Skip to content

Home » Feed aggregator » Sources
Project Shrink - Bas de Baar's
Syndicate content
Projects Are About Humans. Deal With That!
URL: http://www.basdebaar.com
Updated: 5 hours 10 min ago

Potion 16 – The Yeti

Thu, 07/29/2010 - 10:33

In episode 16 of Project Potion Dave Prior and Bas de Baar talk about coworking and using video for status reports.

As defined by Wikipedia:

“Coworking is a style of work which involves a shared working environment, sometimes an office yet independent activity. Unlike in a typical office environment, those coworking are usually not employed by the same organization. Typically it is attractive to work-at-home professionals, independent contractors, or people who travel frequently who end up working in relative isolation.”

Click here if you want to subscribe to this podcast with iTunes.

Other people who liked this article liked these too

Bas de Baar is an independent consultant based in the Netherlands. He uniquely combines over a decade of project and team leadership with nearly a decade online presence in the area of Project Leadership in a global and virtual world.

Potion 16 – The Yeti


Categories: Blogs

Stakeholder Adventure Maps. Drawing Smileys And Walls.

Wed, 07/28/2010 - 10:08

Ah. Adventure Maps.

I was happily surprised that Mondays post about Project Adventure Maps took so much interest. As it should. Away with spreadsheets, checklists and grid prisons.

Bring on your crayons!

So. Adventure Mapping.

A highly playful, interactive and intuitive way of communicating complex elements in your project. Or just an excuse to go overboard on the lame jokes and awkward analogies.

I find it to do wonders for stakeholder analysis.

Stakeholder analysis is a technique to identify and analyze the stakeholders surrounding a project. It provides information on stakeholders and their relationships and expectations. A proper analysis of the stakeholders will help you to construct a project approach suited to the situation and will allow you to negotiate better with the stakeholders.

It works like this (you can click on the image to enlarge).

Invite some relevant people to brainstorm the stakeholder map. Get a whiteboard. This can be an old fashioned one, you know the kind you put on a wall. Or this can be an online version for remote organizations.

Draw an image of the goal. A treasure. A princess in a tower. A shovel.

Draw a line that flows towards the goal. Not a straight line. Create the suggestion that the Big Adventure is one that includes obstacles and challenges. The openness and flow stimulate creativity. It suggests you have room to think.

Now instead of a Gantt chart, you will be using a little brass gong to synchronize the teams flow.

Just kidding.

The next step is concerned with the question “Who are the stakeholders?”

For this, you basically draw people or smileys along your project road map. What is the first time they pop up? That’s the place where you draw them on the flow. If you draw them closer towards your path, they have more influence, are more important. Often you start with the obvious stakeholders, and the longer you talk about it, the more crowded the whiteboard gets.

The attitude of the stakeholders towards the project determines their behavior. Happy people are more likely to cooperate than an angry mob. With the use of smileys or + and – sign, try to assess the indicate of the stakeholder towards the project.

Not all stakeholders are created equal. Not everyone has to be involved. And you don’t want to have everyone messing around with your scope. So. Draw walls between your path and the stakeholders that don’t have or need an involvement. And when you draw, yell: “Block Them!” For those that need involvement draw a nice and inviting corridor (or arrow) between the flow and the stakeholder. I am still looking for a good phrase to say when you draw the arrow.

Now you have a nice Stakeholder Adventure Map.

Of course, it’s the process that is important. Not only the map.

The stakeholder analysis will help you create your communication strategy and project organization.

Read this post if you want to know more about Stakeholder Analysis.

Other people who liked this article liked these too

Bas de Baar is an independent consultant based in the Netherlands. He uniquely combines over a decade of project and team leadership with nearly a decade online presence in the area of Project Leadership in a global and virtual world.

Stakeholder Adventure Maps. Drawing Smileys And Walls.


Categories: Blogs

Using the Internet to Your Advantage

Tue, 07/27/2010 - 09:32

You can meet some awesome people on the Internet. Last year I got into contact with Margaret Meloni. Talking about awesome.

Lately we have been discussing the value of leveraging the internet and social media.

Margaret consults with individuals and organizations on the topic of conflict resolution and she coaches professionals in advancing their careers. She knows professionals and careers, I know The Internet… so why not combine forces and give you an incredible product that will help you take full advantage of blogs, podcasts and social media sites to define, enhance and promote YOUR professional image.

Exactly! That’s what we thought also.

But I want to ask you a favor.

Before we jump out there we want to know how can we help YOU in this area? So thank you in advance for taking our quick survey and letting us know where we can provide you the most value.

Click here to go to the short survey.

Thanks!

PS. You really have to check out Margaret’s blog. Or connect with her on Twitter.

Other people who liked this article liked these too

Bas de Baar is an independent consultant based in the Netherlands. He uniquely combines over a decade of project and team leadership with nearly a decade online presence in the area of Project Leadership in a global and virtual world.

Using the Internet to Your Advantage


Categories: Blogs

The Project Adventure Map. Go Left At Scope Creep Mountain.

Mon, 07/26/2010 - 11:30

So. We should have fun and creativity in projects.

So. The team should have a shared understanding of the goal and approach.

So. If people are involved you get acceptance and engagement, multiple point of views, and alignment. Co-creation is a powerful concept.

So. Metaphors and storytelling are useful techniques.

So. How do I get started?

Introducing… The Project Adventure Map!

Think about your project as a Big Adventure. You are trying to find a treasure. You are going to retrieve a stolen secret document. You are going to set the princess free. You have a goal.

Every project is a journey. It is never a straight line. You have to conquer obstacles, replan, regroup, rethink and change course.

Imagine your project as a map through unknown territory in search for The Goal.

The map reflects the storyline of the project. The episodes of the project life cycle. The glory days of starting the project. The period in which the project was under attack by vicious stakeholders.

Discuss the days from before the project. What happened to the hero of the Big Adventure? What was the kingdom like (you may also talk about “organization” or “company”) before the Big Adventure?

And when the Big Adventure started, how did the group emerge? Bob came down the mountains to create databases. Where did the rest came from? Why did they join The Big Adventure?

Yes, you are introducing the team. Yes, you are discussing the project goal and situation that has to be changed. Yes, you are aligning the shared view of the project history. Yes, you are creating a metaphor. Yes, you are appealing to the international language of storytelling. Yes, you might even crack a smile upon your face.

Yes. We’ll explore this technique more in detail.

