BradEgeland.com
  • Welcome
  • Blog
  • Expertise
  • Resume
  • Software / Service Reviews
  • Contact
  • Videos
  • Books / White Papers
  • Mentoring Contact Form
  • Awards/Recognition
  • Templates & Downloads
  • Clients
  • Professional Services
  • Past Survey Results

Does Your Organization Need a PPM?

11/25/2019

0 Comments

 
You're a growing company with new projects in the works, projects that are currently happening and a debris field of successful and failed projects behind you. You have some info...some data that will help you decide what projects to take on, what to pass on, and what to do next, after that, and after that. But where do you put it...how do you use it? The answer? A project portfolio management (PPM) tool or solution.

What is PPM?

“Project Portfolio Management (PPM) is the centralized management of the processes, methods, and technologies used by project managers and project management offices (PMOs) to analyze and collectively manage current or proposed projects based on numerous key characteristics.”

We know what a PPM tool is...now...do we need one? Let's consider some advantages and some question marks...

PPM advantages

Better decision making with a powerful tool aid. Good data drives good visibility which usually results in better go-forward or no-go decisions on projects and initiatives with clients and in the organization itself. When you have solid information and metrics on past projects, then you can make better decisions on project strategies and engagements going forward as well. The best decisions are made with reliable and accurate data in hand.

Hybrid PPMs handle agile and waterfall equally well if your organization requires it. The right hybrid PPM solutions can and help bridge any agile and waterfall gaps you may have in the organization – with one tool. An innovative, hybrid PPM approach to project management allows you to combine the best of Scaled Agile with all major features of common PM standards including PMI, IPMA and PRINCE2l and even allowing things like bidirectional Jira integration. Work smarter by taking advantage of fully integrated agile methodologies such as Kanban boards complementing proven, traditional tools like WBS and Gantt charts.

Improved resource utilization. The right project portfolio management solution can give you great Integrated resource management options with resource assignment and utilization metrics. This allows you to save money or at least helps to maximize value by ensuring that resources are working on the right tasks and projects at the right time.

Focus on the high value projects to deliver more value from your portfolio. Obviously, we want to be spending our money where it will do us the most good. We're always looking for the best return on investment (ROI), right? A powerful enterprise PPM solution can do that for you through the creation of scenarios and decision making tools. You tell it what you're looking for, what the organizational goals are, what the budget it, what the resource constraints are...etc...and it will help you decide how best to prioritize your resources and your hard-earned corporate dollars.

Be ready to change as projects and priorities change. A good PPM tool is going to be as scalable and direction changing as your organization – which is also changing...hopefully – needs it to be. As new projects come up that may change goals and priorities, you need to be able to analyze and grasp new challenges. A PPM tool can help you assess those projects and accept those challenges.

PPM concerns

Your tool is only as good as the info you give it. You can have the best tools in the world, but the weakest link will be the ones using those tools, in most cases. Most people get injured by a chainsaw not because the chainsaw is defective or of poor quality, but because they weren't using it properly or carefully enough. If you give your PPM tool bad information or set improper parameters, then you're going to get the garbage in, garbage out scenario.

Does it fit the corner you are working in? One size fits all is not the case for PPM tools. You need to do your research and do it well and pick the right tool for your projects, for your organization, for your priorities and for your industry. It needs to be right for you.

Summary / call for input

Project portfolio management. Is it a trend or a need? As organizations grow and expand their goals and missions and focus on broader delivery scopes, PPMs are going to become more and more critical... dare I say maybe even indispensable tools in our companies. Meeting our challenging client needs is critical to staying at the delivery forefront. So, yes, a PPM tool is a definite need...a must have in many organizations and industries that are project driven for success.

Readers, what are your thoughts? Do you have a PPM tool right now? What are your thoughts and projections over the next 3-5 years? Are you big enough for a PPM tool? Is there a size limit? Please share and discuss.
0 Comments

How to Build a Compliance Program

11/21/2019

0 Comments

 

Compliance promises more benefits for your organization than just being on the right side of the law. As long as you comply with the different regulations, you can keep your business safe from the different business risks as well as keep customers and investors happy. At the very least, compliance will give you a competitive advantage, regardless of whether you are complying with industry-wide regulations or your internal policies.

With businesses having to meet multiple compliance requirements, it can be pretty easy for some of them to fall through the cracks. Sadly, ignorance is never an excuse for non-compliance, and such minor faults can be quite costly for your business. As long as you can build a strong compliance program, it will be easy to avoid such mistakes.

