Stop Talking and Deliver

The Onion Rule for Project Managers

2009-06-03T04:44:00.000-07:00

June 2, 2009 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: Project Management Musings

The Onion Rule for Project Managers

Almost every assigned task that has any complexity to it requires working through issues. Consider The Onion Rule:

Simple tasks often fall apart like onions. What should require five minutes will inevitably require 10 days to accomplish.

If your boss assigns you to do something as simple as update the status on a ticket, you will inevitably have an experience such as the following:

Attempt to log into the ticketing system
The ticketing system has moved. You must find someone to tell you the new location online to use it.
The person you would normally ask that question is on vacation.
You find the new location from someone else, but your login does not work.
You attempt to contact the person who is responsible for logins to the ticketing system, but he no longer works on that application
You finally find the person who can fix your login, but he requires a ticket from you from another system to which you have no access.
You finally get access to the first system and create a ticket to fix your login in the second system.
The ticket is routed to a group which has nothing to do with either system. It is identified as incorrectly entered, so the ticket is closed.
You contact the group to re-open your ticket, but only the person who closed it can open it. That person is now on vacation.
Finally someone else with system access updates your ticket for you.

What should require five minutes will probably require 10 days. We have all had such an experience. Many of us find that we peel onions for a living. We peel and peel, and eventually we reach the center, but only after littering a hundred layers of dry wrapping on the ground.

Managers must work to eliminate the effects of the Onion Rule from their operations at every opportunity.

Train employees to cut through red tape by allowing them to skip prerequisite steps.
Train employees to offer service by performing prerequisite steps on behalf of people requesting help.
Create big jobs, not small jobs. Do not have 20 people who do nothing but create tickets which request changes to the ticketing system. Allow the people who solve problems to also work on the tickets and resolve them. Instead of staffing in many layers of multiple organizations which hand work around, hire the same number of smarter people to perform all the work themselves.
Use Management Analysis. My father's articles on this site tell the story of how analyzing workflow to reduce the number of steps taken can improve productivity and provide exception return on investment. Do not work the process. Analyze and challenge the process continually.
Kaizen. Embrace the Japanese concept of a "living" process. Update it daily, removing everything that can be removed. Simplify everything that can be. Eliminate forms. Eliminate approvals. Remove documents. Reduce, consolidate, streamline, and dumb everything down.

We keep experiencing the effects of The Onion Rule everywhere that we go in our companies, but do we ask ourselves if our own desks cause this effect upon others? Do people have this sort of experience when they approach you for help? Wherever possible, reject the onion.

Project Managers have an obligation in their planning to foresee and schedule for the inevitable Onion Rule effects that their participants are likely to encounter. When documenting roles and responsibilities, it is wise to ask questions such as:

Do you have access to that system? How does one get access? Ensure that every participant can use the tools they need already or knows how to get the ability to use them.
Is any time-off or vacation planned which will impact a critical need that only one person can fulfill? Hold every participant accountable for training a backup to do their job and setting their Out of Office notification to route traffic to this person.
Is any group affected by the project that we have not thought of? Inevitably, budgets and scheduling will be jeopardized when an impacted team is identified when you approach the end of the project. Identify them in advance through communication to find out the answers to the questions above.

Rob Redmond studied sociology, psychology, and political science as an undergraduate before entering the workforce. Returning to school, Redmond earned an MBA from Georgia State University in June of 2000. Rob is currently employed as a manager of IT of a large technology company. Rob runs the struggling manager blog where he posts about his experience in both management and project management.

Gadget Etiquette

2009-06-02T07:11:00.000-07:00

May 27th, 2009 written by Elizabeth Harrin for PM4Girls.elizabeth-harrin.com

This month in the Office Goddess series, I want to look at using your gadgets at work.

You love your laptop, right? It goes where you go and it's oh so handy for meetings. Well, personally I'm a pen and paper girl but if it's really important and will make things easier I will tote around my laptop and use it in meetings.

Not using it for every meeting makes me acutely aware of some of the bad habits people adopt when they use their gadgets around other people. Remember, being an office goddess is all about making it look easy, seamless, effortless. So don't get side-swiped by gadgets: follow these tips for office gadget etiquette.

