Drive your strategy with Portfoleon: a lean product roadmapping and project portfolio management software that helps you stay on top of your game.

Find Bottlenecks, Make Convincing Business Cases

Find resource bottlenecks early and take action. Reshuffle your projects and immediately see the effect of your actions on the resource load.

Make a case for additional resources if you need to move faster. A successful case for additional budget starts with a clear understanding of the business impact of the budget decision vs. that of delay or doing nothing. Make a case using the language of business, and make it visual with Portfoleon.

Just as my favorite band, Cheap Trick, thrived from their hit "I Want You to Want Me" which shot up the charts thanks to their At Budokan performance in Tokyo on April 28, 1978 - I want to help your PM practices or PMO shoot up the scale of excellence with my experience. 

I can make myself immediately available to interview or even start a PM position for your organization tomorrow, if needed. I have 20+ years experience as a very successful tech PM in both the private and public sectors and will work for you as a 1099 or W2, remote or hybrid or onsite PM, and am open to any reasonable pay rate you can offer. My resume is downloadable here. http://www.bradegeland.com/resume. 

More information about me, my experience and background and recognitions and awards...

About Brad Egeland...

I am available for 1 on 1 mentoring, team discussions, analyzing and fixing your PMO, or coming onboard as your newest Project Manager. Contact me or email me and tell me what you need.

I  can be available immediately if needed. I bring over 20 years of successful tech project management experience and a deep knowledge base in best practices. Private and public sector experience. High level security clearance obtainable - have held FBI level security clearance and Nevada Gaming Card. Contact me or email me.

• Named #1 in the "100 Most Inspiring People in Project Management"
• Named the #1 Provider of Project Management Content in the World
• Named #1 on the Best Project Management Blogs to Follow in 2022

Do you need long term or one-off expert project management help right now? I am a very experienced tech project manager with more than 20 years of successful project management experience. I can be available immediately and I can do remote or onsite, full-time or part-time, W2 or 1099. Contact me by email or through my contact form here. Let's discus. Thanks!

My motto is:

"You're only as successful as your last customer thinks you are..."

What does your organization look for in a project management leader?  A 'yes' man? Do you want someone who will listen to you and do exactly what you ask them to do? Hopefully not.  My clients are intelligent and experienced, but they don't always know exactly what they need.  They often don't even know for sure exactly what they want - though they may think that they do.

That might be the case for you as well.

If you decide to seek out my services, what you will get is an experienced professional who is more interested in actually understanding your true needs, how you got to where you are now, and what will satisfy you in the end.

It's not about 'phoning it in' on a project.  It's not always about getting it done in 'x' amount of time, either.  But it IS always about customer satisfaction.  It's about giving you - the customer - something you can live with and be happy with and that your end users can actually use.

View my resume

View my LinkedIn profile

Highlights:

• Led enterprise implementations for a growing healthcare organization offering health management systems
• Led enterprise IWMS (TRIRIGA) implementations for Fortune 500 companies and large government entities
• Authored 7,000+ expert PM, cybersecurity, consulting, business strategy, & best practices articles for clients worldwide
• Authored dozens of eBooks & white papers on project management, VDI, consulting and biz strategy topics
• Managed projects and programs in excess of $50 million
• Directed all remote corporate operations and staff for a $300 million global IT services organization
• Managed all activities and relationship with technology company's largest gaming & hospitality customer
• Led corporate technical staff supporting all casino & hospitality and lodging data systems
• Managed all financial activities for $50 million federal contract including pricing, forecasting and reporting
• Forecasted, planned and managed staff budgets more than $500,000
• Pioneered and implemented project management practices for a $2 billion corporation
• Led teams on successful proposal efforts for over $100 million in federal contracts

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My Noteworthy accomplishments:​​

• Named the #1 Provider of Project Management Content in the World
• 2021 MVP Award winning article on Project Management Update - 7 Key Considerations for Building the Perfect PMO
• Named #1 on the Best Project Management Blogs to Follow in 2022
• Named the #1 Project Management Blog to Follow in 2021
• Year-end 2021 Named one of the Top 11 Blogs to Follow
• Project Management Roundup: The Best of 2021
• ​Named #1 of the Top Eight Blogs to Follow Right Now
• Named #1 Project Management Blog to Follow in 2020
• Named #1 in the "100 Most Inspiring People in Project Management"
• Named #9 on the 130 Top Project Management Influencers of 2020
• Named #6 on the 25 Project Management Blogs You Should be Readingwww.cheaptrick.com

Your company is unique. You have sophisticated processes that don’t fit into a one-size-fits-all platform. Thankfully, Project Insight can be fully-customized to suit your business needs. Solve project pain points once and for all. Automate budgeting, resource allocation, proposals, time-tracking, appointments, sprints, and more.

