a question and wanted a short reply and the person talked on and on, much of the talking off subject! I always try to keep in mind what John Lucht says in his book "Rites of Passage:" when in an interview, try to keep your response to 2 minutes or less and end with a variation of "I hope that answers your question, or is there something else you'd like to know?"

3. Be a good listener: I was surprised at how some people heard my question and went off onto another subject without answering my question. Maybe it was because they didn't know the answer or because they weren't listening to the question closely, but it didn't reflect well on them.

4. Show some initiative: I had one interviewee who asked if they could send me a paper they wrote on a subject I asked about. It was a clever way to get my email address to follow-up. Another interviewee said they had researched the group I am in, so he knew what we do. These all demonstrate someone with initiative, a very valuable trait for us interviewers to find in someone.

5. Close the conversation with a question: Some people just said thanks and they hoped to hear from me again. That's nice. However, one asked when he would hear from me again and asked to be kept in the loop while waiting.

Another person, with even more initiative, asked when we would make the decision and who else he would need to talk to before the decision was made. He mentioned that he needed to know because he had other opportunities he was holding off. It showed he was interested. For someone who might be a strong candidate, this might give them an indication of how well they did because it might cause the interviewer to try to "sell" the position. It might also make the interviewer realize that they need to make a decision before the candidate takes another position.

Guitars, anchors, capos, chord shapes, and hammer-on

How's that for some off-the-wall terminology?!?
And I thought the IT industry had a bunch of jargon to learn!

Well, I learned a bunch from my friends Steve a few weeks ago and then from another friend, Joey, the past 2 weekends:

Anchors: I had learned from a Guitar lesson DVD that when playing chords, it's good to "anchor" a finger in one spot so it's easier to switch chords. I was learning the song "Homegrown Tomatoes" (a Guy Clark song) and was having difficulty switching chords quickly (it only uses 3: the I, IV, and V7 chords - more on that in another post, but suffice it to say in the key of G they are G, C, and D7 - see the chord chart here http://mugglinw.ipower.com/chordmaps/part2.htm). I happened to see Steve and explained to him about needing an "anchor" and he showed me (with no guitar) how I would play the G chord differently so I can switch between G and C easily. I was surprised that I was able to pickup what he meant without having a guitar with me, but you can bet I went home and tried it quick! It's great!

Capos and Chord Shapes:
So, then the past 2 weekends, Joey saw me playing on the porch. He came by and asked if he could jam with me. Of course I responded with a resounding "yes!" (He's a guitar teacher!). He played some wonderful things while I played my simple 3 chord "Homegrown Tomatoes."

I asked him what he was doing and he showed me how he had the capo on the 7th fret. He asked me how I could then figure out where "G" was on the "A" string (one second closest to the sky). Once I found the "G" note, I just had to think of a chord shape (the shape of a chord) that I play without a capo that uses that note as the "root". I mentioned the "C" Chord uses that string in that fret and he told me that if I play the same "chord shape" (same shape as the "C" chord) up on those frets (as though the capo is now the "nut," the piece at the top of the guitar neck where the stings end before the tuning pegs) I would actually be playing a "G". COOL! It sounded like a Ukulele!

Well, he taught me some more about the "Capo Triangle:" The three points of the triangle are the "chord shape", "root" and the "chord." I've got some "homework" that he gave me to do on this, so I'll blog more on this another time.

Hammer-on:
Joey also showed me how he was playing a "hammer-on" to make it sound great. I learned before (from a book) that you do a hammer-on by strumming a string and then quickly placing your finger on the fret where it's supposed to be. It takes a lot of practice (for me at least) to get the timing right. Well, what Joey was doing using a hammer-on was: first, you play the base note, then you play the 2nd string with a hammer-on, then the third string. It sounds great. Time to practice!

Maslow's Levels of Learning

Today I heard Duffy Robbins speak and he mentioned the 4 levels (hierarchy) of Learning.

He attributed them to Abraham Maslow because he thought that was who had published them, but he has looked around and can't find the reference.

They are:
1. Unconscious Incompetence - This is when you think you know it all, but you really just don't realize how little you know. I was like this in my teens and soon after graduating college.

2. Conscious Incompetence - this is when you realize that you have a lot to learn. I can remember being in this stage about several subjects in my life. I can remember being this way with life, with project management, and several times in my Christian walk.

3. Conscious Competence - This is when you get the "book learning." You have the knowledge, the know how, but you have to think about the steps and fundamentals in order to get the job done. I get this way with public speaking sometimes, I have to think about what I'm doing so I don't say "Ummm" all the time.

4. Unconscious Competence - This is when you can do things right without even thinking about it. It's being "in the zone." Some good examples are walking and riding a bicycle, once you learn, you don't have to think about how to do it anymore.

I hope to post a few blogs about applying this principle to other subjects. Learning has always been an important emphasis in my life, so I can think of lots of ways to apply these 4 levels.

Stay tuned...

update 2013-05-06 I just found this article on Wikipedia about "Four stages of competence" that makes a note about who this should be attributed to.

update 2013-07-31 I found this slide presentation about learning yesterday. It's for a different application in healthcare, but still applies. It talks about how to create tension in the "learning ladder" on slides 38-42 and 46-49 are helpful.

Update 2013-08-19 The related idea of creating tension for change is represented well in a few of the slides in the above presentation. Slide 39 is of note since it shows that too much tension can cause "shut down." I've seen this occur several times before when a project team is overwhelmed by a difficult environment. I've also found a few other sites that talk about tension for change: 

• Changing Minds explains the Tension Principle
• The Tension Management Institute talks about Tension Management and the "ChangeGridTM" (A trademark of theirs)
• Productive Flourishing provides "A User’s Guide To Creative Tension"
• "Why Good Leaders Create Healthy Tension" - An interview (follow links to the replay) on Keith Ferrazzi's "My Greenlight" with Jeff Hayzlett, bestselling author of "The Mirror Effect" and "Running the Gauntlet: Essential Business Lessons to Lead, Drive Change, and Grow Profits." Jeff is also known for his past leadership at Kodak and for his appearance on Trump's Apprentice.