Now go find your own story. Now go create your own Project Adventure Map.

Image by EdenPictures.

Other people who liked this article liked these too

Bas de Baar is an independent consultant based in the Netherlands. He uniquely combines over a decade of project and team leadership with nearly a decade online presence in the area of Project Leadership in a global and virtual world.

The Project Adventure Map. Go Left At Scope Creep Mountain.


Categories: Blogs

Fun In Projects? Ha. Humbug!

Wed, 07/21/2010 - 12:33

We all learn important things from the people we work with. One of the first things I learned was to celebrate early. If you have the funds in your project budget for one team party, do it at the beginning of the project, not at the end. Celebrate you are going to work together.

Fun, creativity and team building. It does work, if it’s not done in an awkward, artificial, icky way. If you’re a jerk at work, being all fun and laughter for one evening doesn’t cut it. Actually, it will make the whole evening strange. Not in a good way.

Fun and creativity does have an amazing effect on how people work together. It’s actually a shame that fun and games are treated like an add on, a nice to have.

“We don’t have time for that.”

Or.

“You are not paid to have fun.”

Or. Better.

“The customer doesn’t pay you to have fun and be creative.”

The customer doesn’t pay for the air conditioning either.

Yeah. Yeah. We have a goal to satisfy. Sure. And yes, we are professional and serious.

But we can do that by boring the socks of our team, or by putting a smile on their passionate faces.

Remember I was going all over this “diversity” thing? You know.

“Diversity creates different viewpoints, different ways of problem solving, other ways of looking at the world in general. This clash of perspectives produces creative solutions.”

You know what? Forget that. Forget that I said that you need all kinds of people on your team. I was wrong.

You already have all kinds of people on your team. You just probably bore the heck out of them. Or are putting boundaries on their fun and creativity.

I changed my tune. I am currently more in the “use the beautiful cards you’re dealt with” camp.

So we need to party?

That was not the fun and creativity I meant. Although. Parties are always good. For everything.

I am talking about the use of multi media to align your communication.

I am talking about using movies or pirates as team metaphor.

This doesn’t cost extra time or money.

It does take fun and creativity from your leadership.

Suggestions needed.

I am looking for an occasion to put this online karaoke to good use. We all know. The secret to a successful project is awesome karaoke. Any suggestions?

Image by emilydickinsonridesabmx.

Other people who liked this article liked these too

Bas de Baar is an independent consultant based in the Netherlands. He uniquely combines over a decade of project and team leadership with nearly a decade online presence in the area of Project Leadership in a global and virtual world.

Fun In Projects? Ha. Humbug!


Categories: Blogs

Three Years Project Shrink Blog

Fri, 07/16/2010 - 11:17

The Project Shrink is three years old this week. July 15th 2007 I created this blog and called it “Project Shrink”, because I wanted to emphasize “human behavior” in projects and I have difficulty pronouncing “Project Sociologist”.

In 3 years I wrote 468 blog posts. Although perhaps not always obvious, all posts are based upon a mission, powered by my specific passion.

The mission of The Project Shrink is to make global, virtual and multi cultural projects work locally in such a way that they provide a genuine contribution towards a sustainable global society.

Yeah. I know.

During a trip through India in 2008 I read Thomas Friedman’s book “Hot, Flat and Crowded”. In it, among thousand of other things, he describes a company operating in India, that changed the way I look at how what we do as Project Managers can contribute to global problems. Friedman describes a call center in India that handles telephone inquiries for US corporations. But instead of being located in one of the large cities like Mumbai or Madras, this company is located in rural villages.

The original inhabitants of the village who got an education in the city are now able to return to their village because there are good jobs. The employees are extremely loyal to the company, income of the villagers is going up and the level of eduction is rising. If you have nothing to eat, do you think you care about environmental issues? But having an income, education, a job you love, living in the town you love surrounded by your family you start caring about the future.

Translating this to IT: we have the jobs, we have the technology to perform this partly location independent. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we can make it work? And this isn’t just about India.

It is about reducing urbanization and its heavy toll on the environment (no commute is no pollute).
It is about a more healthy (sustainable) distribution of wealth.
It is about improving education in general.

But this is also about getting rid of certain things. We cannot afford having unmotivated people, extensive corporate politics or bloated organization with an enormous amount of overhead.

As project people we would like to see the roadmap now. The recipe for success.

Sorry. There isn’t any. No single solution. No silver bullet.

With every approach there is this “it depends”. Circumstances. What might be the best solution in one case, might be disastrous in another.

There is this ALWAYS this big “IT DEPENDS…”

Education. Good. Books. Fantastic. Best practices. Awesome.

But, for inspiration purposes only.

I know that the knowledge and intelligence you need is locked in you and your team.

You need fun and creativity to get it out. Not compliance and punishment.

And that, lucky us, is no rocket science.

Image by Tony Crescibene.

Other people who liked this article liked these too

Bas de Baar is an independent consultant based in the Netherlands. He uniquely combines over a decade of project and team leadership with nearly a decade online presence in the area of Project Leadership in a global and virtual world.

Three Years Project Shrink Blog


Categories: Blogs

Potion 15 – CloudWorkers

Thu, 07/15/2010 - 11:12

In episode 15 of Project Potion, Dave and Bas talk about CloudWorkers, digital nomads that can work from anywhere, and travel and work in general. This episode is based upon the post: “New Trends In The Project Ecosystem“.

Subscribe to the Podcast

Other people who liked this article liked these too

Bas de Baar is an independent consultant based in the Netherlands. He uniquely combines over a decade of project and team leadership with nearly a decade online presence in the area of Project Leadership in a global and virtual world.

Potion 15 – CloudWorkers


Categories: Blogs

Connecting Without Being A Strange Business Card Ninja

Wed, 07/14/2010 - 10:41

Some people still wonder how Twitter can be useful. Short 140 character messages about what you had for lunch. Hmph!

Although I got some great lunch suggestions from the Twitterverse, this is not why I find it useful. Hal Macomber explained microblogging as being able to stick your head out of your cubicle and ask: “Does anyone know something about XYZ?”

In June I visited the Best Practice Showcase in London, an event for programme and project management. Before I went (by ferry, taking the long and slow way; don’t ask) I sent a message through Twitter if anyone was going to be there and wanted to drink some coffee. I was able to connect with great people at the event without having to be an Awkward Business Card Ninja and approaching Total Strangers with “How do you like the event so far?”