Laptops

If you are going to use a laptop in a meeting, set it up beforehand. Don't waste meeting time (and everyone else's time) while you try to work out how to connect it up and then realise you have left the mains cable at your desk and you only have 16 minutes of battery power left anyway.
Know how it works. Sort out your 3G/wifi in advance. Get the passwords, know how to route round your proxy server when you are out of the office.
If you are using your laptop to give a presentation, get there early and set it up with the projector. Know how to switch the display to the projector, and then back to your screen. During the presentation, switch the display away from the screen if you are fiddling with slides or trying to find things on your laptop – then switch it back. Don't give everyone the opportunity to see your emails 6ft high on the wall.
If it's your meeting, get the right size table. There is nothing worse than trying to squash 6 laptops on a tiny circular table and balance the projector on your knees.
Think about the room size too: if it is too small it will soon get hot with all those gadgets.
Turn the volume off before you get to the meeting room. Those login chimes or email alert noises are really annoying and are always 100% louder than you were expecting.
You can't talk and type. If you need to take minutes of a meeting on the fly, have someone do it for you. Otherwise you really aren't saving any time, all you are doing is replacing type-it-up-later time with sitting-in-silence-in-the-meeting-room-while-I-type time.

Phones and BlackBerries

Put your phone on silent. If there's recording equipment or video conferencing in the room turn it off. Can't turn it off? How important are you, really? If you are so important that you can't turn your phone off for an hour you will have a secretary who can come and get you if the world starts to implode. Just prep your staff in advance so they know you are unavailable.
If you are expecting a call, let the meeting attendees know in advance. It happens. Then sit by the door and let yourself out quietly when you get the call. Not all calls. Just the one you were expecting that is important enough for you to excuse yourself from the meeting.
Don't let your BlackBerry vibrate on the desk. You know how much of a racket this makes. It's much more discrete to have it in your pocket or on the chair next to you. Besides, you shouldn't be looking at it anyway.
Let's just repeat that last point: you shouldn't be looking at it anyway. Texts or emails can wait. It is so disrespectful to check your messages when someone is giving a presentation – unless you want to send the message that they are overrunning their allocated slot and are giving the dullest presentation ever.
Typing away when you are on a conference call is noisy for the other attendees. Don't do it. Or wear a headset for your phone; it mutes the noise of the keys tapping.

OK, no excuses now. Set a good example for everyone else!

How I Became a Project Manager

2009-06-01T07:11:00.000-07:00

Published by Brad Egeland | May 26, 2009 for PMTips.net

I thought this might be an interesting topic to write about. Really…how many of us said that we wanted to be Project Managers when we grew up? I was going to be a baseball player, then a racecar driver, then a lawyer and when I first entered college – a pharmacist, believe it or not. I switched to the MIS track and came out of college as an application developer.

The Beginning

My first 3 or 4 years were spent coding in COBOL and writing proposals for long-term government contracts. After one of those contract wins, I took the role of Configuration Manager on the project. I'm really dating myself here, but in the early 1990's I switched to Project/Program Management when I was offered a key position on one of the contracts we were performing on with the US Department of Education.

Couldn't Code Forever

I recognized early on that I wasn't truly interested in coding forever. I needed the interaction with the customer and to lead projects and oversee tasks from beginning to end from a higher viewpoint. I jumped at the chance to become the Configuration Manager on the Guaranteed Student Loan project we had just won. I managed all change control for the project including leading the formal Change Control Board and managing a small staff. Switching to the Project Management path came a couple of years later but was still more like Program Management than Project Management because it was really overseeing on-going activity on a five-year government contract, not running multiple engagements from beginning to end like I think of more traditional project management roles.

My first taste of performing the type of project management that I perform now came in 1998 when I went to work for Rockwell Collins handling their internal internet, intranet and extranet projects and leading a small team of web developers on these efforts. I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of overseeing those projects from beginning to end – even handling the 'sales' side on these internal projects and sometimes managing up to 10-15 live projects at a time.

Except for a stint as a Corporate Applications Development Manager for a large gaming/hospitality entity here in Las Vegas, I've pretty much stayed in the project management track handling usually 4-6 projects at a time. I like the challenge, I love the customer handling and interaction, as well as the oversight responsibilities for the delivery team. I've found my niche…I've found what drives me. When I need a taste of innovation, I've been able to get that from consulting work with smaller organizations helping them either organize their PM practices, incorporate new or better practices, fix problems they are having with customers and solutions and in some cases just help them figure out a better way to do business. These activities don't really follow a PM path so they tend to feed the entrepreneurial spirit in me.