Please Hide email Addresses of Your Friends

I've received a bunch of emails lately that people have sent to me with very good intentions; warnings about computer viruses, dangerous hoodlums, and other things.

Well intentioned people often do a forward and send these to all their friends and family.

This spreads around our email addresses to make it easy on spammers to add us to spam lists.

Please do us all a favor: when you forward emails, please put everyone's email address in the BCC box. That will hide our email addresses from other people we don't know when this email get's forwarded all around.

Email Addresses Ripe for the Picking (by spammers):
Note on how NOT to do it: If you put everyone's email in the "To" or "CC" box, then everyone sees all the other emails. As this gets forwarded around the internet, everyone get's to see our email address. A spammer picks that up and gets to add tons of email addresses to their spam list. For an example of what I'm talking about, just look at the emails you've received that have already been circulated from people passing the email around. You'll see lots of email addresses just ripe for the picking!

Thanks for thinking of us all. Let's cut back on the spam we all have to put up with.
Pass this around to your friends and family (but make sure you use the BCC box)!

Lead by Example

In our Marriage Bible study last night we had great discussions.

One was about how our marriages lead by example: our marriage is an example for others. It can either be a good example or a poor one. I'm working to make ours is a good one and I'm going to pray about that.

I was thinking this morning about the Bible. I've been reading it for a long time each day. I've read through the whole Bible. I was thinking about someone I know who is an English teacher and someone I talked to just last night who was talking about a child who needs help with sentence structure, grammar and spelling. My sentence structure, grammar and spelling were not very good for years. But, I noticed as I read the Bible more, my English improved. So, in addition to being God's living word, the Bible has also helped me with my English. It's been a great example to me.

I also was thinking this morning how Jesus is an example to us (Philippians 2:5-7). As Christians, we are examples to others. We are examples to our Children too. I'm going to ask God to help me be a better example! God will show me the way. Here are some great verses about that: Psalm 143:8 , Psalm 25:4, Proverbs 3:5-6. Now, that's encouragement!

Chime In: How do you Sell the Value of PM?

Chime in by commenting on this blog post.

I was recently involved in a discussion about how we could sell Project Management. What is the value? What is the ROI? What are the benefits?

How do you sell it? How do you convince people of the value?

We were speaking in the context of selling the value of a PMO, but maybe many of the same points could be applied to selling Project Management.

Can you provide some stories about how you've sold PM (or a PMO) to management?

Here are some related articles and websites of interest:

• PMI research on the value of PM: http://www.pmi.org/BusinessSolutions/Pages/Researching-Value-of-Project-Management-Study.aspx
• PMIs book on Researching The Value of Project Management: http://www.pmi.org/Marketplace/Pages/ProductDetail.aspx?GMProduct=00101065301
  
• A book on PMO has a section on "selling" the PMO: http://www.thepmobook.com/thepmobook/Default.aspx?tabid=54
• Recent article on the value of a PMO: http://www.projectsatwork.com/article.cfm?ID=249898
  
• Article in the Financial Post: http://www.financialpost.com/executive/story.html?id=930145&p=1
  

Happy Father's Day on this 100th Anniversary of Father's day

It's the 100th anniversary of Father's day today!

My dad is 86. I was trying to think of something for him. I've asked him in the past what he'd like and even have given him ideas. He says he doesn't need anything. I used to give him film for his camera, he always loves taking photos. But, now he has a digital camera, so there's no need for film anymore. For the past few years we used to take him to a baseball game. He liked being with everyone, but he was never a big sports fan. And this year, the weeks of rains have put a damper on that idea.

I know that he has just about everything he needs in the way of "things." I realized what he would really like is to be with people! So, we had him here to be with everyone today. He enjoys that. I also wrote him a nice long letter about all I'm thankful to him for. He enjoyed that too.

The Bible gives us the ten commandments and the first command with a promise (see Ephesians 6:2) is the one "honor your father and mother..." that includes something along the lines (Henry Will paraphrase here) "...so that you may live long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you."
Well, I hope I honored my dad today. I hope I've honored him with my life too.

Dad's are important, they are family leaders, in one way or the other - whether they want to be or not.

I'm a dad too. I hope I'm a good leader and example.

I think we all need to take the time to build up some dads we know and encourage them to be better fathers. For those of us who are fathers, that's probably best done by example.

Internalizing the music, strum paterns&grooves, and Homegrown Tomatoes

Internalizing Music
Ok, so I've been learning recently from Jeff (and I've been told this before) that I need to internalize the music. I have to have it in my head and heart first so I can play it back internally and then start to play it.

I've been doing this with guitar since I started learning last year. Now, I have to do this with drums too.

You need to know the song pretty well and get to know your part in it. You need to know it well enough to play it back in your hear before you start playing. This helps you to start playing it correctly. It reminds me of the luge competitors or skiing competitors in the olympics; you see them rehearsing the course in their heads just before they go down the slope.

Strum Patterns and Drum Grooves

The basic idea is to get to know the intro and how the instrument you play sounds. For drums, it's listening to a key part in the intro, maybe the guitar, to find the pattern. For example, maybe the guitar is playing a strum pattern that matches the drum groove to a certain extent. The rest of the song has grooves to learn too, but usually if you learn the start, the rest will follow along.

From playing the guitar (acoustic electric), I know that a lot of strumming is moving your hand up and down corresponding to the beat: it could be the quarter notes or eighth notes or even sixteenth notes. But, while moving your hand up and down, you only touch the strings some of the movements. So, the strumming ends up having a unique "beat" for the song. Sometimes the drums follow this "beat" or groove.

