July 2025: How to calculate the three-point-estimate? The three-point-estimate is an estimation technique to calculate a potential value of an aspect, like estimating activity duration in project scheduling, or expected cost for some endeavors. The three points are the three values of the best case (optimistic) scenario, the worst case (pessimistic) scenario, and the most likely or most realistic scenario. The calculation is a weighted average of these values, where the estimate equals the optimistic (O) value, plus the pessimistic (P) value, plus the most likely (M) value multiplied by 4, all divided by 6: (O+P+4M)/6. these three values should be obtained from reliable source so that the estimate is meaningful. Sources include industry standards and best practices, or expert judgment like team members votes. This technique is one of the easiest and most popular estimation techniques, while there are other methods that can be more sound mathematically and statistically, depending on the context of the estimation.
June 2025: What is Benchmarking? Benchmarking is a measurement and assessment technique used to compare results from one process or functionality to an industry standard or average values for relevant or comparable entities. It's a technique applied in quality management or performance appraisal or similar disciplines, in order to calculate variance from average, analyze causes of deviation, and identify and plan corrective actions for improvement. Tools used for benchmarking are measurement tools suitable for the metrics and KPIs being compared. it's important to make sure relevant metrics are being measured and compared, measurements are conducted correctly so that values are reliable, and that comparison is being made against recognized and stable industry standards for relevant corresponding entities. Depending on the purpose of benchmarking, comparison can be made against specific competitors or top performers in the market.
May 2025: What is Cash Flow in Financial Management? Cash Flow is an important and basic concept in financial management. It plans and anticipates the incoming and outgoing flows of money within the scope under consideration. Cash flows are studied in order to determine liquidity at any point of time, so that business doesn't face uncovered liabilities. Cash flows also serve as an investment assessment tool, to determine how profitable is a certain investment, by understanding the upfront and ongoing investment and expenditures, and the expected rate of return and payback period of the investment. For this purpose, time value of money is a key concept, where both future value and present value of cash flows are calculated so that amounts of money earned or expended at different points of time are comparable. Cash flow statements are one type of main financial statements issued periodically by financial management of any entity to report financial activities, and it can address normal operational activities or long term investment activities.
April 2025: What is the Value-Added of External Consultants? External consultants are contracted by companies for various purposes. Aside from the specific task being assigned to them, external consultants are expected to provide additional insight, as opposed to internal consultants or experts. They bring with them the diverse experience they collected through working with several clients in different industries. In addition, they view the inside operations and processes from an independent and unbiased point of view, which allows them to be objective in their findings and recommendations, without being influenced by what they are used to do inside the organization or tending to compliment one side over the other under the influence of organizational politics. In light of that, external consultants are expected to be truthful, sincere, frank, ethical, and driven by the client interest. External consultants can be individuals or firms, and they accomplish their job by working with teams of internal and external staff, depending on needs of the project.
March 2025: What is Analysis Paralysis? This term refers to the case of over analyzing information or data related to a situation to the extent that disables analysts to reach conclusions and make decisions. The reasons leading to this paralysis can be the pressure of time or the criticality of the situation and the implications of the decisions to be made, or the amount and complexity of the data being analyzed. Desire to reach perfection of analysis will lead to escalating commitment and allocating time and effort for more analysis with diminishing return and low gain with regards to the quality and value of the final decisions. This case can be avoided by proper planning of the analysis process, including selection of data sources, data collection and cleansing, setting goals of the analysis and desired decisions to be made, and identifying the target stakeholders impacted by the decisions, as well as using professional analysis tools. By Experience, analysts will master control over the analysis process and are not to get trapped in this paralysis case.
February 2025: What is AI Economics? Artificial Intelligence (AI) Economics refers to the economic implications of adopting AI technologies in various industries. This is analyzed at both the macroeconomic (meaning the implications on national GDP and growth) and microeconomic (meaning the jobs and market affecting individual livings) levels. The term emerged because of the wide spread of AI integration and its potential associated opportunities and threats. While analysis of economic impact at national level highly varies from country to another, depending on the the current GDP and technical development level and what added value AI technologies can introduce, the impacts at the individual levels could be less variant, taking in consideration the similarities of job functions of a specific position and the benefits or threats AI technology can involve, and what new jobs are added or old jobs are replaced. Understanding the economic impact and preparing for it upfront will help in capitalizing on these technologies and not missing opportunities.
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