A Last Friday for This Year!
Just before Christmas I have a last post for this year.
(no) book recommendation
But I have another subject: A few weeks ago, I came into contact with the book "Holacracy, The New Management System for a Rapidly Changing World." A first reading was interesting, especially because I am always looking for new approaches for a modern management. So €12.99 were put into the iTunes BookStore and every free minute invested in Brian J. Robertson's work.
Little by little, however, I began to wonder whether this is not an attempt to make the famous "Silver Bullet" for the Americans. Nevertheless, I fought over half the book until I gave up. But what is the - or even my - problem with the "Silver Bullet"?
Anyone who knows me, knows I'm not a friend of these so-called hype management methods. This includes some management classics, as for example "Getting Things done" by David Allen. Here it is not the method in itself, but much more my envy that I have not had the idea to make a lot of money by "putting new wine in old bottles" ;-)
But Holacracy is dangerous. If I do something wrong with GTD, I burn some personal time. This hurts, but otherwise is not harmful. If I do a mistake in Holacracy, in the worst case, I could drive a company against the wall and destroy existences. Because at this point, Brian Robertson takes a great responsibility when he says, "If you introduce parts of the Holocracy, the power structure will not change." So he demands, that the whole company has to change. This was, when my alarm bells started ringing!
In the further course, the concept became more and more opaque and complex that I inevitably built up a training and certification empire in my head. But when the comparison between a company and an operating system came up, I closed the book amused and spent my time more meaningfully.
(no) Christmas story
At this time, it is customary to celebrate a Christmas story. From all sides one can hear from "But it came to pass at the time ..." up to various versions over the old Ebenezer Scrooge, the hard-hearted nickel nurser. It is no wonder at all, that these stories are so successful. In addition to the fact that Mr. Dickens had a very pleasant "writing", storytelling is still the best methods to convey knowledge.
Taking this occasion: Due to multiple request, we have re-added the making of story for Merlin to our documentation. It had been buried more and more over the years in the blog Macpm.net. Now, we have reissued it as quick guide.
Short break
You probably already read the news, we need to take a rest. As every year, we use the time between Christmas and New Year for this. The support will be reduced to a minium, the sale and the development pauses completely. Also I personally will try to relax for a few days.
Therefore, for this year, I conclude with my best magical wishes. Spend the holidays with joy and a happy, healthy and prosperous 2017. The next year will be very exciting for us as well as for you as a Merlin Project user. I am looking forward to it ...
Yours
Frank Blome
P.S.: Would you like to receive the nice snow man as project file? Follow us on (twitter:MerlinPM text:Twitter target:_blank) and send us a short message.
Merlin Project 4.1.1 Is Released
Just before the Holidays we have released version 4.1.1, another maintenance update of:
Download the new versions by means of the function "Check for updates …" or directly from here.
Friday Again Already?
Team Meeting
Last week the Friday column unfortunately had to be cancelled. The preparations for our upcoming team meeting took up all my time.
In this week it was finally time again. The whole ProjectWizards team met for the annual Christmas meeting. And this was surely not only for me but for all colleagues once again a real highlight.
But we were also busy! On two days we not only reviewed the year 2016 but also planned first topics for 2017. Let us surprise you!
Insiders know that our Christmas meeting is not just about work. We always like to use this event for a more or less sportive activity. This year we went bowling. The support and service teams didn't miss a thing and the final result was very close. Fortunately, nobody had to rely on the use of the admittedly strange emergency exit (see right). We concluded with our Christmas dinner in a nice country inn.
We had a lot of fun and go strengthened into the end of the year.
Question of the week
Of course there was a "favourite question" again this week. Sometimes I wonder how and where people come to an agreement. This week was about working with MS Project and whether Merlin Project can import and export the file format. Yes, of course. There is even a useful one in this context tip.
Completion of the trainings in 2016
This year the training season will run longer than usual. Normally there are no trainings at all in December. But apparently this year is different. So the company Brainworks Training was asked to hold another event in Hamburg in any case. A wish that Josef Neumaier gladly complies with. Therefore, another Merlin Project Training will take place on December 15th and 16th. Some last places are still free. The realization is guaranteed in any case.
Now I must get back to work. Bye for now…
Nice Quote from Atul Gupta
Today we received a very nice and kind quote from Atul Gupta. He is the principal of Gupta Consulting, a project management consulting company in Los Angeles, CA. In an interview he stated:
"In Merlin Project, ProjectWizards, have created a visually appealing, feature rich app that is accessible to both accomplished and novice project managers. My reputation & client trust is based in part, on the recommendations I make. Merlin Project is one of the very few products that I recommend. Merlin Project makes project plan creation a breeze."
Testimonial: Artwork | Rudat
„Inhalte so zu gestalten, dass sie beim Kunden richtig gut ankommen“ ist Prämisse für die freiberuflich tätige Grafik- und Kommunikations-Designerin Tatjana Rudat.
Unter dem Namen „ARTWORK, Werbung & Design, RUDAT“ betreut sie im Bereich Werbung und Design seit dem Jahr 1993 Persönlichkeiten der Kunst- und Kulturwirtschaft sowie Unternehmen aus Industrie und Wirtschaft des In- und Auslands, die Wert auf Qualität legen und nachhaltigen Nutzen zu schätzen wissen.
Laden Sie hier das ganze Testimonial.
