How to Achieve Higher Project Management Performance — in an Infographic from Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™
17 March 2017
Follow @scottgraffius
Companies benefit from professional maturity, which enables them to translate organizational strategy into success, drive business improvement, and gain a competitive edge. High performance is associated with project management maturity. Our partners at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions have a downloadable infographic with practical tips on how to effectively advance professional project management practices and maturity levels. The file is available here.
© Copyright 2017 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.
Companies benefit from professional maturity, which enables them to translate organizational strategy into success, drive business improvement, and gain a competitive edge. High performance is associated with project management maturity. Our partners at Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions have a downloadable infographic with practical tips on how to effectively advance professional project management practices and maturity levels. The file is available here.
.png){kind=link}
© Copyright 2017 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.
2018 Year in Review
21 January 2019
I’ve compiled a review of 2018. This post highlights my consulting business, book, speaking appearances, and blog.
Business
Organizations need to realize their strategic objectives and business initiatives. My professional services firm, Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, helps our clients achieve those needs through advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. Our expertise spans agile, traditional waterfall, and hybrid development and delivery frameworks. To learn more about the company, please visit http://exceptional-pmo.com.
A book and speaking appearances—extensions of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™—are highlighted individually below.
Book
Inspired by a fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client in the entertainment industry, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions was published in 2016. It helps technical and non-technical teams develop and deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement—which supports innovation and drives competitive advantage. Between the date of publication and 2017, it garnered 15 first place awards from national and international competitions. The credit is shared with Chris Hare and Colin Giffen, the technical editors on the book.
Attention and interest continued in 2018. Accolades included two additional first place awards (making the updated total 17), being featured as a success story by the BEA, and more. And Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions and I were featured in Yahoo Finance, Innovation Management, Informa Middle East, and additional media publications.
To make the book available to more sellers and customers, I transitioned it to Expanded Distribution in 2018. With the change, both the print and ebook formats of Agile Scrum were still available at Amazon, just not exclusively. Expanded Distribution provided access to a larger audience through more online retailers, bookstores, libraries, academic institutions, and distributors. Agile Scrum became available through the following channels (in addition to Amazon):
- Bookstores and Online Retailers - available to online and offline retailers such as Barnes & Noble and to distributors such as Ingram and the National Association of College Stores, Inc. (NACSCORP).
- Libraries and Academic Institutions - offered through Baker & Taylor to libraries and academic institutions.
- CreateSpace Direct - available to certified resellers through the CreateSpace Direct wholesale website.
Agile Scrum is still offered in print and digital formats at Amazon. The paperback is available in Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The ebook is for sale in Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
A trailer, high-resolution images, reviews, a detailed list of awards, and more on Agile Scrum are available in the digital media kit at https://AgileScrumGuide.com.
Speaking Appearances
I've been fortunate to have spoken to diverse audiences on project, program, portfolio, and PMO management related topics of timely importance. I delivered five talks at conferences and other events in 2018:
- Techstars conference
- California Central Coast chapter of the Project Management Institute (PMI)
- California Inland Empire chapter of the PMI
- An event in Las Vegas
- California Central Valley chapter of the PMI
Upcoming appearances in 2019 include the Project World conference in Canada, another talk at a PMI chapter, and more—to be announced. You can read more about my speaking engagements at http://bit.ly/SpeakerOne.
Blog
My blog at http://scottgraffius.com/blog provides news, tips, and more on the intersection of project management with business and technology. In 2018, I published 48 new articles on the site. That’s down from last year, when I produced 65. However, traffic has been steadily growing per data from Google Analytics. In 2018, the blog had 109,771 page views, compared with 57,139 the prior year. That’s an increase of 92%!
There was a mix of different categories of topics. The top 10 articles in 2018 were:
- Phases of Team Development
- Yahoo Finance: Scott M. Graffius to Speak at Techstars Startup Week
- The Potentially Shippable Product Increment and a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Approach
- The Importance of Managing Work in Progress (WIP)
- Scott M. Graffius Featured in Success Story by BEA
- Are Agile and Scrum Limited to Technology Projects or Technology Industries?
