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	<title>PMServicesNW &#187; project management tools</title>
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		<title>Gap Analysis</title>
		<link>http://www.pmservicesnw.com/2010/12/gap-analysis/</link>
		<comments>http://www.pmservicesnw.com/2010/12/gap-analysis/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 24 Dec 2010 03:22:23 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[gap analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[project management tools]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pmservicesnw.com/?p=352</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By: Ray Myers, Jr., PMP Gap analysis is a simple but useful tool that can help project managers achieve their objectives and improve performance.  It is a study that helps to find ways to bridge-the-gap between the current state and a desired future state. Gap analysis can also help to understand and prioritize business needs by helping to identify any deficiencies or shortcomings that need to be overcome. The basic principle for performing a gap analysis is simple.  Define where you are today.  Then describe where you want to be.  The difference between the two is the gap.  Here’s the process: Describe the current state by asking where are you now?  Use checklists to help identify, categorize, and prioritize important points and concepts.  Describe the desired future state by asking where do you want to be?  Use the same checklists that were used to guide the current state assessment. Compare and analyze the gap or the difference between the two states. Look for ways to close the gap.  Use tools like Brainstorming to identify specific strategies to bridge the gap. About the Author: Ray Myers, Jr. is a PMP certified project manager with over 2o years experience planning and managing [...]]]></description>
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		<title>SWOT Analysis</title>
		<link>http://www.pmservicesnw.com/2010/11/swot-analysis/</link>
		<comments>http://www.pmservicesnw.com/2010/11/swot-analysis/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Nov 2010 17:44:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[project management tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SWOT]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SWOT Analysis]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pmservicesnw.com/?p=478</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By: Ray Myers, Jr., PMP The SWOT analysis is an extremely useful tool for understanding and decision-making for all sorts of situations in business and organizations.  SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. SWOT analysis can be done in either an individual or group setting.  Conducting this analysis as a group activity using Brainstorming has an advantage because of the volume of ideas that can be generated in a short amount of time. Procedure Answer following questions, add questions as necessary.  These questions are examples only and should provide a starting point.  Feel free to add more questions or refocus them to be sure that they adequately describe the situation that is being analyzed. Write the answers into the relevant sections of the SWOT Grid see the sample grid below.  Strengths (Internal) What are your advantages? What do you do well? Weaknesses (Internal) What could be improved? What is done poorly? What should be avoided? Opportunities (External) What are the good opportunities? What are you good at? What are interesting trends? Markets without competition?  Threats (External) What are the obstacles? What is the competition doing? What is your financial condition?   About the Author: Ray Myers, Jr. [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Pareto Analysis</title>
		<link>http://www.pmservicesnw.com/2010/11/pareto-analysis/</link>
		<comments>http://www.pmservicesnw.com/2010/11/pareto-analysis/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 15 Nov 2010 16:56:54 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Quality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[80/20 analysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[80/20 rule]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[decision tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pareto anlysis]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[project management tools]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pmservicesnw.com/?p=150</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By: Ray Myers, Jr., PMP Pareto Analysis is a statistical technique that is used to focus attention to the vital few factors that are responsible for producing most of the problems in a project.  You’ve heard it said that 20% of the causes are responsible for 80% of the effort to resolve the problems.  What if we could identify the 20% of the issues that cause the most problems?  How would that benefit your project?  Well, the Pareto Analysis will help you do just that. The Pareto Analysis is a methodology that enables the project manger to focus and correct those problems that will increase the probability of delivering a successful project.  The project manager should do the Pareto Analysis when problems arise to help focus the project team’s efforts on the key cause(s) of a problem. The Pareto Analysis is best performed after conduction a cause-and-effect analysis to count the frequency of different causal factors and to identify problems.  The result will be identification of the 20% of the factors that when resolved, will generate 80% of the advantage.  The goal is to identify which 20% of the factors will provide the greatest advantage when addressed. How to Conduct [...]]]></description>
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		<title>The Deming Cycle</title>
		<link>http://www.pmservicesnw.com/2010/11/the-deming-cycle/</link>