Here is how to build a great compliance program:

Create A Compliance Department

Having a compliance department that is headed by a compliance officer ensures that the different compliance roles aren’t ignored within the organization. The officer should delegate compliance roles and send reminders if need be. They will also help create reports and spearhead internal audits.

Ideally, ensuring that the officer reports to the C-suite executives, instead of other departmental leaders, is essential to avoid the conflict of interest. The department should also be supported by a compliance committee that has a specific set of responsibilities. Other than focusing on quality assurance, the committee should also help with compliance risk monitoring.

Write Down The Compliance Policies

Written down policies provide real-time training to employees when they are unsure of what needs to be done. Ideally, the documents should outline the intricate details of what is expected from the different stakeholders. This includes the processes, procedures, governance structure, and how reporting practices.

It should also outline the different types of compliance you should be following and the right way about it. For instance, it can include HIPAA, SOX, and PCI DSS requirements. Ensuring that these policies are within reach of employees is essential for the success of your compliance program. Unlike organizations that place them in the compliance officer’s office or a limited-access site, your business should place them in your intranet or anywhere else where employees can access it pretty easy.

Be sure to create a single document for the different compliance needs. Other than making it easy to provide this document when auditors ask for it, using a single document makes updating your policies straightforward. Ideally, you should review your compliance policies annually and update them when necessary- be sure to archive the past versions.

Focus On Employee Training

Your compliance program is as strong as your weakest link. In case your employees miss even a single compliance requirement, you risk costly fines, not to mention, the risk of a security breach. In a world where 90% of data breaches can be linked to human error, effective training is essential.

Ideally, you need to create a training program that fits both new employees and current ones. By the end of the training, they should understand the roles that they play and how to improve compliance. However, the method you choose for training is equally as important as the training message itself. Methods that ensure optimal engagement during the training sessions, such as gamification and micro-learning, are the best way to make the training effective. You should review your training modules regularly and update them to improve their effectiveness.

Focus On Risk Management

New compliance risks are bound to arise from time to time. For instance, if your business branches out to Europe, you risk failing to comply with the GDPR. With a risk management program, you can identify such risks from miles away.

Risk management also helps you to identify the best ways to use your limited organizational resources to invest in the right tools. You can rank the different risks and identify the best ways to treat them as well as the risks to avoid. Including it as part of your compliance process can help in assessing and updating your policies to match your needs.

Exercise Due Diligence With Third Parties

While you might work overtime to ensure the compliance of your business, working with non-complaint vendors can be a huge risk. In some regulations like the PCI DSS, it is compulsory to work with compliant regulators. Otherwise, you risk being fined for non-compliance. That aside, the fact that these non-compliant vendors have access to your data exposes your business to a vulnerability.

A cybercriminal can easily access your data through the vendor’s system. Put potential vendors under a microscope to ensure that they are compliant. Also, asking for regular reports on their compliance status is essential. Working with compliant vendors can not only create a strong security posture for you but also make your business attractive to both customers and investors.
​

Compliance should never be taken lightly, and having a compliance program in place reduces the chances of errors. As long as you can create a compliance-oriented culture, following the program will be pretty easy. Focus on the aspect above to give your business a competitive advantage.

0 Comments

Security Tip - Very Bad Password Ideas

11/21/2019

0 Comments

 
No matter how uninspired you are, never ever, under any circumstances, set one of the following passwords for your account:

  1. Any variation of the word “password” or “admin”.
  2. Your name or surname.
  3. Your partner’s name or surname.
  4. Name or surname of any member of your family.
  5. The dog counts as your family.
  6. Birthdate or birth location of anyone mentioned at the previous points.
  7. 12345, 123456789, 1111, 987654321. Seriously, why are you even considering any of these? Are you trying to get hacked on purpose?
  8. “qwerty” or “abcde” are just as bad.
  9. “696969”. Shame!
  10. “Batman”, “Superman” or any other superhero name. Except “WonderWoman”, Wonder Woman is the best! Just kidding. No superheroes.
0 Comments

Finalist in Project Management Updates Best Practices Category - Please Vote for Me

11/18/2019

0 Comments

 
I am a finalist in Project Management Update's MVP Awards in the Best Practices category. Please vote for me by 11/25 here http://bit.ly/PMUAwards2019 Thanks! 
0 Comments

Security Tip: Watch for Vengeful Ex-Employees

11/18/2019

0 Comments

 
Here’s an alarming statistic: almost two thirds of employees steal proprietary corporate data when they quit or are fired.

If one of your soon-to-be-ex colleagues decides to do some damage before they leave the company, make sure that your work remains unaffected.

