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MS Project Baselines Improve Project Planning
Monday, January 9th, 2012Reasons to Consider MS Project 2010
Monday, May 9th, 2011I recently did a project management presentation and was shocked that no one in the room was familiar with my Project 2010 screenshots. While asking around, I found that a vast majority of project leaders were not even considering the upgrade. And I do believe 2010 is a major upgrade. There are three major reasons users are dragging their feet on this power packed MS project release. Click to continue »
Project Management Critical Path
Monday, May 2nd, 2011The project management critical path is the path of scheduled activities with no slack time. In other words, these activities cannot slip. Work must be completed on schedule and with excellence. Unfortunately, many project leaders are a real stickler for maintaining the schedule but not the standard of excellence needed for sustainable project results. Click to continue »
Managing From the Cloud on the Fly
Thursday, March 31st, 2011Several months ago I was speaking to a group on project management solutions. During a conversation with one of the participants he stopped me mid sentence to inform me that he was not a project manager. He said, “I’m just the IT coordinator responsible for implementing software solutions as needed and requested by the team.” It dawned on me that not all project managers perceive themselves as such. Unfortunately, this may also mean that while this man is primarily responsible for the implementation of complex software solutions, he may have never been delegated the formal authority to plan and organize resources. Also, he may have little to no project training or familiarity with valuable tools like MS Project. It is very possible that costly software won’t be available for his use.
The bottom line is that a lot of projects are managed by subject matter experts that aren’t necessarily project management experts. Fortunately, there is a solution that is diverse and practical. I went back to the platform immediately and addressed this issue for the audience. Here are the points I made.
The number one reason teams are reluctant to use MS Project and other similar applications across all projects, is the training required to get users up to speed using the apps. A second challenge is meeting compatibility issues. For example, MS Project only plays nicely across the distance and networks if all users are using internet explorer. Many locally run solutions may require days or even weeks to setup on local servers making them impractical for shorter projects.
In short you need a tool that will help you juggle the tasks and resources throughout the project. Juggling those elements is easier if you are able to communicate efficiently and clearly. You want a solution that meets the following needs:
- The solution should be web based
- Task lists, with deadlines and resource allocation abilities
- Gantt chart generation (could live without it but it is a great communication tool)
- To-do lists
- Access controls
- Document sharing
- A progress dashboard showing status at-a-glance
- Email integration so notifications are sent automatically
While this is a bare bones list of needs it does some up the qualities of a thorough cloud solution for project teams.
One such cloud based application is Basecamp. It is entirely web based and hosted on 37Signals servers. It offers a polished user friendly interface. Basecamp provides collaboration in the form of chat, document storage, and full featured project management tools.
Basecamp provides better task listings and milestone tracking than most similar apps. Experienced project managers may miss the traditional graphical tools such as Gantt and bar charts.
Another great solution is Clarizen. If you need to track tasks and resources, communicate with diverse users and schedule deliverables, Clarizen is a high performance solution. It is user friendly and gets rave user reviews. Clarizen’s greatest strength is the speed to implementation. You can be up and running in literally hours.
Familiarizing yourself with numerous web based project management solutions will help you find apps with the strengths you need. Most cloud solutions offer a “pay-as-you-use” option making them even more ideal for that IT professional who occasionally ends up managing a project.
By: Bill “The Builder” Carpenter has more than twenty years of project management experience. He has hands on project leadership experience as well as ten years of experience as a project management trainer. Bill has developed training modules, curriculum and multimedia training solutions for dozens of clients, as well as authored over a dozen books and audio programs. He teaches practical applications of MS Project, MS Office and cloud computing solutions. Bill is available for keynotes, web based training, and consulting.
The Missing Link
Monday, March 28th, 2011I’ve worked with hundreds of project managers from dozens of America’s strongest companies and a few mom and pop business owners. Across that spectrum I’ve learned that most project failures occur for one or more of three reasons.
Probably the most common is poor communication. Clarity is the key to any project’s success. Clarity seldom occurs by chance. Top project managers take responsibility for creating clarity from the moment a project started. The best teach clarity to the team they lead. The art of communicating clearly is an acquired talent.
The most important communication skill for building clarity is examination. Examination is the process of asking leading questions that help to uncover needs and expectations. It is easy to learn what a client wants. It takes courage and tenacity to clarify the need. By asking plenty of questions in the beginning it is easier to satisfy the clients need in the end. Asking questions throughout the project reveals the best solutions and the path of least resistance. In other words, I may know what to do, but by asking questions of my team they feel a sense of ownership for the plan and therefore remain more committed.
Poor information management is another leading cause of project failure. Documentation serves to create both clarity and accountability. A solid information management strategy ensures that important information is recorded and accessible for reference. Documentation allows us to anchor our project on critical values and reduce scope creep. Four pieces of documentation are critical.
- Project Scope (including client expectations, defined deliverables, cost and schedule)
- Change (including change requests, scope creep and variables)
- Resource Usage (including availability, consumption and overage)
- Milestones (including met/unmet deadlines, deliverables and unmet deliverables)
Implementing software like MS Project has empowered tech savvy managers to manage large amounts of data common to modern projects. Cloud based applications allow us to share information across miles and among many users with relative ease.
