Introduction

Dear Fissure Friends,

 

Important things first. In October we had a booth at the PMI-MN Professional Development Day where we had a drawing for two free Vikings tickets (I know, at the time it seemed like a good idea). The winner of the Vikings tickets was Pam Carlson. We took the liberty of subscribing to our newsletter the people who put their business cards in the bowl for the drawing and I hope you like the newsletter enough to stay on the list for the almost quarterly issues. If you want to unsubscribe, there is a button you can click at the bottom of this newsletter.

 

It is a new year and it gives us all a reason to reflect on the past year and think about the possibilities of the coming year. I'm not one for making New Year's resolutions but I do like to spend time reflecting on the past year. I tend to forget how much happens in a year but now I have a solution to help me remember and to document the year as well. Like many families, a few years back we started writing a Holiday letter at the end of the year to send to friends, families, and to get back at people who send us their letter. I joke about it, but it is fun to do these letters and fun to read them as well. Why is it fun? It is because the letters are overwhelmingly positive and positive things give us energy. Have you ever read one that only talked about all the negative things that happened over the year? I don't think so. I, and others at Fissure, have talked about the three-step positive approach to improvement in the newsletter before:

 

• What is currently working or right?
• Describe what would be ideal?
• How do we close the gap?

 

So if the Holidayletter answers the first question, "what was right about the year?", what do we use to answer the second question, "describe what would be more ideal next year"? Do you sit down with the family and read all the Holiday letters you received this year and figure out what you could do to top them all next year? Absolutely not! You sit down with your family and your own accomplishments; you celebrate them, and then talk about how next year can be even better for your family. I'm thinking there is an opportunity here - family forecasting and quarterly measurement with incentives for meeting milestones and goals. Oops, too far!

 

But seriously, how many families "do" the first step? How many "do" the second and third step? I'm guessing Geof and his family do, and there is no reason why we shouldn't all do at least step one (you don't have to send the letter if you don't want to). Speaking of Geof, his article is about pleasure and pain. If that doesn't tweak your interest he puts pleasure and pain on one axis and internal and external on the other axis and you will have to read his article to find out how they intersect and what it all has to do with project management and families.

 

Our other article is from John Kaman, one of our guides and a very experienced project manager who recently designed and built a lake house with his wife, Marilyn. He relates some of their project management challenges and learnings, I'm sure you will all be able to relate to John's story (pleasure and pain).

 

Our upcoming public workshops are in the left hand panel - our computer simulation powered workshops are an effective and fun way to learn AND EARN PDUs. Make sure you also check out what's happening at Fissure (Fissure News).

 

Thanks for reading and have a great quarter,

 

Jesse Freese

Fissure, President