Renewed my Project Management Professional (PMP) certification with the Project Management Institute (PMI).
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
In case you have been living under a rock Zoom Video Communications (ZM) is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite security concerns and reports of links to China, Zoom is one of the most popular video conferencing options available. As Statista documents Zoom’s Q3 total revenue was up 367 percent from the same period of last year. The company expects to end the year with $2.58 billion of revenue.
A growing number of project managers are using collaboration software like Zoom while working from home until at least the summer of 2021 – to get updates from team members. Here are 9 tips and tricks to master Zoom in 2021.
It is estimated that you are spending up to 64 hours every year on unnecessary keyboard-to-mouse coordination in Zoom and other GUI’s. To save time, use these keyboard shortcuts to be a more efficient project manager during a Zoom video call.
A is for audio – Press Alt + A to mute or unmute audio (macOS Command + Shift + A).
I is for invite – Press Alt + I to jump to the Invite window, where you can get the link to the meeting for others users (macOS Command + I).
M is for mute – Press Alt + M to mute everyone else on the call when you are the meeting host (macOS Command + CTRL + M).
S is for share – Press Alt + Shift + S to share your screen (macOS Command +Shift + S) and press Alt + T (macOS Command +Shift + T) to pause or resume screen sharing.
V is for video – Press Alt + V to Start or stop video (macOS Command +Shift + V).
Y is for Yo – Press Alt + Y to Raise or lower hand (macOS Option+ Y).
For the full list of Zoom keyboard shortcuts click here.
Use Annotation Tools – Zoom’s annotation tools let all the meeting participants collaborate by drawing and highlighting on the screen shared by the host. This type of collaboration can be very helpful for project managers when brainstorming, collecting requirements, or developing a work breakdown structure (WBS). To annotate a Zoom while viewing someone else’s shared screen.
1. Select View Option from the top of the Zoom window.
2. Choose Annotate.
3. A toolbar appears with all your options for annotating, including;
• text,
• draw,
• arrow, etc..
The presenter can use the save button on the toolbar to capture the image with annotations as a screenshot to be used in the project meeting minutes.
Zoom has a feature called Touch Up My Appearance. It can soften the focus on your camera. The feature will smooth fine lines and bags under your eye bags – theoretically minimizing issues with your skin. It can make even the weariest PM look like you got a great night of sleep. To use Zoom’s Touch Up My Appearance:
Select Zoom’s Settings menu.Bonus tip – If you have the internet bandwidth – Select the HD option in the Camera section of the Video settings page. So you can be seen in high definition glory.
Be Quite – You do mute your microphone when you are not speaking during a Zoom call right? Nobody wants to hear you munching Doritos in the background. When you are called on to speak – you can just press and hold the spacebar to quickly unmute and mute rather than scrambling to click the microphone button with your mouse.
Even if you are muted in a Zoom meeting, you can still participate. Use emoji reactions to let the hosts know your thoughts. You can send a thumbs up or a clapping emoji to communicate 
without interrupting the meeting. To react with an emoji during a project meeting:
By default, emoji reactions have a yellow skin tone, but you can customize that to match your identity. Desktop users can:
Pro Tip #1 – If you’d prefer not to be seen at all (and you’re not planning to speak) in the meeting you can use a screenshot of yourself in a Zoom meeting as your profile picture. That way, you’ll always look sharp and that you are paying attention.
Pro Tip #2 – Zoom offers an “attendee attention tracking” feature. This feature lets the employers check to make sure you are paying attention. So if you’re tweeting away during a meeting, or answering a personal e-mail, Zoom is going to tell your boss.
Stay Up to Date – Keep your Zoom application up to date. Updating Zoom will get you the latest bells and whistles and it will keep you more secure. To update your Zoom client
You can also download updates from the Zoom update website.
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Hopefully, these 9 tips and tricks will help you master Zoom and be a better project manager in 2021.
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
One of the implications of the COVID-19 virus has been that most in-person meetings are getting moved online or canceled as we continue to shelter in place and work from home. As a project manager, I schedule my share of the 11 million meetings that take place every day in the U.S. – all of which are now online thanks to COVID-19. One of the factors I consider when setting a Microsoft (MSFT) Teams or Zoom online meeting is pizza.
That may sound goofy. Pizza can help the PM decided how to shape a meeting. The PMI PMBOK does not venture any suggestions on how many is too many participants for a meeting. My experience says that too many participants over-complicate a meeting and make a video call unwieldy and not enough of the right people prevents decisions from sticking. PMs are looking for a meeting that is just right.
One way to get the right number of project meeting members comes from Jeff Bezos. While not a PM – you really can’t argue with his cred’s – richest man in the world – Amazon (AMZN) – second billionaire in space. TargetTech says that Mr. Bezos uses the 2 pizza rule to decide how many attendees should be invited to a meeting.
While, sadly, the 2 pizza rule does not mandate that pizza be present at meetings, it means that every meeting should be small enough that attendees could be fed with two large pizzas. Mr. Bezos is known to have used ‘two pizza’ meetings and small project teams to foster a decentralized, creative working environment when Amazon was a startup.
The article explains that Mr. Bezos’ decision to keep meetings small in order to encourage productivity is backed up by science. The late Harvard researcher J. Richard Hackman devoted nearly 50 years studying team performance and concluded that four to six is the optimal number of members for a project team and no work team should have more than 10 members.
According to Professor Hackman, this is because communication problems increase “exponentially as team size increases.” Ironically, the larger the team, the more time will be spent on communication instead of producing work.
The author points out that the 2 pizza rule has several other advantages.