Have a checklist of all the accounts that they had access to. Don’t forget to remove their permissions when they leave.

Be careful of how you manage your passwords. Use strong and unique passwords, change them regularly, activate two-factor authentication and start using an app designed for password management.
​

Have multiple backups done automatically. This way, you won’t lose any of your important files or folders.
0 Comments

Project Management Tools and Services to Consider for 2020

11/16/2019

0 Comments

 
The world of project management requires leaders and doers and shakers to make it happen. To make project successful, keep teams cohesive and collaborating toward a great final solution or product or successful implementation. But, no doubt, the road to get there requires much to happen. There is training, certification, and experience that needs to be gained or earned to start leading projects. Once that happens there are tools needed to prioritize projects, track financials, tasks, resources, change orders and just about everything in between.

In my work I run into a lot of these softwares and services and the people behind them. Some work, some don't some are free, some are expensive and some don't stay around very long. Gone are the days where it was only MS Project on the landscape and you either worked with it or jumped ship. No, the offerings are endless and cover just about every imaginable base possible... some even say they cover all the bases... but that may be stretching them a bit thin.

What I've compiled here is what I hope – my time permitting – is the beginning of a series of articles to introduce different software tools and services that help get project leaders and planners and PM infrastructures themselves on the right track and headed in the right direction. That takes many ingredients as I've mentioned, so this is always going to be an eclectic list. Here's the beginning of my list of tools and services to consider or demo or download a trial of for consideration for 2020. More to come...

ONEPOINT Projects

Picture
Every once in awhile we find that product or process or program that can help us out immensely in the project management and project portfolio management world. I think I've just found it in a latest connection with some great individuals standing behind a stellar product. The product is ONEPOINT Projects.

ONEPOINT Projects is a modern, flexible, standards-based PPM web application that is available both on cloud and on premise and is trusted by hundreds of customers across industries. By covering the whole project life cycle and integrating with leading enterprise applications such as Jira, Confluence, Slack and SAP, ONEPOINT enables a new way of integrated project work.

Picture
Some ONEPOINT Projects highlights to consider...

  • ONEPOINT Projects is a 100% web-based project and portfolio management solution, available as cloud service or server installation
  • ONEPOINT Projects covers the entire project lifecycle, is designed clearly, easy to use and quick to install
  • ONEPOINT enables project oriented organizations to increase their project and portfolio transparency, reduce project lead times, simplify best practices, and optimize resource utilization
  • Simple, traditional, agile, and Jira projects are integrated into a single project portfolio and resource utilization database

What does ONEPOINT Projects offer?

  • Extensive functions for single and multi-project management as well as program and portfolio management are in line with IPMA, PMI and PRINCE2 standards
  • Interactive project and resource planning, time and cost recording, as well as integrated project controlling and status reporting
  • Two mobile apps, ONEPOINT 360 – a multi-project dashboard for management and ONEPOINT ME for project staff, simplify project management on the go
  • Due to the strong bidirectional synchronization of ONEPOINT with Jira, even Jira projects can be integrated seamlessly into a standards-based project management
  • ONEPOINT is easily expandable with optional modules such as Risk Management, Portfolio Analysis or Strategic Management Option
  • Additional integrations such as Confluence, Slack or SAP are also available
Picture
Here are some key features and focuses that really set them apart from other PM and PPM tools offered today...
  • ONEPOINT has very good interactive work breakdown structure (WBS) with drag & drop that is automatically kept in sync with other planning tools such as activity list and schedule (Gantt). Users of ONEPOINT have found this to be a great advantage and it helps make ONEPOINT standout in the filed of PM related tools.
  • ONEPOINT has probably the best two-way synchronization with the very popular Jira offering.
  • The individuals behind ONEPOINT's design have done a great job of balancing good usability with standards conformance. This is a very important consideration as the user base masses are highly concerned with user interface and usability as part of the overall strategic adoption and execution in the enterprise software world.
  • ONEPOINT is a hybrid PPM tool – offering the best of agile and traditional PM in one solution. Plus, according to their product roadmap that I've discussed with them, they will be strengthening this even more in their upcoming 2nd gen agile planning and controlling component in their next major release 19 due later in 2019.

Picture

There you have it... several reasons you should check this tool out as I have. Make your job easier, make project management and PPM more interactive and complete, and help bridge any agile and waterfall gaps you may have in the organization – with one tool. Oh – and collaboration? The best. Go to ONEPOINT Projects and read about this product and all of these features and more and be sure to get access to your free 30-day trial and give it a test run.

