What is cloud storage?

If you have read technology blogs, worked for a large company, or looked for a backup solution in the past 5 years, you will be familiar with the concept of cloud storage. It is a simple way to securely store and access your files from any computer or mobile device. 

Cloud storage became popular at the end of the last decade and has now amassed over 600 million users worldwide. This continues to grow at a fast rate with more and more people turning to cloud to achieve one of four things:

1. Backup files – This will make sure you never lose your work files or family pictures
2. Access files from anywhere – Easily open, edit and save files from any computer or mobile device.
3. Send files to friends or customers – Sending files via email is now a thing of the past. Sending a link is a far easier option.
4.  Collaborate with colleagues in seconds – You can now edit and save files in one location with your colleagues and anybody can easily access the latest version of the file.

Empachal Drive stands out against the competition by offering all of the above features as well as 1,000GBs of storage for a fee of £25 per year for personal usage.

My PDU Plan

To maintain my PMP qualifications, I need to ensure that I continue to maintain consistent learning with regard to Project Management.  I like the idea that people cannot pass the PMI exams and then forget about keeping up to date with learning and modern practices.

Why Education is Important

As a consultant, I do not have an official career path, nor an HR department to provide a yearly development plan.  I have to make my own development plan and think about where my career will take me in the future.  To obtain a career path, it is down to me, what I do and how I do it. 

As a consultant, any time and money spent on education and qualifications, comes out of my time and my money, sometimes at the additional "cost" of not being able to work for a client, earning my daily rate.  The qualifications are quite expensive, often in excess of £1000.  In addition, I do not get given any paid time by my clients to study, as I would if I was employed.

Project Time

Time is part of the Project Management Golden Triangle.  I have blogged about the Golden Triangle before, but the concept is that you have Time, Scope and Quality, as three sides to a triangle and they all impact each other.  If you extend one side of the triangle, one or both of the other two sides will be impacted.

Time is an important aspect of Project Management.  People who understand scheduling will understand how simple and how complicated time planning can be.  On larger projects, the project plan will be controlling many different work streams in parallel and the Project Manager needs to understand the impact of time on each of the work streams and resources. 

Agile Methodology

As I mentioned in a post last week, I have consulting at a client site that uses an Agile Project Management Methodology.  As a Project Manager, I had thought that I have not used Agile before, however, I now understand that as a Project Manager / Developer for many years, I have previously been using an Agile methodology.

In my very first job, after leaving university, I was coding a 4GL, and our Project Management Methodology was DSDM (Dynamic Systems Development Methodology).  I went on a course and actually became a DSDM Practitioner.  This was back in 1997.

Introduction to Change

Part of the overall project governance is the Change Control.  This can refer to changes in the scope of the project, the budget, the Schedule, the services provided or the products the project produces.  Change control needs to be in place to ensure that the project is delivered on time, to budget and delivers the required product.  Change control ensure that any change introduced to the project is defined.

Excel - Add a Month

I use MS Excel extensively in my day to day role.  Sometimes the simplest formula can stump me, but when I find a solution, I try to capture it and add it to this blog.

This formula will take a date (say 1st Oct 2013) and then add one month to it.

=DATE(YEAR(A1),MONTH(A1)+1,DAY(A1))

Simple.