Sticking my head out of my cubicle into the Twitterverse and asking: “Does anyone go to XYZ?”

With Lindsay Scott from Arras People.

Read the fabulous blog “How to Manage a Camel“.

With Sarah Lockey from SasLockey.com

Read her new and fresh blog on Project Management and stuff.

Other people who liked this article liked these too

Bas de Baar is an independent consultant based in the Netherlands. He uniquely combines over a decade of project and team leadership with nearly a decade online presence in the area of Project Leadership in a global and virtual world.

Connecting Without Being A Strange Business Card Ninja


Categories: Blogs

The Why Of Work by Wendy And Dave Ulrich

Tue, 07/13/2010 - 11:35

“We have always known that heedless self-interest was bad morals. We know now that it is bad economics.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

Don’t you just love Kiva. Without having an idea about the internals of the organization, in my opinion, their contribution to society is awesome. And it’s not just this micro-lending organization that is making a difference. There are many more organization where the purpose of their activities alone has a big attraction to employees.

It’s a recurring theme in my writings. Having a Big Hairy Audacious Goal, a Quest, doing something worthwhile, is essential to a project or organization to succeed. It motivates people, it puts a focus on people, it creates a tight pack of people.

In the words of Dave and Wendy Ulrich, it’s providing “meaning” into work. In their recent book “The Why Of Work” (affiliate link, disclaimer: I got a free review copy) they describe how leaders can create abundant organizations by paying attention to their own values and that of the organization.

Dave is a professor of business and Wendy a practicing psychologist. They define an abundant organization as “… a work setting in which individuals coordinate their aspirations and actions to create meaning for themselves, value for stakeholders, and hope for humanity at large.”

The logic is simple. Clarity, identity, team work, personal growth and commitment all add to the company bottom line. The authors argue that “… organizational capabilities more readily lead to lasting value when leaders promote meaning as well as making money.” One can have one with the other.

This book assists leaders align the needs of the individuals, organization and other stakeholders and create a vision that resonates. The content is centered around seven questions that drive abundance at a personal, interpersonal and organizational level:

1. What am I known for? (identity)
2. Where am I going? (purpose and motivation)
3. Whom do I travel with? (relationships and teamwork)
4. How do I build a positive work environment?
5. What challenges interest me?
6. How do I respond to disposability and change?
7. What delights me?

Dave and Wendy Ulrich guide you through each question with examples, background theory, checklist and questionnaires.

I recommend “The Why Of Work” (affiliate link) to everyone that wants to explore the relationship between identity, meaning, purpose and organizational capabilities.

Other people who liked this article liked these too

Bas de Baar is an independent consultant based in the Netherlands. He uniquely combines over a decade of project and team leadership with nearly a decade online presence in the area of Project Leadership in a global and virtual world.

The Why Of Work by Wendy And Dave Ulrich


Categories: Blogs

Digital Marketplace oDesk – Interview With Tim Lytle

Thu, 07/08/2010 - 09:51

There are several places on the internet where companies can publish a project and put together a team on a project per project base. Examples I am aware of are oDesk, vWorker, eLance and Guru.

These marketplaces range from pure “finding resources” like a traditional job site, to a complete integrated project life cycle, including payments, arbitration, reporting, progress tracking and general communication.

I want to discuss online marketplaces because they can show us a working mechanism to get two elements together: a pool of flexible talent on one side and facilitating organizations with a purpose on the other side.

In this post an interview with Tim Lyte about how he uses oDesk. oDesk is a marketplace for online workteams. Tim Lytle is a Technology Consultant & oDesk Contract Web Developer. Owner of timlytle.net ltd since 2003, his oDesk adventures have been mentioned on the BBC’s Click, in Forbes Magazine and at CIO.com.

Why did you start using oDesk?

TL: “I ran across oDesk in the fall of 2006. I’m not really sure what search or site or ad let me to oDesk. At the time I’d been self employed for a few years. My work involved (and still does) consulting/technology management for local businesses and contract web development.

At that point I had used Rent-A-Coder and SoloGig. oDesk’s hourly billing system was very attractive. I had started viewing the ‘flat rate’ model as potentially unfair for both parties. Most web development projects have ambiguous specifications and goals – it’s just the nature of this kind of programming. Because of that I had to over bid flat rate jobs, hoping that I covered any change the client would make, without having to step into the quagmire of change orders and – if things got ugly – arbitration.

That creates a situation where the client is paying too much if they actually know what they want, and don’t press for changes. If they don’t really know what they want – or if their expectation is somehow different from what they communicate – then I’m making less than I expected.

Billing hourly was a good solution for that situation. oDesk gave me a way to do that, while still addressing the client’s need for assurance that I’m actually working.”

What kind of services are you offering? Did this change over time?

TL: “Most of my work is contract web development. I’ve written eCommerce web apps from scratch for clients, and I’ve also modified existing applications/sites (with codebases ranging from custom, commercial, and open source). My services on oDesk were never focused on a specific sector of web development – for example, WordPress or Magento – so they haven’t really changed or expanded.

From time to time I’ve browsed through some of jobs outside web development – I dabble in a bit of audio/video production – but I haven’t tried to expand my offering there yet.”

How do you find your projects?

TL: “Now that I’m established on oDesk, a good share of the projects I get come from interview invitations. But I still go through the job postings on the oDesk site. I use RSS feeds based off keyword searches to limit the results to languages I program in, and also to highlight technologies I enjoy or am interested in using.

I gave an overview of my job bid philosophy in a guest post on the oDesk blog. Essentially I’ve identified the kind of clients and projects that fit me well. Not just projects I’d like to work with, but the kinds of projects that I tend to be hired for. I then focus on those projects.

For me there are generally two kinds of projects I tend to get. There are projects where the client has a high level understanding of what needs to be done, but will rely on the developer to translate that into what needs to be done technically. There are also projects where a consulting/development company needs a developer to supplement the work load, or provide expert info. My projects also tend to be long term, involving many varied tasks (clients tend to keep me on once the initial project is completed, to do other work as it is available).

Those are the kinds of jobs I focus on, and I bid a subset of them. I ignore jobs that are obviously focused on getting the lowest hourly possible. I usually ignore jobs where the buyer demonstrates they’re not familiar with how oDesk works. I also ignore jobs where the buyer makes unreasonable demands.

The results that I filter the job postings, bid on those that seem to be likely or good projects, and get a few of them. I certainly don’t bit on every web development job that comes across.”