- "Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions" Quoted in Innovation Management
- Q&A with Author Chris Hare: Transforming Project Management into Time-Saving, Stress-Relieving Solutions for Parents of K-12 Students
- Scott M. Graffius to Serve as Subject Matter Expert Reviewer of Content for Project Management Institute EMEA Congress 2019
- The Holiday Nice List: 11 Gifts to Impress
The majority of visitors (53%) came from the United States. Rounding out the top 10 were France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Philippines, Brazil, India, Australia, and Sweden. While not in the top 10 for the year, there was a significant increase in traffic (primarily in late 2018) from Belgium, the Netherlands, and Japan.
Thank you for visiting the blog!
© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.
Scott M. Graffius to Judge 2019 Textbook Excellence Awards
15 January 2019
I'm honored to serve as a judge in business/technical fields in the Textbook & Academic Authors Association's 2019 Textbook Excellence Awards. This will be my second year as a judge for the program.
About Scott M. Graffius
Scott M. Graffius, PMP, CSP, CSM, CSPO, ITIL, LSSGB is a project management expert, consultant, international speaker, and award-winning author.
He is the CEO of Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™, a professional services firm, where he partners with client companies to help them achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives through project management leadership. Graffius is a former vice president of project management with a global, publicly traded provider of diverse consumer products and services over the Internet. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private organizations with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology products and services, retail, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. He has experience with consumer, business, reseller, government, and international markets.
A fantastic agile transformation experience and result with a client in the entertainment industry was the inspiration for Scott’s book, Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions. The publication has garnered 17 first place awards. The credit is shared with Chris Hare and Colin Giffen, the technical editors on the book. Scott and Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions have been featured in Yahoo Finance, the Dallas Business Journal, BookLife by Publisher’s Weekly, Innovation Management, and additional media outlets. A trailer, high-resolution images, reviews, a detailed list of awards and more are available at https://AgileScrumGuide.com.
Scott is a former vice president of project management with a publicly traded provider of diverse consumer products and services over the Internet. Before that, he ran and supervised the delivery of projects and programs in public and private organizations with businesses ranging from e-commerce to advanced technology products and services, retail, manufacturing, entertainment, and more. He has experience with consumer, business, reseller, government, and international markets.
He holds six professional certifications: Certified Scrum Professional (CSP), Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), Project Management Professional (PMP), Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (LSSGB), and IT Service Management Foundation (ITIL). He is a member of the Scrum Alliance, the Project Management Institute, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the IEEE Computer Society, the IEEE Consumer Electronics Society, the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society, the IEEE Internet of Things Community, and the IEEE Consultants Network.
Scott regularly speaks at conferences and other events in the United States and internationally where he delights audiences with presentations on agile, traditional, and hybrid project, program, portfolio, and PMO management. He integrates and includes professional standards, best practices, and his first-hand experience with successful implementations. Scott uses everyday language and vibrant visuals to make complex topics clear and understandable, and he provides audiences with practical information they can use. His upcoming and past appearances are listed at http://scottgraffius.com/publicspeaker.html.
Connect with Scott on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.His full bio is available here.
Connect with Scott on:
About the Textbook & Academic Authors Association
The Textbook & Academic Authors Association (TAA) (https://www.taaonline.net) provides professional development resources and events for textbook authors and authors of scholarly journal articles and books. Established in 1987, TAA is the only national, nonprofit membership association dedicated solely to assisting textbook and academic authors. TAA's name was changed from "Text and Academic Authors Association" to "Textbook & Academic Authors Association" in 2016 to offer a clearer identity for TAA in light of the new meaning of "texting" on smart devices today.