		<comments>http://www.pmservicesnw.com/2010/11/the-deming-cycle/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 13 Nov 2010 15:57:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Quality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deming Cycle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Deming process improvement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PDCA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[process improvement]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[project management tools]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pmservicesnw.com/?p=141</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By: Ray Myers, Jr., PMP The Deming Cycle is a 4 step process that is typically used in business or project process improvement.  The 4 steps of the Deming Cycle are: Plan, Do, Check, Act or sometimes referred to as PDCA.  PDCA was the brainchild of Dr. Edwards Deming who is considered by many to be the father of modern quality control.  It is typically used as a repeating process to improve project quality. Here a few notes on the Deming process improvement philosophy: Managers are encouraged to stop sacrificing quality for short term gains Managers must manage for the long term Workers can only correct 15% of quality problems The other 85% is the management’s responsibility because they result from the system Productions systems must be stable for quality to be realized Processes can be tested with statistical process control charts Quality cannot be “inspected” into products or services. Quality must be designed into the product, service, or system processes Here is a brief description about how to perform the Deming Methodology: Plan —Set the short-term objective Study the process Determine the time frame Define the opportunity Decide what data will be needed Decide what each member will do [...]]]></description>
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		<title>SMART Goals</title>
		<link>http://www.pmservicesnw.com/2010/11/smart-goals/</link>
		<comments>http://www.pmservicesnw.com/2010/11/smart-goals/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 12 Nov 2010 15:54:03 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[project management tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SMART]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SMART Goals]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[strategic planning goals]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pmservicesnw.com/?p=135</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By: Ray Myers, Jr., PMP SMART Goals have become a part of the vocabulary of project planning and performance management.  Everyone will benefit from goals and objectives when they are SMART because the object is to keep the project requirements clear and focused. Goals should be SMART Specific Measurable Achievable (alternatives: Ambitious or Agreed upon) Realistic Time-based   Some organizations use this as an alternative: SMAC Specific Measurable Achievable Consistent About the Author: Ray Myers, Jr. is a PMP certified project manager with over 2o years experience planning and managing technology projects.   Contact Ray at wwwpmservicesnw.com Article source: www.pmservicesnw.com &#169;2012 PMServicesNW. All Rights Reserved..]]></description>
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		<title>Cause and Effect Analysis: Fishbone Diagram</title>
		<link>http://www.pmservicesnw.com/2010/11/cause-and-effect-analysis-fishbone-diagram/</link>
		<comments>http://www.pmservicesnw.com/2010/11/cause-and-effect-analysis-fishbone-diagram/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 09 Nov 2010 15:12:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Quality]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Cause and Effect Diagram]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Fishbone Diagram]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[how to create a fishbone diagram]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[how to develop a Ishikawa Diagram]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ishikawa Diagram]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[project management tools]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pmservicesnw.com/?p=122</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By: Ray Myers, Jr., PMP The Fishbone Diagram identifies many possibilities for an effect or a problem.  It is an established problem solving tool that is well suited for group analysis because it visually assists with understanding of a problem’s roots cause.  Dr. Ishikawa developed the fishbone diagram as an analysis tool that provides a systematic way of looking at effects and the causes that create or contribute to those effects.  The Fishbone Diagram may also be referred to as a Cause-and-Effect Diagram or an Ishikawa Diagram in honor of the inventor. First, let’s define some important terms: Affect:  The action that causes the effect Effect:  The result of the actions of the affect Fishbone Diagrams are typically developed during a brainstorming session to immediately sort ideas into useful categories.  Here’s how to develop a Fishbone Diagram: Setup Prepare a conference room with a white board, flip chart or other means to collect the ideas that are generated by the session Nominate a scribe to write the ideas on the white board or flip chart Limit group size to 8-10 Process The group leader writes the effect (the problem) on the far right side of the whiteboard or flip chart [...]]]></description>
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		<title>Affinity Diagrams</title>
		<link>http://www.pmservicesnw.com/2010/11/affinity-diagrams/</link>
		<comments>http://www.pmservicesnw.com/2010/11/affinity-diagrams/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 03 Nov 2010 13:40:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Tools]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[affinity diagrams]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[how to create an affinity diagram]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[how to develop an affinity diagram]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[PMP]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[project management tools]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.pmservicesnw.com/?p=9</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[By: Ray Myers, Jr., PMP Affinity Diagrams are a decision-making technique that helps to organize and sort a large number of ideas, process variables, or concepts into groupings into naturally related groups.  Affinity is frequently used to organize the ideas, opinions, or issues generated by brainstorming. Diagraming is a group activity that uses paper such as sticky notes to physically organize the information.  It works best in a workshop environment when participants work together to indentify, group and discuss the issues. Guidelines Invite between 4 to 6 participants who are knowledgeable of the topic or issues to be diagrammed Break into multiple groups if there are too many participants Write one issue on each sticky note.  Use phrases or short sentences Minimize discussion while sorting, holding discussion until the header cards are composed How to Conduct an Affinity Sort Begin by scheduling a conference room with large walls or windows Conduct a brainstorming session on the topic under investigation Clarify the list of ideas and write each one on a sticky note Randomly place all the sticky notes on the wall, windows, table or flipchart Sort the sticky notes into similar groups Be sure each participate can see the area [...]]]></description>
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