Early Mentor

My real career turn from developer toward project manager came from my early mentor/manager who discussed my career path at great lengths with me on many occasions. From my answers could tell that I was aligning more with a project management interest. He helped guide me in that direction and helped me to find roles on proposals and other projects that would get me the experience and the foot-in-the-door situation to be able to move into those types of roles.

Your Feedback

That's my story in a nutshell. I welcome any questions you might have and I'd also like to hear how some of you became project managers. I still haven't had any of my kids say they want to be a project manager when they grow up so I know it's a discipline you really just 'happen into' more than choose, for the most part. Go ahead…send me your stories.

Effective Communication

2009-05-30T07:11:00.000-07:00

This post written by Trevor Roberts for projectmanagementguide.org

Communication is vital in project management. In fact, I'd say good communication skills are one of the most important qualities a project manager can possess. But is a project manager getting involved in the internal communication of the project team actually providing value?

As a quick thought experiment, let's imagine a team of five members. In a self-organising team, it may be that each member has a discussion with every other member to let them know where they are up to, what they are working on, etc. This communication, in one direction (i.e. person A telling person B their situation) takes an amount of time I'll call t.

Now, the communication cannot be one way - person B also needs to tell person A what they are up to. So they also take time t to pass that information on. So the total time for the update conversation is 2t. But the totalwork time is 4t - i.e. 2t for each participant.

I have shown this situation in the 5 person team in the diagram. In this situation, each person talks to every other person. There are 10 conversations, each taking a time of 2t. This means, with two people in each conversation, the total work timeused is 40t.

Now let's look at the situation when we add a project manager. In this case, I have assumed each team member tells the project manager where they are up to. The project manager then evaluates the information, and feeds back to every team member. The two way conversation thus still exists, though the two ways may happen at different times. In this model, there are 5 conversations, each of which take time 2t, giving a total time of 10t, or a total work time of 20t.

In other words, adding a project manager reduces the time the team spends in sharing information by half - in this particular case.

Of course, there are other possibilities. It may be the self-organising team shares information through a meeting, rather than separate conversations. This would dramatically reduce the total time. In this model, person A tells all the other members of the team what they are doing at the same time. Then person B does so, and so on.

This reduces the total time taken to just 5t, but the total work time is only reduced to 25t - it only takes person A time t to update the other 4, but each of the 5 has to be there, a total of 5t work time. This is repeated for the other 4 people.

In a team with a manager the total work time would be higher - purely because the project manager has to sit in the meeting too. If, however, the project manager receives updates from the team members individually (for a total work time of 10t) and then feeds back to the entire team (for a total work time of 6t) then we have a total work time of 16t - again less than in the self-organising team.

We can easily expand this up to teams with 10 members. In this case, team members holding individual conversations gives us a total work time used in communication of 180t, a team holding a meeting gives a total work time of 100t, while a team using a manager and meetings takes a total work time of 31t!

At this point it all looks cut and dried - self-organising teams, even if they use meetings, spend far more time in communication than a managed team.

Of course, that's only true when you have been as grossly unfair with the figures as I have. (Using pseudo-scientific methods and information to draw unfounded conclusions is fun!)

The most obvious way I have been unfair is assuming the project manager can condense down everything all the team members need to know massively. In the model where the manager has a conversation with each team member, I have decided the information which the other team members took 4t to pass to him can somehow be condensed down to only take t for him to pass on! This seems rather unlikely…

So no, I'm not saying these figures are going to be accurate. But they do illustrate some important ideas.

Time taken to communicate amongst a team rises dramatically with team size.
The most effective way to reduce this is to hold meetings, so team members don't have to repeat themselves with each other member.
Project managers can aid communication if they act as a central collation point.
But the best improvement in communication comes if the project manager condenses or filters the information.

In other words, you need to be more than good at talking. A project manager needs to understand the project well enough to know who needs to know which pieces of information, and just as importantly, which pieces of information are of no use to other members. You need to act as a filter, to make sure you're not wasting the time of your team members.

Communication isn't about how much you say to everyone, it's about saying the right things to the right people.

This post written by Trevor Roberts.