Home Grown Tomatoes

So, this brings me to "Home Grown Tomatoes," a song by Guy Clark. One of the family friendly radio stations here (star991fm.com) has a morning show where they play this song around this time of the year and combine it with lots of humor. It's a fun little song. I just showed it to my dad on youtube yesterday and decided, "hey, why shouldn't I learn to play it." I looked it up and found that it only has 3 chords. Today I played it for my dad, family, and extended family who came here for Father's day. I'm hoping to learn it well enough to play at the Independence day picnic we're invited to this year. I need to work on internalizing it. (now I've come full circle)

Plans for the week (report)

Goals for this week:

• God: spend time talking to God, asking for guidance, and praying for folks
  
• Family: Set aside time for Wife and each child
• Encouragement: Blog that story I have
  
• Work Tasks: Project Management Review this week
  
• Career Development: Another update for the internal PM Certification
  
• Social Networking: Start a blog post about an intro to facebook
  
• Music: start to internalize song "All Because Of Jesus" (Drums) and review the other ones, blog on recent learning, practice, internalize "Homegrown Tomatoes" on guitar (work on a faster transition to the "C" chord, learn the lyrics by memory)
  
• House: finish install of new pool liner
  
• Garden: If it stops raining this week, get grass cut
  
• Finances: Start shifting plans toward paying for college and next year's wedding
  
• PMlessonsLearned.com : Track webmaster work (so it can be transitioned to someone else), Post the podcasts that are ready to be posted
  
• Extended Family: work to understand dad's gigantic family tree
  
• Self: prepare to remember those who serve and enjoy memorial day weekend

Sounds ambitious for one week. But, let's reach for the stars!

How to Plan and Lead a Family Reunion

[note: I may update this with more information every now and then, but for now, here's a good first bunch of information]

Our family, the Will family, has had family reunions since I can remember. I remember as a child going to Grandma and Grandpops house for the reunion. We had root beer in a keg with ice all around it, my Aunt Martha running games, dancing to records (I remember Chubby Checkers "Twist" record playing so many times in the heat that it warped right on the record player), and watermelon.

So, you'd think we'd be pros by now, and I think we all are. For some reason we stopped having them after about the year 2000. Lately, several of my cousins and family have been saying we should have one again. So, I took the lead and worked with a bunch of family members and we got it together.

Our family must be the best at having family reunions because it really was very simple. I think because we've done it so long, we make it easy. Here are some pointers to a great family reunion and then I'll share some fun pictures from our day today.

1. Best tip: Have everyone bring their own stuff (their own food, drinks, paper plates, plasticware, cups, etc.) and one item to share. This makes it so easy because everyone takes care of themselves and there is so little care for the planner!
   
2. Rent a local picnic place - Then you don't have to pay too much for an expensive place. And, your not imposing on a family member. We just had my dad talk to his town and rented the picnic pavilion. It was a great place and was pretty inexpensive compared to many family reunions.
   
3. Have a few conference calls to plan - we had a few conference calls in advance (we used freeconferencecall.com)
   
4. Use emails to get the word out - we used a yahoogroup (yahoogroup.com)
   
5. Get volunteers to help - I had some great relatives who did things like sending out announcements, calling relatives, making name tags, setting up the games, making signs
6. Plan a schedule for the day - Print it so people have it. Make it approximate to allow for flexibility
   
7. Bring Family Photos - people love to see them
   
8. Announce a core time of the day when most events will be held
   

The Day of the Reunion:

1. Have someone start the BBQ grills early - if you're using charcoal, have someone start the grills in advance and set up the tables, put plastic table clothes on tables, etc.
2. Bring the family tree - have people update it, and bring forms for them to enter informaion on
3. Make announcements - let everyone know at least a few minutes in advance what's going to happen next
   
4. Insist eveyone wears a nametag - this is such a big help. I still don't know the names of lots of relatives
5. Give lots of free time - Let people talk and get to know each other
6. Play some games for all ages - Let the young be with the old
   
7. Do a mixer game - find a mixer game that get's people mix and meet others they don't know
   
8. Announce Photo time ahead of time - let people know they need to let you know about an hour in advance before they want to leave so you can get everyone in a photo
   

A few other fun things we did

• My sister and niece made a pinata
• We always play bingo - everyone just brings a few "prizes" - almost everyone can play
• We had a copy of the family tree that people could makes notes on
• We had a sign-in sheet so people
• We had a dessert competition. Everyone voted for their favorite. We gave certificates and took pictures of the first, second, and first place winners. We collected and traded recipies. Eveyone elso who brought a desert won honorable mention and got in the photo.
• We always have family photos of each of the oldest siblings (oldest Generation), then their children, then their grandchildren, then their great-grandchildren, etc. This year we had 4 generations. We also take a photo of everyone. Then we take photos of each of the oldest siblings families.
• We played the White Elephant game (also known as Yankee Swap) - http://www.wikihow.com/Organize-a-White-Elephant-Gift-Exchange or
  http://www.yankee-swap.net/yankee_swap_rules_official.PDF
  

Some family reunion websites:

http://family-reunion.com
http://www.familyreuniontips.com

Pictures of our reunion today


4th Generation:




















Everyone that came:

Remember Tomorrow

I posted this phase on my facebook status yesterday: "Remember Tomorrow."

My brother responded asking how can you remember tomorrow when is hasn't come yet.

I responded:

Well, it could be to "Remember to think about tomorrow" or it could be "Try to Remember some specific or non-specific thing tomorrow" or it could be "tomorrow: remember"

I saw this in a note some random guy had on his website that I stumbled on while searching for something for work. He said he kept it posted in his office and had lots of ... Read Morequestions about it.

I think there might be a Christian interpretation: " Remember tomorrow" might be another way of saying: We have hope, remember what God says he will do tomorrow. We have an eternal God who is working now and will do greater things in the future! HOPE! Now, that's encouragement!
Hebrews 11:1-3

Tips for those looking for a job

I've been to many networking meetings. Recently (in April) and then last night I went to two special networking meetings. The first one, at my Alma mater NJIT, was their first speed networking event and it was for alumni to help students. The second one, last night, was a networking meet-up for the Professional Services Group out of the local unemployment office (I'm an alumn there).

