Product & Project Management

Web Based Project Management - Easy, Accessible Solutions for Business Project Management

2011-12-02T01:42:00.000-08:00

There are certain things that businesses look for when it comes to taking care of - well, business. Having tools and applications that help improve efficiency and accessibility is always going to be an advantage that businesses want and need. When dealing with the various task management issues that arise in business, project management programs are the obvious choice. However, there are two types of software to choose from: web based project management software and traditional, offline software programs. Which is better? While traditional programs are more appealing to many people because they are familiar, online solutions actually provide more advantages for a business.

Web based project management is accessible and easy to use. Anyone anywhere can get on a computer and log on to the company's project solution. It doesn't matter if they are working from a computer at a library or even from a hotel while they are on vacation. People no longer have to be in the office or on a business-specific computer to access project management tools, applications, and information. When information is more accessible, a business becomes more efficient and productive. Increasing these things helps to drive profits, so it makes sense that a business would want to achieve goals like this.

With web based project management, businesses are able to combine their projects into one simple software program that is based online, allowing all team leaders and team members to have access to the different projects that they are a part of. Your business needs this type of dynamic communication tool to become more successful, no matter what type of business you are in. Being able to create projects, tasks, reports, and communications to share with others makes it easier and more accessible for everyone to do their job. Plus, the accessibility of being able to work anywhere and at anytime allows everyone to keep up with what is going on whether they are in the office, at home, or halfway around the world.

Business is a highly competitive world and having the right tools to rise above the rest is critical for many different organizations. One of the best possible investments that any business can make is a web based project management system that will give them more efficient, effective, and accessible business communication and project management solutions. The innovations of technology are offering your business some great benefits that you can't afford to miss if you want a more successful, more streamlined business solution. Daily operations and projects will be easier than ever to manage and complete and accountability will be available for all. Not only will it make your business easier to run, but it will make it more successful in the end.

Phil Williams is an expert in project management. Your business deserves the best when it comes to web based project management. If you are looking for the most dynamic and comprehensive project management solutions for your business needs, visit http://www.projecturf.com to learn about available products and services that can put your business one step ahead of the rest.

Features and Types of Project Management Software

2011-12-01T11:55:00.000-08:00

Project management applications supply businesses and organizations with tools necessary to help control costs, be more effective in their time management and to smooth the progress through team collaborations. They offer significant benefits to the clients and to the team as they help enhance the productivity, performance and priorities of a diverse project portfolio. It can be viewed as a lubricant to adapt project techniques to project practices.

Project management software is a software that includes scheduling, estimation and planning, cost and budget management, resource allocation, communication and collaboration software, time tracking and the list can go on. All of these areas are used to deal with small, medium and complex, large projects.

There are a number of project management software tools available today with many features and options. For instance, tools for activity based costing analysis, planning, budgeting and other tracking tools. A project planning software package usually have these items of information for input:

Start date of each activity
Period of each activity
Dependencies of each activity
Resources accessible
At which stage resources will be available

There are several types of software and these features should be present in any type of project management software. Software types may be a desktop application, a web-based software or it can also be a hosted software solution that allows access from remote locations through Internet or Intranet.

Web Based

Most tools and applications nowadays are implemented as a web application. These software are often termed as the next generation high-level project management software tools.

Advantages and disadvantages of web applications:

You don't need to install the software on user's computer
Can be accessed from any type of computer
Ease of access-control
Multi-user
Only need to maintain one software version
Centralized data repository
Responds slower than desktop applications
Project information not available when user or server is offline

Desktop

Another implementation of a project management is one that runs on a desktop of the user. These kinds of application usually store their data in a file, while some can have the ability to store their data in a centralized database or collaborate with other users. File-based project plan can even be shared between users if it's on a networked drive and can be access by any users anytime.

The biggest advantage of a desktop application is the speed of the execution. The application runs faster and has a better response time and intense graphics than web-based solutions. This is because web-based applications have not yet evolved to faster execution time.

Project management software is designed to manage all aspects of your project needs effectively. There are different types of software available, and the most will allow you for the completion of projects from beginning to end.

Trying to make a decision to which project management software to use? You can get a trial version of the Latitude software here.

Convince Your Potential Clients by Including Project Management Software in Your Pitch

2011-12-01T01:36:00.000-08:00

Here is an amazing story how one of our users got the project with the help of Project Management Software.

One of my friend shares with us this amazing experience how latest online IT tools are changing the rules of day today business. He wrote:

I was interacting with a potential customer who was interested in Product development for his company. My company had been in business for quite some time and did not have the big brand name which company strives to build. This prospective customer had told me that he had been in touch with well known companies regarding Product Development and he wanted to review others option also.

I began to talk about the products I have developed, my plan for development, and I was telling him much of whether he is aware about PHP, Java, Asp and others technologies. This few firms he had spoken had big brand name than I had and had to answer these questions a hundred times over. I was totally caught on wrong foot about what made me different from others? I was not about to lose this opportunity.

It strikes me instantly that I had spent much of the time today working with another client, and that they had been suggesting and sharing some latest development ideas of their own through this new software I had been turned on to, Web based Project Management System. I think I had been using the software no more than a couple of weeks and I tapped in the address into my laptop and spend it around to this potential customer. I told him that in my experience web development came with a certain mystery. You pay a company, they says they are going to d o A, B and C but after certain time, you may not know what progress they been made or when your project is in being completed. Moreover every thing is discussed over mail and chat which become difficult to follow and saved.

I shared him that for me Online Project Management tool is the best way of updating the client each step of the modules or phase.

I created a new project; I generated a user-name and password and sent it to his e-mail which he instantly got via net enabled phone. I showed him how I had the mobile application on my i Phone and I went about creating milestones and to-do lists for his project. I upload the file instantly and use Proofing tool online to discuss the web page. If we begin now, I will have the design document for you by this date, entered it into Online Project Management Software. If we begin now, I will have a mock-up via development server for you by this date, and entered that into Online Project Management System too. He was clearly convinced.

Look, he liked the way that I did, that when you hire someone to do product work for you; it is often that everyone to be part of each phase of development. Having a tool like this allowed him to feel connected to his project, but still he did not sign with me that very minute. I believe that Online Project Management Service gives me the edge over others. He contacted me just a few hours later saying he had short listed my company to work on his project, and at the end of the call he said that there is not much difference about others companies bids. Our prices were more or less the same, but it was Project Management Software and how I was practicing it as a client service resource that gave him the assurance that I was the right company to work with.

This Software made a believer out of me that day, and while company is having a less creditability in market but all the short coming will be properly handled through Online System. There are a lot of competitors out there who do great work, mine is a field filled with some very talented people, I needed something that made me different, and I needed a something special, thankfully I had this latest tool.

This is how new tools and technologies are making different in our day today work. Technology like this can act as a winning secret weapons for any individual or company.

The managing of projects on the World Wide Web should not be something overly-complicated, or something to drive you off the wall. And a platform like ProofHub makes it all too clear. In principle, ProofHub service will empower any company and its clients to share a space on the Net in which they can fully communicate. This space can be employed to analyze the way any project is headed, schedule activities and keep track of milestones. For More Info Click on Project Management Software.

How successful a project manager

2011-11-30T15:02:00.000-08:00

A project manager is the person responsible for the achievement of the objectives of the declared project. Project key management techniques include project creation and achievable objectives, the requirements of the project, building and managing the triple constraints for projects, which costs time, money and quality. A PM is often a representative of the client and must determine and implement the exact needs of the client based on the knowledge the company they represent. Management of a project can be a daunting task. Succeeding in the management of a project, it is a hard ask on a PM.

Here we discuss some of the means that will allow a PM succeed in leading the management group. Development of the group is more important for a PM of personal development. Invariably, the personal development should help in the development of the management of the group. This article summarizes some if the methods that will help you succeed in your management. Following these does not guarantee project succeeded, but it would increase the chances of success.

Understand the scope and objectives:

First, a PM must include clear ultimate goal of this project. Determine the actual objectives will help you to plan the project successfully. Scope defines the boundaries of the project. This will give an understanding of the work which must be placed in the project.

Define the deliverables:

A PM must define what will be delivered by the project. Decide the tangible things and documenting in detail so that anyone can do it properly.

Project planning:

Planning requires the PM pronounce on the people, resources and budget that is necessary to achieve the project. Detailed planning of the above mentioned factors must be involved. Involving the project team to determine the time, effort and resources required to complete a project the seedless. Set the milestones which indicate the critical dates in the project. Make sure that your team is informed of these days.

Communication:

Project Manager must ensure effective communication between the team to maximize productivity. Each team member must know their responsibilities carefully. If PM communicates with members on the objectives and milestones, and then the team could eventually give excessive importance to the details without importance of this fact, minimizing the productivity.

Monitoring of progress:

The project manager must monitor permanently the progress of the project and see if the project is adhering to the planned progress. You need to analyze changes in the actual costs and projected cost. The development of the monitoring project will help you to make changes so that the project is going in the right direction. This increases the chances of success of the project. Not effective management, it is often a reason why projects fail.

Risk management:

As a PM, it becomes your duty to ensure that the project becomes a success. The risk therefore is something that must be taken into account. Risks must be identified as quickly as possible and plans must be made to avoid these risks. If they cannot be avoided, then plans are needed to mitigate the risk of reducing its impact if it occurs.

Without taking account of these methods of practice could lead to the failure of the project and could shed light on questions to the skill of the PM.

Author of this article Tariq Noor Khan strongly recommends these project management templates [http://companiesmanagement.com/docs/] for project managers to be excellent in project management.

Project management software - selection of the best software

2011-11-30T00:25:00.000-08:00

The use of project management software has become a necessity for all businesses today. Project management describes what the plan and secure the right people and resources to plan, execute and deliver a project deadlines and budget. The software was widely used for the management of projects efficiently to any type of industry, such as it, construction, architecture, sales and marketing, surveying, etc.

People involved in the management of the process are called to the project team, which includes the project manager and team members. They use applications and tools to analyze, plan, plan, track and manage projects to improve productivity and to all of the management process. Software allows your company get the updated stay updated, projects and organize data. Remember that the software only help the project team to the success of the project, everyone must work on each task and what must be done. A project cannot be run correctly if it is working with the wrong plans.

The importance of project management has become more notable in the life of today's business. The best project management software is actually one that meets or meets the requirements of the completion of the project. The main points of choice of the software should perform these important tasks:

Priorities of project management - in the evaluation of management software, it is preferable to have a better understanding of project management activities from time to time. This helps to determine if the software is capable of solving any problem that your business will meet. Applying current management practices for project management software will help you determine how a problem can be solved by the use of the software. Breakdowns of what a project can also image on how projects and the software integrate with the other.

Assess future project management requirements - it is quite difficult to predict how a software to adjust over time, it is possible to understand the flexibility that hosts the software. Flexible software allows a company to grow. Software that are simple to use may or may not have the capacity to respond to the needs of a business as it grows. The software is more flexible, more options a company will have to deal with situations. Effective project management solution can accommodate change and meet the demands of changing business without degrade existing projects.

Accounting - software integration the ability of software to synchronize the data with other software is an essential element for a project management software. A software that can integrate other software systems to work together is much better, as the company may use an existing application and would like it to be sync to their choice of software. In fact, choice of software that can integrate other applications can reduce costs due to a reduction of the installation of data.

Relationship of supplier and Client Software-The client and the software provider must establish support each other. When you select a project management software, a must factor into consideration how reactive and competent provider of software and its support for the intention of serving. The company or the company should note also how willing to help the seller and support when there are issues and problems occur and how quickly their follow-up. The seller must be an active participant in support of their clients.

If the instance the company is currently using software and wants to migrate to a new, they should identify how such a switch to a system will be treated and whether if these measures. The switch can be onerous when a company wishes to transfer the data from the current software of the selected software. Therefore, it is preferable to such company to analyze how much effort is required to move to a new software.

Latitude Business Software is a software project management designed for engineers and land surveyors in project management and effective. You can get a trial version of the software here.

Project Management Mind Games - The Importance of the Psychological Contract

2011-11-29T14:44:00.000-08:00

As well as a written work contract, project team members will have also defined a psychological contract that will influence how they contribute to a project. The psychological contract consists of a set of mutual expectations that team members and project managers have about satisfying a set of mutual needs. It is part of the mind games of project management.

Team members will typically expect:

- Safe working conditions

- Fairness and respect

- Equal work distribution

- Clarity of role and responsibilities

- Clarity in work assignments

- Opportunities to develop

- Participation in project decisions

- Adequate rewards

- Recognition for achievements

The project manager will typically expect:

- Adherence to policies and procedures

- Commitment, innovation, creativity

- Team player

- Maintenance of the organisation's reputation

- Trust, honesty and integrity

In a nutshell, it is a game of give and take - you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. The psychological contract can have more influence over behaviour than any written contract or positional power or authority that the project manager or anyone else can bring to bear. Project managers typically find themselves in the position of managing people who do not formally report to them so the psychological contract is especially important for projects.

Violations of psychological contracts can have significant implications for your projects as team members who feel that their contracts have been broken may react in a negative way. The last thing a project manager wants is for team members to adapt the attitude of "If you're going to treat me like that, then I'm just going to do as little as I can get away with." This may be accompanied by feelings of anger and betrayal. Expect this to result in reduced loyalty, effort, communication, innovation, productivity and commitment. These are the lifeblood of successful projects so the potential impact is obvious.

Project managers must know the significance of the psychological contract and must make every effort to keep them. Flexibility is one element of the psychological contract which is a key issue these days. Take hours of work for example. The project manager could have discussions such as, "you should be here between these core hours. I understand the need for flexibility so if you have to start late or finish early because of family or other commitments that is ok. However, I expect you to keep me informed and that you will make up the hours some other time. And there will be occasions during the project when we may have to work extra hours and it will be much more difficult to be flexible".

The integrity of psychological contracts will no doubt be tested especially when the pressure really comes on. To keep the psychological contract, the project manager must behave as they have promised even under the most pressurised conditions. The pillars of maintenance are honest open communications and integrity. This type of environment allows the inevitable disagreements and conflicts that occur in projects to be dealt with constructively and in a way that prevents team members from perceiving a breach of the contract.

The benefits of building and maintaining good psychological contracts are immeasurable, for both project managers and project team members. Team members who feel appreciated by the project will give of their best and will go the extra mile in times of crisis. The project manager can maintain a happy project accompanied by the attitudes and behaviours that are key to unleashing the innovation, creativity, productivity and commitment that is necessary for successful project delivery.

Tom has over fifteen year's project management experience across both the public and private sectors. He has managed significant and complex projects for the organisations in which he has worked - mostly within the IT and engineering domains.

Tom holds a Masters in Project Management from the University of Limerick, a B.Sc. in Information Technology from Dublin City University and a Diploma in Executive Coaching from the Irish Management Institute (IMI). In addition, he has been certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP) by the Project Management Institute (PMI) and as a Certified Training Professional (CTP) by the Irish Computer Society.

Tom is the founder and CEO of Project Management Edge, a dedicated project management company that collaborates with organisations to enhance their project management capability. Project Management Edge takes a unique coaching and partnering approach that helps organisations achieve necessary change through successful projects. Services cover all of the necessary elements - project coaching, training and consulting - required to make projects work.

