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!