I like to go to these because, while networking always has value, I believe we add value when there are people attending who are employed. They bring a different viewpoint.

Here are my suggestions to those looking for a job (I shared many of these ideas with the people at these networking sessions):
(note: if you don't read the books first, you won't get the full value of the remaining points)

• Read "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie - apply it to all your encounters, and especially to those who you network with and interview with. You'll find this book at your public library most likely
  
• Read "Never Eat Alone" by Keith Ferrazzi - great book how how to network
  
• Always offer something (reference: "Free Prize Inside" by Seth Godin) to the people you are talking to. It's sort of the Golden Rule: treat people as you want to be treated. You need to be giving in order to receive. Example: when you talk to someone, don't say "I need a job" instead say "I am looking for a company where I can offer my talents and where I can increase their profit by..."
  
• Join the Etp Network (etpnetwork.com) it's free. Get involved. Great value!
  
• Always work on the "warm" network: The "Warm" network is composed of people who know each other, rather than a "cold" connection. Eexample of a cold connection: when you send a copy of your resume to someone you don't know for a job on a job board or job ad. Examples of the warm network: Try to find someone who can find you a contact in the company you're interviewing for (or that you want to join). Use linkedin for this if you must.
  
• It's a numbers game: Make as many contacts as you can. Sooner or later, one will lead to a job. Don't be discouraged if a contact doesn't work out, just move on to the next contact. When you talk to people, ask if they can recommend at least 2 people you can talk to, not about a job, but just to ask them questions, just to practice talking to people, and maybe to find out if you can help them. This will build your network. Sooner or later you'll find someone to help you. Most jobs are found through networking and there was a study I read about recently that said that most jobs found by acquainances, not from people you know real well. So, make as many contacts as you can. Mention what you can offer in a job situation (rather than what you need) to each person so it's clear, then move on to talking about them (not you).
  
• Build relationships: Example: When you're networking or on an interview, try to find out something about the person (their passion or hobby or interest) and start asking them questions about it. Time will pass quickly. The conversation will become more friendly. You'll make a friend instead of someone with a business card. You'll have a future contact. Note: there was a study I read about recently that asked managers to rate reasons that they would hire or promote someone. More than half rated "liking someone" higher than any other criteria (including qualifications) that they would use to decide if someone got a raise or were hired.
  
• Increase you EQ: In light of the above, do some research on the Emotional Quotient (EQ) - this is a recent "hot topic" that expresses how much more important it is to get along with people than it is to have a high IQ
• Don't dismiss anyone as "not a good contact" - while talking to some people, I used to think to myself "They're not even in my industry, this isn't going to be a helpful contact." Later I examined my thinking and realized that anyone you talk with is a powerful person to know. Why? Because you might be able to help them! That in itself is a noble cause! In addition, by helping them, they may feel they owe you something and help you out at some point. Or, maybe you can't help them and they can't help you, but maybe later the relationship might be helpful, or maybe one of you know someone who might be helped or help one of you. There is some value in every person you meet.
• Allow people to be in debt to you - Here's a concept that not many people talk about. Take someone to lunch, work for their company as a volunteer, or give them some information they need. They may in turn "Pay it forward" (i.e. help someone else in return) or they may help you in return.
  

The Bible quotes Jesus as saying "Give and it will be given to you..." Luke 6:38
I firmly believe in this concept of giving. It doesn't always come back the same way, but you'll be taken care of.

God's best to you on your job search!

Pushing a Rock

The last bunch of days at work have been very busy, but I don't feel that I accomplished much.

Did you ever have days/weeks like that?

I'm reminded of physics class in school. The teacher told us that if you push a rock all day, but it doesn't move, you've done no work. Our class argued that point, but the teacher always wins :)
We argued that if you pushed all day, you'd get pretty tired and you would have sweated a lot. The teacher didn't budge, just like the rock.

Well, I've felt like I've been pushing a rock today. I sure was busy all day, but I'm not sure the rock moved!

Sometimes you work hard at something and you feel like you didn't accomplish much at all. But, you don't find out until later that you actually accomplished something good.

I was trying to think about how this is like God's kingdom and remembered that Jesus told a story about some people who were later surprised to find out that they accomplished something good. Jesus told the story of the people who said "when did we help you?" and Jesus replied "when you did it for the least person, you did it for me." (note: that's the Henry Will paraphrase).
Here's the Bible reference: Matthew 25: 39-40.


So, be encouraged! You're efforts for good will eventually pay off!

Working Outline of an Introduction to Twitter

I'm working on an introduction to Twitter. I'm not skilled enough to be a guru yet.

Here's an outline. Give me your comments on what else I should cover.

What is Twitter?

• How does it work?
• What does it do?
• What are the benefits?

Suggestions for how to learn about using Twitter

• View an Overview
• Setup an account (details below)
• Follow what's going on for a while
• Observe RT, @, #FollowFridays
• Find out about Hashtags - maybe make one of your own
  
• Then, Dive in and start posting messages

Setting up a Twitter Account

• Web
• Phone
  

Suggestions for newbies

• Follow first before being followed
  

Following

• What it means to have followers
• How to follow someone
• Examples

How to find people and topics

How to use Twitter to send messages (Tweet)

• Short URLs (links)
  
• Twitter commands
• Special Twitter text (#, RT, @ replies, DM, etc.)
• Twitter hashtags (#FollowFriday, hashtag.org,etc)

Getting followers

• How to get followers
• Good practice when someone follows you

Great uses of Twitter

References:

• http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Twitter
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o&feature=player_embedded
• http://www.usetrackthis.com (track packages via twitter)
  

Being grounded here or in the kingdom

This past Sunday, the preacher spoke on 1 Corinthians 6.