For more information and additional project management resources, please visit http://www.pmedge.ie

Building a Project Management Office

2011-11-28T23:58:00.000-08:00

In today's complex business environment new projects are constantly being developed as organizations seek new ways to reduce costs, improve processes, increase productivity, and build their bottom line. Managing these diverse projects along with their people, resources, technology, and communication is a difficult endeavor for which the risk of failure is often far too high. An effective solution, created to establish a more centralized management structure for large groups of projects, is the Project Management Office (PMO). The PMO provides organizations with an infrastructure of people, procedures, and tools to achieve effective project management by leveraging project management standards, allocating resources, establishing consistent performance measures, and reducing duplication of efforts.

There are many benefits to establishing an effective PMO. First, the PMO provides a framework for consistently managing projects through a standard methodology while ensuring the projects are aligned with corporate goals and strategies. Project managers have clear lines of responsibility while coordinating people, processes, and tools with one another and by doing so, avoid both gaps and overlaps between projects and reduce or eliminate duplication of effort. Standardization and repeatability afford an organization better communication, reduced project cost, improved resource management, more accountability, improved quality, better forecasting, and less overhead associated with project managers.

Enlist Executive and Management Support

The first step in establishing a PMO is gaining executive and management support. This step relies heavily on organizational change management (OCM) as it requires a potentially significant shift in organizational culture as well as roles and responsibilities. Regardless of the difficulties and resistance to change, this step is the foundation upon which a successful PMO must be built. As with any shift in organizational structure, policy, or procedure, favor must be gained through justification for the changes in terms of cost benefit and return on investment (ROI).

Determine the Structure and Build the Team

The next step in building a PMO is to determine the structure and develop the team. There is no defined template for PMO structure as every organization brings its own variables to consider. Some manage all aspects of the projects assigned under them like scheduling, budgets, resourcing, human capital, oversight, and communication. Others may strictly coordinate these functions with most of the support coming from adjacent departments. The keys to determining the right structure and team members for the PMO are understanding the most effective way they can co-exist within the organization and finding the right balance between the PMO, organizational culture, roles and responsibilities, and management style. Some things to consider in establishing the structure and building the PMO team include: availability of resources; existing project management standards and methodologies; current roles and responsibilities; the politics of the organization; project size and volume; and current project management problems.

Develop and Document Standards

Once the structure and team members have been determined, it is time to develop and document the PMO standards, practices, and methodologies for project management. These standards will allow for consistency across the organization and its portfolio of projects. They will also comprise a large portion of the training that projects managers and staff will receive in the next step. Standardization is also an important part of allowing an organization to compare various projects and allocate resources where and when they are necessary.

Identify Skills and Train the Staff

Once the development of project management standards and methodologies is complete, the PMO must identify the proficiency levels and skill sets of it project managers and staff in order to determine what training is necessary. Some of this information will be evident as a result of reviewing the statuses of current projects. Much of the training content can also be based on the standards, practices, and methodologies that were defined in step #3. The PMO should also establish an ongoing training program. In a PMO it is inevitable that staff members will come and go and organizational standards will change and evolve. A training program will ensure that all new employees receive training on those standards and existing employees remain aware of any changes.

Measure Success and Continuously Improve

Now that the PMO structure is finalized, project management standards are established and communicated, and personnel are trained, the focus of the PMO must shift to assessing and measuring success. This point in time marks the initiation of progress and performance reporting based on standardized tools, templates, and methodologies. However, it also marks the beginning of a continuous process improvement cycle and a transition from PMO deployment to operational sustainment. As the PMO evolves, project team members must maintain an awareness of the metrics by which their projects are measured as well as how process effectiveness is determined. There must be a concerted effort to identify processes which require improvement. Once identified, improvement measures must be developed and implemented.

The establishment of an effective PMO is beneficial to any organization which manages a portfolio of projects. When planning and building a PMO it is imperative that it is done in a manner which compliments the existing structure or the organization. This will allow the company to gain maximum benefit and to do otherwise would be counter-productive. Since every organization is different, the optimal structure for the PMO must be designed based on many considerations and variables. The ability of a PMO to manage projects through consistent and repeatable standards and methodologies brings many benefits. It provides the organization with accountability, continuity, simplified oversight, and the ability to measure project success more effectively. An effective PMO is a catalyst for greater efficiency as it allows an organization to do more quality work with fewer resources and less risk. The result of these benefits is an organization that will significantly improve its project success rate.

About the Author
Mark Piscopo is the founder of ProjectManagementDocs.com, a website dedicated to advancing project management through the distribution of free project management tools, templates and educational material. Mr. Piscopo is a highly accomplished professional offering 20+ years of documented achievements in; Strategic Business Planning; Project & Program Management; Project Management Office (PMO); Team Building & Leadership; Change Management; Process Improvement; Cost Reduction; Risk Management; Partner & Customer Relationship Management; and Technology Advancements. Mr. Piscopo is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).

Visit http://www.ProjectManagementDocs.com to download free PMBOK based project management templates, tools and educational articles.

Project Management Plan - Where to Stop decaying work break down Structure?

2011-11-28T15:36:00.000-08:00

Work break down (WBS) breaks a project in discrete elements. It is the basis for project planning. The PMBOK Guide define WBS as "a deliverable oriented group of the components of the project that organizes and defines the total scope of the project;" "work not included in the TRS is outside the scope of the project." WBS helps project managers to perform planning, the scope of cost estimation, risk analysis and analysis of the schedule and more. The decomposition is an important technique used in the creation of WBS. However, the excessive decomposition can lead to more work without the addition of great value to a project.

Look at a scenario. Suppose that your company uses a product COT to charge your customers. I am sure that you know what means a COT product is. It is a commercial off the coast of the plateau which is ready-made product and ready to use for a company. For example, MS Office is a product of TOC from Microsoft Corporation. The COT product which is used in your Department is a unique product and very few developers and testers are available on the market for software development. In addition to your business, said projection you have more work to do for the three next years, and you need more people. Your boss has asked you to develop a project plan to train 25 internal resources within 120 days on software development of this product COT, to meet the needs of the project. Below shows a few key for the project tasks.

COT 1 training plan
1.1 Project planning
1.1.1 Identify list development and test candidates
1.1.2 Finalize the training approach
1.1.3 Develop a detailed training plan
1.1.4 Develop team case studies
1.1.5. Complete the installation of the environment for the team
1.1.6 Develop a process of revision of the quality of the deliverables of the developers
1.1.7 Develop a process of review of the quality of the deliverables of the testers
1.1.8 Conduct project Kick off meeting

1.2 Implementation of a project of
1.2.1 Training combined for developers and testers
1.2.1.1 Training topic 1
1.2.1.2 Training topic 2

Specific training for developers 1.2.2
1.2.2.1 Training topic 1
1.2.2.2 Training topic 2

Specific training for testers 1.2.3
1.2.3.1 Training topic 1
1.2.3.2 Training topic 2

1.2.4 Implementation of case study
1.2.5 Final review

I don't know different companies use a different approach. From the point of view of analysis, consider the TRS now. Can you identify something common to all these tasks? If this is not the case, let me tell you now. The power is that we can assign each task to an individual or a team, and we can measure with precision the cost associated with a task. You can determine the cost using a simple formula. The task duration multiplied by the number of resources multiplied by the dollar amount that you will bring the cost of a particular task. This is the general rule I use in the WBS decomposition, and I hope that most managers use a similar approach for the decomposition.

Joseline Edward is the founder and CEO of Lucas Project Management Consulting Company which offers courses PMP ® and CAPM ® Prep 60 days and to mock exams online. We offer required training, including all the materials necessary to prepare the review. Free mock up included to assess your exam preparation. Visit our blog http://www.way2pm.com/blog/ for additional information or the URL http://www.way2pm.com/ .

Balancing with projects project management processes

2011-11-28T06:31:00.000-08:00

OK, so I spent in corporate magazine and Government this week project management processes, and the first thing that came to my mind is "OH my!" There is no way I could get all of these steps, the documents, the doors, positions, etc. done and still manage the project! In some cases you need a multitude of administrators just to ensure that all project management tips has been!

Which has thinking me: how much project management do you really need? For you all fanatics of project management process irreducible, that would result by "how much rigour of project management you really need to apply to a project to successfully run the objectives of the project.

Let's find out...

Make no mistake, the process of project management are great (I am a professional certified for a reason project management). Project management processes provide organization and advice on the steps to follow for the duration of your project, but they can be a roadblock, if the process becomes more important than work.

What is necessary, it is a determination in early life of the project to determine how to apply project management. The industry calls this determination of rigour of project management.

For example, the United States Center for Disease Control has developed a very clear process for determining the amount of the rigour of project to apply to their projects management and on the web site of their Unified Process [http://www2.cdc.gov/cdcup/document_library/project_classification.asp]. The CDC bases their determination on the risk and complexity of the projects undertaken. More the risk or complexity, the more rigorous is respect for the process of project management.

For small projects that are clearly understood and are less risky, you can enable you to reduce the level of project management documentation, doors, control points to use. But if your project is large, or that it contains many factors unknown and risky, then using the valves and the control points and clearly document the project will help to manage risk and increase the likelihood of completion of the success of the project.

For example, suppose that you have been asked to manage a project to deliver a new product to your industry. As it is a new product, there are some unknown factors which must be the object of research. In research, you can find some risks that you think or know at the beginning of your effort, so it will hugely pay to make sure you that you are working with care measures, documentation and control points to ensure that your project is not blowing the budget or do not meet the expectations of the final.

The other side of the coin, suppose that you are invited to plan the Conference of the users of this year. This will be the twelfth year of the Conference, and prior project managers are available for information only and always autour. The risk on this project is probably low, as it has less unknown. There is also a likely to be existing documentation of previous years to guide you in the current project. This is a waste of time to recreate the wheel, and probably not as necessary to create the complete project management process documentation add as it would have been the first time, the Conference has been scheduled.

So what can you take from this? Fundamentally, it is essential at the beginning of this project (preferably in the initial phase) to determine the level of rigor to apply to the project at hand. Based on your company culture and standards, this analysis can be based on a number of factors, such as the risk, cost, legal exposure, etc.. The evaluation can be as simple that the budget "large, small" versus risk "high low", or as complex as the application of several factors of a project rating and calculate a value to compare to a graph of values that indicate the level of rigor applied. I found several evaluative tools useful (and free) to Gantthead.com. George Jugan, PMP, has contributed to an excellent analysis tool, which can be downloaded through his article, "complexity issues."

Thus, the question of whether it is possible to be a lazy and successful project manager really depends how you plan to be lazy. If you have done your homework and understand the type of project that you are undertaking, then you can make an informed decision of what you need to report to what would be good to do a project management perspective. Of course, this always includes a notice of Disclaimer: just because you decide early in a project that measures is perhaps not necessary, it is never too late to change your mind that the project advance and realize that, perhaps, you should have that something that you thought you could jump.

Juanita Woods has polished his skills of project management in the financial services sector and is currently working as a Manager for a major financial software solutions provider. When it is not to spend wonderful time with his family, Juanita is working with other project managers by providing opportunities for training and networking for professionals in project management in the region. Meditations on project management topics written by Juanita can be viewed at http://www.pmcommunicator.net

Project management software is crucial for the management of project of the 21st century

2011-11-27T19:44:00.000-08:00

A key tool for those who manage projects in the context of the management of today is the project management software. The software is available today goes beyond what project managers had to work with in the past.

Since the invention of the computer, almost each process or processes that could be improved by the digitization has been digitized. However, it is only in recent years, software project management has begun to realize its full capabilities. Now, this software can be used in all facets of the management of projects, monitoring and evaluation of the project in its initial creation.

Flexibility is one of the key attributes that the software offers project management teams. When the software used to manage projects is combined with internet access, work colleagues do not have to work in the same physical space can collaborate with one another from anywhere in the world. The collaboration between colleagues working at a great distance from each other is facilitated by the integrated tools in the computer system.

As a result, individuals can work on their own pieces of a project in different physical locations, but managers can still easily monitor their work and counsel and criticize when necessary. Using a digital process facilitates the allocation of the various components of each project for a large number of persons and, in this way, speeds up the process of planning and implementation of the project. Monitoring began in the early stages of the project and uses software to achieve the goals of monitoring. The purpose of monitoring during the early stages of a project is the rapid identification of potential problems which could slow the project until it reaches its next step.

More quickly and efficiently the stage of a project is completed, more likely that a product of society will be the market faster than its competitors and thus increase its success in the long term with its targeted consumer base. A foot in the market before competitors can be a very important factor in the success of the product the company will be in the long term.

Project management software plays a vital role in moving a project on a stage to the other the most effective way possible. One such way is by providing a means by which the instructions for the completion of tasks can be quickly delivered to different team members who have responsibility for specific tasks. Equally important, access to information relevant to the project may also be restricted by software only those who need to know. Project management software which is currently on the market, when used effectively, can help a company to maximize its profits, maintain its competitive advantage and its products on the market without delay.

Steve Wilheir is a consultant in project management, teaching of successful management of Fortune 100 companies looking to build a better tomorrow. When you search for the optimal, software project management, you can view my project management course.

The project manager position title and role in an organization

2011-11-27T06:55:00.000-08:00

When an organization of society is sought for a project, the first results can be unnecessary because with this title of employment, cannot be found. Identity of the project manager is often hidden behind some other organizational role. This is particularly true for the specialized internal project where, for example, a person with the title 'Manager of facilities' may act as project manager in a major reorganization of the accommodation. This is another example where a style staff "engineer" is responsible for managing a new expensive design and product development project.

Even when project management is accredited with the important appointment of full-time, the situation may be less clear by the variety of titles used to describe the work. Contract Manager, scheduling and estimating Manager, project coordinator, coordination of project engineer, program engineer, project leader and project manager are just some of the titles that were used. The trend of recent years has been encouraging and project management is now widely recognized as a profession which deserves reasonable status and rewards with its own professional associations (Association for the management of the United Kingdom project) and with much less confusion on the title.

The levels of responsibility and the authority given to the project managers vary considerably from one organization to another. In some cases, they simply act as planners and coordinators. Other companies, the project manager will have full authority to achieve the objectives of the project with officials.

The career of a project manager may have begun as technologist in information, as a specialist in one of the disciplines of operations research, a contracts manager or a qualified engineer. One of the most common routes of project management is through the design engineering department. Often, the engineer at the head of a particular project design is loaded with a certain degree of overall responsibility to see the whole of the project through completion. When this occurs, the engineer has a double organizational position, authority direct line and supervision on the personal design engineering, which is only a functional role in an attempt to influence other departments involved on the project.

Project in small business management function could be performed entirely part-time by one of the existing department heads, or by any other person as in the case of the engineer described above. Other companies may be forced to recognize the need for a project manager full time, owner being liable to be an individual project or several projects which are processed simultaneously.

The issue of the "senior how is a project manager?" and "Who should the report of project manager?" now arise. A large part of the project manager time is spent in coordination - Direction and integrating the activities of some departments and based on other information or services. It therefore seems desirable organizational status for the project manager is indicated on a level at least to the managers of the Department of the company.

John Reynolds is a project manager practicing since almost 20 years and is the editor of a software project rating managementinformational Web site. For more information on project management and project management software, visit the Web project management software.

The formula of project management

2011-11-26T16:15:00.000-08:00

The two disciplines, development of product & project management, gathered at the hip. How a business is structured in function will depend on the movement of new ideas, innovation, market research and the management of the development process. Some companies will be just throw their project for wolves managers and let them fend for themselves. This is how I was introduced to project management. It is this experience of lift wolves which led me to design a system that worked for all those involved in the development process.