How do you make sure you understand what the client wants?

TL: “One benefit – and perhaps the greatest – of hourly billing is that the client doesn’t have to communicate everything to start the project. I can (and have) told a client that I’ll take a few hours, work up part of what I think they’re looking for, then they can test and determine if what I did was what they wanted, and if what they wanted was really what they needed.

That said, I’ve had long and detailed email threads with clients, going back and forth over the detailed specifications of their projects. At times a phone call is needed to clarify things. All that is time billed through oDesk, so the client has the ability to see what changing or clarifying their request costs.

As mentioned, most of my clients have a high-level understanding of what needs to be done, and leave the details to me. Being a US based developer working with (all but one) US based clients means communication problems that sometimes happen crossing language and culture barriers are not really a problem. However, as I also mentioned, web development requests can be ambiguous, so I ask for clarification when needed, and as much as possible combat misunderstanding using the ability to work a little and then have the client test.”

What are the main differences with how you worked before using oDesk?

TL: “I still do work outside of oDesk, however, all my contract web development is done through them. I’ve touched on the main difference in explaining why I started with oDesk. While oDesk offers flat rate jobs, I rarely take them (only under special circumstances for clients I know). The big difference with oDesk is I don’t spending a large amount of time trying to make sure I correctly estimated exactly how much time it will take to finish a project – something that borders in intangible. Instead I just start the log into oDesk and get to work. I give my clients a rough idea of how much time a project should take, and they know that they’re only going to pay for the actual time, not the high side of an estimate regardless of how quickly I may end up completing it.

In addition, with oDesk handling all reporting and billing, I have more time to actually work on projects. And I never have to worry about holding back some deliverables, or halting a project until I recieve a check. oDesk guarantees my payments.”

Does a customer have some way in knowing that you actually worked the hours you bill?

“Hourly billing can be a risk on both parties. oDesk minimizes the risk for both by guaranteeing payment, but only for time tracked using the ‘oDesk Team’ application. The application allows you to note what work is being done. It also takes random screen shots and monitors the amount of keyboard and mouse activity. Every week the client has the ability to review the hours worked. Time can be billed ‘offline’ – without oDesk monitoring the work – however that time does not fall under oDesk’s payment guarantee.

There are some who are bothered (or even offended) by that kind of time tracking. I take a different perspective. I trust oDesk, the client trusts oDesk, and that’s good enough to start. Once we’ve worked together for a while, we learn to trust each other. While I’ve not done a formal survey, I’m fairly certain most of my long term clients don’t even look at the time logs anymore.

In this way oDesk acts like a work orientated version of the many online payment systems (PayPal, Google, etc) or online markets (eBay, Amazon, etc) that are now considered commonplace. oDesk is a trusted 3rd party, making it easy for both parties to safely complete a transaction.”

What are your biggest lessons learned?

TL: “One thing I learned early on was to make sure a client knows the difference between an employee and a contractor. As a side effect of paying hourly, some clients think that you should have almost instantaneous turn around, or be able to drop everything as soon as they ask for something to be done. That’s just not the case with contracting, and I’ve had to explain that a few times to clients. I do my best to respond to critical issues in a timely manner; however, when a client starts sending small non-critical ‘one minute’ tasks, they need to understand that the task – while simple – may be pushed to the end of the list. They have the benefit of not having to pay me a full time salary, and with that comes the downside of non-instantaneous results on non-critical tasks.

Of course, I don’t have full-time contracts – that’s a different story (in that case the contractor is more like a temporary employee).

I learned another lesson the time I responded to a job request where the client had no idea (or so they said, I’m not so sure anymore) about how oDesk worked. They assumed they were just posting to an open job market, and were expecting to handle time reports and payment internally. In fact, they were acting as a kind of job broker themselves. oDesk was kind enough to permit me to work for the client outside oDesk (since the oDesk site was how I found the client, not asking for oDesk’s permission seemed unfair, and perhaps even a violation of my agreement with them).

The short version of a long story is that I found (or so it seemed to me) they wanted me to respond to *all* the job requests with bids and answer *all* questions monitoring all the requests daily. Then only billing when their clients accepted the (at times small) job. In the end I terminated the relationship, and their checks bounced (but they eventually made good on the payments). Perhaps it was just a bad situation where we all misunderstood each other. What I learned is that if a client hasn’t taken the time to understand how oDesk works, it’s not worth the risk.”

Tim Lytle is a Technology Consultant & oDesk Contract Web Developer. Owner of timlytle.net ltd since 2003, his oDesk adventures have been mentioned on the BBC’s Click, in Forbes Magazine and at CIO.com.

Image by TimWilson.

Other people who liked this article liked these too

Bas de Baar is an independent consultant based in the Netherlands. He uniquely combines over a decade of project and team leadership with nearly a decade online presence in the area of Project Leadership in a global and virtual world.

Digital Marketplace oDesk – Interview With Tim Lytle


Categories: Blogs

The Need For Standardization Of The Rules Of Engagements

Mon, 07/05/2010 - 11:02

The functions within a film crew are clearly defined. There are many specialized roles which each tackles a specific aspect of the production of a movie. When the movie studio assembles a crew to make a picture it’s essential the crew members know what is expected of them in a certain role and what they can expect from the other members. Ramp up time is short, so discussions about what it means to be a key costumer or loader should be kept to a minimum. Standardization of approaches and language allows for smooth transitions when crews are assembled.

When organization are operating as project facilitators and make use of a global pool of mobile knowledge workers, standardization seems to become increasingly important. If the entire team uses the same rules on how to conduct meetings, which artifacts to create and which rituals to perform, coordination and ramp up time is kept to a minimum.

For this to work, the rules of engagement must be three things:

  • Simple: And short. And sweet. If everyone should hold the same view of the rules, the threshold for learning should be low.
  • Accessible: Team members must be able to reference the rule set quickly in case they need to look something up. If it’s available on the web or intranet, people will use it.
  • Label Must Fit: If you use a “standard” rule set by it’s name, like Scrum, XP, Prince2, you really have to use the entire set that is covered by the label. PINO, as in Prince In Name Only, or SINO, Scrum In Name Only, is worst case. People will than assume they are working according to a certain set of rules, when in reality they are not.

So, it’s not just about having a standard, it also about how it’s perceived and used.