Forecast
Picture
Forecast is a complete project, resource, and budget management platform powered by cutting-edge automation and plenty of pre-built integrations. Consider it as a good fit if you want to manage successful projects from start to finish without compromising on three core values of time, cost, and value. Let’s take a closer look at how everything’s set up to secure more profitable projects.

A broader stroke & the smallest details in sight

Forecast combines resource and project management flawlessly in one single place. It is built on the foundation that successful projects require a combination of short and long term planning. Quickly fill your pipeline with multiple projects for a better project portfolio overview and strategic vision. Accurately estimate the scope of a project and have the right amount of team members to finish the work.

Picture
The platform is ideal for leading both cross-functional and dedicated teams, as it ensures that everyone gets a fair share of work and simplifies collaboration between various departments. It provides you with resource utilization insights to guarantee seamless and productive workflows, on time and on budget. In the end, nobody is overworked and underworked either. As a project manager, you get better workload visibility and transparency across multiple projects. The best scenario would be to use Forecast to align and optimize teamwork of 50-200 people. Improve the way you work with Forecast’s 14-day free trial with access to all features.


With each step, it becomes easier to run the project and utilize the team to the fullest capacity. It doesn’t matter if you work with Scrum, Kanban, traditional Gantt scheduling or a mix, Forecast has it all. The connection between prioritization and scheduling easily lets team members focus on the most important tasks.
Picture
AI-powered warnings & suggestions

What tells Forecast apart from other project management solutions, is artificial intelligence integrated into different parts of the platform. There are different ways you and your team can benefit from it in Forecast: 

  • AI suggests optimal future estimates of budget and task duration
  • AI helps you clearly see projects that are at risk of delay or veering off track by warnings all over the system
  • AI issues risk alerts on project progress
  • AI automates time registrations for the team

Therefore, you’re constantly covered from scope creep and nothing comes as a surprise to you when it’s too late. Because you get the holistic overview, help from AI, and the ability to drill down, you can stay in complete control of your projects.
Picture
Project accounting from the perspective you needForecast turns everything from scoping to running and tracking a project into a feast. Easily see things available and benefit from monitoring the actual cost, revenue, and profit, compared to planned. The project budget will also help you be aware of how each team member is working and what to do to ensure profitability on each project. 
Picture
Seamless collaboration across departments

Forecast values collaboration and makes sure your have all the needed features in order to improve the interaction between the team members. It’s painless to integrate Forecast with your other departments and their preferred tools. Having trouble getting your software team leave Jira? Well, no need to worry, Forecast integrates with Jira and syncs every related detail with the project, so you can stay on the same page with other departments, and even see what is going on in real time. Check other integrations here. 
Picture
High-level reports

Missing the high level overview of your projects? Well, not anymore. All the data is tied together, it is accredited in the reports. Check your project's progress, sprint velocity, financial situation, and get many more insights as to where the project portfolio is heading. Share reports and benefit from seeing the health of your business in an instant. Even see the financials on a portfolio level and benefit from the holistic view where you can decide from where to drill down to.

Build and share powerful dashboards, reports, and insights so you can put real-time information right at your team or clients’ fingertips.
Picture
Picture
By having your operations managed automatically, your teams empowered and with accurate reports, you can carve out time for what really matters, like innovation, creativity, and building strong client relations.

Picture
Acuity PPM

Acuity PPM is a modular-based project portfolio management solution designed for project teams to manage their project portfolio and report status to senior leaders. Their focus is on providing a PPM solution that people like using. Based on years of consulting experience with Fortune 500 companies and over a decade in portfolio management, they have seen many organizations struggle with traditional PPM solutions. Their solution helps newer Project Management Offices (PMO’s) ramp up quickly with portfolio management and gives senior leaders portfolio insights without creating custom reports and dashboards – users can interact with the data to get different views of the portfolio. Their PPM Fundamentals module includes portfolio tracking and project status reports. Their Work Intake module helps track new project proposals and includes portfolio roadmapping to get different strategic views of the portfolio.
​
Takes into account your present level of maturity: according to Gartner, at least 80% of Project Management Offices operate at a level 1 or 2 maturity level. Many traditional portfolio management solutions are designed for mature PMO’s and include a lot of functionality that teams either don’t use or may not have the sophistication to use successfully. Acuity PPM provides fundamental capabilities such as portfolio tracking, project status reporting, strategic roadmapping, and work intake to help match the maturity level of most organizations. By not overwhelming users with unneeded functionality, early-stage PMO’s can more successfully adopt Acuity PPM software in their company.