Main Function of the Project Portfolio Management Office

2009-05-29T07:11:00.001-07:00

May 26, 2009 | Author: PM Hut | Filed under: Project Portfolio Management for PMHut.com

By Miley W. Merkhofer

The function of the project portfolio management office is to manage the organization's project portfolio, which typically includes prioritizing projects, allocating resources to projects, and tracking the performance of the project portfolio. A key focus is ensuring that the overall collection of projects maximally supports the objectives of the enterprise. In addition, the office collects and distributes data for reviewing, assessing, and managing individual projects to ensure that they are meeting their expected contributions to the portfolio. As illustrated in the figure below, portfolio management provides the necessary link between project management and enterprise management.

Portfolio Management links Project and Enterprise Management.

Miley W. (Lee) Merkhofer, Ph.D., is an author and practitioner in the field of decision analysis who specializes in assisting organizations in implementing project portfolio management. He has served on advisory panels for several government agencies and has received grants and research awards for work in the area. Lee is an editor of the journal Decision Analysis.

Prior to becoming an independent consultant, Lee was a Partner of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, where he founded that organization's capital allocation and project prioritization business practice. Lee is a founding partner of Folio Technologies LLC, a provider of web-based, project portfolio management software.

Lee received his Ph.D. in engineering economic systems from Stanford University. He is the author of the book Decision Science and Social Risk Management and co-author of the book Risk Assessment Methods..

Additional papers on project portfolio management can be found on Lee's website,www.prioritysystem.com. E-mail: lmerkhofer@prioritysystem.com.

Six Techniques to Ensure Solid Project Management Execution

2009-05-28T07:11:00.000-07:00

May 27, 2009 | Author: PM Hut | By Lonnie Pacelli via PMHut.com

Some time back I was responsible for a portfolio of projects being done within the finance organization of my company. One of the projects was outsourced to a large consulting firm who supplied the project management, analysis, and development resources to the project. I would hold weekly meetings with the project manager who consistently gave me a “thumbs up” on the project up to the first key milestone being hit. When the week of the first milestone approached, he announced that the milestone was going to have to slip by a week to ensure successful delivery. The next week came along and again the project slipped a week. This went on for two more weeks with the promise of “we’ll for sure nail it next week.” I decided to do some crawling around the project to assess where the project was really at. Turns out we were at least a month away from delivering to the milestone which was already a month late. Needless to say I was less than thrilled with the consulting firm running the project. They sent out one of their heavyweight project managers to assess the situation. After two hours of reviewing the project he reported back to me that the project had slipped, not due to anything his organization had or hadn’t done, but because of things we as the client did to cause the problems. Needless to say I pretty much lost it with him. I then went through the project plan with him and went through each task and peppered him with questions about why his project manager hadn’t managed the execution of the project and why we were continuing to get a ‘thumbs up” when in fact the project had slipped horribly. After my inquisition he said he’d follow up and get back to me. I’m still waiting.

Ah, the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Despite how pretty a project schedule looks, how clear the organization chart is, or how well articulated the risks and issues are, the most successful projects execute great to a great plan. Solid project management execution means driving the plan, making adjustments as necessary to address unforeseen issues, and removing roadblocks which can inhibit successful completion. The project manager has to stay steady at the helm making sure these things happen; they won’t just happen by themselves. To articulate this a bit more here are three formulas for you to keep in mind:

Planning + Execution = Project Success

Execution - Planning = Randomized Flailing

Planning - Execution = Well-Dressed Inertia

Through my experience I’ve come up with six techniques that can help you as a project manager better ensure project success. While this isn’t an exhaustive list of everything you can do, it does highlight some specific areas which can help keep a project from derailing:

