Tag Archives: Scrappy Project Management

A Recipe for Family Success by Kimberly Wiefling (Wiefling Consulting)

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(This article was originally published on www.svprojectmanagement.com)

A recipe alone doesn’t make cookies, but it’s a start. And great chefs don’t need a recipe book, but someone with the discipline to follow a recipe can cook like a great chef with discipline and a little practice. And the same is true for the recipe for family success. What is this common sense recipe that can enable any family to dramatically increase the odds of living a life tending more toward excellence and true happiness than survival? It’s a matter of dodging the predictable and avoidable pitfalls outlined in this series. Based on tried and true principles of project management, this approach has been proven to triple the chances of achieving success in the business world, and there’s no reason to believe this same benefit won’t be realized in your family. This series contains practical guidance for avoiding the “dirty dozen” pitfalls of the most important project of your life, your family. Don’t risk falling into these all too familiar traps! The guidelines are grouped into stages, and you should tackle each stage in this order to build a solid foundation for the next. Continue reading→

Family-The Most Important Project of Your Life by Kimberly Wiefling (Wiefling Consulting)

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(This article was originally published on www.svprojectmanagement.com)

We are Family. Sure, but if you’re like most families, you use what I call the “random chaos” approach to life. In a splendid demonstration of hope triumphing over experience, two people embark on what could be a decades long adventure. They get married, have kids, survive raising ‘em, maybe buy a house to contain the mayhem, and finally eek out a bit of retirement before languishing in a dilapidated physical and financial state for their last less-than-enjoyable years on Earth. Looking back I’m sure many families wonder “Where did our lives go?” Continue reading→

Tokyo Book Launch Party "Genki"!

Kimberly_Pink“Genki” is a word my Japanese colleagues frequently use to describe me.  They tell me it means I am cheerful and fun, but I’m pretty sure it is a secret code meaning that I’m noisy, wild, and just a tad scary.  Nevertheless somewhere around five dozen people turned up for the book launch party for the Japanese version of “Scrappy Project Management” last night, and they all seemed pretty “genki” to me.  One of the party guests, who was a graduate of one of our six month Global Leadership Development Programs this past year gave a rousing congratulations speech.  The highlight was when he asked the audience to participate with him as he “challenged convention” in such a speech, removed his suit jacket, rolled up the sleeves on his crisp business shirt, and then got everyone flinging their arms in the air while shouting “Exciting!” to help express his feeling about the whole book lalapalooza.  His final wish was that I become a billionaire, but I’m not sure if he meant dollars, yen, or rupees.

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EXPERT PROVES MURPHY’S LAW IS ALIVE

ohcrap10.jpgPROJECT MANAGERS SUCCEED BY GETTING “SCRAPPY”

Kimberly Wiefling, author of “Scrappy Project Management: The 12 Predictable and Avoidable Pitfalls Every Project Faces,” helps project managers succeed when communications and timelines break down, results seem impossible, or teams are non-performing.

Murphy’s Law states: If something can go wrong, it will. According to international Project Management Consultant, Kimberly Wiefling, Murphy’s Law is alive and well – and living inside of every project supervised by a project manager across the globe. By helping Project Managers to “get scrappy,” Wiefling, the author of “Scrappy Project Management,” shows project managers how to thwart Murphy’s Law, and succeed by avoiding the 12 predictable and avoidable pitfalls every project faces.

“Projects are messy,” says Wiefling. “Every project manager is going to encounter some, or all, of these 12 predictable pitfalls, no matter what the project. For example, communications will break down. Timelines will go by the wayside. Goals will be clear to some but not to others. Employees might feel demoralized, or machines will go haywire.” Continue reading→

Learn about the Scrappy Guides and Scrappy Project Management

scrappy-project-management-big.jpgScrappy means ATTITUDE.

Scrappy means not relying on a title to be a leader.

Scrappy means being willing to take risks and put yourself out there.

Scrappy means doing the right thing, even when you don’t feel like it.

Scrappy means having the steely resolve of a street fighter.

Scrappy means sticking to your guns even if you’re shaking in your boots.

Scrappy means being committed beyond reason to making a difference.

Scrappy means caring about something more than you care about being comfortable, socially acceptable, or politically correct.

Scrappy means being absolutely, totally committed to extraordinary results.

Scrappy means EDGY! . . . and is your edge in achieving outrageous results even when they seem impossible.

The Scrappy Guides help you muster the courage and commitment to pursue your goals-even when there is no evidence that you can succeed. They will be your shield against the naysayers who will try to undermine you, and they will give you comfort during the inevitable failures that accompany most worthy pursuits. When you fail, fail fast, fail forward, in the direction of your goals, lurching fitfully if you must. Continue reading→