Blog: Michael Serna

Excellence in Project Management

Microsoft has certainly had its share of success throughout the many years. In order for the corporation to establish itself as a solution to many companies project management needs, Bill Gates created the popular Microsoft application called, Microsoft Project. In fact, Microsoft explains 10 benefits why Microsoft Project (Enterprise) is a great PM software tool to use that can ease up your project management needs. The 10 are:

1.     Standardize and automate the governance processes.

2.     Capture all investments within a central repository.

3.     Objectively prioritize business strategy and competing investments.

4.     Align the selected portfolios with the business strategy.

5.     Effectively manage resources.

6.     Collaborate and coordinate easily.

7.     Measure and track portfolio performance.

8.     Get more from existing technology investments.

9.     Tightly integrate with line of business applications.

10.  Quickly realize a return on investment.

Ref: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/epmsolution/HA101655111033.aspx

This makes it easier for the PM to plan, budget, and schedule a project visually before giving a presentation in front of managers, stakeholders, or owners.

Microsoft has supported its customers by acquiring six components of excellence in project management:

1.     Integrated Process

2.     Culture

3.     Management Support

4.     Training and Education

5.     Informal Project Management

6.     Behavioral Excellence

Ref: Kerzner, H. (2004). Advanced project management. Wiley. Pg. 16

An organization that has these 6 components can have structure and can expect an increase amount of customer satisfaction that can lead to sales. Because of Microsoft’s decision to help businesses develop with project management, it has driven departments to successfully integrate the software as part of their business product development process. This is why I believe that Microsoft certainly deserves to be mentioned up there with having project management excellence.

Here’s something to look forward to: Project 2010 and Project 2010 Beta Site

Sallie Mae's Customer "SERVICE"

I called customer service to check on my financial status. I found out they now outsource customer service calls to India. They don't know what I'm talking about so they transfered me to another rep. Then it led me to another person in India. Nothing resolved after waiting for 45 mins. ... Thank you Sallie Mae.

PMI Certification

Tonight I go back to school in preparing myself for my PMP Exam. This exam has benefits of the following:

For organizations, the most significant benefit of PMI credentials is that it allows them to assemble project teams of credential holders and reap many rewards, ranging from improved processes and results to employee retention. View the top 10 reasons for supporting PMI credentials in your work force.

For individuals who obtain and maintain PMI credentials, you not only get recognized for your skills and knowledge during the vigorous credentialing process, but also show your dedication to the profession and professional development. View the top 10 reasons for earning a PMI credential.

Even the family of credentials undergoes a vigorous process of development and maintenance that is recognized by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The graphic below illustrates the credential development and maintenance process.

I surprise myself in getting back into school. Especially this soon. I wont be so much publicly informing a lot of people of my return to class for exception through this blog entry. But improving my skill sets is something I guess I'll never stop. Education I believe is valuable that we shouldn't take for granted.

"Today's" Computers

Read this article if you're into 1 or more of the following:

• A conventional personal computer geek
• One that's into eye-candy (which means: visual images that are pleasing to see but are intellectually undemanding)
• A blog writer or reader
• Uses a cell phone for more than just a cell phone
• A business analyst
• A multimedia specialist of some sort (edit movies, convert movies, engineer or record audio or music, addicted youtube watcher, etc.)
• A designer of some sort (print, web, engineer, architect)
• A savvy internet user or internet researcher
• Involved in some way Social Media (facebook, twitter, digg, flickr, etc.)
• A sucker for gadgets and tech
• An Apple fan
• A Windows user
• PC Gamer

My article today involve 2 companies that have fought over computer supremacy over the past couple years. Microsoft and Apple! The one thing that intrigues me about my blog entry today is that new operating systems have been released recently that I have yet to take a part in purchasing. 

Recently a month or two ago, Apple Snow Leopard (OS Version 10.6) became available for the hardcore "APPLE FANS." Freeing up some hard drive space, visual appeal for using stacks, future graphic acceleration within a year or two, and quicker application start-up times are a few of the "enhancements" and "refinements" Apple has been able to do. But when you really think about it, why couldn't this be done through a service pack or update of some sort instead of spewing up $30 for it? And the bad part about it as it's just about common on any new release of an OS is that some of your applications won't be compatible with it. For me that would be Pro Tools, Call of Duty 2 (yes, the only game on my Mac), DiVX (that's huge for multimedia gurus), SMC Fan Control, Firefox (make sure to upgrade to 3.5), GoToMeeting, HP Deskjet Printers (that's huge for me, anyways I'm thinking of purchasing an all-in-one soon), and the list goes on. For some it would be Adobe CS3 (that's big for designers). Well that's some of the bad, so let's get on with some of the good that Apple has been stirring up.  

Apple's decision to release new Macbooks and iMacs was pretty awesome. The one thing that intrigued me the most was their 27" iMac display screen. They were advertising how the uni-body was revolutionary and all, but geez, the body type looks pretty much like their last model. It's really an awesome display that is very glossy and appealing to many who are into visualizing photos and imagery. The starting price for those don't seem pretty bad either at $1699. If you go beyond the $1699 price point, you can indulge yourself into settling with quad-core iMac. Very nice if you're getting into some serious video editing and high-res graphic images. Buying an iMac now includes a newly designed "Magic" mouse that Apple has made. I was saying, "Awesome, my Logitech wireless mouse just broke so now I can grab this one!" As appealing as it is and the how use of the scroll is utilized (with no scroll wheel) is tremendously unique. But it's priced at a horrendous $70! Will it work with my Macbook Pro? Yes. My Mac Pro desktop? No. The use of bluetooth devices still really hasn't really took off because of its limitations to personal computing, distance, bandwidth, you name it. Not even a wired Magic mouse is available, so way-to-go on Apple's part. The use of a built-in SD card slot was good for newbies but for those who purchased 7-in-1 card readers can say, "wonderful..." I might take up on the mouse later, but the I can't take any iMacs because of it's incapability to upgrade hard drives internally and maximize usage of memory of more than 4 GBs. That's why I stick to my trusty Mac Pro. But this year it's been annoyingly loud due to an increase of fan noise. How am I suppose to upgrade now? Upgrading will result in more heat being produced thus revving up those fans a bit faster and a bit louder.