Read it, it's great!
It speaks about today being the day of salvation, not putting a stumbling block in someone's path, and not being unequally yoked.

Pastor Dick was going over each of those points. I liked how he explained that we can't be perfect, but we can try to not put a stumbling block in someone's path to prevent them from knowing Christ.

Yet, while reading it, one verse hit me. It was an epiphany!

Verse 10 says, paraphrased, we don't own anything, but yet own everything.

I got to thinking (yes, Pastor Dick, my mind went off on another rabbit trail while you were speaking), sometimes I buy things and then become a slave to them. Why, just this week I was telling my wife we need to pray that things stop breaking down. The engine light has been coming on for both of our cars lately. The last time I had ours fixed, it was a few thousand dollars. Our friends have it happening too. Nancy told us the other day that her dryer broke down and now the oven. They're only 10 year old appliances. But, she was able to use her mom's 30 year old oven that still works!

Well, I got to thinking about how we start to acquire these "things" and they make us feel comfortable. They make us feel well grounded and stable here on earth. But, they fail.

Jesus asked in Matthew 16:26 that what will it be profit to us if we gain the whole world, but forfeit our soul? In Romans 12:2 the Bible tells us to no longer conform to this world. The Bible reminds us in 1 Timothy 6:7 that we brought nothing into this world and we can't take anything from it when we leave.

And, in Matthew 6: 18-21 (one of my favorite passages), Jesus encourages us to seek first his kingdom and we'll have what we need. We will have riches in the kingdom where moth and rust don't destroy!

So, I'm going to be seeking his kingdom. It's greater than this one. Now, that's encouragement!

Parenting Tip... waiting up for the children to come home

Last night I was reminded of a tip we learned a few years back when we had more of our children in the teen years. I thought I'd share it for those of you with teens.

We'd set a time when they had to be home by (depending on their age and the amount of trust they earned). Let's just say 11:30pm for this story. Well, we'd be tired and didn't want to wait until then. We wanted a bit of shut-eye.

So, we'd just turn the light on in their room and then we'd fall asleep. Sometimes we'd set the alarm for 11:30pm, but after a while you tend to get used to waking up and checking anyway. When they came home, they'd get ready for bed and turn the light out. When we woke up at 11:30pm, we'd check their light. If it was off, we were assured they were home. If it was still on, it was time to get the phone out and start making calls.

Two other points:

• Set the alarm for 11:15pm, then you can get some shut-eye and be awake when they come home. Many times they like to talk when they get home, so this is a good opportunity for a parent to get to be a part of their lives.
  
• Cell phones are ubiquitous now (more so than when our children were that age) so it makes it easy to contact them. But, what if their cell runs out of battery? What if they're in a cell phone dead-zone? Or what if it's too loud where they are and they don't hear you calling? The point is: make sure you have the numbers of some of their friends and even their friends parents, so you'll always have a fall-back plan if you can't get in touch with them.

Hope it helps!

My Dog helped me realize...

My dog helped me realize why I enjoyed this weekend so much.

Sometimes you just don't get to see your favorite family members and friends as much as you like. You look forward to the next time, but you don't know when it will be.

I was so happy to see so many of my family and friends this past weekend!
I was trying to think of a way to express how much I enjoyed seeing everyone.

Then, I arrived home after not being there since Friday night. Our dog, Toby, was so excited to see Ruth and me. Then, within 5 minutes, our daughter K- showed up with her Fiance B- and within a minute more, Grandpop showed up too. Toby was just so happy he just couldn't stop wagging his tail and jumping all around.

Then it dawned on me. Seeing so many of my family and friends this weekend was just like that. I had enjoyed finally seeing them all and it was just so great!

PM Controversy: Ratio of Developers to BAs

Let me first set up the background to this controversial question and then I'd like to have your comments here.

Just as Sacha Chua said when we talked two weeks ago, it's great to keep in touch with friends and colleagues through social networking tools like linkedin and facebook, but it's even better to meet face-to-face!

Yesterday, David (a coworker who just passed his PMP last week-YEAH David!) invited me to a great lunch with Betty (a PMP who I used to volunteer with several years ago in the local PMI chapter) and her husband, Jonathan, who's worked in roles as a Developer, BA, and PM. David had worked with Betty years ago and this was a chance for us all to catch up.

We were having a great discussion and then Jonathan dropped the "controversial" question:
What do you think is a good ratio of developers to Business Analysts (BAs)?

I sensed an awkward pause of quietness in the conversation...

Well, I guess I inherited this from my dad, he often says and asks things that are bordering on the absurd to illicit a response from people. So, to break the "ice" my response was: "One to one. That's worked for us on some difficult projects in the past where we're redesigning a system from scratch (i.e. Business Process Reeengineering: BPR)."

Well, it did what I hoped, it opened things up for a great discussion.

Jonathan added that it depends on whether or not the BAs are also testers too. And, it depends on the type of project. We also discussed that it depends on the knowledge of the domain by the BAs and the type, competency level, and experience level of the BAs.

It's the classic PM response to any question: "It Depends!"

I was wondering what your answer would be to the question of what a good ratio of Developers to BAs is. What's worked for you? Please comment!

I'm planning to post responses in a few weeks over at PMlessonsLearned.com!

Use the GROW coaching model to increase performance

Many coaching organizations use the G.R.O.W. model to coach people to better performance.

The model is simple to remember:

G = Goal: what is the goal you are trying to obtain?
R = Reality: Where are you now?
O = Options/Opportunities: What are the options available?
W = Will: What will you do? What option do you select and how will you do it?

I've heard from several sources that this model was created by Sir John Witmore.

I find this particularly helpful in my own life when:

• Considering a decision (at home or work)
• Approaching my manager/boss with an issue (I walk him through my answers to each step in this method)
  
• Coaching someone else (It helps them to think through the issue, possible options, and action step)

I hope this helps you in your life as much as it has me!

Studying for the PMP Exam

I have a lot of requests from people asking me how to study for the PMP Exam.

