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QS2 Connect
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martyschwan
Jan 12, 20222 min read
Tool Review – SpiraTest
SpiraTest by Inflectra is a great testing and requirements management tool. It can really help set your methodology apart from the others...
martyschwan
Jan 11, 20222 min read
Value of Requirements to Test Case Mapping
So often in COTS (commercial off the shelf) solution implementations we see customers and vendors at odds with fulfillment of...
martyschwan
Jan 10, 20222 min read
Building a Smartsheet Dashboard
I’ve posted in the past about how Smartsheet provides good dashboarding capabilities. Today I’m going to dive a little deeper in how to...
martyschwan
Jan 7, 20222 min read
Value of a SOW Review
Statement of Work (SOW) reviews are something that should be done at the outset of every project. Unfortunately, we don’t see enough of...
martyschwan
Jan 6, 20222 min read
Top Three Things to Include in a SOW
Statements of Work (SOW) are the typical contracting vehicle in a services-based industry. I’ve spent a good portion of my career either...
martyschwan
Jan 5, 20222 min read
Most Underrated Features of MS Project
MS Project is one of the premier tools out there for developing and managing project schedules. It is incredibly feature-rich and today I...
martyschwan
Jan 4, 20222 min read
Wearing Out Your Mental Transmission – The Cost of Switching Gears
With most workers who can work from home it seems that there is an increased factor of constant task switching. Being ‘accessible’ to...
martyschwan
Dec 22, 20212 min read
Presenting Your Methodology
Part of almost every sales presentation for your COTS or custom product will involve some manner of showing off how you plan to deliver...
martyschwan
Nov 26, 20212 min read
Meeting Management – Cost of Over-Inviting
We’ve all been there before – you need to call a meeting but aren’t sure where to draw the line at invitees. This post will focus on the...
martyschwan
Nov 25, 20212 min read
Structuring an Effective PMO – Providing Guidance
One of the most important jobs of a PMO is to provide guidance to the team of project managers in the organization. The PMO will (should)...
martyschwan
Nov 11, 20212 min read
Product Review – Smartsheet
Today I’d like to provide a review of one of the PSA (professional services automation) tools out there gaining some popularity in the...
The Cultural Nomad
Oct 27, 20212 min read
Proxemics Is Also a Cultural Preference
Suppose you’ve had the opportunity to travel to different places of the world, with various national cultures. In that case, you might...
martyschwan
Oct 24, 20212 min read
Product Review – Clarizen Capacity Planning
I’ve used a multitude of PSA (professional services automation) tools over the span of my career and feel compelled to give a review of...
martyschwan
Oct 22, 20212 min read
The Value of Focus Time
It’s been said many times that multi-tasking is simply not possible – our brains are not wired that way, which is true. We cannot...
martyschwan
Oct 21, 20212 min read
Structuring and Effective PMO Part 3 – Organizational Buy In
Your project management office (PMO) is not going to be very effective if you do not get organizational and executive buy in to what you...
martyschwan
Oct 15, 20212 min read
Structuring and Effective PMO Part 2 – Templates
Building a PMO is a very challenging yet rewarding task. In my last post I talked about the importance of methodology, not just from a...
martyschwan
Sep 30, 20212 min read
Building an Effective PMO Part 1 – Methodology
A Project Management Office (PMO) is put in place by organizations not to run projects themselves but to help the project managers run...
The Cultural Nomad
Sep 29, 20212 min read
Is Exceptionalism Exclusive of Americans?
American exceptionalism is the term used to describe the idea that values, political system, and evolution (historical point of view) of...
martyschwan
Sep 23, 20212 min read
How to Deliver a Great Presentation (Remotely)
Anyone who gives presentations as part of their job has most certainly had to adapt to the changing landscape over the last 18 months and...
The Cultural Nomad
Aug 30, 20213 min read
Emily in Paris and Ted Lasso: Two Different Ways to Acculturate
Emily in Paris (link to IMDb) is a Netflix comedy-drama first released in 2020. It is about an American marketing executive named Emily,...
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