“I am a Project Manager for construction projects, and I have just been hired to help with the planning and oversight of a $100 million construction project. My primary task at the moment is to make sense of the schedule, milestones, critical path, and, in general, make a very complicated project more comprehensible. Yesterday I received the current schedule, which was done in MS Project (Gantt view), and is now 770 lines (18 pages). Gantt charts have a lot of good qualities, but at this size they are very hard to read. After thinking about it for a minute, I realized I have never seen a construction schedule that I would consider an ‘excellent visual diagram.’ Does anyone have any ideas for me?”

“The depth and breadth of the changes taking place become clear in BusinessWeek’s fourth ranking of the best and worst corporate boards in America, a survey we first undertook in 1996. To determine which boards were getting it right and which weren’t, we polled the nation’s top governance experts and conducted an in-depth analysis of dozens of boards, looking at everything from director credentials to stock ownership to attendance.”

“The judgments and decision processes of people in groups often differ from how they make up their minds when acting alone. The notions of ‘group-think’ and ‘risky shift refers to two observed processes of group dynamics. When we work together in groups we sometimes suffer illusions of righteousness and invincibility. Irving Janis in his book ‘Victims of Group-Think’ described his observations of a phenomena of group leadership and member interaction characterised by inward-looking, self-regulating and stereotypical behaviours that lead to distorted decision-making.”

“The concept of the brand is somewhat new to the technology world. Before PCs and the Internet became ubiquitous, technology operated in a niche that made establishing a brand relatively unnecessary. Not any more, says marketer and futurist Jim Taylor, principal of Taylor Associates.”

“You have arrived at the site of the Marketing Plan Guide prepared by Professor David Nowell of Sheridan College in Oakville, Canada. This site was developed because various books and people present different, and sometimes confusing, terms and approaches for this fundamental marketing tool. The dream of this site is to present a view that is more comprehensive and helpful than that found in the texts, while recognizing the different views people take of the marketing plan process.”