By far, my biggest suggestions are:

• Make use of the FREE PMlessonsLearned.com group that I founded and lead. We have had several testimonies from people passing the PMP Exam that said that this was their most valuable tool to passing the test. We have 3 sub-groups, you are interested in the PMP Exam study group. Also, visit the archives page to get the recordings of all the study topics. And, join the yahoo group to get all the free presentations. ALL FREE! Yet, extremely valuable.
• Get the PMP Exam Preparation book from RMCproject.com - It will teach you to "Think" like a Project Manager should think. You must learn that mindset to pass the test
• Contact with your local PMI chapter. They usually have training classes or can point you to some. Find your chapter at pmi.org - this link may work http://www.pmi.org/GetInvolved/Pages/PMI-Chapters.aspx
  

If you have any further questions, please contact me using the contact link

Public Speaker: Henry Will IV

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The following Presentations have been presented recently and are planned:

• 2020-10-22 "Project Management and Artificial Intelligence" presented to the Association of IT Professionals (AITP) and the Chicagoland PMI chapter
  
• 2020-10-29 11am EDT: "Project Management of Digital Transformation" -Great IT professional
• 2020-11-17 11am EST: "The Power of Soft Skills (this is PM related, but not 100%) - Great IT professional
• 2021-02-10 11am EST "Manage Your Time and Tasks Before They Manage You" - Great IT professional
• 2021-03-23 11am EDT "5 Steps to Play With and Learn AI " (AI and Machine Learning That You Can Learn) - Great IT professional : register here for the Live webinar or  Replay available after live webinar here
  
• 2021-05-18 11am EDT "All the Things About The Internet of Things (IOT) - Well, At Least An Overview" -Great IT professional: Register for Free Live Webinar here or  Replay available after live webinar here

Other topics that Henry is available to present:

• PM Negotiating: An interactive learning experience. Attendees learn successful negotiating by doing
• 7 big tips for Managing your communications (email, chat, texting, phone)
  
• 8 tips to Manage Work Like a Project Manager, Even if You're Not a Project Manager
  
• Networking Effectiveness: an audience participation event
• Coaching for Effectiveness
• Strategies and Techniques to Improve Your Presentation Skills
• Successful Kickoff meetings
• Steps to Starting a New Program or Project
• Organizational Change Management - How to influence people to make change for the better
• The topics listed below may also be presented

Henry can also present these topics that he has been presented in the past:

• Presentations in the past for the Great IT Professional  
• 2020-10-22 "Project Management and Artificial Intelligence" presented to the Association of IT Professionals (AITP) and the Chicagoland PMI chapter
  
• 2020-09-24 "Project Management and Artificial Intelligence" presented as one of several on the Great IT Professional. Supporting blog post with reference information.
• 2020-05-12 "Project Management and Artificial Intelligence" presented to the PMI Central Illinois Chapter. Supporting blog post with reference information.
• 2020-03-18 "Lessons Learned from Reality Project Management” presented to the PMI Calumet Chapter (Northwest Indiana Chapter)
• 2020-02-18 AI Panelist "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad AI?"  - Supporting blog post with reference information.
• 2019-09 "The Power of Soft Skills" presented to the ADP Annual Global PM Conference
• 2019-05-06 "Managing Digital Transformation and Disruption" presented at the Symposium of the NJ PMI Chapter.- blog post with reference information
• 2019-03-20 "The Project Manager as Coach" presented to the PMI Calumet Indiana chapter
• 2018-06-05: "How to Coach Yourself and Your Team for Increased Effectiveness": Presented at IBM Technical Leadership Exchange (TLE) to a standing room only audience, also broadcasted live globally and video replays are available to IBMers. Highly rated by participant surveys. Continue to receive inquiries and contacts who find the replay helpful.
• 2018-01-16: "PM As Coach, a Deeper Dive": Presented virtually at IBM to live global audience and replays continue to be available. Highly rated by participant surveys.
• 2017-11-14 "Watson and AI" presentation for PMI NJ chapter meeting. Highly rated by participant surveys.
• 2017-08-08 "PM as Coach" : presented virtually to IBM Project Management Knowledge Network (PMKN) streamed to 286 global attendees with replays being made available. Highly rated by surveys
• 2016 February: "A Primer: Programming an Internet of Things (IoT) Device on IBM Bluemix" presented at IBM Connect Conference in Las Vegas. This was a technical presentation about an IoT device created by Henry Will. This presentation was given as an entry level walk-though of how to create and program an IoT device.
• 2015-05-28 "Social Project Management with Discipline" Presented live via streaming to global IBM PM community and replays made available. Content covered social team sharing tools and how to use them while maintaining PM discipline. Highly rated by participant surveys.
• 2015-02-12 Presentation on social tools and where to find resources at IBM. Given at IBM Watson Research Center in Yorktown NY for technical leaders of new acquisitions.
• 2013-12-04 "How to Influence Adoption of Social Business" Covering Organizational Change Management. Presented at IBM Technical Leadership Exchange (TLE) and broadcasted live globally. Video replays are available to IBMers. Highly rated by participant surveys.
• 2013-08-29 and 2013-12-12 "How to Get Work Done in IBM" - Presentation on community wiki formed for IBMers to find tools within IBM.
• 2009 RACI, Roles and Responsibilities (given June 19, 2009 for PMlessonsLearned.com) http://pmlessonslearned.blogspot.com/2009/09/pmll-episode-0072-raci-roles-and.html
• 2009 Networking Workshop: A hands-on approach to learning to social network one-on-one http://henrywill4.blogspot.com/2009/05/networking-workshop.html
• 2009 Project, Program, and Portfolio Metrics (PMlesssonsLearned.com Feb 2009): http://pmlessonslearned.blogspot.com/2009/03/pmll-episode-0058-project-program-and.html
• 2006 Crisis Project Management of near shore projects (PMI NJ Symposium: May 2006): http://www.pminj.org/pminj/pminj_public/06-smp/065smps.mr
• 2002 Project Management in the Midst of Chaos (PMI NJ Symposium: May 2002): http://www.pminj.org/02-smp/025smps.mr
• 2010 Project Manager, Project Leader (PMlessonsLearned.com: 21Jan2010) http://pmlessonslearned.blogspot.com/2010/03/pmll-episode-0090-project-manager.html

Publications:

• PMP: Is It The Certification Or The Knowledge That Matters Most?”, Technical Support Magazine

Bio:

Henry Will, PMP, CSM, SSM (SAFe Scrum Master), SA has 11 patents and is currently a Technical Project Manager responsible for Artificial Intelligence projects.  He has a Professional Certificate in Data Science and has worked in Machine Learning and Chatbots.
He has previously led programs for AI including work in the IBM Watson group.