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The optimal number of team members is 5. You can feed them with 2 large pizzas and if there is a vote, it will not end up in a tie.
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
The agile manifesto was published almost 20 years ago. The publishers of the agile manifesto looked to overthrow previous project management methodologies. The agile manifesto authors cast away what they considered burdensome. They looked to eliminate contracts, plans, and documentation. Along the way, agile became the latest consultant-speak to solve any firm’s problems.
Over the years Agile has morphed into CI/CD, DevOps, Extreme Programming, Kanban, Lean, SAFe and more buzzwords. The top agile methods employed by organizations include scrum (54%), scrum/XP Hybrid (10%), custom hybrid (14%), scrumban (8%), and kanban (5%).
Agile is a blanket term for a set of methodologies that emphasize collaboration within tightly-knit teams, iterative development, early delivery, continuous improvement, and the ability to respond rapidly to changing requirements. Despite these lofty goals some argue that agile has become as dogmatic as the predecessors it sought to overthrow.
Recent signs are pointing to a possible backlash against agile. California-based IT research firm Computer Economics reports that the growth in agile development is starting to taper off. Adoption was flat year over year, and we may be closing in on the ceiling for agile.
In their report, Agile Development Adoption and Best Practices, Computer Economics found that 60% of survey respondents practiced agile development in 2019, the same amount as practiced in 2018. In 2015, only 49% practiced agile, and that figure rose steadily until 2018.
David Wagner, senior director of research for Computer Economics concluded:
Most software developers will tell you that agile is the only way to develop software … However, when requirements are fairly stable and well-understood, a more traditional development approach may be best. Also, agile works best when developers can be assigned to single projects over a longer period of time which is not always possible, especially in smaller companies.
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Computer Economics concludes that Agile is an important tool for organizations with high-level development needs, such as software and cloud providers. However, for most enterprises that do little custom development, agile might not be right for them.
Corporate IT organizations that have not already adopted Agile are expected to slow in adapting it in the future. KPMG found (PDF) that 63% of business leaders claim that the maturity of agile project management is lower than that of traditional project management.
I always like to follow the money because it leads to interesting places. Here are some factoids around Agile. The project management software market size is projected to reach $6.68 billion by 2026.
If we take these factoids together by 2026
So following the money, it is very likely that intentional obfuscation on the part of corporate marketing machines at MSFT and TEAM to drive changes to PM methodologies in order to keep everyone on the planned obsolescence train and have to update PM and PPM software every year to match the latest agile methodology.
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
Practicing project managers know that there are many times when reality clashes with the PMI world. One of the real-world PMI visions of PM life is the “Business Analyst” role. Despite what the Project Management Institute (PMI) thinks, PMs have to do other jobs. One of the “non-PM” jobs I often have to take on is “Business Analyst.” and one of the Business Analyst tools I often use are flow charts.
Yes, the flow charts that we learned about in high school Basic computer programing class. The flow chart can help you communicate with your business users better. A well-done flow chart can describe and break down a process for easier explanation and help you improve a process. More importantly, creating a flow chart helps you understand the process and look for improvements. It also helps you focus on each individual step, without feeling overwhelmed by the bigger picture.
Flow charts are one of the 7 basic Tools and Techniques called out in the PMBOK Project Quality Management knowledge area. The other PMBOK Quality Management tools and techniques are histogram, Pareto chart, check sheet, control chart, cause-and-effect diagram, and scatter diagram. (rb- Know this for the PMP exam) The is an ISO standard for flow charts, ISO 5807:1985 – Information processing — Documentation symbols and conventions for data, program and system flowcharts, program network charts, and system resources charts for $120.00 US.
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low Chart Basics – To draw a flowchart, develop a list of the tasks and decisions made during a process, and write them down in order. Enter the purpose (start/stop/decision/etc.) of each symbol within the shape and connect them with arrows to show the direction of the flow.
Flow Charts are usually drawn using standard symbols; however, some special symbols can also be used when required. If you use non-standard symbols people may not understand them and you will fail to clearly communicate your message. Below are some commonly used symbols for charting processes…
| Start - Stop |  | Use this shape to represent an event which occurs automatically. Such an event will trigger a subsequent action, for example 'receive telephone call', start or stop. |
| Process |  | Use a rectangle to represent an event which is controlled within the process. Typically this will be a step or action which is taken. In most flowcharts this will be the most frequently used symbol. |
| Connector |  | Use a line with an arrow to indicate the direction of the process flow. |
| Decision |  | Use the diamond shape to represent a decision point in the process. Typically, the statement in the symbol will require a 'yes' or 'no' response and branch to different parts of the flowchart accordingly. |
| Subroutine |  | This shape is used to represent a pre-defined process. The text in the shape should be a descriptive name of the process it represents. The process that it represents must be defined elsewhere. |
| Document |  | Use this shape to for a process step that produces a document. |
| Pause |  | This shape is used to indicate a waiting period. |
| On page link |  | Use a pair of circles to replace long or confusing lines on a flowchart page. The name or reference for the other process should appear within the symbol. |
| Off page link |  | Use this shape to represent a point at which the flowchart connects with another on another page . The name or reference for the other process should appear within the symbol. |
The following are some flowcharting tips:
You can use Microsoft (MSFT) Visio, Word, or even Excel to build flowcharts. There are a number of flow chart creation tools online – Draw.io, Pencil Project (“free”) Gliffy online (“free”).
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You can use the flow chart as a process improvement tool. Make sure that it represents the current state and then you can use it to discuss changes to the process with your users to make sure it represents the most efficient way of doing the process.
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.