Use the 1/1/1 rule when planning tasks - Great execution starts with great planning. Sure, we’ve all seen acts of heroism where a project team worked 90 hours a week to get a poorly conceived and planned project done on time. However, no one likes to work in that mode. Projects that are well planned are more likely to be delivered on time, per customer expectation, and within budget, period. A key component of good planning is using what I call the “1/1/1″ rule in work breakdown structure decomposition which stands for “one deliverable, one person, one week.” Driving to this level of detail in a project plan ensures there is no ambiguity on who is responsible for the task and what the deliverable associated with the task needs to be. Also, by using a one week duration you better ensure the task will be completed within one weekly status reporting cycle. Most importantly, you’ll minimize surprises of a “90% complete” taking forever for the last 10% to be complete.
Snuff out and squash “shiny objects” - First, let’s put shiny objects in context; to me a shiny object isn’t important to the task at hand and isn’t time-sensitive. If something comes across your desk that can be done later without impact to your work, yet interrupts what you’re doing, then this in my view constitutes a shiny object. It’s also important to distinguish between shiny objects and the garden-variety fire-drill. The primary difference to me is a fire drill needs to be done immediately, otherwise there is some material and tangible business consequence; whereas with a shiny object there is no material and tangible business consequence if it doesn’t get done. This is an important distinguishing factor because many shiny object violators I know view their shiny objects as fire drills and take comfort in responding to fire drills because of the sense of accomplishment they feel in putting out the fire. Be on the lookout for shiny objects and squash them before your team gets derailed.
Watch the “off-workplan” tasks - Recently I worked with a project team that had a pretty decent project plan with dependencies, resources, and timeframes all laid out. The problem, though, was that the project plan assumed 100% resource focus but only about 60% of the resource focus was dedicated to the project plan. The other 40% was consumed via to-do lists which the project manager kept in addition to the project plan. Thus, the project was doomed to a 40% schedule slip right from the get-go because of the to-do list tasks. As the project manager, you have the responsibility of ensuring that all project-related activity is reflected in your project plan and that you specifically articulate the percentage of time resources are dedicated to tasks.
Think realistically aggressive when developing estimates - I’ve worked with three distinct personality types when it comes to estimating levels of effort. The first personality type is Ms. Reality. She looks at a given set of tasks and develops a realistic yet aggressive expectation of what will be required of her to complete the task. More importantly, she hits her dates with a high degree of reliability. The second personality type is Mr. Op T. Mystic. Mr. Op consistently under-estimates tasks and provides a “if all of the stars align” projection on completing tasks. Tasks quickly get to 90% done then stay there forever. The third personality type is Mr. Gloom N. Doom. Mr. Gloom typically provides worst-case estimates and will slather on contingency like barbecue sauce on ribs. The secret sauce (can you tell I really like ribs?) here is to recognize the personality type you work with and try to snuff out reality with each personality type. Sure, you’ll get some push-back particularly from Mr. Gloom, but unless you apply some aggressive reality to your estimates you’re going to have a hard time getting sponsors and higher-ups to view you as a credible project manager.
Hold weekly status meetings - I am a big fan of weekly status meetings and weekly status reports, particularly on high-visibility projects. In fact, I have become a strong proponent of creating my project status report (see my status report template at the bottom of this article) right in my status meeting. Key to this is focusing on project plan tasks, milestones, risks and issues during the status meeting. I’ve been through way too many status meetings where the focus was on each team member talking about accomplishments and effort versus results. Now, it’s nice that all of the team members are working so hard, but when everyone starts patting themselves on the back for how many hours are being worked at the expense of managing to schedule, you’ve got a sick project on your hands. Keep the status meetings focused on schedule, risks and issues and keep them very regular. Don’t let weeks go by without doing them unless you’re willing to play Russian Roulette with your schedule.
Expose the violators - So okay, before I have every HR manager ready to shoot me let me explain what I mean. In status meetings, I think it is completely within bounds for a project manager to expect project team members who don’t deliver on their commitments to explain to the project team why they aren’t pulling their weight. Too many times I’ve seen project managers shield slacker project team members or not force them to explain their actions (or inaction as the case may be). What each member of the project team needs to recognize is when he or she doesn’t perform it isn’t just the project manager that is being let down; it is the entire team. When each project team member feels accountable to the rest of the team for delivery and directly feels as if he or she is letting the rest of the team down he or she is more likely to perform and meet dates. This can be very effective in getting teams to perform, just make sure it is done with respect. It’s about getting teams to perform, not about skewering someone’s dignity.

Excellent planning coupled with strong execution is crucial to ensuring the success of any project. Subtract planning or execution from a project, and you either get the randomized flailing of a project out of control, or the well-dressed inertia of a good-looking project going nowhere.