About the Textbook Excellence Award
TAA created the Textbook Excellence Award—also known as the Texty—in 1992 to recognize current textbooks and learning materials. Nominated works must carry a copyright date for the previous or current year, and entries can include learning materials in all mediums. Textbooks in their first editions with publication dates in the previous or current year may compete for a Most Promising New Textbook Award. In 1993, TAA initiated the William Holmes McGuffey Longevity Award, to recognize textbooks and learning materials whose excellence has been demonstrated over time. Nominated works must have been in print 15 years and are still being sold. All works are ranked on certain criteria: interesting and informative, well organized and well prepared, up to date and appealing, and teachability. TAA's annual conference will be held in Philadelphia, PA, on June 14-15, 2019. Awards will be presented at a ceremony during the meeting.
About Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™
Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions™ (http://Exceptional-PMO.com) helps organizations achieve their strategic objectives and business initiatives via world-class project management. The professional services firm provides expert advisory, training, and facilitative consulting services related to project, program, portfolio, and PMO management in agile, traditional/waterfall, and hybrid development and delivery frameworks.
© Copyright 2019 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.
Four Ways to Improve Your Strategic Thinking Skills Today
16 October 2020
Follow @scottgraffius
Strategic thinking is often considered essential to an organization's successful performance. Some have even advocated for companies to develop the strategic thinking skills of their executives and other staff as a core competency. How can strategic thinking skills be developed? But first, here's a definition.
“Strategic thinking is a distinctive management activity whose purpose is to discover novel, imaginative strategies which can rewrite the rules of the competitive game; and to envision potential futures significantly different from the present. Furthermore, strategic thinking is specified as being conceptual, systems-oriented, directional (linking the future with the past), and opportunistic.”
— Ellen F. Goldman
In other words, strategic thinking is a process used to broaden an individual's perspective to achieve successful outcomes such as competitive advantage. And it can happen at every level of the organization; it's not just for executives.
Here are four specific things you can do to improve your strategic thinking skills.
1. Schedule Time for Strategic Thinking
You are investing in your success as well as that of the organization. Find the time to focus on strategic thinking. A tip is to place a recurring event on your calendar to reserve time for strategic thinking activities.
2. Monitor the Big Picture Including Trends
The default focus at most organizations is on what’s directly ahead. However, "peripheral vision"—including keeping sight of the big picture and industry trends—is essential for long-term success. Some tips follow. Keep abreast of industry organizations and publications. Build external networks to help you best scan the competitive landscape. Determine the unique perspective that your role provides, and define its favorable impact on the organization’s vision, mission, and/or strategic objectives.
3. Ask Questions to Uncover Patterns
Further to your mindfulness of the big picture and understanding of changes in the industry, you can put strategic thinking to work by asking yourself and others questions. A few examples follow. "What if _____?" questions are frequently effective in helping one "see around the corner." And variations such as "If _____, then _____?" often yield insights as well.
4. Embrace Uncertainty and Conflict
Strategic thinking involves envisioning the future and potential proactive ways the organization can change to remain competitive and successful. You should accept that the future is uncertain, and challenging assumptions by asking questions and other tactics may make some people uncomfortable. Remaining mindful of those aspects will help you stay the course in regularly practicing strategic thinking and securing the benefits summarized in this article.
Conclusion
By sharpening your strategic thinking skills, you benefit both yourself and your organization. It helps you make a greater contribution to the business—which may also support your advancement—and it helps the company enjoy greater competitive advantage and long-term success. So, start work on your strategic thinking skills today!
Bibliography
Atsmon, Yuval (2017, May 2). How to Unleash Your Strategic Thinking. Digital article. McKinsey & Company.
Bonn, Ingrid (2005, June). Improving Strategic Thinking: A Multilevel Approach. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 26 (5). DOI: 10.1108/01437730510607844.
Cowan, N. (2001, February). The Magical Number 4 in Short-Term Memory: A Reconsideration of Mental Storage Capacity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24 (1): 87-119.
Dixit, Avinash K. and Nelebuff, Barry J. (1993). Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
Goldman, Ellen F. (2007, Summer). Strategic Thinking at the Top. MIT Sloan Management Review, 48 (4): 75-81.
Graffius, Scott M. (2016). Thinking Strategically and Acting Tactically. Winnetka, CA: Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions.