There is an appropriate methodology in the development of any new product in the industry, and these stages of development of project management products and do not change. However, if these steps are not respected the results can be disastrous. A project gets off the coast on the bad start is doomed to failure from the beginning. When the product or project does not invest in "Front End Planning" the project will not work smoothly. Any product or any project which has not been completely brought off is doomed to mediocrity, with a less favourable profit margin.

When we talk about front end planning I spoke the following:
The market is the subject of research and Sales Department knows or their customers and target clients have a need and desire of the product
The characteristics of the product were determined and confirmed that customers want them.
A complete set of preliminary specifications include all aspects of the product; packaging and the the owner manual for plastics, printed circuit boards, of the outgoing QC tests, Mil Spec accepted sampling; written acceptable quality level.
This information will be given for future industrial designers with a killer ID, (industrial design).

"Front End planning" is the most important part of any project because the people involved have something in writing to start from. Your suppliers have proposed specifications that they will be either conforms to the or return and provide a replacement or your seller may return and provide value engineering specifications. This is how true dialogue begins.

It is this "Front End Planning" combined with innovative design that will make your product a home run. Give the design team preliminary specifications, entry of your customers, that your vision of the product and the final product will be a product in the production; sold thru; were the orders of repeats; and runs for years. The final confirmation of your product being a hit is when he is struck - off the coast by the competition.

Jim Purcell

Free report, "discover all the details of Forgotten Conviently and basic rules, you need to know to develop a product and manage the process." http://www.XtremPM.com/landingpage.html

Project Manager Makes Use of Rugby to Develop a Agile Approach

2011-11-26T07:31:00.000-08:00

Sport is often perceived as an analogy for some ideas of engineering. One of the more unique ideas has been to use it to discuss the ideas of program management. Program management is a fairly stable discipline and has structured lots of its processors. When launched of the net and the speed required to deliver some complicate integrated systems. Users have found unique methods to process these familiar challenges.

Agile project managers.
Scrum methodology.
Iterative development.
Open source ideas.
Delivering early and often.

Some project managers have taken the athletics approach in a new direction. As an example of using the game of rugby to describe a fascinating and pacey approach. They have designed on the scrum pattern and developed the concept to include other aspects of the game.

The venture of rugby is very much a physically bruising match-up. People often describe social networking is a contact sport, but so if project management to a matter of fact. Take for granted one of the steady tenants of rugby is having to tackle problems.

The idea of rugby project management is just an expansion of the scrum which is often used in Agile. Rugby also showcases aspects of sometimes congregate and decide the run backwards in order to make forward progress. Another important aspect of rugby is a concept of organizing teams.

Groups of players will often organize on demand as the game progresses and as rules dictate. Many of the concepts can be extrapolated into managing projects in an agile fashion. Agile project management calls for much shorter and faster short cycle tasks.

The whole idea is to divide tasks into backlogs of activities and produce code into close to ready as soon as possible. Some of the guiding principals of agile are quickness, changeability and agility. The ideas can be used in just about all coding and programming projects, but not without challenges.

It's quite possible to use this technique in report writing. A number of applications such as Actuate lend themselves easily to the fast project enhancement process. The idea is to connect with the product owner sooner rather than later as a joint coder.

The whole project team forms into more compact scrum like units and meet daily to review and go through backlogs. With the target of delivering real stable solutions in under 2 month increments. Its fairly easy to approach projects like report writing with these concepts in mind. When you become familiar with the rugby paradigm it will become much simpler. It's much more beneficial to have teams including product owner involved earlier in the routine.

This project manager Actuate discusses a new approach to managing Actuate projects. By using techniques borrowed from rugby called rugby project management.

Why do not mix the project management and ROWE

2011-11-25T19:28:00.000-08:00

The fundamental basis of the approach ROWE (results only work environment) is that employees are rewarded for the results that they reach rather than hours worked. Employees are allowed to decide how, where and when the work is done. This freedom of employees gives, but at the same time, the Organization Gets the results they want because employees are motivated and focused on their goals. This strategy has been designed by Ressler & Thompson and documented in their book "why work Sucks and how to Fix It."

In particular, technology companies, often offer flexible working arrangements. Including Google, that enable their engineers to spend one day each week, pursue projects of their choice. This has led to some very successful innovations. ROWE was developed from these and other models of motivating staff, by improving their work-life balance and increase productivity.

Of course, clear objectives must be defined, but this approach has complete flexibility and technology is readily available to make it possible to work from anywhere at any time. It sounds almost too good to be true - but you know what they say about everything that seems too good to be true...

When it comes to work on major projects, the ROWE approach raises questions more that it solves. Several project tasks require collaboration between team members and between different teams often, which is difficult enough if the teams are in different places, but still more difficult when the individual team members can choose where and when to work.

ROWE underestimates the importance of impromptu discussions and ideas that rebounds off the coast of colleagues and even the social aspects of a traditional work environment. It is not conducive to constitute a team but aimed at the individual goals and satisfaction at work.

The benefits of ROWE, often cited as a loyal staff, increased productivity, improved job satisfaction and improved work-life balance can be achieved by other methods that do not have the same disadvantages for projects.

The main disadvantages of a Results-Only work for projects environment are:

The physical location and hours of work are important in collaborative projects for requirements gathering, specifications, and many tasks.
When you need to talk to other members of the team, they may or may not be there. And let's not forget that not everything can be reached electronically. Brainstorming sessions, for example, discussions impromptu to clarify requirements and even casual conversations machine coffee frequently vomit unexpected problems or opportunities.
While some people prefer autonomy, many other best works in a more structured environment.
Team building requires people to mix and learn to work together. Be easier for many people, it may sometimes or often do not do to cooperate with the other members of the team, but it is only this collaboration that leads to a productive, creative and motivated team "forced".
ROWE allows people to exist in their comfort zone and pushing people outside their comfort zone very often leads to a better result for the Organization, productivity, or creativity, and a better result for the individual in their increased confidence and the feeling of accomplishment.
Although there may be some unnecessary meetings in a typical environment, in a ROWE environment, there is not enough meetings and opportunities for discussions are lost.
Project time management and the budget is inextricably linked to results. It is almost impossible to measure the success of a project without taking into account the time and the calendar. Instead of simply being able to measure this in working days, the project manager would save all of the individual hours and actual hours worked would cease of concern meaningful time.

Of course, all projects are different and that there may be some environments of project that would operate ROWE. Since it is a relatively new approach to management (first implemented in 2003 at Best Buy) and a brave, it is an approach best suited to small departments in an organization and then only to those where emphasis is thought creative. Its profitability and success must still be proved in a complex project environment.

Many problems that ROWE has been designed to improve can I be better solved by the project manager, assistant to one of the available in a methodology structured as PRINCE2 project management courses.

Michelle Symonds is a qualified PRINCE2 project manager and believes that the right project management course can transform a great project manager good project manager and are essential for success in any project.

There is a wide range of formal and informal training courses now available which include learning online and podcasts as well as courses in the classroom more traditional.

Article in project management and ROWE on Technorati.

What Characteristics Make Track Project Management Software Valuable?

2011-11-25T10:27:00.000-08:00

Project management is not an easy task in most business environments. As the number of projects increases, so do the accompanying complications. When spreadsheets or email are the main source for tracking these important business developments, information gets lost in the mix. Managers have a difficult time staying on top of what is currently being worked on. A hosted management tool can help with these complications. They are accessible from any remote location. Implementation takes only a few minutes. Expensive equipment or extensive setup does not have to be a concern. Web applications are low maintenance. They have faster response times. Network sharing, hardware specifications, and upkeep are not required.

These perks greatly reduce the cost of utilizing one of these applications. Since hosting providers perform all maintenance and updates, you can be certain employees are using the most enhanced tracking features at all times. The most beneficial applications are easy to use, simple to learn, and have high performance capabilities. Application defects, specific business processes, or project tasks can all be monitored. Each task or issue has pertinent information such as priority levels, employee assignment, a due date, and comment information. These applications may be tailored to fit the specific needs of your business. Track project management software can improve employee productivity. It is a cost effective solution when projects have become unmanageable.

Seek These Task Tracking Features

Professional task tracking tools have many features which provide the benefits a company needs to excel. Do not make the mistake of going with an unreliable hosting provider. Find a company which has a proven track record. Their reputation should display quality service along with long term experience. When an application allows for multiple project tracking, it will be more useful. Field, reporting, and user access customization are equally important. The tool must be easy to learn. If too much time is required to master project entry, its full capacity will not be utilized. Online help, free support, and a low monthly fee should be a priority. Look for a provider offering free upgrades. Can it be offered as a value added service for clients? This feature has its perks for consulting firms or other types of service businesses. Co-branding allows your company logo to be placed within the program. Clients are more impressed when they see your logo on value added services. Exportation of data, document uploading, and automated email services all increase the advantages of using task tracking tools.

Finding the best application for your business may take a little bit of time; however the benefits will make it all worthwhile. Employee productivity increases, met deadlines, and minimal upkeep provide a cost effective management solution for businesses. Quality providers offer a tool which can be implemented in a matter of minutes. Their program should be easy to configure, have automation features, perform well on any bandwidth connection, and be affordable to even the smallest company. By taking the time to research what each provider has to offer, you can be certain the most productive hosted track project management software will be put into place for assisting employees throughout your business.

Certain track project management software features make an application beneficial to businesses. An efficient task tracking tool can greatly improve individual and project workflow.

What Your Resume Should Have For a Project Manager Post

2011-11-25T02:15:00.000-08:00

Project manager is quite a demanding post because regular reports and updates regarding the project should be forwarded to the client. Aside from that, the project manager is also responsible for the manufacture, production, quality, and sales of the products. Furthermore, relationship with the people you will lead is also a big factor for a successful output. Therefore, wanting the position is one but creating a resume for such an application is partly the key for you to get the chance of getting it.

Firstly, your resume should start with your personal information. In here, your complete name, complete address, and contact numbers should be placed. An e-mail address would also be helpful especially now that more business matters are transacted online. This will serve as the heading of your resume.

The second part of the resume will include your objective, which is to apply as a project manager on the company or firm. How, then, will you be able to meet this objective? The summary of your qualifications come in place. You can enumerate your skills such as managing operations, reviewing product deliverables, assuring quality outputs, and meeting sales production. Also, you can add you academic background on business and management.

Lastly, what can impress your employer more but the wide work related experience you already have. Employers are mostly interested on what you have already accomplished with other companies. And they want to know the duties you perform and the service you have given. In this part, you can enumerate your former companies and the length of stay you had with them as well as the scope of your post. This part will show them how trained you already are and if these professional experiences will be enough to help you perform faster, manage wiser, and grow better.

Need information about sample resumes for Project Manager, visit ProSampleResumes.com.

The Paved Road of Project Management

2011-11-24T16:27:00.000-08:00

Project management tools seem to be available everywhere. Some are free devices to keep a record of daily tasks. Others are expensive solutions for major corporations to manage high-budget programs. Some are specific to certain industries while others are customizable to manage any type of work. Despite the variety, what is common between all of these is that some people assume the tools alone will manage their projects on autopilot.

But, tools are nothing without a good project manager. Even then, a good project manager with the best tools can make mistakes. In my opinion, the best project managers are those that know where and where not to go with those tools they may or may not have. Or, in other words, a good project manager knows that a tool only reinforces a skill - it doesn't reveal some secret, previously inaccessible, paved road to a project's success.

I think that today's confusion about project management software is due to thinking that the term "tool" and the term "path" are synonymous. Let me explain this with examples below.

A car is a tool, and the road it drives on is the car's path. When you buy a car, you have access to nearly unlimited combinations of roadways and destinations. However, you have not actually purchased the roadways and destinations - just the car. This may seem an obvious observation, but some people confuse this. I remember when I was a teenager, just learning to drive. I thought that once I got a license and a vehicle, I would be free to go anywhere at anytime. When I finally turned sixteen, I quickly realized that I wouldn't get very far with a twenty year old suburban that got eight miles to the gallon.

Some businesses think the same way about project management software. They forget that the software is a tool to be equipped - it's not project results itself. Again, this may seem like a no-brain, but it happens all the time. When a project is proposed - say, for example, a new product display at an industry-specific show - there are steps to be made to get there. Marketing, design, sales force, finance, and even such things as hotel arrangements must be taken into account. Although project management software can help focus a marketing team, distribute design work, allocate costs, and provide quick contact to human resources, the project doesn't just complete itself. Sometimes companies can get too excited about being signed up for a major event while forgetting to actually bring the "gas money."

I hope I have made it clear that owning the tool is not the same as owning the path. However, this is not to say that tools can't "pave" new paths. Most major interstates, before ever being layered with asphalt, streetlamps, road signs, and highway patrolmen, were once mere dirt roads, originally traveled by foot, horse, or wagon. When a new company plans to make products or offer services that the market has not previously seen, project management processes will be undefined for that specific new industry. The project scope might be far off-road in rough country and whether the destination will be met or not is uncertain. So, you better hope your vehicle has four-wheel-drive.

Sifting through his personal experiences, social observations, and a variety of philosophies, Robert Steele writes in many subject areas of business management. Using up-to-date methodologies and research, Robert provides unique, easy-to-understand answers to one of the most misunderstood questions of his discipline: What is project management?

Project management initiatives

2011-11-24T03:03:00.000-08:00

Project management is related to the Organization, planning and management of resources for the achievement of specific tasks and projects and at the same time to achieve the objectives of the organization. A project is an effort that is temporary, an early meaning and a purpose and is undertaken to achieve certain goals which bring about a positive change. Can also say that project management is a set of technical principles and practices applied to the desired project and the annexes to the project, its cost and manage risk to result in satisfied customers. A company on the other hand is continuous working to produce products or services. The management of the two systems is very different and requires the adoption of separate management and development of distinct technical skills.

Challenge project management of face is reach to desired goals and objectives while keeping in mind the constraints. Typical constraints are time, budget and scope.

As a project management takes into account several economic activities. It can be used in industries such as pharmaceuticals, aerospace and software. And in the public sector, an effective project management is to help with the promises and the goal which is defined and that improve daily life. In today's world the company always attempts to diversify their own resources in the region to benefit; Accordingly, the plans are known. The risks at any stage in the life of the company mean traps and dangers. To avoid failure these business management often take the help of management consultants of put things in place. Project management is basically avoid the pitfalls and calculate the risk and create ways to avoid the consequences. Each shares a common goal. Here are ideas and activities to good use. Even if the project is planned well and done correctly there is always the opportunity to meet a danger.

The idea of managing a project, it is all on implement coherence in achieving stated targets in a certain limit of time and budget by the planning and coordination of the human and material resources. Project management is a way of life for a successful collaboration, governance, determine responsibility and alignment of the organizational element and define procedures with the characteristics of the products and services. Project management technique is quite different from a normal design or technical skills or geniuses generally associated with many projects, and met cover them aspects that are outside the scope of these technical areas that must be managed well, if the goals of the project are timely. Project management also nice that many differs from a traditional management it is brings in coordination, execution-discipline, responsiveness and alignment of the organizational elements that is cross-functional and gives a better end product.

This discipline can also make some incredible benefits for an individual to a particular level in organizations. For example, through project management:

An Executive gets accurate information and timely time, so that they can make effective business decisions and quickly take the courses of actions to maintain their reputation in the market.

The implementation of the project people understand their roles and responsibilities and how they must work together with the organization. When communication between employees increases the likelihood of the occurrence of a conflict decreases.