Picture
Clean user interface supports better user adoption: Acuity PPM is easy and intuitive to use. It has a clean and simple design which makes it easy to navigate throughout the system. Users new to PPM software will find it very easy to get started with limited training. This helps teams be more productive immediately and encourages higher user adoption, which improves data quality. If you want a simple and easy to use solution, Acuity PPM is a good choice.
Picture
Modules let you add functionality as you grow: Acuity PPM is one of the only vendors that offers a true modular approach to portfolio management software. This lets customers pay for what they need and not pay for what they don’t need. It also lets organizations more easily “grow” into a portfolio management solution by adding functionality when it is needed (e.g. Work Intake, Capacity Planning, Stage-Gate, etc.)
Picture
Low cost, low risk: Acuity PPM’s Fundamentals module is a great starting point for new project organizations. You can then add on modules for a flat monthly cost. Not only does this make Acuity PPM very affordable, but more importantly, it significantly reduces the risk to the customer. In the past, if your team wanted portfolio management software, it often came at a great cost with a high risk of implementation failure. With Acuity PPM, you don’t have to make a huge financial investment to get started with PPM software. With its great user experience and modular approach, teams have a higher likelihood for success.


Great portfolio management knowledge base: it’s clear that Acuity PPM understands project portfolio management. They have a great PPM 101 blog and video series to help educate teams about the fundamental components of portfolio management. The system itself was designed by practitioners for practitioners based on years of working with Fortune 500 companies. This company is passionate about helping organizations be successful with portfolio management.
Picture

Picture
OnlinePMCourses

OnlinePMCourses is for project managers. I know the CEO/founder Mike Clayton and I know he stands behind his organization and will make sure you have the best experience possible. His courses are designed to help you best prepare to certify or just become the best possible project manager you can be.

OnlinePMCourses is the creation of Dr Mike Clayton - one of the most successful and in-demand project management trainers in the UK. He is a prolific blogger, a contributor to ProjectManager.com and Project (the journal of the Association for Project Management - APM), and the author of 14 best-selling books, including five about project management.

Picture
Mike was a successful project leader, as a consulting Senior Manager with the London office of Deloitte.

He lives in an English market town in Hampshire, with his family.
In his own words...

OnlinePMCourses gives you clear, practical Project Management knowledge, that is easy to understand and apply.

But OnlinePMCourses is not just a set of training videos. It is a program that will help you transform yourself into the Project Manager you want to be. To help you do this, we are building the most comprehensive portfolio of Project Management self-development resources on the web.

We here to help you, if you:

  • Want to be a Project Manager - to build the career you deserve
  • Need to be a Project Manager - to support some aspect of your current role
  • Are just becoming a Project Manager - and want to accelerate your learning and development
  • Are already a Project Manager - and want to get better at your profession
  • ...or gain some qualifications to underpin your skillset
  • Run a team or a business, and need your people to become better Project Managers

OnlinePMCourses is not just a set of training videos. It is a program that will help you transform yourself into the Project Manager you want to be. To help you do this, we are building the most comprehensive portfolio of Project Management self-development resources on the web.

Check out OnlinePMCourses' offerings on their website and see who they can help you become the project leader you want to be.

Picture
Triskell PPM Factory

Do you need a PPM or EPM? That may depend on your organization's size, client base, types of projects you undertake and sizes of projects you are engaged on. But if you think you may need such a tool – and most organizations of any size will benefit greatly from this – or if you already have a PPM tool, then I'd like to refer you to Triskell-PPM Factory project portfolio management solution.

Picture
Why? Here are five reasons why... Triskell-PPM Factory is the only company-wide Saas solution on the Project Portfolio Management market today that offers you all the flexibility and capabilities to:

  • With this PPM solution you will be able to break any business strategy down into multiple portfolios and organizations. Flexibility and user-friendliness is at the forefront of their software design for this product.
 
  • With this PPM solution, you will be able to dynamically prioritize, fund and staff initiatives and actions according to strategic targets, as well as available budgets and resources. Everything is configurable and customizable for you, but the incredible out of the box functionality means you will end up with a great full-featured fit for your company's needs.
 
  • You can plan work and schedule your resources in a standard or agile mode. You won't be locked into waterfall or agile...the product will flex with your projects.
 
  • You will be able to dynamically control execution and progress on several axes and identify the potential gaps with the original targets. Getting a 1000 foot view of your projects as well as a 360˚ view means better information and, thus, better decision-making.
 
  • Re-align periodically with strategy and execution. Again, the product will flex with the changes and changing directions and needs of your organization – fast, efficiently and effectively – and not with a lot of redesign or configuration.