Clear communication about expectations is essential in a world with a pool of flexible talent on one side, facilitating containers with a purpose on the other side. When interviewing mobile workers one thing became very clear: you need to communicate in detail what people can expect from you; when you will be available online, what is included and what not in your services, how you work, what you want from the client, etc. When you get hired for a temporary job, surprises should be kept to a minimum that way.

By providing this information on the internet, digital nomads can be clear up front, so organizations or clients will only interact when they see a match. Companies that assemble crews should do the same: define up front the way they are planning to work. Simple. Accessible. And with a label that fits.

Image by Missio.

Other people who liked this article liked these too

Bas de Baar is an independent consultant based in the Netherlands. He uniquely combines over a decade of project and team leadership with nearly a decade online presence in the area of Project Leadership in a global and virtual world.

The Need For Standardization Of The Rules Of Engagements


Categories: Blogs

Shrink Tours: Soccer Uhm Football And Grinding Time

Fri, 07/02/2010 - 11:41

The first thing I do when I visit a large foreign city is … take a Hop-on-hop-off bus. Easy and convenient way to get a guided tour through a new place. So, I wondered, why not do this for the web?

Stop 1: John Cleese rants – Soccer vs Football

Let me do this while I still can (Holland – Brazil in a couple of hours). Mention the World Cup Football.

Stop 2: How Social Media Solves Communication Problems

Finally I found the time to write a post outlining the content of the presentations I did last year about social media.

“Whatever your take is of social media, there is no denying that it has attracted a mass audience. From children to grandparents, from wold travelers to cubicle warriors, they all have found a place at social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn. Perhaps it might have been a kids play at first, but, somehow, something that wasn’t supposed to be valuable for business, now is. Looking closer at social media, this is not a surprise.”

You can read the post at my blog at Gantthead.com.

Stop 3: Grinding Time

Did we use to think of our own available time in years and days, our modern society is more and more concerned with seconds and even smaller units of measurement. Those smaller units of time are also getting more and more precious, as more resources are competing to get a slot of our attention.

Ali Anani makes us aware of the concept of Disposable Time in his short presentation Grinding Time: the time available we can save or spend consciously.

Grinding Time View more presentations from Ali Anani. Other people who liked this article liked these too

Bas de Baar is an independent consultant based in the Netherlands. He uniquely combines over a decade of project and team leadership with nearly a decade online presence in the area of Project Leadership in a global and virtual world.

Shrink Tours: Soccer Uhm Football And Grinding Time


Categories: Blogs

Location Independent Professionals – Interview With Lea Woodward

Wed, 06/30/2010 - 15:38

One upcoming trend in the current global workforce is the rise of independent mobile professionals. People that can work from anywhere using the Internet so location doesn’t matter. Lea Woodward calls them Location Independent Professionals.

Lea left her job as a management consultant for the world’s largest consulting company to pursue a life of freedom. She now runs a business with her husband as they travel the world with their daughter. And they run The Location Independent Network.

I had the pleasure of asking her some questions about the way she works.

Why did you decide to become location independent?

LW: “My husband was made redundant in 2006 and we decided to make a go of running our own business together (me doing business coaching & him doing branding/graphic design). The only problem was how to maintain our current (nice) lifestyle with a new business. We hit upon the idea of living & working from lower cost countries while we were getting going to take the pressure of our business and that’s why we hit the road.”

Do your clients know you are “on the road”? Does this matter?

LW: “Yes, most of the time they do know (even the larger corporate clients). We make no secret of it (it’d be hard given that we run the site LocationIndependent.com!) and have always been upfront with clients about our nomadic lifestyle. From a project management perspective, we decided that we needed to be honest about it not only for our own peace of mind but because of aspects like being in different time zones and other small challenges that we thought we may face (such as the rare times we’ve not had stable internet).

We have always tried to mitigate for the fact that we’re location independent by ensuring we give a superior service to clients and anticipate any potential challenges our lifestyle may cause. This includes ensuring we schedule client projects & time lines around our travel schedules (and vice versa), ensuring we always respond to clients emails promptly and being very specific and clear in our email communications to prevent any misunderstandings. Good project management is a must – and it’s what has set us apart from others, even those who aren’t location independent.”

Do you manage others and how do you make this work?

LW: “We have worked with a number of different VAs (virtual assistants), technology suppliers and we work with small teams of people on some of our different projects (clients & personal ones) who are based all over the world. For the LocationIndependentProfessinals.com site, I manage an editor & team of writers who are based in Spain, the US, Barbados & Japan. It works well & we’ve never had any problems working with people based in different countries.

We manage the majority of communication by email but always use Skype as a stand-by for phone calls and quick screencasts (Jing) for tutorials, if we need to visually demonstrate how to do certain things. Again, one of the things we’re careful to manage are time zone differences – as you’ll see from my email signature, I always put what time zone I’m in and it’s usually one of the first things I ask someone we work with.

We are also careful to set and manage expectations of the people we work with – we create process documents, informal agreements & contracts (where needed) and ensure that everyone knows where they stand, before they have to ask. It’s about anticipating problems, before they arise…also known as risk management, in the project management world, I believe :) ”

What should managers/clients realize when they are working with location independent professionals?

LW: “Remote working is not a new concept – as a former management consultant for Accenture, we frequently worked away from the office, with multi-national teams on client sites or in satellite locations. Location independence is basically the same thing – it functions well with clear lines of communication, good guidelines, setting expectations, professionalism and respect.

It sometimes comes with a few additional challenges but as long as these are recognised and a solution is implemented to deal with these before they arise, the benefits of location independence outweigh the drawbacks.

The only other thing I’d stress is about understanding any cultural differences – or language differences – when it comes to working hours, working practices and communication with multi-national teams. If you’re working with or managing people from multiple countries, it’s essential to understand that sometimes differences or problems are cultural, not because somebody is unprofessional or not very good at what they do.”

What is the number one lesson you learned in the last years?

LW: “Creating and maintaining a network (both online and offline) is a vital key to your success. Keeping up-to-date with and leveraging social networks online to do this is a must-have these days and having an effective strategy to do so ensures these add value rather than become just a time suck. And the other key lesson we’ve learned: whatever the interaction, always add value.”

Lea left her job as a management consultant for the world’s largest consulting company to pursue a life of freedom. She now runs a business with her husband as they travel the world with their daughter. They share their experiences and a range of resources to help other rat race escapees live & work from anywhere through the Location Independent network.

Image by sskennel.