Read the information on the Control of Oracle ERP. Also know the different Types of ERP software.

Advertising project manager job description

2011-11-23T16:13:00.000-08:00

Overview

The work of an advertising project manager is very demanding. He should have excellent communication skills to satisfy its customers and has the capacity to convince customers on the capabilities of his cabinet. It is the responsibility of the product effectively before the public to increase sales. He is also the tactics for the advertising of a specific product. It is necessary to plan and organize programs and strategies for effective form for products advertising campaigns or client services.

The role of advertising project manager

Today, companies and organizations get more involved with organizations start, sponsor and maintain the existence of their products in the public advertising. Advertising agencies hire a person to administer all of the above tasks to be performed by him and other employees under him. It is the duty of an advertising project manager for the creative product to the public to increase its sales. It discovers and assesses the application services and products of the company to put in place the necessary measures and to lift the request and delivery. To accomplish its aspire it makes advertising strategies to promote desired therefore products.

Qualification for the position of advertising project manager

A desired candidate must be a graduate in business management, communication, advertising, journalism, liberal arts, or other associated fields. In addition, it is better to have 2 to 5 years of experience in the field. Some large companies prefer candidates with a degree in Post Graduation. Some advertising account managers to obtain promotion to become managers of advertising after several years of successful work experience.

Advertising project manager skills

A Director of advertising requires some special to succeed qualifications which include capacity excellent verbal and written communication, creation of inventiveness and design, outstanding interpersonal knowledge survey and computer skills sophisticated, knowledge in fine arts, of ethical design practices and construction. His work is not limited to the sales management with companies to discover the most effective mode of advertising of the products, but it is also responsible for consultation with representatives of sales contracts, administer construction equipment sale, execution management and responsibilities of the division of advertising such as the media to purchase, generating copy or manufacturing media artexamining the success of ad movements and in shaping measures to take if a campaign does not.

Advertising Project Manager tasks

The main responsibility of a Director of advertising draft is to convene with concerned customers to estimate their marketing and advertising objectives. He should have knowledge of sound on the potential and competence of the Agency, it is the representative. After the beginning of a relationship between a client and the Agency, it is his task to launch the thoughts of project clients. It must be attentive to the satisfaction of customers and must pay firm interest in conducting campaigns. The position of Manager therefore requires huge intangible qualities, such as the association, sociability and patience.

Jatinder Kaur

The first step towards the successful project management

2011-11-23T03:28:00.000-08:00

IS departments are constantly reduced, or outsourced. Therefore, well managed projects are essential for the IS professional career. Carefully manage the details of the project, including the time and materials, is essential now is is called to deliver more with fewer resources. There are several effective project management and relatively inexpensive scheduling and tracking of packages available for the PC. These types of packages were around on the mainframe, since the beginning of the 1970s, although they cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. Today, shareware packages begin under $100.

Many of these products assume a knowledge of the management of projects that have not many technical managers. Without an understanding of the basic concepts of project management, managers can often find that the software is confusing and difficult to use.

The first stage of the project management is to break the project into measurable tasks and organize them into a hierarchy called the structure of Division of labour (WBS). Different companies have different terms for different levels in a work breakdown structure. Some levels include the activities of the stages, the stages and tasks or phases and tasks.

Regardless of terminology used by a company, the TRS aims to organize the project in various deliverables or summary report of levels. Traditional levels of phase (or stage) IS projects include project definition, analysis, design, development, testing, implementation and review of the project. If a project standard or levels, the main objective of these senior levels is consolidate retail tasks, allowing administrators to project more easily track the progress of the project.

The next step in project management is to determine the inter-task dependencies. Once the tasks have been listed and organized in a WBS, inter-task relationships must be established. These relations, also called dependencies or links, there is when the beginning or end of a task is linked in a way for the beginning or the end of another task.

There are three types of dependencies inter-task: end early start-start and finish of arrival. The tasks to be undertaken are first called the predecessor tasks and those that follow are successor tasks.

The end-start relationship is the most common dependency relationship. In the end-start relationship, the predecessor task must finish until his successor can begin. Here are some examples of this type of relationship of the situations in which the definition of the project must be made before the analysis can start or system design must be crossed before coding can begin.

The relationship of early-start is a less common dependency relationship. In the early-start relationship, the predecessor task must start until his successor can begin. This relationship is often wrongly interpreted in the sense that the two tasks start at the same time, but this is not always true. An example of this type of relationship is a situation in which development interviews have begun before the interviews themselves may begin.

The relationship of finish of arrival is also a less common dependency relationship. In the relationship of finish of arrival, the predecessor task must finish before the successor task can finish. The relationship is often wrongly interpreted as meaning that the two tasks finish at the same time. This type of relationship occurs when, for example, encoding must finish before the test may end or when testing systems must complete before can be implemented.

Those are the first steps of little management project and, without doubt, the most important. Make sure to practice these with each project that make you to improve your project management capabilities.

Project Managers Need Leadership Skills

2011-11-22T16:19:00.000-08:00

Oui - si vous êtes un gestionnaire de projet, vous avez vraiment besoin de compétences en leadership ! Les gestionnaires de projet d'aujourd'hui doivent avoir des compétences en leadership afin de remplir leur rôle dans l'organisation efficacement et de démarquer de la foule. Quelque chose doit vous faire distincts des autres - surtout si vous sont actuellement job perquisition ou inquiète de la sécurité de votre emploi, compte tenue de l'économie actuelle.

Bien que cela a été certainement toujours le cas ; Il est encore plus important aujourd'hui dans une économie où les gestionnaires de projet (PMs) sont invités à faire plus avec moins - budgets réduits pour leurs projets, moins de ressources disponibles pour travailler sur les projets et les délais réduits pour obtenir les produits et services sur le marché - afin de s'assurer que leurs organisations demeurent concurrentielles dans l'économie mondiale.

Sans aucun doute, PMs qui ne sont pas versés dans les compétences techniques (comme gestion1 de valeur gagné, l'analyse quantitative des risques ou estimer les activités) ne peuvent pas remplir leur rôle efficacement. Et certainement, sans une connaissance pratique de la Project Management Body de Knowledge2 (PMBOK ®), PMs sera incapables d'acquérir leur Professional3 de gestion de projet (PMP ®) certification. En outre, dans un monde où il y a beaucoup de gens exécutant, avec le titre de « gestionnaire de projet », une certification PMP ® est un moyen de se démarquer de la foule. Cependant, qui seul peut ne pas suffire. Compétences techniques de gestion de projet fort et PMP ® certification n'est pas suffisante pour ceux projet gestionnaires aspirant à prendre davantage de responsabilités. Gestionnaires de projet ne peut pas concurrencer efficacement de nombreuses autres PMs certifiés à moins qu'ils n'ont plus de compétences techniques dans leurs boîtes à outils. Succès à long terme et potentiel de croissance des gestionnaires de projet sont limitées si elles ne possèdent pas les compétences essentielles nécessaires. Par exemple, comment efficace PMs peut dans leurs rôles que s'ils ne possèdent pas les compétences agrégation, ne sont pas efficaces à influencer d'autres, ne peuvent pas communiquer ou présenter efficacement, ou sont incapables de voir le « big picture » ? Réaliste - ils ne peuvent pas être très efficaces.

Par conséquent, compétences en leadership sont, sans aucun doute, une exigence pour le SPM. Par exemple, il est difficile de diriger des équipes globales, composés d'individus avec différents buts/objectifs personnels et d'horizons culturels variés, si vous n'avez pas de compétences en leadership essentiel. Encore une fois, je ne peux pas souligner assez que les compétences techniques n'est pas suffisante - il n'est tout simplement pas possible pour les gestionnaires de projet faire le travail uniquement avec de fortes compétences techniques. Pour progresser dans l'organisation - vous devez montrent également les compétences de leadership fort.Un Guide pour le Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK ® Guide), 4e édition (Project Management Institute, 2008), dans l'annexe G, note particulières relations interpersonnelles qui PMs doivent avoir afin d'être efficace dans leur rôle. Ils sont :

Leadership
Équipe de construction de Motivation
Communication
Influençant
Prise de décision
Sensibilisation culturelle et politique
Négociation

Et autres compétences qui sont importantes pour les individus, les équipes de projet comprennent :

Coaching
Gestion des conflits
Développer, motiver et inspirer d'autres
Paramètre de priorité et de la gestion de temps
Résolution de problèmes
Compétences de présentation établissant déléguer des buts

Toutes ces compétences interpersonnelles et le leadership sont nécessaires pour que les gestionnaires de projet peuvent gérer efficacement tout projet de taille qu'ils dirigent.

Les gestionnaires de projet qui peuvent démontrer la compétence dans ces compétences accroître le succès des projets qu'ils mènent et démontrent leur valeur à l'organisation - au-delà de leur capacité à créer une Structure de répartition du travail ou d'un Plan de gestion du risque.

J'ai parlé avec des 13 a commenté que sa force dans la compréhension de la big picture derrière un projet et de transmettre cette vision à son équipe de projet et d'autres à l'organisation le conduit à être impliqué dans le processus décisionnel autour de laquelle les projets serait réalisé dans une année donnée. Voici quelqu'un qui manifestement démarqué pour les cadres supérieurs comme apportant une valeur à un important processus de planification stratégique.

Un autre PM dit sa capacité à problème résoudre efficacement par vraiment comprendre les questions de fait d'elle une aide précieuse dans l'organisation, non seulement sur les équipes de projet. Elle est souvent appelée à résoudre les problèmes complexes au sein de l'organisation.

Ces compétences susmentionnées en plus de compétences de leadership stratégique comme stratégique de planification et gestion du changement aider les gestionnaires de projet être considérées comme des personnes clés au sein de l'organisation - une personne qui a le potentiel de gravir les échelons et jouer un rôle de la haute direction.

Et n'oublions pas certains autres compétences importantes pour avoir, y compris :
Capacité à travailler avec d'autres
Capacité à anticiper - prévoir les problèmes potentiels, risques, etc..
Un sens de l'humour (souvent nécessaire quand fois deviennent tendues et la charge de travail semble impossible!)
Capacité de gérer la logistique
Solides compétences organisationnelles

Un gestionnaire de projet avec une combinaison de compétences techniques de gestion de projet fort et de leadership pertinent et d'autres compétences importantes lui-même trouveront dans une position de force au sein de leur organisation et une précieuse ressource globale. Ce sont les gestionnaires de projet, que vous souhaitez travailler avec des projets et les individus qui l'équipe de direction envisage comme potentiels élevés au sein de l'organisation.

Vous êtes l'un de ces gestionnaires de projet ? Sinon, comment allez-vous pour y arriver ? Cartographiez votre plan personnel de développement.

Définitions

1EVM = gestion gagné de la valeur est une méthode d'intégration de la portée, le calendrier et ressources de rendement de projet de mesure et de progrès.

2PMBOK ® = organisme de gestion de projet de la connaissance. Le PMBOK ® est la somme des connaissances au sein de la profession de gestion de projet. Le PMBOK ® Guide est le sous-ensemble de la Project Management Body of Knowledge qui est généralement reconnu que les bonnes pratiques.

3PMP ® = Certification professionnelle de gestion de projet. A PMP ® est certifié par le Project Management Institute (PMI ®).

Gina Abudi Blog http://www.GinaAbudi.com

Site Web http://www.PeakPerformanceGroup.com

Gina Abudi a plus de 15 ans, expérience dans divers domaines, y compris la gestion de projet, gestion des processus, développement du leadership, planification, relève des programmes potentiels élevés, optimisation de talent et le développement de programmes d'apprentissage et de développement stratégique. Elle est partenaire/VP des Solutions stratégiques au Peak Performance Group, Inc. à Gloucester, Massachusetts. Elle a été honorée par PMI ® comme l'un des 50 Power et a servi comme président du PMI ® s Global Corporate Council Leadership Team. Elle a présenté à diverses conférences sur des sujets allant de la gestion générale et sujets de leadership pour la gestion de projet. Gina a obtenu son MBA de Simmons Graduate School of Management.

A day in the life of a project leader

2011-11-22T04:28:00.000-08:00

These highly skilled project managers may be completed special projects in a company or work on client-specific it projects. Regardless of the nature of the projects on which work planners, the essential skill sets and necessary functions are essentially the same.

Success in the jobs of it management is measured by many factors, including the completion in a timely manner of jobs within a prescribed time. Remaining in a fixed budget for each project is a critical success.

Typical day of an it Manager can consist of activities within all or part of the following categories.

Analysis and Documentation of the scope of needs
IT project manager jobs require exceptional analytical skills. The project manager is responsible for flushing of the specific needs that must be met by the new it solution. If they are responsible for the construction of custom software or install a mainframe update to serve multiple locations of the company, a project manager must be able to determine all the needs of all users fully and to ensure that these needs are adequately met by any it solution in place.

Once the needs analysis is completed the project manager is put together the scope of the project documentation, including a preliminary draft budget, schedule, and the structure of the work team. They project manager will be also in detail all the necessary resources to complete the necessary work and supplies required for the success of the project.

Planning and progress review meetings
IT jobs require strong communication, including interpersonal skills and public speaking skills. The project manager will organize and perform many meetings. These meetings include one on a meetings planning and progress with individual members of the team, but also include current meetings of large group with all the members of the team.

Testing and system implementation
IT project managers oversee the implementation of new programs, devices and computer networks. Phases in the project will be implemented and tested. Each step in the largest project is tested, with results analyzed for effectiveness. Spots errors or low in the new program or the network can be corrected during the phases of tests, to the final product or system to be in the best possible state of work in the final roll out or installation.

Final installation and training
IT project manager jobs are always involved in the final installation of a new system, the device or the network. As many times that they are also involved in the training of the employees or customers on the new network or system as well.

In this work, you will oversee the process of installation or the new product deployment or service created by the project. You will also address the issues that arise during the installation or roll out. In addition, you can also expect to complete the initial training of at least a group of new users of product-based service, sellers or other it staff.

If you are looking for executive level it jobs, and then do a search online for the IT project manager jobs or jobs Head of IT

Project management: changes in the dynamics of labour 04: 51

2011-11-21T18:42:00.000-08:00

Today's market is riddled with products based on technology that is a must to compete. Programs and applications have evolved to more dynamic arsenal for efficiency; and intelligent devices have reduced the need for a massive and thorough employee training. The result, small and medium-sized enterprises organizational infrastructure changed functional in more focused on the project. With the travel, the dynamics of the company and also necessary procedures a cure of youth to adapt to the changes. The most apparent dilemma is how to create project managers or administrators of the current engage dynamically with displacement of the organizational structure company and producing more successful operation focused on the project. Development project managers requires training in project management to facilitate a better procedure, maximize efficiency, improve the procedure as well as improve overall performance.

Identify the problem:
The crucial question is to develop existing functional managers project managers to meet with success initiatives or projects which now becomes the normal operational procedure for the company. How the company operated from the years there are various functional departments working on specific tasks of the operations have changed in more project-based initiatives, with the work attacked by a group of employees from several departments. This changed created a question where there is no procedures in place to track, any form of evolutionary process or any measure of success for all the projects undertaken. There are several occasions projects and initiatives carried out, but there is no formal process succeeded or failed indicator or the documentation of the evolutionary steps. Therefore, on the operational plan - you appear to be functioning well but there are missed opportunities which may be beneficial for the organization.