Henry founded a group of thousands of project managers from around the globe in a group he began in May 2006 called PMLessonsLearned.com. For several years, the group held several conference calls a month for and by Project Managers. Many of these are podcasted and still available. Calls rotated each month through sharing lessons learned, PMP Exam Preparation and a PM Job Shop call. Henry was the host of the monthly PM Best Practices calls.

Henry’s experience began with his involvement in the early 1980’s in Military Avionics projects, continued through years of industrial and consumer product design (including video games and a Veterinarian Blood Chemistry Analyzer for which he is named on the patents), and in recent years with business applications (HR, Banking, Financial investments, Pharmaceutical, Industrial, Manufacturing, and Publishing).

Mr. Will has worked on small to medium size projects (lasting 7 weeks to 4 years) in Artificial Intelligence, product development, software development, and infrastructure in both local and global environments.

Please contact Mr. Will using twitter (@henrywill) or via linkedin to schedule a speaking engagement or conference presentation.

Guitar, Music Theory, and a Capo

A good friend of mine was telling me about his piano lessons. He takes lessons with another good friend of mine: Steve Mugglin, one of many of my friends who are helping me to learn the guitar.

The piano learner went into what he was learning: the whole idea of music theory: notes and chords and their relation to each other. He showed me a circle of chords and how they are related and which ones go together. Then he told me about a website that Steve has called http://mugglinworks.com/chordmaps/index.htm - wow, I spent lots of time reading through that and got lost in a few places. I'll have to ask for directions to get back home again after reading it, but I know I learned a lot and want to get that all to sink in!

This past weekend, I saw Steve. I wanted to ask him about capos. I have one for my guitar that my wife gave me as a gift, but I don't know how to use it. He say to just put it on and play. He told me how it would just bring the guitar up a half-step for each fret. I should have realized that. So, I got home and tried it the next day. It's so great. The scales all work. The chords all work. Now, I just need to figure out how it effects the music I play if I'm playing with someone!

The more I learn, the more I realize there's more to learn. Isn't life great!

My latest battle: Time

Did you ever stop and listen how much people talk about time?
I started listening last week to how much that word is used.

My dad went away for a Tres Dias "retreat" weekend. He told me the time flew.
I heard other people talking about how fast time flies.

Time is something I battle with a lot.
Those of you who know me, know that one of my sayings is that "I'm going to be late for my own funeral." I hope that means I will live a long full life, but it also means I'm late for lots of stuff. I am always trying to squeeze out one more millisecond and get one more thing done. (like taking the time to post this real quick before bedtime) .

I was battling time this weekend. After a wonderful Saturday (going to work at OG, being with my wife and friends, then a wonderful coffee house), I was in such a great mood. It spilled over to worship on Sunday. I was even thinking about how great it was to be in a good mood - I am usually too busy, stressed, frustrated to have them. I hoped it would last all day Sunday.

I thought: I got lots done yesterday, I'll do lots today too! Then, time started working against me. I quickly ran out. The sand slipped through the hourglass. The clock ticked away.

Do you battle with time? I remember the story of the rocks being put into the jar. One pastor actually did this during his sermon: put the big rocks in first, then the pebbles, then the sand, then the water - you'll fit more that way. We try to run such efficient lives, try to pack it all in so tightly.

We need to take time for the good things, because the good things take time.

And, it is true, we need to "put the big rocks in first" - we need to do the highest priority things first.

I remember a pastor preaching about the different types of time: Chronos (Human time) and Chiros (God's time). With the Lord, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day (2 Peter 3:8).

Do you know how much the word "time" is mentioned in the Bible? Go to Biblegateway.com and do a search. You'll get lots of results on the word "time." There's the time chapter: Ecclesiastes 3. The best verse in there from my perspective is Vs. 11: that God makes everything beautiful in His time.

Are you battling time? Set your priorities! God is on your side as you follow him. Put him first. Matthew 6:33 - Be encouraged!

Networking Workshop

I have led a Networking Workshop before that I designed.
It's a topic I can present on to any group, large or small.

It's pretty staightforward, and let's attendees get a chance to actually practice and learn networking as we go, rather than just hearing about it. That's why I call it a "workshop."
Everyone that comes is asked to bring business cards and a pen.

This information was learned from others along the way with strong influences from Rod Colon (leader of the etpnetwork.com - which is free to join and highly recommended) and Keith Ferazzi (keithferrazzi.com) author of "Never Eat Alone," another book that is highly recommended by me.

Here's the general outline:
1. I ask people to spend 5 minutes to go meet someone. I will give a warning, then ring a bell when time is up. Then I ask questions:

• Did you both get a chance to talk?
• Did you learn much about each other?
• Is this someone you would want to keep as a friend?
• How can you remember them? (ask for their business card, turn it over, write the date, where you met and and what you discussed.
  

A few observations then occur:

• It's best to listen and talk
• You can talk about F.O.R.M. (Family, Occupation, Recreation, Money) to get deeper into a relationship
• In "How to Win Friends and Influence People" ( a gem of a book from 1936) author Dale Carnegie mentions how important it is to listen and lavish praise and interest on someone's interests. This will win you friends.
  