Other people who liked this article liked these too

Bas de Baar is an independent consultant based in the Netherlands. He uniquely combines over a decade of project and team leadership with nearly a decade online presence in the area of Project Leadership in a global and virtual world.

Location Independent Professionals – Interview With Lea Woodward


Categories: Blogs

Potion – New Technology For Communication

Tue, 06/29/2010 - 11:53

Dave Prior interviews Kevin Hogan about telepresence and tips on use of video conferencing.

Click here if you can’t view the video in the post.

Other people who liked this article liked these too

Bas de Baar is an independent consultant based in the Netherlands. He uniquely combines over a decade of project and team leadership with nearly a decade online presence in the area of Project Leadership in a global and virtual world.

Potion – New Technology For Communication


Categories: Blogs

The Wireless Generation – Interview with Christine Gilbert

Mon, 06/28/2010 - 10:51

One upcoming trend in the current global workforce is the rise of independent mobile professionals. People that can work from anywhere using the Internet. Christine Gilbert, author of the fantastic travel blog Almost Fearless, and her husband are digital nomads, combining travel and work.

They are currently starting a new project: the making of a documentary called “The Wireless Generation” which is about this upcoming group of folks who are trading the cubicle in for a life of travel. I had the pleasure of interviewing Christine about the way she works and the documentary.

What are digital nomads?

CG: “A digital nomad is someone who travels around the world but still keeps their job.  It’s become more popular in recent years as wifi has become available even in the most remote corners of the world and the concept of working outside of the office has been more accepted.  If you have a laptop, can live in any country, travel frequently and still make a living — then you’re probably a digital nomad. My husband and I are both digital nomads… he works as a designer for a big company and I’m a writer.  We’ve traveled to 16 countries in the past 2 years.”

How did you get started with Almost Fearless?

CG: “I started like most people do… I wanted to have a place to write about my adventure and share it with family and friends.  I’m not sure really what happened… I think I got lucky and people wanted to hear more about this lifestyle… but since our launch we’ve become one of the most read travel blogs in the world.”

How do you get to do your work remotely?

CG: “First, to work remotely, you need to figure what you’re going to do.  The main options are: work for an employer, become a freelancer, or start an online business.  It’s becoming easier to work remotely for an employer in the US… even the government has started work-from-home programs.  The key is finding someone who offers that.  I would check monster.com for telecommuting jobs first, and even if the job you’re looking for doesn’t offer remote work, if they offer any positions that do, I would apply and request a work-from-home situation.  For freelancing and online businesses, there is a bit of ramp up time, but it’s pretty easy to make these jobs location non-specific.” 

How do you manage your day-to-day work?

CG: “For managing my daily work flow, I travel with my laptop, connect to the internet and begin my workday.  For my husband this means being available via IM during specific hours of the day (he maintains east coast hours wherever we go) and for me that just means responding to requests via email.  Because we both produce digital content, we’re able to upload our work to our clients servers (or our own).  For client calls we use Skype or buy a cheap cell phone in the country we’re in.”

How do you find projects?

CG: “There are a ton of resources for finding freelance work, but for me, I use contacts that I’ve made online.  I think the days of cold-calling businesses have gone away.  The world is a much more connected place and if you can reach out to someone through a shared contact then you’re that much closer to landing work.  My main haunts are LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.”

What is the documentary about?

CG: “The documentary is called The Wireless Generation and it’s about this upcoming group of folks who are trading the cubicle in for a life of travel — all because they can work 100% remotely using wireless internet.  I think this trend has just started, but it makes so much sense, why wouldn’t it continue?  How will employers justify keeping you in the office if 99% of your job is producing work that you can do from your laptop, anywhere?  Do you actually need to be there? 

The answer for a lot of folks has become a resounding no.  We’re traveling around the world interviewing people, who have adopted this alternative lifestyle and showing all the different ways people make it work.  Young people, single people, couples, families with kids, the technology-challenged, the laid back, the high-powered, the meek… really everyone.  We want to show the possibilities, not just for the super-adventurous Richard Branson types, but for everyone.”

How will you produce it?

CG: “It’s community-funded.  We’ve just raised $10,000 for the equipment and software to produce it  — most of which came from private micro-donations through my website.”

For more information, visit AlmostFearless.com.

Image by Mike Baird.

Other people who liked this article liked these too

Bas de Baar is an independent consultant based in the Netherlands. He uniquely combines over a decade of project and team leadership with nearly a decade online presence in the area of Project Leadership in a global and virtual world.

The Wireless Generation – Interview with Christine Gilbert


Categories: Blogs

New Trends In The Project Ecosystem

Sun, 06/27/2010 - 11:03

“I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center.” -Kurt Vonnegut

You learn a lot about your own country when traveling. When visiting India, China and Morocco I became aware of things in my own Dutch culture I didn’t know. Experiencing and learning things you are not used to, helps you to add new properties to yourself and become aware of the things you already posses.

I find this to be true not only on a personal but also on a professional level. By pushing the boundaries on looking at what projects are, how they operate, why they operate the way they do, experiencing how they get affected by changes in technology and society and other areas provides me knowledge about not only where we may be heading, but also what to think about current practices.

This is one of the main arguments behind my writings at Project Shrink. This, together with viewing a project as part of an ecosystem, containing organizations, individuals, technology and global workforce:

“If we are studying projects, we cannot do this without looking at the individual stakeholders and team members. We cannot do this without the organization where the project is conducted. We have a tendency to look at individual elements, and we know somewhere there are some connections, but mostly we treat every scale individually. But all things are interconnected.”

Currently there are four categories of “trends” in this project ecosystem I am particularly interested in. Things that are already happening. Things that already are of influence or will become of influence in the ecosystem of projects. Last week I started interviewing people experiencing these trends. The first interviews will be posted on this blog this week.

1. Independent mobile workforce

The internet has allowed us to basically work and communicate from a different location than the organization we do our work for. Of course, telecommuting and virtual teams are nothing new. But technology and changes in the workforce (preferences and availability of skills) is pushing the scale to which it is adopted. When we combine this with an independent workforce, one that has no full-time engagement with an employer, we get an extreme mobile pool of knowledge workers.

This pool can be found on the web. There are different names going around for this kind of professional. In earlier writings I used one, the CloudWorker, a term coined by Venkathesh Rao:

“The cloudworker is the prototypical information worker of tomorrow. He overachieves or coasts remotely, collaborates or backstabs virtually, and delivers his gold or garbage to a shifting long-tail micro-market defined only by his own talents or lack thereof. The cloudworker manages personal microbrand equity and network social capital rather than a career.”

