Project management is … 

The art of creating the illusion that any outcome
 is the result of a series of predetermined, deliberate acts 

when, in fact, it was dumb luck. 

    (Harold Kerzner, 1995)

Don’t use a sledgehammer to crack a walnut’, 
but equally don’t agree important things informally where there is a chance of a disagreement later over what was agreed. 
     (Colin Bentley, 199)

Danger Réalité 

Attention une dose trop forte de réalité peut gravement 

nuire à la qualité de vos rêves.

Toujours se protéger par une couche épaisse d'illusion. 

Meetnaping : the tendency to kidnap a colleague 

by forcing him to attend a useless meeting

- I need a budget estimate for my project. 

But don't have a scope or a design for it yet. 

- Okay. My estimate is $3.583.729

- You don't know anything about my project

- That makes two of us. 

Those who plan do better than those who do not plan 

even though they rarely stick to their plan. 

(Winston Churchill)

Know when to cut your losses if necessary. 

Don't let your desire to succeed be the enemy of good judgment. 

If Napoleon had left Moscow immediately, 

he may have returned with a salvageable army.

 (Jerry Manas, 2002)

 

With computers seem to have a lot of spare time ...

If it is not documented, it doesn't exist. 

As long as information is retained in someone's head, it is vulnerable to loss.

   (Louis Fried, 1992)

L is for the way you look at me

O is for the only one I see

V is very, very extraordinary

E is even more than anyone that you adore can

Love is all that I can give to you

Love is more than just a game for two

Two in love can make it

Take my heart and please don't break it

Love was made for me and you

(Nat King Cole, Love)

Design vs User Experience

Why do so many professionals say they are project managing,
when what they are actually doing is fire fighting?
   (Colin Bentley, 1997)

Ninety percent of the game is half mental.

(Yogi Berra)

- Life could be worse, Calvin

- Life could be a lot better too! 

You may con a person into committing to an unreasonable deadline, 
but you cannot bully them into meeting it. 

(Edward, Butler, Hill & Russel; 1997)

I stand upon my desk 

to remind myself that

we must constantly 

look at things

in a different way. 

(Dead Poets Society)

20% of people do 80% of the work. 

80% of the people think that they are these 20% 

One good test is worth a thousand expert opinions. 

  tWernher von Braun)

Success is not final, failure si not fatal;

it is the courage to continue that counts. 

(Winston Churchill)

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

(Theodore Roosevelt, Citizenship in a Republic; Paris, France – 1910)

Dear Life, 

When I asked if my day could get worse, 

It was a rhetorical question,  

not a challenge. 

You must remain focused on your journey to greatness. 

(Les Brown)

Il court il court le furet
....
Il est passé par ici, il repassera par là… le furet du bois Mesdames

If you can interpret project status data in several different ways,

only the most painful interpretation will be correct.

Tous les hommes sont menteurs, inconstants, faux, bavards, hypocrites, orgueilleux et lâches, méprisables et sensuels ; 
toutes les femmes sont perfides, artificieuses, vaniteuses, curieuses et dépravées ; 
le monde n’est qu’un égout sans fond où les phoques les plus informes rampent et se tordent sur des montagnes de fange ; 
mais s’il y a au monde une chose sainte et sublime, c’est l’union de deux de ces êtres si imparfaits et si affreux.
 (Alfred de Musset)
et bien ... 

C'est impossible, dit la Fierté

C'est risqué, dit l'Expérience

C'est sans issue, dit la Raison, 

Essayons, murmure le Coeur

(William Arthur Ward)

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. 

(English proverb)

A person who feels appreciated 

will always do more than what is expected.

Keep calm and 

don't disturbe

the REALITY DISTORTION FIELD

If you spend too much time thinking about a thing, 

you'll never get it done. 

  (Bruce Lee)

Life is what we make it,

always has been, 

always will be. 

    (Grandma Moses)

Never hope for it more

 than you work for it.

The aim of an argument, or of a discussion, 

should not be victory but progress 

     (Karl Popper)

If it doesn't matter, get rid of it !

If you want to be successful, you must respect one rule: 

Never lie to yourself. 

(Paulo Coelho)

FOCUS 

Follow 

One 

Course

Until 

Successful

CTRL + ALT + DEL

Control Yourself

Look for Alternative Solutions

Delete Situations that give you tension and  negative energy

Change your heart

Look around you

Change your heart

It will astound you

I need your lovin'

Like the sunshine

(Everybody's gotta learn sometime, Korgis)

Let data drive decisions, not the HIPO (*)

(*) HIghest Paid Person's Opinion

Bite off more than you can chew. 

And then chew it. 

Everything was better back when everything was worse.

When the root is deep... 

there is no reason to fear the wind. 

 

FUD factor

 

Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt

 

Change is

hard at the beginning

messy in the middle

gorgeous at the end

 

.... it seems to be the middle :)

Surround yourself with those on the same mission as you.

People discuss my art and pretend to understand

 as if it were necessary to understand, 

when it's simply necessary to love. 

(Claude Monet)

Do you have a  phone that doesn't do too much ? 

Anything that is measured and watched, improves..

(Bob Parsons)

Be strong

because things will get better. 

It may be stormy now but it never rains forever.

Lorsque souffle le vent du changement, 

certains construisent des murs, d’autres des moulins. 

  (Proverbe chinois)

GIGO = Garbage IN, Garbage OUT

 

Ours... en roses

(thanks Red H)

 

 

A person with a dream and vision

is more powerful than a person with facts and a budget.