Lonnie Pacelli is an internationally recognized project management and leadership author and consultant with over 20 years experience at Microsoft, Accenture and his own company, Leading on the Edge International. Read more about Lonnie, subscribe to his newsletter, see his books and articles, and get lots of free self-study seminars

Benefits of the Project Portfolio

2009-05-27T07:11:00.000-07:00

By Miley W. Merkhofer via ProjectHut.com

Once opportunities have been identified, with relevant information normalized and made easily accessible, individuals throughout the organization with broad understanding of the business can provide "reality checks." Summary measures conveying data related to cost, risk, and benefit can be used to create graphics and comparative analyses that allow decision-making teams to collaborate on project-selection decisions.

picture via blogs.zdnet.com

Organizations invariably find that creating their first inventory of ongoing and proposed projects is revelational, "I didn't know we had so many things going on, no wonder we can't get anything done!" Counting projects produces instant value. If you schedule 130% of your human resources to projects, for example, you can be assured that some things won't be done. Reducing the number of projects eases the strain on common resources, giving remaining projects the resources they need and eliminating time spent by managers in negotiations over the people and other resources.

The initial project inventory often uncovers significant duplications and mismatches. For example, when Schlumberger (a major energy company) first grouped IT projects, they found that 80% overlapped. Duplicate efforts should be eliminated, obviously, and similar projects combined into a single project. Schlumberger reportedly saved $3 million just by eliminating project redundancies.

Looking at projects from the perspective of the portfolio makes projects look less like discrete efforts and more like a connected suite. Information and understanding is improved. Interdependencies among projects can be noted. New requirements can be evaluated against current commitments. Portfolio analysis allows investigating questions like, "How are resources for Project A impacted if Project B is delayed?" The portfolio extends the focus beyond individual project management and highlights objectives and goals.

Recognizing project portfolio management as an ongoing activity creates a shift away from typical one-off, ad hoc approaches to project management. The portfolio establishes a philosophy and culture that enables visibility, standardization, and measurement as a means for process improvement.

The following hierarchically summarizes these and other benefits typically observed from implementing project portfolios.

Benefits of the Project Portfolio for Executives and the Business

Supports optimization of resource allocation
Standardizes metrics/methods for project forecasting and tracking
Improves communication throughout the organization
Promotes accountability for project investments
Forces executives towards consensus on policy level issues

Benefits of the Project Portfolio for Program Managers

Fewer redundant and overlapping projects
Promotes objectivity for project selection and prioritization
Faster access to project data
Consistent tracking of project time and expenditures
Facilitates inter-project coordination

Benefits of the Project Portfolio for Project Managers

Helps level the playing field
Facilitates communicating needs, rationale for projects
Promotes leveraging reusable project information
Clarifies project objectives and goals
Forces executives/sponsors to accept responsibility for some project risks

Additional papers on project portfolio management can be found on Lee's website,www.prioritysystem.com. E-mail: lmerkhofer@prioritysystem.com.

What Project Management Software do you use?

2009-05-26T07:11:00.000-07:00

from Smarterware by Gina Trapani

Once you get past a simple to-do list and start getting into the heavy-lifting of complex team projects, it’s time to look into project management software. My only memories of my project management course in college are dreadful words like milestones, Gantt charts, and critical paths. Still, when you’ve got a group of people at work on a long-term undertaking with lots of tasks associated with it, you need something to help manage the flow.

I asked my Twitter followers what project management software they use at home and at work, and how they like it on a scale of 1 to 10. I got fewer replies to this question than usual, which makes me think lots of people don’t use a PM app to begin with. Out of the 97 replies I did get, 17 said they use 37 Signals’ Basecamp (and gave it an 8 out of 10 average rating), 12 said they used Microsoft Project (it averaged a 6.6 out of 10 rating), and, interestingly, 9 people said they like Things (which averaged a 7.7 rating) and OmniFocus (which got a rating of 9), both for Mac OS X.

Of the two leaders, Basecamp and Microsoft Project, the comments were completely opposite: Basecamp is beautiful but in need of more features, and MS Project is ugly but powerful. Several people said they use plain text files, a spreadsheet, or an actual human project manager, and a few (presumably programmer-types) use bug trackers (like FogBugz and Trac) and wikis (like MoinMoin) to do their project management for them.

Here’s the full list of responses to the question I posed on Twitter.

What project management software do you use at work or at home? How do you like (scale 1-10)?