Reynolds, K. (2013). Strategic Thinking for Today's Project Managers. Paper presented at PMI Global Congress 2013—North America, New Orleans, LA. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
Syrett, Michael and Devine, Marion (2012). Managing Uncertainty: Strategies for Surviving and Thriving in Turbulent Times. London, United Kingdom: Profile Books.
About the Author
Scott M. Graffius is an agile project management consultant, practitioner, award-winning author, and keynote speaker. Content from his books, speaking engagements, and more has been used by businesses, governments, and universities, including Gartner, Cisco, RSA, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the United States Department of Energy, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M, and others. Thinkers360 named Scott a Top 20 Global Thought Leader and Influencer.
His full bio is available here.
Connect with Scott on:
About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions
Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.
There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.
With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions, Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:
Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”
Winner of 17 first place awards.
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.
About Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change
Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.
Based on actual events, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.
The award-winning book by Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.
The short link for this article is https://bit.ly/4-strategic.
This article was first published here. Later—on August 24, 2021—the article was posted to LinkedIn here as well.
© Copyright 2020 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.
Strategic thinking is often considered essential to an organization's successful performance. Some have even advocated for companies to develop the strategic thinking skills of their executives and other staff as a core competency. How can strategic thinking skills be developed? But first, here's a definition.
“Strategic thinking is a distinctive management activity whose purpose is to discover novel, imaginative strategies which can rewrite the rules of the competitive game; and to envision potential futures significantly different from the present. Furthermore, strategic thinking is specified as being conceptual, systems-oriented, directional (linking the future with the past), and opportunistic.”
— Ellen F. Goldman
In other words, strategic thinking is a process used to broaden an individual's perspective to achieve successful outcomes such as competitive advantage. And it can happen at every level of the organization; it's not just for executives.
Here are four specific things you can do to improve your strategic thinking skills.
1. Schedule Time for Strategic Thinking
You are investing in your success as well as that of the organization. Find the time to focus on strategic thinking. A tip is to place a recurring event on your calendar to reserve time for strategic thinking activities.
2. Monitor the Big Picture Including Trends
The default focus at most organizations is on what’s directly ahead. However, "peripheral vision"—including keeping sight of the big picture and industry trends—is essential for long-term success. Some tips follow. Keep abreast of industry organizations and publications. Build external networks to help you best scan the competitive landscape. Determine the unique perspective that your role provides, and define its favorable impact on the organization’s vision, mission, and/or strategic objectives.
3. Ask Questions to Uncover Patterns
Further to your mindfulness of the big picture and understanding of changes in the industry, you can put strategic thinking to work by asking yourself and others questions. A few examples follow. "What if _____?" questions are frequently effective in helping one "see around the corner." And variations such as "If _____, then _____?" often yield insights as well.
4. Embrace Uncertainty and Conflict
Strategic thinking involves envisioning the future and potential proactive ways the organization can change to remain competitive and successful. You should accept that the future is uncertain, and challenging assumptions by asking questions and other tactics may make some people uncomfortable. Remaining mindful of those aspects will help you stay the course in regularly practicing strategic thinking and securing the benefits summarized in this article.
Conclusion
By sharpening your strategic thinking skills, you benefit both yourself and your organization. It helps you make a greater contribution to the business—which may also support your advancement—and it helps the company enjoy greater competitive advantage and long-term success. So, start work on your strategic thinking skills today!
Bibliography
Atsmon, Yuval (2017, May 2). How to Unleash Your Strategic Thinking. Digital article. McKinsey & Company.
Bonn, Ingrid (2005, June). Improving Strategic Thinking: A Multilevel Approach. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 26 (5). DOI: 10.1108/01437730510607844.
Cowan, N. (2001, February). The Magical Number 4 in Short-Term Memory: A Reconsideration of Mental Storage Capacity. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 24 (1): 87-119.