Ask for a demo or get a free trial today and see if it fits your needs. Advance to the next level of PM excellence with Project Insight.

Thank you! Website The DIgital Project Manager just named yours truly - me - as one of 81 top project management influencers to keep up with in 2022. You can follow what I post on my blog or just search me - "bradegeland" - on Google to see most of my content. Some of my content is only on client blogs or independent sites, but that should show up in your search.

Also, be sure to sign up for the go-to PM email newsletter Project Management Update that goes out to 113,000+ PM and business leaders every day. All of my new content trends on there daily. Thanks!                                                                                                                 

My product selection for the month of December 2022 is the #1 job management software JobNimbus. I will have my own review posted soon but till then here are what users have been saying about JobNimbus...

JobNimbus was built for contractors just like you to take your business to the next level by easily organizing, tracking, and automating your work using the most-trusted contractor software.

•  All in One - Take care of every aspect of your business, from estimating to scheduling and billing, in ONE place.

• Boards - Never lose track of a job again. Gain visibility into your business with a virtual whiteboard.

• Automations - Stop spending all your time on mundane tasks. Let the software automatically take care of things like sending updates and emails.

• Mobile App - Keep your business in your pocket. Access the information you need, no matter where you are, and keep everyone in sync. 

Watch a short demo of JobNimbus!

So who uses job management software? Generally, the primary users and industries fall into one of these categories:


Any business that works from job to job or on multiple jobs at once can benefit from putting a job management cycle in place.


Examples of such businesses include:

• IT services
• Creative agencies
• Design agencies
• Accounting and bookkeeping firms
• Consultants
• Engineering firms
• Construction services

What is affecting businesses today?


I know we talk about this a lot. The right software is the wonder software that will = project success. Well, that’s not really the case. It’s more about how you manage the project, having the right project manager and team for the project and using your PM software tool wisely.
It’s never been a bigger question mark than it has been the past couple of years with the pandemic, uncertainty and many workers being sent home, driven home, or just safely choosing to stay home for fear of endangering themselves and their families by wandering around the non-vaccinated or careless individuals trying to keep their own families safe at the same time.


This can be true in every industry and genre. All were affected – all still are affected. Whether you are in tech or whether you are a builder in construction, tough choices had to be made or are still being made. However, one constant that still remains… choosing the right software will help you to better connect with your team, stay on top of the key tasks for the project and – at the end of the day – end up with a happy and reference-able client. A client that recommends you and comes back for more.


Has our work changed?


It depends on the industry. Tech – not really although our locations have changed. Where to work? Do you still want to work? Many are retiring and figuring out income along the way. Many are freelancing it. Many are just plain changing jobs as they fear their own current organization Is not honoring their wishes or may be in danger of shuttering their doors.


For builders it may be quite different. Yes, the workforce may have changed. Finding the right workers may be a bit harder. But they are still there. Managing the job really hasn’t changed. Materials are more expensive, but they are still critical materials for the job. Supply chains have broken down or supplies have simply not been available so project delays are likely and happen frequently. But the tasks are basically the same and the software demands for managing the project have not really changed. Yes, It’s a strange world we live in right now, and it may not be changing anytime soon. This may be the new normal for a long time.


The software that puts it all together


No matter what industry you are managing projects in, the software can make the difference. The right software or combination of software manages your team, your financials, your collaboration, produces status reports and manages all tasks. If you can find one software that will do it all without really any quality sacrifice, then that would be the best way to go. If you are in the tech industry you want something that …. By contrast, If you are in the contractor industry you probably need software that is a software a little more specific to contractor needs. Such software may be designed to help contractors be more organized, profitable, efficient, and professional.