And keep in mind...these highlights are on top of what those familiar with PPM solutions would consider more standard PPM functionalities and highlights. Triskell-PPM Factory has all of those and more offering a clear strategic advantage.

Are you ready to try it out?

Convinced yet? Don't let me stop you from moving forward or seeking more info on your own. The people behind the product are top-notch and very quick responders for information, help and support. Request a live demo and check it out for your self with the experts at Triskell. Remember, unlike other tools Triskell is an enterprise solution that is configured to meet the specific needs of your company, which makes it very easy to use and fit each user in many critical areas including project portfolio management and planning / resource optimization. Go to Triskell to learn much more about what they have to offer.
0 Comments

The CEO Says We Need Agile

11/15/2019

0 Comments

 
CEOs like the latest technology. CEOs like continuous improvement initiatives. CEOs like to be at the cutting edge of technology whenever possible. They like to make decisions. But are those decisions always in the best interest of the organization or are the latest tech, the latest processed, the best buzzwords this week. Whatever is hot now - that’s what they want.

​Agile. It's the latest corporate buzzword making the rounds. One survey last year found that over half the organizations who were implementing it were doing so because the CEO said so, not because of the value it adds. When done well it can transform individuals and organizations, but when done badly it can suck the life out of everyone involved...
Read the full article...
0 Comments

Ask the PM #2 video - No Gantt chart, telling the customer off, project closeout checklist, are reqs done

11/13/2019

0 Comments

 
Ask the PM #2 in my new video series is now live. This one is 13 minutes long... I promise future videos will be considerably shorter. In video # 2 I cover when project customers don't want a Gantt chart, have you ever wanted to tell a difficult customer to buzz off, what's needed for project closeout, and how do you know that requirements are done. Please watch, like, share and subscribe. And send more questions to me at begeland@gmail.com or through my contact form on this site. Thanks!
0 Comments

Ask the PM #1 video is Live - Please Check it Out and Give Feedback

11/10/2019

0 Comments

 
The first video in my new series "Ask the PM" is live now... thanks for your challenging questions. I've received 50+ so far and I'll plan to go over 5-6 that I pick out per video. I will focus more on best practices type questions and real world project management situations than "how to create a gantt chart" type questions. This first video went longer than planned... Hoping to keep them to 5-10 minutes each so you don't get bored. Please watch it and like, subscribe and share!
0 Comments

How I got sucked into the cryptocurrency craze and walked away with $13m

11/10/2019

0 Comments

 
This is the first-person account of Dan Conway, an ex-middle manager in corporate America who made a fortune betting his life savings on cryptocurrency.
BY DAN CONWAY

On a gray morning in May 2016, I left my office in downtown San Francisco and walked down Montgomery Street, to Wells Fargo.

I swiveled open the two gigantic doors, walked up to the counter, and explained to the teller that I needed to send a money wire to Gemini Trust Company, LLC., a cryptocurrency exchange based in New York City.

“Certainly,” she said. “How much will you be sending today, Mr. Conway?”
“One hundred thousand dollars.”
Picture
My voice sped up as I said it: $100k. This represented my family’s entire life savings. It was money my wife and I planned to use to pay for our 3 kids’ college tuitions, our eventual retirement, and emergency expenses. I was a middle-aged guy with a family who had never been on the cutting edge of anything. But I was about to bet everything I had on an unproven virtual currency called Ethereum. 

This could only end two ways: I’d lose everything I owned, or make a fortune.

Restless in corporate America

Up to that point, my professional life was one of quiet desperation.

I was a 45-year-old middle manager at a major multi-media company in San Francisco. Though I earned a respectable $150k per year, I hated the fake company culture, the bureaucracy, and the endless chains of command.

Like so many others, I was looking for some kind of escape. And soon, I found one.

One early morning in mid-2015, before anyone else was in the office, I was browsing online and stumbled upon an article about Bitcoin.

I’d heard about Bitcoin years earlier, when I was preoccupied with climbing the corporate ladder. Back then, it seemed ludicrous to spend money — real currency that I could hold in my hands — on some digital token that existed on a public ledger in the cloud. To be frank, I thought it was complete bullshit. 

But that morning, I had a sudden change of heart.

Bitcoin, the article read, was going through an especially rough patch. Its price, which was in a constant state of volatility, had fallen from a high of $1.2k in 2013 to $300. My mind raced: What if it goes up again? What if I put everything I had into this? I could get rich and never work another day in corporate America...

A part of me recognized these thoughts as destructive mania. My addictive personality had landed me in trouble before — first with alcohol, then with harder drugs. My 12-step sponsor wasn’t going to pat me on the back and say, “Go buy that Bitcoin, Dan! Sounds like a fantastic plan!”