In later interviews you will also see terms like “Digital Nomad” and “Location Independent Professional”.

This category of professionals is of interest for managers as they have elements we would consider traditionally as problematic: independent, not on physical location, different countries and virtual communication. Somehow they make it work.

2. Organizations as project facilitators

John Koa, author of “Innovation Nation” introduced me to the idea of Hollywood as a business model for organziations. He refers with this to the way movie studios operate. The studios go from movie to movie. They create a culture and structure in which the creative talent is hired on a movie to movie base. And they put out movie after movie. A company in this model has a small core by itself and attracts workforce and third parties on a project to project or product to product base. In this way organizations are nothing more than an empty vehicle to facilitate the execution of a large set of temporary endeavors.

Koa illustrated this during his keynote presentation this year at the PMI EMEA Congress with the example of pharmaceutical companies. A ten person operation can run a pharma company. Everything they need is attracted on product to product base. From the actual manufacturing of pills to clinical research.

This trend is of importance to our managers as they will become increasingly more confronted with the managing of a culture of temporariness. The companies that are already doing this to such an extreme might provide us with great insights.

3. Digital marketplace

With the previous two categories we created the image of a pool of flexible talent on one side, facilitating containers with a purpose on the other side. The following question is how we get both of them together?

To get a closer look at how such a mechanism works I want to focus on online marketplaces for projects. There are several places on the internet where companies can publish a project and put together a team on a project per project base. Examples I am aware of are oDesk, vWorker (formerly RentACoder), eLance and Guru.

These marketplaces range from pure “finding resources” like a traditional job site, to a complete integrated project life cycle, including payments, arbitration, reporting, progress tracking and general communication.

In one of the first interviews I conducted I was surprised to find out that it is not just something anymore for projects that are pure “build to spec”, waterfall type. The combination of ways to pay, progress tracking, arbitration in case of conflict and close customer interaction have allowed for an iterative way of working.

This trend is not about technology. It is about the way the process and interactions are constructed.

4. Infrastructure

Now this category is largely about technology. All other trends are made feasible because the way technology is evolving. Social media helps the independent mobile workforce to profile itself and connect with potential customers. Outsourcing components to different physical locations can only take place when digital communication can bridge the gap. The digital marketplace is, well, digital. So yes, iPhones, Facebooks, Wikis and the Skypes of this world are essential in making it all happen.

But that is not the only element of the infrastructure that powers the previous trends. A mobile workforce still needs a place to work. And working at home is not always possible or even desirable. Flexible, on demand, low cost housing is also part of the infrastructure I am considering. I recently started to use a concept called Co-working myself. As defined by Wikipedia:

“Coworking is a style of work which involves a shared working environment, sometimes an office yet independent activity. Unlike in a typical office environment, those coworking are usually not employed by the same organization. Typically it is attractive to work-at-home professionals, independent contractors, or people who travel frequently who end up working in relative isolation.”

There is more to the infrastructure than wires. And if we want to take lessons from the previous trends, we need to pay attention to both.

Invitation to contributions

If you are currently experiencing one of these trends or know of organizations or professionals that do, I would appreciate if you contact me (no sales pitches please).

Other people who liked this article liked these too

Bas de Baar is an independent consultant based in the Netherlands. He uniquely combines over a decade of project and team leadership with nearly a decade online presence in the area of Project Leadership in a global and virtual world.

New Trends In The Project Ecosystem


Categories: Blogs

The Design Of Design By Frederick Brooks

Sat, 06/26/2010 - 11:21

Software projects are about humans… They’ve always been. During my study, I got inspired by Barry Boehm’s Theory W, everything Fred Brooks has written, Tom DeMaro and Tom Lister, and Alistair Cockburn. Actually, “The Mythical Man Month” (affiliate link) by Brooks is still one of my all time favorite classics.

That is why I was excited at the opportunity to read the new book by Frederick Brooks “The Design Of Design” (affiliate link. Disclaimer: I got a free review copy). This book contains 20 essays and 7 case studies about the design process. Although it is written by a computer scientist, it tries to appeal to the design of artifacts in general; as design in the construction of something, not as in how something should look and feel.

I especially liked the essay called “What Is Wrong With This Process?” Yes, it the old discussion between waterfall approach and iterative design.

Brooks is on the iterative side: “Even if the goal were fixed and known … design would still be iterative, because the constraints keep changing.”

What I found great about his treatment of the topic is the focus on the persistence of the waterfall model. Even in the original paper in which Royce described the waterfall approach, the author described the model to point out to its deficiencies. So how come we still talk about it?

Brooks makes the connect to the Rational Model by Herbert Simon. It’s a problem solving paradigm that still dominates in the field. Some people claim that the “design everything first and than just build according to design and never change it” paradigm is helpful for beginning designers. It’s far more easier to explain and to grasp than the ugliness of iterative approaches. The author doesn’t agree. The elegance and straight forward simpleness should not be the argument to use a process that is different from effective practices. He explains that novice designers are perfectly capable of understanding an iterative design practice on intuition.

By a stroke of coincidence at the same time I read a blog post by Lyssa Adkins, an agile trainer. She just had taught here first class of people that had no idea what waterfall is…

“I said, “Who here knows what I’m talking about when I say ‘waterfall.’”  No one spoke.  I quickly explained waterfall … and one of them piped up, “Well, that’s just stupid. Who would ever choose to work that way in the world we live in?”

So it seems, Brooks is right.

But that I already knew from “The Mythical Man Month”.

Other people who liked this article liked these too

Bas de Baar is an independent consultant based in the Netherlands. He uniquely combines over a decade of project and team leadership with nearly a decade online presence in the area of Project Leadership in a global and virtual world.

The Design Of Design By Frederick Brooks


Categories: Blogs

Potion 14 – Vuvuzela

Tue, 06/22/2010 - 13:23

In episode 14 of Project Potion, Dave and Bas talk about language issues when working abroad and the need for diversity in teams. Of course, they also talks shortly about the World Cup.

Subscribe to the Podcast

Other people who liked this article liked these too

Bas de Baar is an independent consultant based in the Netherlands. He uniquely combines over a decade of project and team leadership with nearly a decade online presence in the area of Project Leadership in a global and virtual world.

