Slow emails in the virtual team...

PMing a Virtual Team where teammembers are slow returning emails...

What to do: Propose a Communications Plan to address the issue.

Virtual Team Member Communications

Similar to industry SLA's and their corresponding window, we shall abide by no greater than 45 minute response time for any given mission email thread between team members or project stakeholders.

When team member email and/or phone discussion threads involve issue discussions, the issue submitter or assignor should precede and/or accompany any such discussions with at least a written statement of the issue, problem, assignment or need. At minimum, a couple sentences clearly stating the issue, purpose or goal so all involved in the solution have a clear understanding of the goal, the customer need or requirement.

If the nature of the email and/or phone conmmunication is to solve an existing issue, then minimum informal written descriptions should include the problem or issue to be solved and the agreed upon solution. If performance of the solution is required then enough clear written information should be disseminated to enable the accurate performance of the solution work.

Virtual teams rely primarily on clear informal written email and verbal phone conversations to accomplish team work. If someone cannot understand either form of communication, then you are not being clear. Communication is a two-way process.

Often team members, particulary members new to the team particularly rely upon answers to what may be considered simple questions by veterans. When a simple question appears in your inbox from a team member, give back a simple answer, but do answer. Our informal team communication is primarily email, since, we as developers are typically at our computers during working hours. We are not so busy that we can afford to leave team member queries in suspense, waiting for perhaps an easy answer. An effective development environment requires expedient communication between team members.

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Cliff's Healthy Hearty Hot Project Team Black Bean Soup

Cliff's Healthy Hearty Hot Project Team Black Bean Soup

One Pound of Dried Black Beans
One Large Sweet Onion (Vidalia if possible)
Canned Whole Tomatoes (Organic if possible)
Garlic crushed, 3 to five cloves.
3 to 5 Jalapeno Peppers
3 to 5 Carrots
Oregano
See spices list below.

Soak the beans overnight in enough water to cover them, allowing for their expansion, about two quarts should do it.

If there is a seasoning packet with the beans, put its' content in your compost pile, particularly if the first two are salt and sugar. We will season the soup ourselves.

Sautee a large sweet onion and about three to five Jalepeno peppers, cut into hearty pieces. I put in the seeds too. Your heat tolerance may vary so add pepper accordingly.

Add a pint can of no salt added or organic whole tomatoes into a large pot that has a cover, into about three tablespoons of Canola oil. Crush the tomatoes roughly with your hands. After the onions and peppers have sauteed for about 10 minutes, add them then turn the heat to medium on the pot. Drain and add the beans. Add three tablespoons of garlic more or less according to your taste, then add about the same of dried real orgegano. Add about two cups of raw carrots cut into 1/4 inch rounds or so. Make sure you have enough water to keep all the vegetables covered in the pot, with some room for bubbling. Now, get these vegetables almost bubbling.

In the meantime, cook some lean ground beef in a skillet until brown. Drain it well on paper towl and add it to the vegetable pot. Add the following spices to the mix:

Tsp Ground Cumin
Tsp Curry Powder
Tsp Cayenne Pepper
Tsp Sea Salt if you want.

Bring the heat up to a rolling boil stirring occasionally, for at least a 20 minute boil, then bring the heat to simmer, just an occasional bubble, not a rolling boil. Go study for your Professional Project Management Exam (PMP) for an hour or two, taking a break every 10 to 15 minutes to stir your pot of Black Bean Soup. Add some water to top off any boiled away, enough to cover the soup.


In a couple hours, have a cup of delicious soup with some Feta sprinkled on top, and practice exam questions with your Performance PMP Exam Simulator.

Don't forget to take the rest into your team for a lunch and lesson's learned...

My First YouTube Posting

Entrepreneur Beware the UPC Code Trap

After testing my PMP Exam Simulator with about 100 users, and now confident that it is indeed a product that will help candidates practice questions and thereby pass the difficult PMP exam I called Amazon.com support. My question to the seller support rep was simple. What do I need to list an item on Amazon.com? "Go to gs1us.org and apply for a UPC code." Sounded simple enough.

I was daunted by the $750 application fee price tag at gs1us.org, the international registry of uniform product codes, but kept going at the thoughts of posting the fruits of my hard labor for the last year or so on the web's premier bookseller.

After giving my credit card number for $750 and, receiving a member email response from gs1us, I used their supplied web link to create the bar code for my "Frugal PMP Exam Simulator". Then when I went to Amazon to in turn use that new bar code for my breakthrough Amazon listing I found that a UPC code was not needed! Amazon does not even require an ISBN, which is what the Amazon rep should perhaps have advised, but will assign an ASIN in lieu of an ISBN. So my $750 expenditure was moot! Arrrghhh!

The big business world has no mercy on small entrepreneurs. I am now in the process of trying to get a refund of my $750. gs1us.org may do it, but take a $250 administrative fee in any case. For that they pretty much ignore your emails and phone calls until you persist...