Lack of tech savvy and poor business practices will sabotage nearly any modern project. Universal knowledge of software and resources make it possible to sustain clarity throughout the life of a project. While no project management software is a cure all, any project management software can help facilitate clear communication when it is used universally and practically. The key to getting the most out of your software solutions and policies is to train consistently. Every project member needs to complete minimum training requirements. Making training a constant on all your projects will ensure team members are on the same page and get the most out of resources we provide.
Of course most project members have more than just your project to think about. So, implementing training into your project scope may seem like a time consuming extra step. Here are some suggestions that make the training practical.
Outsource training to qualified training professionals. They will get more information through to your team in less time. Trim the fat from all training provided. Keep it simple and relevant to your projects. Supplement the training with a reference manual that is indexed so users can easily reference it efficiently use solutions throughout the project. Carefully decide who needs to be a part of each training module and work with schedules to accommodate their needs. Planning training in short modules is easier to facilitate. I recommend taking time in meetings to provide and reinforce training.
Your project team training should include at least the following three elements:
- Applications and software
- Communication Skills
- Corporate Policies and Procedures
This single link will bring your project network closer and make the entire team more efficient with little cost.
By: Bill “The Builder” Carpenter has more than twenty years of project management experience. He has hands on project leadership experience as well as ten years of experience as a project management trainer. Bill has developed training modules, curriculum and multimedia training solutions for dozens of clients, as well as authored over a dozen books and audio programs. He teaches practical applications of MS Project, MS Office and cloud computing solutions. Bill is available for keynotes, web based training, and consulting.
Giving Cloud Project Management a Chance
Monday, March 7th, 2011In today’s globally diverse culture doing the same old thing leaves us with mediocre results. While many applications and software solutions have evolved to address some of our more global needs, there are reasons you might want to consider trying truly cloud based solutions. Here we will explore some valid reasons to take your projects to the cloud and then introduce some user friendly solutions that won’t break the bank.
One of the challenges faced by global project teams is the varying capabilities of our IT solutions. I have always been a fan of MS project. Microsoft has done a great job evolving to meet complicated project needs. However, one challenge remains. Every user must have minimum capabilities to run the application. This limitation is virtually non-existent with cloud based solutions. Anyone with access to the internet can collaborate with your project team.
Sometimes the greatest weakness of an application is its strengths. Layered applications meet the diverse needs of many users and complex corporate projects. Unfortunately, learning to navigate the layers and efficiently using the software requires training at best and experience at least. In the cloud you will find many solutions that are developed with specific project types in mind. I have been involved with projects that just did not merit the use of MS Project. A simplified solution like LessProjects (more later) helps clarify team communication and track progress.
Of course, cost is always a consideration when choosing a Project Management application. If your projects are very diverse you may find it impossible to budget for numerous solutions needed to accommodate your needs. In this case cloud solutions come in every shape and size.
Project Management software, basically, offers four things:
- Ease of Communication
- Collaboration
- Activity Tracking
- Resource Tracking
One of the greatest benefits of nearly all cloud solutions is the accessibility of information, which makes communication more efficient. In most cases, the entire team can see in real-time when an activity is updated or a resource is made available. Because users can access project data and post updates remotely, there is less need for meetings. Meetings are more efficient because team members are better informed throughout the project lifecycle.
Improved communication means less conflict, fewer surprises, and better crisis response when needed. The ability to communicate across departments empowers more cost effective resource sharing. The ease of updating team members on the fly helps reduce lost time caused by crisis and unforeseen challenges.
As a result of better collaboration it is easier to schedule and reschedule activities and needed resources throughout the project. Every project can benefit from software that increases results through tracking. The following low to no cost cloud solutions are easy to implement and meet the needs we’ve defined here:
www.lessprojects.com This first cloud based solution is probably the simplest and most effective I’ve used for small to medium sized projects. You can create multiple projects managed easily from one place, create project tasks (called iterations), phases, and manage users and all resources for every project. You can even invite clients to monitor project’s progress.
Create users for each project and assign tasks. You can see reports based on each user’s progress and easily keep track of everyone’s work. Tasks can be assigned a status and priority, of low, medium, or high. Project tasks can be sorted according to priority, and values may be assigned to each priority level. Managing teams couldn’t be easier. The user interface is easy to navigate and anyone can be up and running in a single meeting demonstrating the application.
www.web2project.net Web2project is a free open source application that can be hosted securely on your servers. This benefit offers more security, whether perceived or real and creates the opportunity to customize the interface.
Some of the key features of web2Project are:
- A secure web-based infrastructure capable of managing any number of projects, companies, departments and users
- A one-stop shop for all project information
- Role-based permission system to give the Project Manager fine-grained control over sensitive data
- Project and group-wide Gantt Charts
- A unified calendar (with iCalendar support) – showing all relevant tasks and events
- A modular infrastructure which allows the addition or removal of modules to customize the features according to your requirements.
www.pivotaltracker.com is an ultra simple project management solution especially suited for IT projects and software development. The Agile methodology is practical and universal. Accelerate agile adoption with a simple, proven process. Bring everyone into the same virtual room. Enable a more efficient way to agree on priorities and collaborate with the team. Supercharge your agile teams with focused, real time collaboration.
The sky is virtually the limit. So, take your projects to another level with cloud computing.
By: Bill “The Builder” Carpenter has more than twenty years of project management experience. He has hands on project leadership experience as well as ten years of experience as a project management trainer. He has authored over a dozen books and audio programs. He is available for keynotes and web based training. He teaches practical applications of MS Project, MS Office and cloud computing solutions.