As you can see, this process isn’t what you’d call a piece of cake, and trying to manage all of this with Excel spreadsheets, sticky notes, and white boards can only get you so far these days. You need to stay competitive; you need to be ready for anything. You need to have a solution that will work as fast as you need. You need a service that will help you communicate better and send information to the office in a snap.


What’s best for your clients?


So what do your clients need? They need you on the job, of course. They need you to have the right software to track tasks, resources, progress, change orders and status reporting. When we are focusing on contractor software, the focus is going to usually involve these key elements:

• Interfacing with the customer
• Scheduling someone to get the quote/estimate
• Interface with customer again to close the sale and schedule work
• Creating and sending a materials order
• Creating and sending a work order
• Assigning the job and associated tasks
• Following the process to make sure everything gets done and on time
• Invoicing the customer for work completed
• Collecting on the estimate
• Administrative follow up with the customer
• Reporting and auditing on the job done to assure completeness and examine what you could do better

Summary / call for input


Work has changed. Work locations have changed. Undoubtedly this economy has separated the wheat from the shaft and the good ones remain, some fresh ones with the right priorities have joined, and some of the dead weight has left the building. The same even holds true for the vendors offering the software that will be used on the contract to manage the engagement and the team. It’s definitely a different world. But the end result is still the same. At the end of the day is the customer satisfied? The right company, the right software, the right workers and the right work ethic is still needed.

Guest posts welcome - all you can post for one month. Do-follow links and 1 image ok. 99% of all topics/themes approved - anything interesting and relevant will be considered. Advertise your business - that's ok! Guaranteed promotion of your content to 3 million+ potential readers. Contact me or email me and let's get your content published and noticed!

Cybercriminals are changing how they target financial institutions this holiday season: some 80% of them are going after vulnerable customers rather than the institutions themselves.


A new report from Akamai also found a massive 257% increase in the number of web applications and API attacks against the financial services sector in the past year.


Other important findings include:

• Customer account takeover attempts represent more than 40% of attack types, with another 40% focusing on website scraping used to create more convincing phishing scams.
• Within a 24-hour span, exploitation of newly discovered zero-day vulnerabilities against financial services reaches multiple thousands of attacks per hour and peaks quickly — affording little time to patch and react.
• Phishing campaigns against financial services customers are introducing techniques that bypass two-factor authentication solutions and increase risk for everyday customers.

Steve Winterfeld, advisory CISO at Akamai, said the shift to attacking APIs means that security teams must focus on testing and close monitoring, adding that in some cases that may require new capabilities or skill sets.


“During high traffic times often driven by holidays we will see increases in attacks trying to hide in the increased volume, Winterfeld said. “The insights on customer-focused attacks also provides companies with critical information on where they need to reevaluate how they are categorizing attacks and tracking fraud trends. Fraud prevention is moving into cybersecurity where it can be prevented at the edge."


Teresa Walsh, global head of intelligence for the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center added that the data in Akamai’s report underscores the harsh realities security professionals in the financial services industry face every day.


“With next-generation technology amplifying attack volume and sophistication for financial services organizations, sharing threat intelligence and security best practices is especially critical to protecting the sector and its customers,” Walsh said.


Scott Gerlach, co-founder and chief security officer at StackHawk, said threat actors will go after anything that can gain them assets, such as money, information, or fame — subsequently, banking customers and their personal assets fall under that category. Gerlach said many organizations are still taking API security into consideration too late after the API has been shipped to production or they are using legacy security tooling that isn't built to test APIs thoroughly.


“Both methods leave vulnerabilities undiscovered and create gaps in protection— and that's exactly what threat actors are looking for,” said Gerlach. “Organizations have to scale API security practices along with the increase in API usage. That means security and engineering teams partnering early in the software development lifecycle to understand what APIs are being developed, what data they handle, and how to best test the APIs for potential security issues early and often.”


David Maynor, senior director of threat intelligence at Cybrary, said Akamai’s findings align with what he has seen in the wild. Maynor said the surge in attacks shows that the threat actors targeting FinServ know the huge windfall they will have if they are successful.
​

“This also says to me personally that the attackers have selected their victims and are trying to find tools and attacks to penetrate the victim,” Maynor said. “This targeting pattern is rare and the reverse of what’s generally observed: lazy attackers using a tool or exploit they have to compromise victims opportunistically.”