• Some people may not be a direct help to your career, but they are still valuable people to know for other reasons. What might they be? (they may connect to someone else, they might be someone that can help someone you know, they might be someone you might have common interests with, but not find you a job)

2. Now everyone is asked to pick someone else and talk again for 5 minutes
Questions:

• Did you both get a chance to talk? Does it feel better that way?
  
• What if they don't have a business card? (you take one of yours and ask them to write their contact info on it)
• You need to follow up with people within 48 hours, or you will forget. Remind them what you talked about. Send them a related article or wait a few weeks and send them a link.
• How deep of a relationship did you establish? Ask for some examples. Was it that deep that you'd remain friends?
• You can learn so much more about people if you ask them what their passion is. Get deep in the relationship quickly
  

3. Try it again with another person: 5 minutes

• What did you find out about the other person? What types of passions?
• Do you feel that you'll have a deeper relationship? Will you both keep in touch now? Will you remember what to talk to him about the next time?
• It's good to enter the information in a spreadsheet (or in linkedin.com notes about the person) so you can remember how to follow up. If you put it in a spreadsheet, put a followup date so you remember when to speak again.

4. Try the networking again with another person: 5 minutes

• Did you find anything out that you might introduce this person to someone else you spoke with this evening? That is a major part of networking: not just finding people to help you, but to help others.
  
• Explain the law of reciprocity: the golden rule
• You need to go to people offering something, not always being needy
  
• When you go to a networking event, don't be looking for the next person to talk to. Try to make a few deep connections rather than many shallow ones.
  
• What can you do to excuse yourself from a conversation so you can move on to someone else? (ask them if they want some punch? Tell them you want to introduce them to someone else? Other ideas?)

5. Try networking with two to three people this time. I'll give 10 to 15 minutes. You have to try to break away on your own. See if you can do it gracefully.

• What worked? What didn't
  
• Are you meeting people that you're connecting well with?
  
• Did you find anyone that might help you? Your network of friends? Stories?

This process is repeated over and over for the lenght of the meeting. The cycle is to learn a bit, then practice a bit: learn, practice, and learn from practice. All of life is made up of learning.

I hope you'll learn from some of these pointers and try these concepts out!

Internalizing the Music

I was talking with a friend the other day about worship music. He was helping me with learning how to play drums better. He mentioned that I needed to do a few things:
1. Get to know the music well enough to "play" it in my head - internalize it. I've done this with guitar, but not drums yet. I started working on it since last week and have already started to be able to do it with a song.
2. Listen to the intro, it will reveal the beat of the song. I've got to work on this a bit more.
3. There are basic foundational beats. They come from either straight rock or a syncopated beat. I need to learn them better to stay on tempo.

I'm still working on it!

Your Voice could use some exercise

I was talking to a friend the other day who sings at her church and uses her voice a lot in her teaching job. She mentioned about how her doctor had prescribed medicine because she had acid reflux and it helped, but not 100%. She was loosing her voice a lot. They did a scope and found polyps on her vocal chords. The doctor sent her to a speech therapist to get training to exercise her voice. They said this may solve it.

Now, I've heard people talk about this before, but for some reason this time it hit me. This might help me!

My voice sometimes sounds like gravel and gets rough. Maybe I need to get some training in how to exercise it so I can talk better at work, speak better on the PMlessonsLearned.com conference calls, sing better when I play the guitar, and sing better in church (not in the choir, just in the congregation). I used to sing in a choir once a year. We sang the Messiah for Christmas and had many practices, but haven't done that in years.

Checking out my voice has made my list of things to do - of course, that's a long list, but this will be somewhere near the top (along with a few hundred other things)

Weekly Report

Goals for this week:

• God: Pray more (spend time talking to God)
  
• Family: Set aside time for them
• Encouragement: Find one story to share and blog it
  
• Work Tasks: Complete population of pointers to information in case of an audit request
  
• Career Development: Work toward next meeting for internal PM Certification, update candidate package
  
• Social Networking: Blog about my "Networking Workshop"
• Music: Internalize a few songs, blog on recent learning, practice
  
• House: Finish more work on Interior doors
• Garden: Move some ornamental grass
• Finances: work toward a mortgage refinance
  
• PMlessonsLearned.com : Work with volunteer to send out announcement for call and then host call on Thursday
• Family Reunion: Make sure announcement gets sent out by volunteers
• Self: prepare to remember those who serve and enjoy memorial day weekend
  

What can man do to me?

This is the first of my "Encouragement for the Battle" posts.
I've always thought about doing these since a pastor of ours talked about how "no matter how good people might say they are doing or look like they're doing, everyone is fighting a battle."
I first thought of doing a podcast, but now I'm thinking God wants it to be a blog. Who knows, maybe a podcast later.

So, for my first post, I'll tell you this story:

Several years ago, working as a Project Manager, I was overwhelmed by pressures on a project that was in dire straights. Management was putting pressure to perform, but things were in a bad state of affairs and there wasn't a graceful way out. At one point, I was just so overwhelmed with stress that I actually went out and laid down on the floor in the common area outside my office. I laid face up on the floor. I didn't even have the energy to sit anymore!

I was so focused on performing well and didn't see a way that this could turn out good. I'm not good at underperforming; I don't take it well. I was super-stressed out. I cried out to the Lord.

It was just the next day that God brought me to Psalm 118:6 which paraphrased says "Don't be afraid. What can man do to you?" In other words, if God is for us, who can be against us? Read it, it will help you in the day of battle!

It was a weight lifted off of me! I was free! How could I have lost sight of God's care for me? But I had, and now this verse reminded me, put my feet on solid ground and I was off and running again!

Be encouraged, God is with you!

Contact

Contact me via the following means:

My Resume

please see my "bio" page for more info
http://henrywill4.blogspot.com/2006/05/mini-bio.html