Potion 14 – Vuvuzela


Categories: Blogs

Shrink Tours: Business Analysts, Soccer And Leadership

Mon, 06/21/2010 - 10:15

The first thing I do when I visit a large foreign city is … take a Hop-on-hop-off bus. Easy and convenient way to get a guided tour through a new place. So, I wondered, why not do this for the web?

Stop 1: Business Analysts Survey And Free Framework Poster

The guys over at Aotea Studios are working on a requirements management tool and need some feedback from business analysts in the field. Please all BAs out there, hop on over and take the very short survey on required features. To thank people for sharing their opinions, there is  a free poster (BA Framework) for downloading.

Stop 2: Soccer And Leadership

So yes, I am all fired up about the current World Cup (yeah, soccer!). Bill Lang is also a big soccer fan. Him being Australian I am guessing he’s cheering for the Socceroos. Bill mailed me a while ago about an interesting podcast interview he did. Oh, it’s about leadership.

This podcast …

“with leadership consultant and executive coach Bill Lang, author of Scores on the Board: The 5-Part System for Building Skills, Teams & Businesses. Based on research Lang conducted while a Fulbright Scholar at Harvard Business School, Scores on the Board uses the engaging story of a struggling Under-11s soccer team to illustrate how managers can better apply themselves and their employees to improve performance and stimulate productivity in the workplace.”

Stop 3: Great Blogs I Recently Discovered

Some interesting Project Management blogs I recently started to follow:

Ah Ha Moments (or almost) by Luis Seabra Coelho
The Passionate Project Manager by Elisabeth Bucci

Other people who liked this article liked these too

Bas de Baar is an independent consultant based in the Netherlands. He uniquely combines over a decade of project and team leadership with nearly a decade online presence in the area of Project Leadership in a global and virtual world.

Shrink Tours: Business Analysts, Soccer And Leadership


Categories: Blogs

Finding The Right CloudWorker

Fri, 06/18/2010 - 14:37

“The telecommuter is dead; meet the cloudworker.” – Venkatesh Rao

CloudWorkers. By the amount of mails I got after my earlier post this week, I assume it’s a topic you find fascinating. Well, I do. As far as I know, this term was coined by Venkathesh Rao:

“The cloudworker is the prototypical information worker of tomorrow. He overachieves or coasts remotely, collaborates or backstabs virtually, and delivers his gold or garbage to a shifting long-tail micro-market defined only by his own talents or lack thereof. The cloudworker manages personal microbrand equity and network social capital rather than a career.”

The term itself refers to the fact that this kind of knowledge worker uses his laptop and a connection to The Cloud (the Internet) to get his work done.

And we have the notion of organizations as nothing more but vehicles to facilitate talent coming together to achieve a certain purpose.

A pool of flexible talent on one side, facilitating containers with a purpose on the other side.

For some this image might be a stretch. Nothing more than some “hypothetical idea for the future”. If that is you, I’ll invite you to watch a small video from a company called oDesk. oDesk is a marketplace for online workteams, with, according to the company self, the best business model for buyers and providers. I have no affiliation or experience with this company. I just invite you to watch the short video and read this webpage with statistics.

It gets you a little more in the direction of what I am taking about.

Questions! What do you mean?

I also got a question about the “temporary context”. Why don’t call it a project? (Read this if you get all confused about “context”)

Fair question. Temporary context is a project viewed as a cultural entity. It is not limited to a project though. It can also be an online community or movement that has a temporary character.

And. What has PMBok, agile, scrum or any framework, methods, Bag of Tricks to do with culture?

The adoption of any approach, idea or philosophy of how things should be done, is part of the culture. With any Bag Of Tricks, by choosing one, the organizational culture is affected.

Diversity and homogeneity in the organizational context.

Yesterday I argued that decentralized diversity is needed for resilience. But homogeneity is also needed to ensure an organization has consistency.

I’ll illustrate this idea with an example.

An organization can create a context in which a large diversity of people find it a pleasure to work. Richard Florida, author of “The Flight of the Creative Class: The New Global Competition for Talent“, argues that three factors are important to attract highly skilled, creative, independent thinking people: technology, talent and tolerance. The 3Ts.

“For a city to attract the Creative Class, he argues, it must possess “the three ‘T’s”: Talent (a highly talented/educated/skilled population), Tolerance (a diverse community, which has a ‘live and let live’ ethos), and Technology (the technological infrastructure necessary to fuel an entrepreneurial culture). In Rise of the Creative Class”, Florida argues that members of the Creative Class value meritocracy, diversity and individuality, and look for these characteristics when they relocate (2002).” (Wikipedia)

Although Florida’s application is to geographic regions, like cities, the concepts could also be extended to an organizational context.

Alignment!

A clear vision, a compelling corporate ambition, is a homogeneity factor. The story the organization is telling is very important. You are making the world a safer place for citizens. You are creating a more sustainable environment by developing eco-solutions. You want to bring a PC to every desktop in the world. You want to provide a laptop to every child in developing nations. Your story is worth telling. And it’s this story that will keep everyone focused around a common theme.

An organizational context should balance elements that nourish diversity and homogeneity.

How do the three levels interact?

At this moment, I consider the following interactions between organization, temporary context and individual.

One.

On meeting a Challenge the organizational context is dominant when the temporary context is created. If the organization is traditional, the initial temporary endeavor will also be traditional. If the organization is tolerant, the initial project culture will be tolerant.

Two.

The temporary context serves as an attractor for individuals. An exciting project, a WOW project, will attract certain individuals. A public declaration of cause and culture functions as an attractor for “the right people”. Or, to stay in tune with the opening of this post: “the right CloudWorkers”.

Three.

After time, the members of the temporary context start effecting their own context. This reinforcing loop can create a creative and productive context, but it can also create a destructive deviant clique.

What’s the use?

It provides a way to look at “managing a culture of temporariness.”

A pool of flexible talent on one side, facilitating containers with a purpose on the other side. How do we get one side to the other side, and what happens next?

Sure. It’s still a basic structure. With sometimes confusing labels.

And we need to talk about the Openness that is The Internet. Or Ze Cloud.

Definitely need to talk about that.

Image by markhillary.

Other people who liked this article liked these too

Bas de Baar is an independent consultant based in the Netherlands. He uniquely combines over a decade of project and team leadership with nearly a decade online presence in the area of Project Leadership in a global and virtual world.

Finding The Right CloudWorker


Categories: Blogs