Analyze tasks and working conditions:
The first task is to assess the current procedures in place to create a baseline for the measurement. Document how projects or initiatives are received and delegates is a good starting point. This should be the first task of analysis in the process. This is to document the success rate of the current manager in terms of how many project that they have successfully completed projects and how they manage at any given time. Assessment of the sets of experience and skills of the Manager in the administration of projects is detrimental to the success or failure of the project. It will also document a matrix of knowledge to adapt to different roles in a project management team. The current terms, as an influx of multiple projects, there is an obvious constraint as the time to complete the deliverable and the management of their current working hours. The project takes in the cycle of life in society, continuous assessment is also necessary to manage the different aspects of the changes.

Identify the causes of the problem:
The change in the organizational structure is inevitable; every business at some point changes direction to drive profits. Company will change if the market demands a different service, product or solution. Many brick and mortar businesses now have the Internet embrace and launch their strategies of online presence. Other companies have completely changed to simply online operation. The cause of the problem is that the company has to join the operation focused on the project and to do this, managers, and everyone is involved in the operation to address the needs of the projects to acquire knowledge of project management culture. Employees who have prior experience in project management are great to have in the development of a project team. But, with no cast for a trip succeeded in implementing a project in time, within budget and quality to support output deliverable, it becomes a very difficult task. Apart from this fact, it is also a matter of performance. How the business will allow to measure the effectiveness of the team in execution of their tasks in a project without a systematic approach and systemic in their process? How society can all find wiggle room of success if there is no base reference for the procedure as a point of departure in a roadmap for improvement? Ultimately, the cause is that there is no training procedures to undertake a project, and there are no guidelines to follow to succeed.

Identify the performance desired result:
There is many results of performance that the company wishes to accomplish in the establishment of project management training. The initial result is all that is involved in any project informed and knowledgeable about the aspect of project management. Knowledge of procedures and practices of project management is the first purpose of the training. to be able to define and identify a project to be managed. Understand the life cycle of the project, it is the second priority, so that managers can give priority to time and schedules better to work with other existing projects. In addition, it is also important to identify the different phases and the terms of the order of the life cycle for clarity on the line of time for projects. Allocation of resources is the next step in the desired performance result. Project Manager must develop a systematic process on fund allocation, scheduling of the lines of time employees to avoid overtime, management to be better informed for unpredictable expenses and a systemic approach in improving the motivation of the employees of the risk. Above all, the company needs database performance for the process to maximize efficiency in projects future efforts.

Identify the expectations of your training to the result:
The General design of the training is to apply the knowledge of the methodology of project management, to give project managers a simple way to come together to work in the how, the what and the where of the projects. This will give managers and their teams more confident in any project, they will be task because they will be able to identify various parameters of the project management process and to implement. The training should also allow process to be applied in planning, execution, effective, and the administration to develop an approach streamlined, as categorizing and allocate the resources needed for the rightful place. At the end of the training, project managers will be able to recognize objectives such as budgeting, planning, programming and management of risk will allow better circulation in work to any project.

Guide to project management - which is a project?

2011-11-21T03:51:00.000-08:00

Surprisingly, it is a question that is not requested enough by the managers of future projects. Everyone thinks that they know the answer, but they really do? Consider some examples:

You just start a new work of management. Your product of a good specialty and you have to supervise the manufacturing process and make sure that much is produced as possible.
Come join a new company. Your first assignment is to ensure that each Office, the Office Gets a new computer on it within 12 months.
Your next assignment is to deliver the implementation of a new communications infrastructure and subsequently maintain.

Before that we decide, let's have a look at some definitions that are there. The project management Institute, says in their guide A Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge that "a project is a temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product, service or result". The definition used in PRINCE2 (projects in a controlled environments - a popular in Europe and the United Kingdom project management methodology), explains a project "is a management environment that is created in order to provide one or more business products according to a specified business case analysis".

In current English, a project began to achieve a goal and ends when this objective is achieved. The goal may be to create a new product, offer a particular item, or even simply to achieve a particular goal. The important thing to remember is that the projects are temporary. They are not the same task carried out in the course, indefinitely.

Given these definitions, we can now decide which of the examples given above are in reality projects.

Number 1 is not a project. You will manage a process that already exists. However, if, for example, you were responsible for coming up with a way to make the process 25% more efficient, doing this task would be a project.

Number 2 is a project. You can see that it has a clear aim - to a new computer on every desktop. In addition, it has a constraint, because everything must be done within 12 months.

Number 3 is a project - first. Launch of the new communications infrastructure is a project to the delivery infrastructure. Maintenance of the infrastructure subsequently, is not a project. However, you can write procedures and protocols for the maintenance of the infrastructure in project delivery, as an additional product.

The third case is a classic example of how project management can come in many jobs. It is easy to imagine, for example, a computer Manager to project manage the implementation of the infrastructure, in addition to the day job to maintain to the end. If you are in this situation, it is important to realize that you need to define clearly which part of your project, and what is not - otherwise your valuable resource project may start firing on the tasks to the day, instead of being focused on the delivery.

Now, we know what a project: a company began to achieve a goal set, which continues only until it reached this goal. A project is temporary, with defined objectives.

Trevor Roberts runs its own project management Council and worked as a project manager for the business and Government. He also wrote http://www.projectmanagementguide.org , where it is intended to help you learn more about project management.

Project management simple for project managers

2011-11-20T15:23:00.000-08:00

A project management tool is supposed to do a simple project to use. Everyone knows this, but we always use complex tools. If you look at how modern project management tools are made, you will see that they are packed with features that most users ignore all the same. Really, some of these advanced features can be very useful, but the majority of them simply the more complex process.

The complexity is already integrated with any normal commercial project. Tasks must be organized and assigned, communication must be established and everyone must be on the same page, the client must be involved, etc. When your project management tool get rid of this complexity is not helping. I know what you think, "my project management program saves me time.". Perhaps not, but more probably it has cost dozens of hours-people for all your employees to learn to use it. This investment of time is difficult to retrieve.

To review the operation of project management software, we must determine what are its objectives. The objectives of a project management tool are the same as your goals for your project. To help you in your goals it should give you a common space for your employees see tasks associated with a project. In addition, it should address the issue of communication, instead you leave rely on email. It should also offer a way to give clients access to your project. These three modest goals represent the heart of your project and adds anything beyond their complexity.

That can accomplish these goals? Well, there are many solutions out there. There are several project managers that you must install the problem with these is that you can access your project, such as MS Project from anywhere, and your customers will have to install too if they want to see the project. There are other web project managers, but many of them do not address the issue of complexity. I prefer is http://www.meetplansolve.com because it brings balance all of these issues. But, above all, because it's free. They will allow you to have unlimited, users and projects accounts and they charge anything. They meet simplicity by creating a simple interface and training use their Web site takes only a few minutes. A project on meetplansolve.com is essentially divided into two parts: the messages and tasks. It also has a hierarchy of user types that allows you to leave clients with limited access. They meet also the security and accountability by providing a table of audit showing all actions taken on your company Web site. This approach based on the web allows anyone to access their site and connect to their business from any computer that has internet access.

How is management of effective project makes your project better work? It allows everyone on the project to work on their tasks, so that monitor you the progress. Because when it summarizes it, your real purpose as a Manager is to help smooth out the rough patches. Your employees know how to do their work, they need not obsessive. In fact, obsessive just slow down their. This is why it is so important that the project management tools are simple and avoid becoming obsessive tools. So you can look at the picture that the project takes place, and when you see that a task is not completed within a reasonable time, then intervene and discover why.

We can see that the main objective a project management tool is to allow the project manager to see the big picture, while employees working on the details, so that no intervention is necessary to disrupt the flow of work.

Jeff Schaefer

Accounting Project Manager

2011-11-20T05:46:00.000-08:00

An accounting project manager is one who undertakes the management of the final financial reports and auditing of accounts in a planned, disciplined and organized way. Optimal efficiency of managing resources is an averred quality of the manager. A project has a definite time period within which it has to be completed. While undertaking a project, environment costs, revenue costs, idle time, etc. get added to the additional costs of reporting within an organizational boundary. And, here comes the role of the project manager in balancing goals and constraints.

The primary goal of an accounting project manager is not only to carry out the goals of the project optimally but overcoming the constraints during the work period. The efficient ways of dealing with the allocation of budget and integration of time and scope by the manager allows in the achievement of better and optimal results. Thus, both technical skills and managerial skills are needed to excel in this field.

Along with these, communication skills are necessary to delegate and implement work in proper coordination. An accounting project manager is basically an all-in-all of the project he looks into. Everyone working under him reports to him and he follows suit to the management.

A basic framework undertaken by an accounting project manager is as follows: initiation, planning or development, production or execution, monitoring and controlling, closing. In the initiation process, analyzing the costs and benefits of a project is the primary goal.

This is followed by laying out the strategies of optimizing resource use at disposal, even going to the extent of risk taking. Execution or production ensures goal achievements followed by monitoring constraints from disrupting the project in process. Closing declares the completion of the project which is assessed by the manager.

In project accounting management, the budget reports are compared to previous and other current ongoing projects. This helps in tracking the financial progress of the company and the profits or losses incurred in the project.

For an accounting project manager, maintaining timesheets and budget sheets are compulsory. It helps in keeping a record of the interim payments that are carried out during the project in process. Every small detail is taken into account by the development manager to reduce wastage and promote sustainability.

Today's project managers should excel at understanding finance, international business and accounting concepts in order to make informed decisions and ensure a greater contribution to their organization. Generally firms recruiting project managers require experience in the field of development and execution for 4-5 years. But, it varies depending on the kind of projects handled by the firm. An IT professional will require hardcore computing skills unlike a project manager at a construction site.

Silas Reed, Writer for AccountingCrossing, writes articles that inform and teach about different accounting job profiles. Please visit http://www.accountingcrossing.com/lcjobtypelisting.php and sign up for a FREE trial to gain access to ALL of the many exclusive job listings we offer in the accounting profession.

Top five reasons project managers fail!

2011-11-19T21:34:00.000-08:00

Why do projects fail? In the world of project management especially Healthcare, I saw many managers of projects fail. So I have designed the top five reasons project managers fail.

1. Insufficient planning

There is a great temptation not too think and just dive into the performance. It is good of research occupied and productive. The problem is, by foregoing careful planning, you often find yourself be occupied longer that you need. An additional hour of planning could save you weeks of fire.

Do not allow sufficient contingency is a common problem. This means taking into account the unexpected gaps in the project, such as delays in approvals or resource shortages. If you think that you can offer in January, the promise of February.

You must also plan for contingencies through projects. Building slack to allow yourself to just rest and things admin, to hunt the future projects. Don't get caught with your pants down!It may be difficult to get a sense of how long a project could take. Be careful to being too optimistic with a timetable as they should be closely monitored

2. The lack of stakeholder buy-in there are two types of commitment of first po buy stakeholders of a high level officer authorized to make decisions and spend money. By a leader of high level, I mean only one - I indicated a rule to avoid projects that are directly responsible to a Committee.

Second, you need support of all participants in the project. Sometimes managers project commit the error of bend to the needs of their employer over relations with others, or the "small people", and this can have a negative impact on cooperation and team work.

3 Hidden programs can compromise the progress, it's a particularly difficult to identify and overcome problem. We have unspoken thoughts and concerns. We have to protect all ego. A project manager good with a high level of emotional intelligence will use their intuition to identify all the unspoken needs and draw on all the intentions hidden without alienating or threatening anyone.

Effective project management also means actively encouraging the open dialog box with all stakeholders in the project, including arrangeant individual time with people who are uncomfortable expressing their opinions publicly.

An effective project manager must be clear about their intentions. Once, I had a project manager who was mainly there to ensure his position with the client. The project was only successful because we finished by its management and construction of a barrier to protect ourselves from its intervention.

4 Non-managed expectations that all stakeholders in a project will have their own expectations. If not managed carefully, this can lead to chaos, confusion and frustration all round.

It is advantageous to establish as many initial clarity that you can clearly define the parameters of project objectives, inputs, results, influence, limits, the roles and responsibilities. Whenever a change occurs, it must be assessed against these parameters. A change could be as simple as an intervener by changing their mind something.

Role confusion is a classic problem. Instead of assuming that everyone has the same expectations of their roles and the roles of others, specify. The blow of the project by making all the world to file their expectations and priorities on paper. You'd be surprised how much these vary - exec finance can put much more priority on quality on the price.

5 Communication ineffective email is probably the most common form of communication of the project. A grand strategy, that I learned is to discuss a single topic by email and use a brief subject line. It helps the recipient to quickly determine the relevance and the urgency of an e-mail. It is also easy to work with each email as a task of clear tasks. This approach is essential to effectively operate the project management practices.

Good documentation is as important, but it must be accessible and relevant. Documentation unnecessarily complex or the production of documentation for itself gets only in the way.

Prey to tell people what they should do, it is easy to abandon the respect that you can afford a person really listen. Too often, we listen to compose our response. The ability to just listen is a rare skill.

Mark Hopkins (markcahopkins@yahoo.com) is one of the best project managers Healthcare in the region of the Floride.Il Centre is a partner of Sun Consultants and sharing its extensive knowledge of project management of health and success in delivering on time, in budget and projects in the field. [http://sunconsulting.weebly.com]

Project Management For Smaller Businesses - Not Just For the Big Boys!

2011-11-19T11:46:00.000-08:00

Effective project management is fundamental to the success of all businesses, large and small. The process and results have an impact on many key areas - business growth and development, staff motivation and staff development.

Projects do not have to be capital intensive or complex but have a number of key characteristics:

response to a business need - obviously, but it is important to be clear about the business need. What are you trying to achieve?
a temporary activity - it has a clear start and end point. At some stage (and that needs clarity) the resulting process/product becomes part of the work activities.
a unique activity - there may have been something similar in the past but this is not part of the regular work activities.
there is uncertainty - risk - which needs to be managed.
normally involves other people - internal or external, requiring team and communication skills, and a defined project manager.

There are many training courses and qualifications available to develop project management skills, for example, PRINCE 2 is a well recognised project management qualification (PRojects IN a Controlled Environment). However, for small businesses the cost of these opportunities is often prohibitive. They also require a level of time commitment which is often impractical for the smaller business. By applying a logical and structured approach to their projects all businesses can achieve the results they require.

The first point to recognise is that project management is both an art and a science:

Art - the project manager role of leading people
Science - applying the process with appropriate tools and techniques

Which is the most complicated? Often the 'art' because leading people usually poses the most challenges.

But let us start with the 'science' - the process. In my experience of working with large corporate organisations and small local businesses, applying a logical 5 step process will help achieve a successful outcome:

Define your project - we have mentioned the need to be clear about what you are trying to achieve and that requires identifying the project goals or objectives. SMART is a well known acronym to help you structure your goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timing). A key problem with projects is managing expectations and the 'Realistic' element of your goal setting will be identifying what the project will and will not do. It cannot be 'all things to all men' or will lose focus and therefore effectiveness. This is the 'scope' element of your project and, in my experience, is the biggest cause of project failure.

Writing down, and getting agreement to, what the project will and will not cover is critical before moving forward.

Other aspects of the project to consider at this stage are:

Alternatives - what are the options?
Costs and benefits - depending> on the most effective option
Timescales
Responsibilities - who is project manager and what other resources will be required
Risks - to the project success - identifying mitigating and contingency actions

When the 'definition' has been agreed by key stakeholders then you can move onto the next stage.