At the same time, my wife Eileen and I were raising 3 children and had a big mortgage on our home in the Bay Area. The Great Recession had snatched away most of Eileen’s PR consulting clients. We were privileged, of course, but money was tighter than usual.

Sitting in my empty office, I began to go down the crypto rabbit hole. And the more I learned, the more I was pulled in.

Ethereum or bust

Through early research, I gravitated from Bitcoin to Ethereum (ETH), a then-newly launched coin that debuted in July 2015.

Blockchain, the technology underlying Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies, promised to one day decentralize corporations. As TechCrunch wrote, it would offer the “stability of an organization but without the hierarchy.” It seemed almost too good to be true, but a lot of smart, future-forward people were getting behind it.

As a disenfranchised suit-and-tie, I was enraptured by the possibility of a decentralized future. As a greedy speculative investor, it gave me a rush.
In short order, I developed an Ethereum obsession.

I listened to Ethereum podcasts while walking the dog. I read about Ethereum during every spare minute I had at work. I rejiggered my Twitter feed to follow mostly Ethereum-related accounts. I absorbed hours of Ethereum commentary on YouTube.

My biggest source of conviction was Ethereum’s developers. In the ‘90s, I’d worked in PR at Macromedia. The company’s product, Flash, had dominated the web graphics market after catching the attention of the most forward-thinking web designers. In the same sense, the smartest developers were now flocking to Ethereum.

Occasionally, my Ethereum fever broke and I wondered if I’d gone off the deep end.

Was my growing desire to invest in Ethereum a desperate attempt by a desperate man to find some kind of midlife salvation? Was this whole thing some kind of elaborate ruse to scam people like me out of their nest eggs?
Most of my friends in tech — folks working at places like Google, Apple, and Uber — were dismissive of blockchain. Few of them had heard of Ethereum. When I told a buddy of mine that I was considering investing in cryptocurrency, he broke out in laughter, as if I’d admitted I was hedging my future on Smurfberries or Scooby Snacks.

But my mind was made: I was going to put everything I had into this.

All in

Less than a year later, I found myself standing at a Wells Fargo desk, transferring our life savings to Gemini in exchange for 6,993 ETH, at an average price of $14.  

Eileen had been rightfully resistant to the idea. Eventually, though, she agreed to a deal: I could make the transfer, but I had to promise my children that I’d take them on a number of expensive trips.

After watching me go through years of addiction issues, depression, and corporate misery, Eileen was happy to see me excited about something — even if it was some virtual coin. Never for a moment did she think we’d get rich off of it. But she didn’t want to break the spell I was under.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t long before I experienced the Earth-shaking volatility of the crypto market.

In June 2016, a high-visibility project was hacked and Ethereum tanked: By December, our original $100k investment was worth less than $40k.

Though I was $60k in the hole, my confidence in Ethereum was stronger than ever... and it was now at a bargain-basement-level price. So, I decided to double down.

We didn’t have the cash. The only pool of funds available was the line of credit on our home. Racking up a big debt on our home equity line would very likely set us up for an unhappy ending.

But I felt in my bones that this was my shot and I might not get another one.

In December of 2016, I visited Wells Fargo 3 times, transferring an increasing amount of money from our home equity line to Gemini. After each transfer, I went home and bought ETH slowly so I didn’t cause a run-up. (The order books were thin with limited liquidity in those days; a rush of sales could cause the other traders and their bots to snatch up all the available coins.)

That winter, I borrowed $200k on my home and used it to buy more ETH. I now owned 26,750 ETH total, at an average buy-in of $11.21/coin.

And I was $300k in the hole.

On the rise

In February 2017, during our first negotiated ‘trip of a lifetime’ in Mexico, Ethereum came back to life.

It was the middle of the night, and I was in the back of a cab battling a nasty bout of food poisoning. I was puking my guts out, foaming at the mouth, and delirious — but I didn’t care because our ETH was up $50K. We were in the black for the first time.

Then, something miraculous happened: It kept going up… and up… and up. Between February and March of 2017, ETH shot from $15 to $50 per coin. By April, it was at $70; by May, $230.

In a span of 4 months, my $300k investment ballooned to $6m.

I’d seen a story at some point about someone who had spontaneous orgasms at random times throughout the day. That’s the best way I can describe the feeling. When I checked my phone, I’d be up another 6 figures since the last time I looked. I couldn’t resist stopping whatever I was doing to pump my fist and shout, “YEESSSS!”

