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In his fabulous book Determining Project Requirements Hans Jonasson, PMP included a chapter on the Enterprise Analsys. He writes "Enterprise analysis is perhaps the fastest growing area of business analysis. It provides the context and the link between projects and the business. [...] The pre-project activities tend to give the analyst the most organizational visibility through dealings with the upper level of the organization. If the business analyst is successful in this area, it can be a great career enhancer; if unsuccessful, it will be noticed." In today's Overtime, we bring Hans back on the program to discuss the relationship between business and enterprise analysis, how to perform an enterprise analysis and what we expect to find in it.

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At the beginning of 2008 we put up a survey and wanted to know from you what you considered to be your Project Management Hot Topics for 2008. Requirements Management received 70 votes and landed in second place. We looked around and are happy to bring to you today an interview with Hans Jonasson (www.jtcunlimited.com). Hans is the author of a fabulous book called Determining Project Requirements and in our interview today we will be looking at how you should be determining your project’s requirements. I promise, you are going to like this one. You will learn not only about the process of properly determining requirements and the tools that are required for it, you will also be able to win a copy of his book.

In this interview Hans Jonasson and I discuss requirements gathering best practices as well as many of the tools of the trade. I would like to know how close your company comes to this ideal state. Please leave a comment below.

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Lean Six Sigma is a business improvement methodology which combines tools from both Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma. Lean manufacturing focuses on speed and traditional Six Sigma focuses on quality. By combining the two, the result is better quality faster. I recently had the opportunity to attend a one week seminar on the Lean Six Sigma methodology from my employer. In this episode I will give you an overview of what I took away, we will talk about the acronyms DMAIC, DIRFT and SWIM and I will give you my conclusion of what I feel is important about Lean Six Sigma.

And here are the winners who each won a copy of Brian Irwin's book Managing Politics and Conflict in Projects: Alfredo A. Guillen (Premium Podcast Subscriber) Karthik Surya (Free Podcast Listener).

Are you using Lean Six Sigma in your daily work? How is it working for you? Where are its weaknesses and strengths? Please leave a comment below.

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Today we are starting a new series of episodes. My plan is to go back to the basics of project management and revisit books and teachings from the great names in project management. The reason for this is because I feel that we loose ourselves way too much in the detailed nitty-gritty of our methodologies. Agile, Waterfall, RUP, Scrum and Extreme Project Management are all good methodologies, but in order to be able to apply them properly, you have to first understand the underlying fundamentals of our profession. And there is no better way to do this than by going back to the basics. I have a list of great names in project management in mind. And today, we are starting out with the name that ranks at the very top and that is the world-famous singer, songwriter and project manager Mrs. Britney Spears.

How do you feel about the project management abilities of Mrs. Britney Spears? Do you read her books? Do you apply her best practices on your projects? Please leave a comment below.