Dixit, Avinash K. and Nelebuff, Barry J. (1993). Thinking Strategically: The Competitive Edge in Business, Politics, and Everyday Life. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
Goldman, Ellen F. (2007, Summer). Strategic Thinking at the Top. MIT Sloan Management Review, 48 (4): 75-81.
Graffius, Scott M. (2016). Thinking Strategically and Acting Tactically. Winnetka, CA: Exceptional PPM and PMO Solutions.
Reynolds, K. (2013). Strategic Thinking for Today's Project Managers. Paper presented at PMI Global Congress 2013—North America, New Orleans, LA. Newtown Square, PA: Project Management Institute.
Syrett, Michael and Devine, Marion (2012). Managing Uncertainty: Strategies for Surviving and Thriving in Turbulent Times. London, United Kingdom: Profile Books.
About the Author
Scott M. Graffius is an agile project management consultant, practitioner, award-winning author, and keynote speaker. Content from his books, speaking engagements, and more has been used by businesses, governments, and universities, including Gartner, Cisco, RSA, Ford, Qantas, Atlassian, Bayer, the United States Department of Energy, the New Zealand Ministry of Education, Tufts University, Texas A&M, and others. Thinkers360 named Scott a Top 20 Global Thought Leader and Influencer.
His full bio is available here.
Connect with Scott on:
About Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions
Shifting customer needs are common in today's marketplace. Businesses must be adaptive and responsive to change while delivering an exceptional customer experience to be competitive.
There are a variety of frameworks supporting the development of products and services, and most approaches fall into one of two broad categories: traditional or agile. Traditional practices such as waterfall engage sequential development, while agile involves iterative and incremental deliverables. Organizations are increasingly embracing agile to manage projects, and best meet their business needs of rapid response to change, fast delivery speed, and more.
With clear and easy to follow step-by-step instructions, Scott M. Graffius's award-winning Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions helps the reader:
- Implement and use the most popular agile framework―Scrum;
- Deliver products in short cycles with rapid adaptation to change, fast time-to-market, and continuous improvement; and
- Support innovation and drive competitive advantage.
Hailed by Literary Titan as “the book highlights the versatility of Scrum beautifully.”
Winner of 17 first place awards.
Agile Scrum: Your Quick Start Guide with Step-by-Step Instructions is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.
- 🇧🇷 Brazil
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇬🇷 Greece
- 🇭🇺 Hungary
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇮🇱 Israel
- 🇮🇹 Italy
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- 🇳🇴 Norway
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- 🇦🇪 UAE
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇺🇸 United States
About Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change
Thriving in today's marketplace frequently depends on making a transformation to become more agile. Those successful in the transition enjoy faster delivery speed and ROI, higher satisfaction, continuous improvement, and additional benefits.
Based on actual events, Agile Transformation: A Brief Story of How an Entertainment Company Developed New Capabilities and Unlocked Business Agility to Thrive in an Era of Rapid Change provides a quick (60-90 minute) read about a successful agile transformation at a multinational entertainment and media company, told from the author's perspective as an agile coach.
The award-winning book by Scott M. Graffius is available in paperback and ebook/Kindle in the United States and around the world. Some links by country follow.
- 🇦🇺 Australia
- 🇦🇹 Austria
- 🇧🇷 Brazil
- 🇨🇦 Canada
- 🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- 🇩🇰 Denmark
- 🇫🇮 Finland
- 🇫🇷 France
- 🇩🇪 Germany
- 🇬🇷 Greece
- 🇮🇳 India
- 🇮🇪 Ireland
- 🇯🇵 Japan
- 🇱🇺 Luxembourg
- 🇲🇽 Mexico
- 🇳🇱 Netherlands
- 🇳🇿 New Zealand
- 🇪🇸 Spain
- 🇸🇪 Sweden
- 🇨🇭 Switzerland
- 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates
- 🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- 🇺🇸 United States
The short link for this article is https://bit.ly/4-strategic.
This article was first published here. Later—on August 24, 2021—the article was posted to LinkedIn here as well.
© Copyright 2020 Scott M. Graffius. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the express written permission of Scott M. Graffius.