One thing that Apple has not invested their time in is really getting into the netbook trend. I think their missing out on a very good thing. Geeks have purchased windows netbooks and either added the Leopard OS (Version 10.5) or partitioned the hard drive only to run Leopard on the laptops. Modded netbooks work perfectly fine in Leopard for even doing basic photo edits on Adobe Photoshop. But you see their thinnest laptop of the world, the Macbook Air priced at $1499 and their Macbook (1.08 inch thin) at $999 both having the same wide-size screen at 13.3". For a typical a Windows netbook installed with Windows XP or 7 is priced at an average $299-$349 and is still lowering its prices almost monthly.

With the release of Microsoft's Windows 7, it retires Vista. Vista, the worse functional operating system Microsoft has ever made. With Windows 7, we have a clean eye candy interface that appeals to the audience without the crazy bloated software and mishaps Microsoft made with Vista. Actually, it is Vista. Just, like Apple, Microsoft "refined" it's OS. I've tested the Windows 7 OS for nearly 3 months and I gotta say it's worked pretty well for me thus far. I've installed a RC version onto my Macbook Pro thanks to Boot Camp but only experienced 2 freezes over the course of using it. So let's not get too carried away here. Many of the laptops that have Windows 7 pre-installed now offer 7 or 8 hour battery life from a full charge. Apple now offers this on their Macbook Pro (starting at $1299) lineup so we can at least expect longer battery life to be a commodity in today's laptops. So what does Windows 7 computers offer that Vista did not? Well. Nothing. If you want to include the use of snap, live taskbar previews, and homegroup then I guess those can be considered "new features." As for everything else, applications and programs now work with a more robust system with a visual appealing style. But tell me something Microsoft, why not sell it at a cheaper rate for those who suffered the Vista crashes and why do you guys still over 6 or 7 different versions of the OS?

Both operating systems now rely on the success of 3rd party web 2.0 companies. Such as digg, flickr, facebook, YouTube, and many online blogging applications. We see it Internet Explorer 8, iPhoto, iMovie, and more.

One thing still stands. Project managers and business folks are more inclined to use Windows and designers and multimedia folks would love to use Apple computers. The typical PC gamer will get a Windows computer. At least the PC user have known what to get for the last 20 years or so with gaming, and that's a Windows PC. With mobile phones, we see businesses still purchasing company Blackberrys while the partnership of iPhone and AT&T have been deteriorating. With games and utilities being so popular with the iPhone, other cell phone manufacturers have much to catch on.

So what is a person like me to get? Windows 7? Snow Leopard (when it works) for me? Well, I'd get BOTH. Evolutionary tech is something that I've always been into. It's what keeps me in the market, it's what enhances my skills in the professional world, as well as gets me going as a hobbyist and strategist. 

I know I left out A LOT of things that approve or contradict the 2 companies, but I'll leave that to the critics that get paid for this. Anyways, it'll be a interesting holiday shopping season heading into Christmas! But I gotta say, if people just want to browse and interact with people like many folks do, you just need a $399 laptop or desktop. And that's what many folks will end up getting. A Windows PC.

Lakers Home Opener Tonight

Tonight the Lakers start their championship season against the Los Angeles Clippers. The night kicks off from the NBA Finals victory against the Orlando Magic. Tonight is different because the Lakers will be receiving their Championship Rings. Congratz Lakers on a great season I look forward to another exciting competitive season this year!

Rain Today. Wow.

A rainy day in southern California. This is a first in many many months. And many residences are panicking with 1 inch of rain per hour. Nothing compared to what floods are going on overseas. Well what can I see, we need the rain here thanks to a water shortage. We suck up a lot of water here. And the way how things are going thanks to environmental documentaries. We'll be sucked up dry in no time! 

Sandbags for those concerned with Mud slides

Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup

Just finished watching Loose Change 9/11: An American Coup and I gotta say it has pretty disturbing news. Most significantly a man being interviewed in 2007 about exploiting the events he noticed that day with explosions within the WTC buildings. While many believe the collapse of the buildings had to do with the planes, footage and other evidence revealed that it was more than the planes that struck the structures down. Anyway had some facts and history that were analyzed in-depth. 4.5/5 stars

More suspicion rising to Bush administration and how our military service who were trained to counter these tragic events never did their job. Who knows? 

Thank you Netflix again for providing the film! 

Heading to Starbucks later today and spending my Thursday evening with Pastor Greg Laurie in Irvine, Cali.

.:MS_23

Hydroponics

I think it's about time my mom being a plant lady herself into . She always seem to want plans to grow too fast. Something for the upcoming Christmas I suppose. 

Hydroponics is a technology for growing plants in nutrient solutions (water containing fertilizers) with or without the use of an artificial medium (sand, gravel, vermiculite, rockwool, perlite, peatmoss. coir, or sawdust) to provide mechanical support. Liquid hydroponic systems have no other supporting medium for the plant roots: aggregate systems have a solid medium of support. Hydroponic systems are further categorized as open (i.e., once the nutrient solution is delivered to the plant roots, it is not reused) or closed (i.e., surplus solution is recovered, replenished, and recycled)