But other times, ETH would dip, and the value of my stack would plummet by more than $1m in less than an hour. The “orgasms” were replaced by brutal withdrawals. The volatility was a narcotic, shooting up my brain with boosts of dopamine and serotonin.

The coins consumed me and changed my entire persona.

When ETH stopped going up or had a mild dip, I’d get snappy with the kids. I donned a hoodie and stared into the void for hours, my mind enslaved to the promise of Ethereum and its price variations. I was fired from my job of 6 years.

In the midst of a particularly volatile week, I found myself in the emergency room, struggling to breathe. The doctor diagnosed me with a panic event. “Is anything making you anxious?” he asked.

There was also the constant, looming fear that my crypto account could be hacked at any moment. In 2017 alone, hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto were stolen from accounts — and there wasn’t any regulatory body to protect victims.

From June to October of 2017, ETH floated between $200 to $400 per coin — an increase of 2,000% since the beginning of the year. That summer, many of the early HODLers (the folks who were holding for the long-term) began to cash out.

My coins were now worth millions, but I continued to hold the majority of them. This decision would soon pay off in a bigger way than I ever could’ve imagined. 

The sell

In the course of 2 weeks in December 2017, ETH nearly doubled in price from $430 to $830. On January 3, 2018, it hit $900; 3 days later, it passed $1k.

It was an unprecedented burst — so monumental in scope that it temporarily froze the exchanges. It was like a 9.0 earthquake with an infinite number of aftershocks.

In the midst of this madness, I received an email from my financial advisor, who I’d hired months earlier to oversee my growing funds.

The alarm bells were sounding.

Sitting on my couch in sweaty workout clothes, I turned to my favorite subreddit, r/EthTrader. The message board was full-on mayhem, with 1.4k comments that morning alone. Grandparents, and taxi drivers, and anyone else who’d gotten a hot tip were buying in without even knowing what crypto was. Even for hardcore HODLers like me, it was too much, too fast.
I frantically logged into my Gemini account and weighed my options.

If I didn’t sell and ETH tanked, I’d lose it all. I’d have to tell Eileen and the kids that dad had dropped the golden goose egg, that I’d squandered my lottery ticket.

Watching the greedy masses pile into ETH reminded me of the famous battle scene from Braveheart: While the hordes rush forward in full sprint, lances atilt, the defenders sit still, unflinching and calm, waiting for the signal to attack.

I watched the price climb to $915. Then, over the course of two hours, I sold 11k ETH, the majority of my remaining stack, for $10m.

I sent Eileen a text: We are done.

Life after crypto 

Shortly after we cashed out, the cryptocurrency market took a nosedive. 
Ethereum dropped from a high of $1,396 in January to $385 in April. By December of 2018, it was back below $100.

Eileen and I paid off our $950k mortgage. We booked a trip to Africa we’d always dreamed of. Hell, we even bought a second home in Ireland.

Nearly 2 years later, it’s still surreal looking at our bank account and seeing high 7-figures, post-tax. It all happened so quickly that it feels like a dream.

I still believe crypto will open up new possibilities for organizing the world in the decades ahead, and I’m confident it will pop again as a result. But I don’t recommend that anyone try to replicate what I did.

Luck played a significant role in my success.

I banked everything I had on a relatively unproven technology and got out at the right time. For every story like mine, there are hundreds of others about people who lost it all. I know that could’ve easily been me.

At the same time, I’m no blackjack player. My investment wasn’t purely a blind gamble that came up aces. I was, and am, a true believer in crypto — and I had the right mix of courageousness and craziness to take a big risk.
I’ve since turned my efforts toward making the concept of crypto-based decentralization more accessible to the general public. My recent book, which chronicles my wild journey, encourages people to think about their own risk parameters.

Today, I’ve settled back into a normal life. I make dinner, do odd-jobs around the house, and live a very pleasant life by almost any measure. I still drive a minivan every day. Crypto no longer consumes me.

But every now and then, after the kids are asleep, I lie awake thinking back on the rush of the market. And I miss it like hell.
​

Interested in learning more about Dan’s story? He recently chronicled his entire journey in a full-length book, Confessions of a Crypto Millionaire.
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Author:

    Picture

    Brad Egeland


    Named the "#1 Provider of Project Management Content in the World," Brad Egeland has over 25 years of professional IT experience as a developer, manager, project manager, cybersecurity enthusiast, consultant and author.  He has written more than 8,000 expert online articles, eBooks, white papers and video articles for clients worldwide.  If you want Brad to write for your site, contact him. Want your content on this blog and promoted? Contact him. Looking for advice/menoring? Contact him.

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    March 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    November 2009

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.