Planning - this requires scheduling of activities and resources to meet the agreed timescales. There are a number of tools you can use - Gantt charts and Critical Path Analysis are well known tools - but an Excel spreadsheet is often sufficient. It is important to share and get agreement to your schedule to ensure other people involved know what is expected of them and by when. The Planning stage will also identify ongoing support required after project closure.

Implementation - you've planned the work, now it is time to work the plan! Regular updates of progress are a key part of the project manager role. Depending on the project, this is likely to be the most time-consuming stage and will require close attention to the people and process side of project management.

Full implementation may have been preceded by testing and/or piloting to ensure the final product will meet the business needs.

Closure - bring the project to a close by handing over to the business 'owner'. The result becomes part of the regular business process or offering. Part of the project manager role will have been to plan for any training etc.

Evaluation - often not done by any business, large or small! Have we achieved what we set out to achieve? What went well? What could we do differently next time? Celebrating success and sharing in the learning so that the business and its people can continue to develop project management skills.

The 'art' side of project management is the project manager role of leading people and, as we have seen from the process described above, requires many organisational and inter-personal skills and characteristics:

Effective communication
Delegation
Integrity
Enthusiasm
Team building skills
Problem solving skills
Influencing and persuading
Organising and planning

Project management can be a great opportunity to develop staff and give them additional responsibilities. It can also be an important tool to help identify future managers and key staff to develop the business.

In my experience, leading and managing a successful project is one of the most rewarding activities in the workplace.

Deb Herbert is an experienced trainer and business consultant spending most of her time helping clients develop their most important resource - their people. Deb works as a consultant in her own business - Target Development - but also works as a business advisor for the Southern Group of Business Advisors. For a free business health check please go to http://www.sgba.co.uk and she can be contacted at deb.herbert@sgba.co.uk

Importance of project managers

2011-11-18T20:52:00.000-08:00

Professionals skilled Project Manager (PMP) are important for businesses in the implementation of complex processes, based on projects carried out by teams. These skills are increasingly important in a variety of industries. Even in an economy low that PMP is in demand, simply check the current list on major job search sites.

Company

The PMP role varies from an assignment in the assignment and industries, but at the core, project management requires balancing a timetable, budget and scope as the work of the team to achieve its objectives. Project managers oversee the individual tasks that move a project to the result, so the success or failure depends, in large part, on the jurisdiction of the PMP.

In companies where the jobs are often end budget or do not meet their goals, hiring a qualified PMP can improve productivity and morale - and can often lead to greater profitability.

Role

Generally, the responsibilities of a PMP to focus on the maintenance of the objectives. This can include work with a wide range of people, to support personal schedule c-level executives understand the basics of several software options and to be aware of the challenges that may arise.

A project manager must define the objectives. After defining the objectives, resources must be taken into account and a timeline must be created. Then, the PGR assigns teams to perform the tasks. Project managers provide essential guidance to ensure that, at each phase of the project, each contributor knows what is expected.

Project managers communicate with senior managers, suppliers and customers, as needed. Proactive communication is one of the most important functions.

Definition

Definition of employment is critical to its success. Before the launch, the PGR communicates these definitions and objectives for stakeholders to obtain the agreement and support. All resources, the risks and benefits are identified, and emergency plans are described.

The plan, the budget and schedule are based on available resources, deliverables and priorities of client or the company. PMP generally uses professional software packages in the complex of planning and monitoring of the steps. Network diagrams illustrate the critical paths of work until the end.

PMP follow each step, analyse the progress made and to disclose to senior management and other stakeholders, including subcontractors in external organizations. As objectives change or unforeseen risks occur, the plan is amended to reflect the scheduling, budget and other changes.

Motivation

Good managers provide that members of the team motivation need to help make employment success.

Benefits:

* Good managers will use established processes to proactively surprises and challenges that they present.

* Poor management can stress among the contributors of the project and lead to higher turnover.

* Most of the people are happier working on productive teams with good communication and well defined objectives.

When team members see a competent leader each crisis handling, it can be inspiring and motivating. Workers who know that clear direction and communication will be a part of their work each day more likely to perform at their best.

Leadership

Teams need strong leaders. The leaders of more than success are decisive, inspiring and sympathetic. When these essential skills are lacking, the morale and productivity may fall, with sales and profits.

Strong PMP are competent in these areas:

* Math and analysis

* Delegation

* Organization

* Coordination

* Technical capacity

* Communication

The characters of additional work style include:

* Flexibility

* Assertiveness

* Confidence

* Extroversion

* Risk tolerance

* Cool, especially under pressure

* Spirit of decision

Benefits

Few companies can meet sales and profit objectives, the objectives of efficiency and productivity and the expectations of shareholders without skilled managers. Excellent leadership can lead to higher morale, a greater sense of belonging and professionalism among the members of the team and increase the productivity and profitability.

Claudia Vandermilt is a project manager qualified with experience in internet marketing, travel, consumer goods and home needs. She received her certificate in applied project management and Advanced Certificate in Applied PM of Villanova and continues to pursue its studies and experience in the management of industries project.

Forget spreadsheets - say hello to project management software

2011-11-18T10:35:00.000-08:00

Many project managers are worried about the taking of notes when, in a meeting with the client or to discuss progress with the team. They must have relevant data, since these details are important to make the right decision. Before, a common solution to organize things is by the use of spreadsheets and manually enter them in the documents.

While this strategy can help you organize things, but it is a waste of time and requires more effort. Project management software can do better for organizing things without losing too much time. Here are some of the benefits when you use a project management tool:

Clear details

Although you can organize your project details in a spreadsheet, it is still not easy to understand. Formats may not appear to be good and its details may not be in the right group. With project management tools, information is easier to understand because they are designed to do such thing. Details appear better and clearer. There is no more formatting necessary when you enter the details because the tool does this automatically for you.

Good presentation

Many of the above sectors of society do not have access to the details and info. In fact, they do not really attention to this subject. What they need only is for the project completed in the field of application and budget. When you discuss with them, they do not want to see congested reports and presentations, you may be at risk when you use only spreadsheets and documents. They do not actually hold your things well. However, using management software, you can submit reports with data and specific info. You can be confident that demonstrations and presentations ever will fail, as tools will run smooth without problems

Team & collaboration

Each project requires feedback from the team synchronize the progress. Your team must be able to work together. This will help meet project deadlines. Follow the progress of a project and to stay in the scope and the budget are are just some of the things that should take account of the team.

Collaboration and team work can be done easily by the use of project management software. This helps all members of the team to cooperate and to allocate each to different tasks. Team work, still help the team achieve their goals, and this can be achieved by the project management software.

Simplify calculations

It requires necessary formulas for the calculation worksheet perform complex calculations, but the fact for you, software project management. For example, you enter a time on a specific task or project sheet; the tool calculates the amounts of fees and charges, thereby decreasing the time needed for this in relation to the manually entering formulas. In calculating the amounts of fresh and load, quotations, and invoices can be created easily.

Monitoring, control of documents and reports

Hours of work of the employees are followed with the characteristic time of tracking project management software. This feature has a guarantee to prevent any person in the team of cheating. Leaves of time which are seized and assigned tasks can be followed.

Project management tools also have a central location for all your documents, such as e-mails, letters, etc. This will make the projects which will be organized and productivity increase because documents may be easily accessible. Reports are generated by a click of your mouse. They can be generated to see the progress and productivity of the project as well as team.

In conclusion, to manage a team and the projects and tasks can be made easy with project management software. Please note that these tools only help you, it is the use of the capabilities of the team is the main thing to do. Project management is never easy, but with the appropriate tool, management will be much easier.

Latitude is a project management software that can do all of these features. It is easy to use and will not take you much time to learn how to use. For more info about its capabilities, you can always request a demo of Latitude here.

Top 10 tips for project managers

2011-11-17T20:32:00.001-08:00

Here are the top 10 tips for project managers.

1 - Follow a process.

It depends on the company that you work so that they may already have in place project management methodology, so you'll need to follow that, but he let step stop suggest you new ideas. Read and keep updated on effective project management practices, you may be told to do by your work, but you must do this off the coast of your back. Most of the companies with current methodology will have a diagram of their general process, print off the coast and keep it close, it can help you stay on track.

2 - Ask a Mentor.

Two heads are better than one, especially if the other has more experience and knowledge that you. This type of aid can be valuable for you and the company, you can always learn more. Your company may suggest a mentor or you may have to pick one, if you can, try and find someone with a good attitude like this will rub off on you.

3 - Surround you with tools.

Find as many things as possible to help make your job easier, as every little thing may be combined to be a great help. There is software available to help you; plan your project, tasks management, creating maps of great spirit and create logs for issues and hazards. If you are not hot with computers then you think learning about this software, but for the moment, Microsoft Excel will help with many things, its very versatile.

4 - Models for you save time.

You have probably been doing this for some time, you may be already a set of models that you created and modified to fits your needs. But if you have your own, there are many available on the internet, some are free and some you may have to pay for. These models are great to save you time and you should be able to adapt their in most companies.

5 - You must Plan.

Create your own plan you can save much time and money of time in business. It helps to structure your work life and allows you to deliver what is expected of you, on time and correctly. Make a good, solid plan is very important, if you get right then the project will work smoothly and the product will be produced in the time and within budget. It will also help to show your boss (es) that you will perform and it can provide potential hazards which have perhaps not noticed without the plan.

6 - Communicate with stakeholders and agree on the plan.

When you have written your plan for the project, you must display the stakeholders and they need to understand what was going on in the project. They need to know what will be the final product, how the project will pan, who will work on which parts, how long it is expected to take and all the costs involved. The players are there to help make decisions so that everyone understands the project, if changes need to be made, before the project started is the best time to make them.

7 - The project must be managed and tracked.

Once you have agreed on the project with stakeholders plan, the project can begin, so you should keep it and make sure that work is actually done. This means that you need to be involved in the management of your team properly and keep track of all the tasks that they will. It is a good idea to have regular meetings with employees or team leaders to ensure that everyone is still on the runway, and to help to redress the problems that arose. If there were targets and the employees know that there will be an imminent meeting on this subject, he will push them to do the work that will help the project to stay on track. This will also help the project team to see the larger image that all their individual components are met.

8 - Manage all of the issues and risks properly.

One of your priorities as a project manager is to keep at the top of all the issues and risks in the project. If a problem arises, it is much better to address at the beginning rather than leave it till later, in which the question could worsen and hit the project runway. If successfully manage you an issue or risk, your team and customers will have more confidence in you.

9 - Progress reports must be created regularly.

All persons involved in the project, including the project team, stakeholders and clients should be updated on how the project comes along. Nobody likes to be left in ignorance of things, mainly the clients, as we live in the digital age where we expect things instantly. You do not have much leisure time and neither do most people, so that these reports must be directly to the point, no need to write a test when a simple - "Project is going well and is on track to be completed in time", that is all that you really need. This also reinforces the fact that you know what is happening in the project and allows to respond to any question thrown your way.

10 - Deliver the product.

A completed project is always what you are aiming for and what your customers expect of you. Benefit that the product is essential to maintaining a good reputation in the business and other potential customers, reputation is everything! Some parts of the project should set due dates so that the project team has something to aim independently of the overall completion date, and also lets you know if you are on the right track or not.

If you need training to help you become a great project, I recommend you take a training course in project management to Silicon Beach training and PRINCE2 training could also benefit you greatly.

The Top 5 Skills of Good Project Managers

2011-11-10T20:37:00.000-08:00

I have worked with and managed project managers over many years. Based on my own observations of what I did or did not do well on my projects, and similar observations about other project managers on their projects, I offer my assessment of the top 5 skills of good project managers:

1. Attention to Achieving the Project Goals - In many types of projects, especially technology projects, it can be easy to get wrapped up in the details and the technology and lose sight of the business goals. The focus of the team and the project shifts to a technology goal - for example, building an XYZ system - instead of the goal of solving the business problem. When that happens the resulting system may not meet all of the business expectations.

The project manager and the team need to clearly understand the business goals before detailed planning and work starts on the project. Then, the project manager needs to remind the regularly about the goals and how the project work relates to those goals.

2. Attention to Details - Probably the most-cited skill for project managers is attention to detail, and rightfully so. Projects of any size have hundreds and thousands of little details that must be attended to at the right time and in the right way throughout the course of the project. That's why senior managers should not manage projects... They are supposed to deal with the big picture, not the details.

It is not the job of the project manager to handle every detail, but it is the project manager's job to remind the team or ask the team about the details of the tasks they are doing.

3. Communication and Coordination with the Team - The planning and execution of the project is done in the day-by-day, week-by-week grunt work of the project. And it's done by the project manager working directly with the team to make it all happen... communicating and coordinating about their activities, the dependencies between the activities, the amounts of time to get the activities done, the issues that must be resolved, and so on.

Daily communication and coordination is the core of managing the project. It requires good organization and good people and verbal communication skills.

4. Problem Solving and Communication outside the Team - General problem solving is an important project manager skill because problems and roadblocks must be dealt with frequently. In most business projects, it usually means finding the persons outside of the team whom the project manager or team must work with and taking the appropriate steps to get the problem resolved. It may mean going up the management ladder to escalate the problem and get the necessary attention, prioritization, and resources directed toward the problem.

This particular skill set also involves communicating regular status to management about the progress of the project and issues that might be impacting work results, schedule, budget, etc. It requires excellent people and verbal communication skills and good written communication skills as well.

5. Customer Relationship Management - In business projects, it is important that the project manager maintain a good working relationship with the customer, whether the customer is external or internal. Managing the customer's expectations is a key part of this - not in a manipulative way, but in an honest and relatively open way. The customer needs to know what is realistic in developing the product and what is not, and customers always like to be kept informed about how the project is going and whether you, as the project manager, are responding to issues in the most effective way.

Managing the customer relationship also involves communication with management - keeping them informed about project issues, whether the customer is happy and quiet or unhappy and likely to escalate. Like several others, this area of performance obviously requires good people and communication skills too, as well as good issues management, which is all about tracking customer issues and managing them to the satisfaction of the customer.

Bottom-Line: There are many skills that a project manager must have, but if he or she does these five well, their probability of success with most projects will be high.

Do You Need a Project Manager?

2011-11-10T06:09:00.000-08:00

Whether you run a small Internet company or a large, offline one, you will eventually get bogged down in details and problem solving that could slow down your production and sales.

When you plan your projects and determine the objectives for each project, you will normally be surprised by the number of distinct tasks it will take to get even one project off the ground and making you money. Trying to multitask several projects at one time might prove to be more than you can integrate into all the other tasks and problems you need to take care of on a daily basis.

This might be the time to consider hiring a project manager to take on the responsibility of creating the objectives needed to guide your projects to a successful end...time, cost and quality.

You will have to integrate your project manager into your business profile and objectives. In order to be successful, you will have to decide what is most important to your production success and make that a priority for your project manager's attention. There's three common priorities most business owners want addressed:

#1...Improving quality of the products to raise customer satisfaction and perceived value

#2...Reducing costs across the manufacturing process to increase profit and eliminate duplication and waste

#3...Meeting deadlines, which includes setting realistic deadlines that can be met without loads of expensive overtime

The one major benefit of using a project manager to you, the business owner, is the freedom you will gain to deal with employee problems, daily meetings, inventory control, product catalogs, customer service and marketing campaigns, to name a few tasks that will take up your time.

The major task for a project manager is actually the most basic skill you can ask for, time management. Your manager will have to know how to manage his or her own time and that of your production teams. Each day should be planned to move your project forward without depleting your resources.

Productive project managers can explain each day's production plan so everyone is clear about what they need to do and the scheduled milestones that keep everyone on track.

Make sure your project manager knows the 80/20 Rule and will be able to determine which issues are important enough to affect the end result. You should remember that the 80/20 Rule could apply to your daily activities, as well. If you concentrate on the 20% of your activities that will produce the most dramatic benefits to your business plan, the other 80% could easily be given to the specific departments already involved in the processes.

When you interview possible project managers, ask about some not so easily determined attitudes that will have a great impact on your business, like useless team meetings and micro management.

Meetings should be used for brainstorming and creating ideas for product improvement, not updates on production status or technical discussions. If you should be unlucky enough to hire a micro-managing project manager, you will be stuck with a manager who ends up doing the work the employees should be doing instead of concentrating on the goals that move production ahead.

Back to the original question: "Do You Need A Project Manager?" If you have been balancing more than several production processes and falling behind everyday, the answer is "Yes!" If you are interrupted frequently with problems or difficulties to solve that take your focus off the bottom line in your budget and the goals you've set for production, your answer is "Definitely Yes!"

A production manager would take all those distracting details off your desk and let you manage where it is needed.

Kathy Dobson is a free spirited thinker and business owner who is dedicated to helping others achieve personal and financial freedom through Internet marketing with an emphasis on Outsourcing to the Philippines.

For further tips and resources on outsourcing your business, visit:
Dedicated to Freedom
http://www.kathydobson.com

Product Vs Project Management

2011-11-09T18:01:00.000-08:00

OK, so how many times has this occurred: someone asks you what you do for a living and you tell them that you are a Product Manager and they fire back at you "Oh, so you manage projects?" Grrr, it's really no fair - the two disciplines really have nothing in common. Well wait a minute, maybe they do. No, no they really are different. Dang it. What's the difference between the two?

A lot of the confusion comes from the simple fact that the two jobs do share a lot of things in common. However, never fear, they really are completely different no matter what your friends or your boss tell you. In a nutshell, the differences fall into three different categories: scope, execution, and results.

Scope: A project manager has the somewhat enviable benefit of having the hope of there existing clear cut boundaries that define what he/she is responsible for. They are responsible for a project that uses resources, has a schedule, and has a clear set of deliverables. A successful product manager on the other hand has a less defined job of creating a successful product. The product will be driven by no so much a set of requirements, but rather a customer need which may be fickle and change over time. A product manager has to be able to see through requirements and determine what the root cause of the customer's issue is and create a product that solves that.

Execution: The project manager is responsible for basically reporting on the status of the project and he/she has a whole host of tools to do this with. However, the product manager is not responsible for designing the product. In fact the product manger does not have to be a subject matter expert - they can mange projects that they know nothing about the underlying technology. A Product Manger on the other hand desperately needs to know everything about how the product works. They need to know the motivation behind every design decision so that they can explain it in non-technical terms to a customer. A product manager is going to have to be able to sell (something a project manager never has to do) his/her product to others both internally and externally.

Results: How is a project manager judged? If a product follows a set schedule, delivers what was requested when it was promised and does not exceed its budget, then it is considered to have been a success. Basically, the less attention a project attracts, the more successful it is deemed to have been. The product manger on the other hand is expected to have created a product efficiently (similar to a project manager's project), but has the additional burden of having to be successful no matter if it is delivered to an internal or external customer. If the product is a runaway success and gets lots of vocal praise from the customer than the product manager is deemed to have done a good job.

Yes, there are a lot of similarities between the jobs. However with due respect to both project mangers and product managers, you can't switch them around and expect success. Product Management really does require a special set of skills - it's an art, not a science.

Dr. Jim Anderson
http://www.TheAccidentalPM.com

Dr. Jim Anderson has been a product manger at small start-ups as well as at some of the world's largest IT shops. Dr. Anderson realizes that for a product to be successful, it takes an entire company working together. He'll share his insights and guidance on how to make your products a fantastic success.

Subscribe to the FREE Accidental Product Manager newsletter to get the information that you need to have a successful product and a successful career. Go here to to get your free subscription: http://tinyurl.com/p4ru9d

Learn What Makes Up a Great Project Management System

2011-11-09T04:31:00.000-08:00

Project management has become an integral part of every layer of the business world. From marketing departments to engineering teams, from Fortune 500s to one man design shops, people are getting things done by managing projects. This is nothing new, it is just how we look at it that has changed. Now with online collaboration as a huge part of how businesses and workers interact, things seem to be getting even more confusing as they strive to get simpler.

This article is intended to bring us back to the basics of project management and then tie those into what one should look for in an online project management system.

When thinking about project management there are three questions we should ask.

What are our goals?
Who is part of the project?
And what will make us most productive?When managing projects there is always a system and a set of tools for management. No matter if it is as archaic as pen, paper, and voice, or as advanced as an online project management system, there are essential tenets to managing projects.

Project overview
Task lists
Task delegation
Timelines
Accountability
Measurement
Document sharing
Communication

Every process has some effectiveness in each of these categories and major pitfalls in others. When project managers started developing management styles they had these common needs:

A way to list out the work that needs to get done for each part of the project (Tasks and task lists).
A way to delegate these tasks (Task assignment).
A way to monitor progress.
A way to make changes to project plans.
A way to report progress to completion.

To better understand how project management software developed into what it is today, we need to start at the beginning. Prior to using technology the status quo of project management was writing out what needed to be done and then partitioning those tasks by who was going to get the work done. Accountability was a head peering into an office or scheduled meetings. The main problem with this method was time between tasks. It took a long time to delegate, monitor, troubleshoot and share when tasks were done. If multiple tasks were dependent on the completion of another, there could be days lost in the effort of letting people know the initial task was completed. Another issue was it was in the hands of the project manager to track all of the activity and ensure that all tasks were getting done and the timeline was still accurate. Any delays or complications required a complete rework of timeline. The manager then had to share this with the team again meaning more lost time.

With the introduction of email and the development of early stage project management software the initiation of projects, the delegation of tasks, and the ability to share were moved from physical interaction to electronic communication. There were two new challenges - isolated information that was only on the desktop and the greater issue of user adoption.

With email people had to move around the office (country, planet) less. It was possible to instantly share status and data. This convenience took a great deal of time out of the in between of projects. The speed of modern business built its acceleration on the back of email. For projects this meant making project managers and task owners aware of task completion or issues in delivery. The problem was that people began managing from the inbox. This is an issue that exists in most project management today. Here are its pitfalls:

Finding data or documents is difficult as they get buried in the inbox.
It is isolated to the sender and receiver. The only way to make everyone aware is to create group emails. These emails lead to wasted time as group members try and sift through long strings to understand their part.
Managers still have no way to oversee projects holistically.
An email does not have a timeline or association to other tasks.
If the desktop is damaged the data (emails) is lost.

While email is an issue an even greater headache for the project manager implementing software is adoption. Initially with the launch of tools like Microsoft Project it seemed the needs of the manager were going to be met. While the set up of projects was complicated there was a chance for everyone in a project to be able to manage their own timelines and tasks. Although cost prohibitive to most companies it was adopted by larger companies. The discovery was that teams were not using the system and now the manager had to not only manage the project but also the solution. The reason for this lack of adoption was that the tools were not perceived as a benefit. They were seen as something that required more work and most task owners did not feel obligated to deal with it. So the manager updated the system or chased team members to get it done. The time constraints of the manager were now beyond belief and these expensive tools were often set aside for spreadsheets which were not much better than the original ways of managing projects.

The next major leap in project collaboration was to take the system online. Basecamp is the leading example of this. Basecamp is a software as a service (SAAS) for project collaboration. While much effort was put into making the management of projects easier, there was a lack of adoption by task owners and executive stakeholders. This lack of adoption was primarily because the products were still a drain on productivity, but no matter what the online product developers did, they could not create widespread adoption.

The final step that has people adopting online collaboration tools is the integration of social media tools and email to software interaction. The best example of the ultimate project management system is Teambox. Teambox is a SAAS project management software that is simple and fun to use. Users adopt because they can use it in a manner similar to Facebook or Twitter. They can update their project tasks or statuses via email or mobile device. They can get things done quickly and find everything in one location. Teambox actually saves time for both project managers and their teams. This is the next phase in project management and one that will change the way people work.

Karl Goldfield is a collaboration agent that has worked with virtual and distributed teams for over 20 years. As a sales and marketing executive he has had to maintain teams and projects globally with people at all levels of an organization.

Teambox is a project collaboration tool that can be found online and used for free at http://teambox.com.

Project Management - What's It All About?

2011-11-08T17:14:00.000-08:00

Project Management is the planning and management of a range of tasks, particularly where there are complexities either within the tasks or within the teams working on the project, in order to achieve a deliverable at the end of the project. A deliverable can be many things; it may be a physical thing such as a new product, it may be an intangible thing such as a new process within an organisation or it may be a new software system.

Whatever the end result of the project, it will involve some type of change within a business. The change could be a modification to the existing status quo or it could be introducing something completely new, so change management is also an element of project management.

A project that is going to be formally managed within an organisation could be in any area of the business, but the most common areas in which project management tools and techniques will be useful are:

IT
customer services
product manufacture
new business development
premises
administrative tasks and processes
financial, legal and professional procedures
health and safety requirements
research and development

If the desired final outcome cannot be accurately predicted with certainty, then project management techniques will be required to plan and organise tasks, assess the risks and ensure the resources are available to deliver a successful outcome.

So what exactly are the stages of managing a project? Listed below are the fundamental stages of managing any project; each of these may contain many sub-stages, particularly for more complex projects:

Document the Business Requirements

The business requirements document should accurately, and in detail, describe the purpose of the project. It states what is needed to achieve that goal i.e. what is in-scope, what is out-of-scope, any assumptions that have been made, any constraints that have been imposed and expected timescales. The document will form the definitive description of the aims of the project and, as such, can be used to manage the expectations of the stakeholders. It will also include acceptance criteria that will ultimately be used to judge whether the project was a success.

The production and agreement of the business requirements is a substantial part of the overall project schedule and may take many iterations before it is finally approved.

The project manager usually works with other departments or teams to put the document together. They will probably use Brainstorming and Interviewing techniques to help with this process and may even build a prototype.

Document the Functional Specification

The business requirements state what is required but do not specify how the deliverable will actually work. So in many projects with a tangible and technically sophisticated deliverable, it is very common to produce additional documentation about the look and feel of the end product. The functional specification describes not only how the end product will look but also how an end-user will actually use it and what the user-experience will be like.

This document should contain sections that specifically relate to each of the requirements in the business requirements document so that every functional item can be tracked back to an original business need.

Create the Project Plan

The project plan will include details about the various tasks required to complete the project, the people and equipment involved, time estimates, dependencies, milestones and the overall timescales

The tasks need to be scheduled in the correct order and dependencies between tasks factored in. In complex projects several tasks will be performed in parallel to maximise the total project time. The plan will also take account of the project budget.

There are many project management techniques and tools available, some of the most common being Critical Path Analysis Flow Diagrams and Gantt Charts.

A Critical Path Analysis diagram uses a linear timeline to identify dependent tasks and is particularly used on large, complex projects which may have hundreds of dependent activities. These diagrams highlight dependent tasks that overlap and, therefore, require adjustments to the schedule.

A Gantt Chart is an excellent project management tool for the scheduling, budgeting and reporting of a project. The easiest, but perhaps not the most useful, tool for creating Gantt Charts is MSProject. Each task is listed on the left-hand side of the chart with a timeline shown on the right. Milestones can be easily marked and the schedule and costs can be easily updated where necessary.

Every project should have a contingency allowance for both time and budget as there is always a tendency to under-estimate tasks, particularly when under pressure to deliver as soon as possible. Indeed, in practise, many project managers are not given the luxury of estimating the total time required but are likely to be given a fixed end date and the project tasks have to be fitted into the time available.

Project management also includes identifying and managing potential risks as well as managing the change associated with most projects.

Assign Project Tasks

All of the tasks listed on the project plan need to be assigned to an individual or team. The person or persons responsible for a task will need to know in detail what the task involves and also the dependencies and timescales, which can be clearly communicated to them using the Gantt Chart. The timescales must be realistic and, in practise, the project manager will probably have discussed timescales with the team before the schedule was finalised. They will also need to understand the criteria by which each task is determined as complete.

People Management

The role of a project manager is very diverse and one of the most vital skills is good people management. The most carefully planned projects will go awry if the team is not motivated, encouraged and kept informed. Regular scheduled meetings provide a formal way of doing this but do not overlook the casual conversations that are often more informative for the project manager and easier opportunities to encourage individuals at a more personal level.

Review Progress

Regularly review estimates, deadlines and milestones to check they are still on schedule. If necessary, update the plan with new estimates and tasks and ensure that remaining tasks are necessary and estimates are still valid. Circumstances can change during a project but question every change and always refer back to the original business requirement as a corss-reference.

Notify stakeholders of project progress at regular intervals and gain their approval for any changes that substantially impact the deadline, budget or deliverables.

Project Acceptance, Implementation and Follow-Up

Once the final product has been fully tested, staff have been trained (where necessary) and the stakeholders have signed-off the project then it can be implemented in the working environment. It is probably a rare project that is 100% successful but whatever the final outcome of the project always aim to find some element that was a success and make sure you reflect positively on the successful parts. Hold team reviews to learn from both the successes and the mistakes and take the time to write a report documenting any remaining issues that need to be followed up.

Michelle Symonds is a qualified PRINCE2 Project Manager and believes that the right project management courses can transform a good project manager into a great project manager and are essential for a successful outcome to any project.
There is a wide range of formal and informal project management courses now available that include online learning and podcasts as well as more traditional classroom courses.

Project Management: The 3 Major Project Types

2011-11-08T05:05:00.000-08:00

1. Civil engineering, construction, petrochemical, mining, and quarrying

Projects in this category are those which spring to mind most readily whenever industrial projects are mentioned. Once common feature is that the fulfillment phase must be conducted on a site that is exposed to the elements, and usually remote from the contractor's main office.

These projects incur special risks and problems of organization. They often require massive capital investment, and they deserve (but do not always get) rigorous management of progress, finance, and quality.

For very large industrial projects the funding and resources needed are often too great for one contractor to risk or even find. The organization and communications are therefore likely to be complicated by the participation of many different specialists and contractors, with the main players possibly acting together as a consortium or joint venture company.

2. Manufacturing projects

Manufacturing projects aim to produce a piece of equipment or machinery, ship, aircraft, land vehicle or some other item of specially designed hardware. The finished product might be purpose-built for a single customer, or the project could be generated and funded from within a company for the design and development of a new product intended for subsequent manufacture and sale in quantity.

Manufacturing projects are usually conducted in a factory or other home-based environment, where the company should be able to exercise on-the-spot management and provide an optimum environment.

Of course, these ideal conditions do not always apply. Some manufacturing projects can involve work away from the home base, for example in installation, commissioning and start-up, initial customer training and subsequent service and maintenance. More difficult is the case of a complex product (such as an aircraft) that is developed and manufactured by a consortium of companies, very possibly overlapping international borders, with all the consequent problems of risk, contractual difficulties, communication, coordination, and control.

3. Management projects

This class of projects proves the point that every company, whatever its size, can expect to need project management expertise at least once in its lifetime. These are the projects that arise when companies relocate their headquarters, develop and introduce a new computer system, launch a marketing campaign, prepare for a trade exhibition, produce feasibility or other study report, restructure the organization, mount a stage show, or generally engage in any operation that involves the management and coordination of activities to produce an end result that is not identifiable principally as an item of hardware or construction.

Although management projects might not result in a visible, tangible creation, much often depends on their successful outcome. There are well-known cases, for instance, where failure to implement a new computer system correctly has caused serious operational breakdown and has exposed the managers responsible to public discredit. Effective project management is at least as important for these projects as it is for the largest construction or manufacturing project.

John Reynolds has been a practicing project manager for nearly 20 years and is the editor of an informational website rating project management software products. For more information on project management and project management software, visit Project Management Software Web.

The Environmentally Aware Project Manager

2011-11-07T14:59:00.000-08:00

Project Management is often concerned with managing limited resources - there never seems to be enough time allocated to complete the project or to complete individual tasks within the project. Neither does there ever seem to be enough budget to cover everything that needs to be done to deliver the project successfully. Even those projects that start off on-track with time and costs very often veer off course when the inevitable change requests start to roll in.

In many parts of the world we have already become used to the idea of recycling our household waste and large organisations are taking the recycling of (particularly paper) waste seriously too. But wouldn't it be better if we restricted our use of precious resources in the first place so we had less to recycle?

So how can we integrate an awareness of the environment into project management?

Perhaps the first step is to ensure that every decision made on a project is viewed from an environmental perspective. From the basic decisions on how to share and distribute project documentation right up to the design and production methods for the end product.

A simple way to make a start is to display a small message at the bottom of every email reminding the reader not to print it out unless absolutely necessary. And the obvious next step is to always use electronic documentation, never paper copies. There may be some resistance to this, particularly in meetings discussing requirements when everyone wants their own paper copy to make their own comments on. But consider this - how many of those attending the meeting already have a laptop, iPad or other electronic device that could easily take the place of a paper document?

And what about travelling (particularly flying) to meetings when video-conferencing is so readily available. We could probably all minimise our own personal carbon footprints by keeping flying for only those really essential project meetings.

But being an environmentally aware project manager is not simply about these basic and obvious steps. It is also about viewing the product to be delivered in an environmental light, particularly where production methods may not be energy-efficient or where the end-product itself may not be energy-efficient.

The benefits of energy-efficient production methods and end-products are not purely environmental ones. There can be significant cost reductions to this approach and the bottom line is always easy to sell to stakeholders. Outdated production methods can often be upgraded to provide substantial savings over time.

Take as an example Apple who is committed to designing and producing energy efficient products. The energy a technology gadget consumes when plugged in and switched on contributes significantly to the environmental footprint of the company who produced it. It also contributes significantly to the individual's environmental footprint. Energy efficient products are good for the user as they reduce electricity bills and energy-efficient production methods are good for business as they reduce costs of production. Both contribute to a reduction in the environmental impact of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

So every project has the opportunity to improve its environmental credentials in both small and large ways and project managers who are well-trained in techniques for making the most of limited resources are well-placed to have an influence over decisions, large and small, that might have an environmental impact on projects that they lead and direct.

The author is a qualified PRINCE2 Project Manager and believes that the right project management courses can transform a good project manager into a great project manager and are essential for a successful outcome to any project.

There is a wide range of formal and informal training now available that include online learning and podcasts in qualifications such as PMP Certification, APMP and PRINCE2.

Selecting Project Managers - Project Management As it Ought to Be

2011-11-07T04:05:00.000-08:00

Most of us are beyond the point where we believe that successful project management can be accomplished by following a formula or merely using the right system. It's not that the tools are unimportant, or that the systems don't work, because they do. However, the systems and the software only make the job easier; they aren't the elements of success.

Great ideas aren't great products until they can be made and sold at a profit. Solid project execution can help bring this about.

1. Pick and empower the right person to be your project leader

The project manager needs to be one of the best managers in the company and picked at the onset of the project. After all, they have a difficult job. They must manage diverse teams with members who all have "real" bosses elsewhere in the company. When picking someone to be a project manager, keep these requirements in mind;

Project managers need detailed cross functional knowledge. The development, production, procurement and quality systems at your firm are complicated. It isn't necessary for project leaders to have worked in all these functional areas, but the more the better. Understanding the workings of these areas is critical to prevent the leader from being bamboozled by the functional experts.
Detailed, first hand knowledge of the product, design and engineering systems, quality standards, manufacturing technologies and the politics of your company is mandatory.

Technical projects should be led by technical people. Don't expect a leader of product development team to be successful if they can't speak the language of the technical team. A procurement specialist or a logistics expert is unlikely to be able to fully understand the subtleties of the design and specification process; and they will have difficulty separating the critical requirements from the fluff. Engineers have disdain for those who are not technically sophisticated and can unintentionally intimidate others with the knowledge of technology; project managers must be able to ask tough questions to be successful.

Not all projects are technical in nature. Redesigning a service offering or revamping marketing plan projects should be led by those who are experts in these fields.

Project managers must have superior organizational skills. The great engineer who can never find the spec book or retrieve the latest test results probably isn't a good candidate. The management of project is an exceptionally detailed endeavor - pick someone who loves the detail.

Make sure that your project managers are great problems solvers. A project is nothing if not an exercise in solving problem after problem; make sure your leader knows how to deal with these issues.

You will have to develop your own project leaders. Given the range of skills and experience required, you probably aren't going to find the "right" person for the job. Pick someone with most of the skills; start by giving them the experiences needed and groom them until they are ready.

The right project manager will use the systems you have developed seamlessly, and it will sometimes look easy. The wrong project manager will take the greatest system and make it a toilsome nightmare, spending weeks preparing for routine reviews, and delivering substandard results.

2. Make sure that constraints for the project are completely defined

The bane of project management is changing or "updating" constraints once the project starts. Many of these changes are in fact oversights that should have been identified early in the process. Without solid definition of all constraints, it is too easy for significant changes to be made late in the process. Take time before the design process starts to get the definition right.

The constraints, or Scope of Work (SOW), have several elements. Customer constraints lead the list, but manufacturing limitations, market introduction timing, aesthetic concerns, governmental or industry regulations also add to the constraints. In many projects, this process of mapping the constraints is overlooked or underemphasized. Here are some simple rules to keep in mind which may help you identify all the constraints;

Before work begins, take time to define responsibility for each element of the project. This is especially important when collaborating with outside firms as partners, suppliers, or customers. For example, who has primary and support responsibility for designing, testing, validating, and manufacturing the part?

Remember: Assumptions are only bad if you don't document them. Make sure that they are all documented.

Recognize: Projects always involve change. Be prepared by deciding in advance how SOW changes will be handled. Do approval authorities need to be established? SOW management makes or breaks projects. When the sales department or customer decides that the part needs to be stainless steel instead of plastic - the scope of the project has changed and the parameters need to be updated.

Learn this lesson well. It could save you millions. During one of the major development projects I managed, the customer constantly asked for new or upgraded features to be added to the scope. But we had a detailed, approved SOW, and an effective SOW change management system. At the conclusion of the program, when the customer's procurement team was trying to pull cost from the project, we were completely covered. All of the SOW changes were approved and we were able to improve our margins.

3. Utilize pull planning rather than task planning approaches

Two difficulties with project management are keeping a project on schedule and on budget. Failures to meet requirements in these areas have resulted in an over reaction in the level of detail put into early project plans. Nice little catch phrases like "He didn't plan to fail, he just failed to plan" distort the realities of the situation.

Task based plans focus on the work that needs to be done and how long it is expected to take to complete this work. In the more complicated models, we are encouraged to estimate the minimum time, the expected time, and the most likely time each individual task or subtask will take. The more detailed the plans, it is argued, the more predictable the results. The job of the project manager is to make sure that the tasks are being completed in accordance with the plan.

But task based plans break down and subsequently lead to micro-management. The break-downs are seldom because we don't keep up with the schedule. It is more likely that tasks were omitted from the plan or the resources required were greatly underestimated. In short, the plan becomes a substitute for responsibility and excuses like "We did it per the plan, it just didn't work out" begin to be heard.

Ironically, the response to these issues is to create more and more detailed plans, which are likely to conclude with similar failures, because the real causes of our project failures have not been addressed.

Pull planning offers a dramatically different approach. Instead of focusing on the tasks, or the work, it focuses on the desired results. For example, when planning a validation test, a pull plan defines the objectives and the timing of the test. It defines the design release levels and the types of tooling to be used. The plan specifies the confidence that the team needs to have in the results and the methods or particular tests are to be performed. If there are any secondary considerations or objectives, such as using the build event as a learning opportunity for production associates, these are also listed. The consolidation of these plans for each controlling event becomes the project plan. The project team pulls and manages necessary resources to deliver the results for the controlling events as the project proceeds.

Even with a project using pull planning methodologies, there will be times when task planning is necessary. However, they are short-term, specific events on which the team is currently focused. For example, if a prototype event needs completed to facilitate a validation test, then release of Purchase Orders, delivery of components and planning of lab resources must be done on a micro level and in great detail. It is necessary to the success of the project.

But don't try doing it months in advance. There are just too many unknowns to make it valuable. Instead, team members will become frustrated as the plans decompose. Project leaders will eventually give up and "re-plan" the project.

Don't waste your time building a Microsoft Project Plan which defines exactly when specific tasks need to be accomplished. It is impossible to comprehend at the project initiation all the tasks that will be required to complete the project. Focus instead on deliverables and results required at specific, predetermined milestones. Then make sure you have a project team with the expertise, the knowledge, the responsibility and the authority to determine when and how to complete the work to ensure successful completion of the project.

4. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate!

Project management is solely about communications. The project leader that does not communicate well will fail. There must be communication within the team about responsibilities, targets, and requirements.

Additionally the team must communicate with management, customers and suppliers. When people on the team aren't performing to expectation - or when they are performing well above them - their managers need to know. If there are issues that are threatening success, or newly found opportunities, management must know.

When a roadblock appears due to technical issues, reach out to experts and other teams. It is likely that someone has had experiences that will ease the path to the solution. When innovative ideas are discovered, trumpet these successes.

Good communication skills cannot be learned soon enough. During my first experience as a program manager, we were experiencing a significant issue that was a result of poor design decisions. In order to save face, I decided to keep the issue under wraps "for a couple of days" until we could solve it. Fortunately, after two weeks, with the problem still looming, a team member spilled the beans, and management became fully aware of the problem. I learned quickly that the issue itself was of less importance than the sharing of all information.

Pride or fear cannot be allowed to prevent communication within teams, with management or with other teams. Communication is the primary purpose of project management - don't neglect it.

5. Develop your own New Product Development System

In the business climate today, the requirements for product development are extensive; environmental regulations or recycling rules mandated by the government, requirements for durability tests set by the customer, building or painting permits required by local authorities, as well as internal corporate requirements... and the list goes on. If you are part of the automotive industry there are APQP and TS 16949 requirements. It is too much for anyone to remember.

Teams need checklists to ensure that the critical developmental tasks aren't being overlooked. It isn't good enough to rely on the memory of your project team, management team, or executive team to ensure that everything gets done. Define the requirements, plan the programs around them, then check and report results against the requirements. Use this system as a tool for success, not just a series of tasks that have to be completed.

Formalize the system; allow it to change and grow as it is used - but don't try to shortcut the process.

1. Project Initiation

>> Business Case

>> Feasibility Study

>> Market Study

>> Program Objectives

>> Statement of Work

>> Constraint Map

2. Project Planning

>> Program Resource Plan

>> Milestone Plan

>> Manufacturing Plan

>> Design / Verification Plan

>> Sub-System Assumptions

3. Project Execution

>> Issues Resolution

>> Design Completion

>> Gantt Chart Tracking

>> Tooling Completion

>> Operator Training

4. Project Closure

>> Project Review

>> Lessons Learned

>> Closure Report

>> Target / Actual Reporting

>> Guidelines Documentation

6. The executive team must stay involved.

These projects are the future of the business. As such, they merit the attention of the executive team. Stay involved in the projects to ensure things are going as planned.

Good projects have mechanisms built in to keep top management involved. Periodic reviews to provide face to face interactions between team members and executives are key to project success. Such reviews need to be conducted often; at least monthly. Don't combine the reviews with other staff meetings or strategy sessions - it sends the wrong message. Specific purposes for these monthly reviews include:
Reporting project status relative to the project plan

Identifying major concerns, customer complaints, or obstacles to success

Reporting on changes to the project plan; SOW changes or significant changes to program risk

Update financial projections

Allowing for direct, two way communications between executive team and the project team members. Related experiences of the executives can often be beneficial to the project teams; the review provides the regular opportunity for this type of interface. Conversely, the project team will have the opportunity to directly report obstacles, roadblocks, or other difficulties.

New Product Development Systems (NPDS) establish regular Phase or Gate Reviews to provide formal approval of projects before proceeding to the next phase. The dates for these reviews need to be established during the project planning phase: the review requirements are established by the NPDS itself. These reviews are deep dives into the status of the project and are a critical part of the checks and balances that are required to uncover potential issues to project success.

But these reviews are not enough. Involvement of the executive team needs more consistency than can be provided during these brief, formal reviews. The project team should be supported by informal and frequent visits of the executives. Review the work product of the project team. If the team is in the planning phase; review and comment on the plans. Review the statement of requirements documents - make sure that the definitions are what you want up front. Remember, this is your future business.

So, what are you waiting for? If you haven't developed a NPDS, or if you aren't satisfied with the one you are using - start working on the new one. If you don't have a regimen for developing project managers, then why not start today. You will be glad you did when it's time to start the next project.

Brian D. Krichbaum
http://www.processcoachinginc.com

Brian Krichbaum is the President of Process Coaching Incorporated, a consulting company committed to helping organizations improve their operational, program management and engineering performance, using detailed organizational assessments, lean techniques, targeted short burst projects and systems coaching to build accountability & self sufficiency into client systems.

Stages of Project Management

2011-11-06T17:58:00.001-08:00

The initiation stage of project management is the very beginning. This is where the idea of the project is born. This might include trying to prove to the board members or management why you need the money to begin this project. The initiation stage is the determination of if the project is going to begin or not. This includes accepting bids from vendors, getting approval from upper management, and more. The initiation stage often includes a lot of research prior to determining if the project will work for the business. You might want a new software or database package to manage your billing. This might require researching different software packages to see which one is right for the business.

The second stage of project management is planning and the design stage. The planning phase will begin once you have determined, planned, and have been approved for the project. Planning and design include determining the resources needed to complete the project. Resources include money, materials, assets, and the people who will work on a project. All factors must be considered. The planning will also include a project manager responsible for setting milestones for completion, budget requirements, and meeting with clients to learn their requirements.

Project execution is the third stage of project management, and is also known as the production stage. Once the project management team has designed the entire project, they can begin executing the production phase to begin. This means materials will be ordered, employees will be working on production, and the company will be designing the product.

Project monitoring and controlling is the next stage. However, it is important to keep in mind that project monitoring will actually begin during the planning and design, execution, and other stages throughout the project until it's completion. Monitoring processes ensures that productivity continues and that milestones are continued to be met. Reaching deadlines and meeting budget requirements is important. This stage can include quality assurance testing. Some companies call their phases alpha and beta testing to control the quality and meet the requirements of the client.

The final stage of project management is completion. Once all requirements of a project have been met and the product is at the final stage, it is complete. This means the project is over. The company might be producing the product on a regular basis or it may be a one time project. However, once the project is complete, the process is set in place, and as long as it is followed, it will continue to be successful.

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