MitchWagner says, “I use Things. Thinking about switching again - i do that when I feel disorganized. Perhaps I should just get organized instead?”
threew says, “MS Project (6); OpenProject (7)”
doctorparadox says, “Basecamp which i can only give a 7.5 until they make Writeboards searchable from w/in projects ;)”
patrickrhone says, “37 Signals Basecamp for work. @dorisapp for home. Rate each a 5 for my uses.”
briandewitt says, “I use Things and The Hit List about a 9 for both”
rafaelperrone says, “Microsoft Project - 9 (too expensive)”
codyks says, “basecamp and its a freaking 11. I love functional simplicity and basecamp rewrote the definition. Customer service is a 13″
mattg says, “Remember the Milk (with Astrid). I rate it at 6. Unfortunately, seems like the best solution for OS X and Android.”
karvetski says, “Basecamp…simple, clean, plays nicely with lots of other stuff. Give it 8 (want ability to view ALL projects across ALL hubs)”
pfinette says, “Text File. Rates a fat 10. :)”
Portakal says, “Trying nowadays “The Hit List”. Great interface and GTD methodology”
craigkirchoff says, “I’m using Evernote for project management + Google/outlook calendars. About a 7 out of 10 but mostly b/c of my shortcomings.”
arthur says, “I’ve been using ToodleDo. I like it at about a seven. That’s project management, not “Project Management”.”
ddelony says, ” A local version of MoinMoin, 8 or 9.”
jasonclarke says, “OmniFocus for work and home, 10.”
dainius says, “things.app on iphone and mac. 7/10.”
millerian says, “Basecamp, and only scratching the service so far. Expect 8/10 from what I’ve seen. Few annoyances but good workflow.”
mygeekdaddy says, “and if anyone says they have the perfect solution for you… they’re lying! As a proj mgr, there is never a 100% fit.”
mygeekdaddy says, “that’s kind of an open question depending on scale of project. Home - Omnifocus (8/10). Work - MS Project (8/10).”
JohnZito says, “3×5 note cards (10), Things (7), Evernote (9), OmniPlan (7)”
corewarrior says, “OpenProj is written in Java and designed to be a drop in replacement for Project. Awesome tool! #oss http://tinyurl.com/2eu3qs”
halophoenix says, “Since I’m a project mgr by day, I’m relegated to MS Project 07 and Project Srv. I found Proj. Srv really enhances it though.”
talance says, “I use a combo Excel doc and TaskFreak. I’d give the combo an 8.”
tcabeen says, “TFS. HATE IT.”
justyn says, “Probably doesn’t count as PM software, but I use Xmind and RTM to keep myself on track w/projects.”
NoahGK says, “for work, I use a basic spreadsheet with date, item, owner, status, due date and notes. Simple to use, very portable. It works.”
roxaloxa says, “post-it notes, rating: 9. i never got anything done before i started sticking post-its all over my apartment.”
joanofdark says, “Just used 37S Backpack to finish last academic papers & organize a trip to Brazil. Sure beats paper calendar+email. Score: 8″
jheftmann says, “at home: sticky notes on a board that I can move around (10). at work: Trac (1)”
kristinab says, “http://www.backpackit.com/ - better than most, free of unnec, complex features.”
6sigma says, “Project Kickstart (9) and AES FastTrack Schedule (also a 9)”
JoshuaRJones says, “OmniFocus. Greatest application on my Macs.”
joeythespark says, “@37signals Basecamp I give it a 8 and I enjoy using it but I wish my office would adopt it!”
flpatriot says, “two biggest tools so far are my brain (8/10) and The Hit List (7/10). planning to use Bitbucket if I ever have a team.”
biggsjm says, “things at home and on my iPhone. At work, nothing but a word document to track projects, next actions, and waiting fors.”
webarnold says, “ActiveCollab (still the free version, older, but free!) installed on personal host. I like 8/10.”
vishalbathija says, “I use basecamp and am very satisfied 8/10″
bloodsugarwilks says, “We use http://www.project.net/ at work and it’s fits our style so far. It’s a 9 right now, but we have yet to fully test it.”
mandarvaze says, “I user planner. http://live.gnome.org/Planner - 5 out of 10- looking for better alternative on linux (preferably non-java)”
rzazueta says, “SugarCRM - with plugins, it’s about 70-80% there. Needs native Gantt charts and better resource scheduling.”
robalan says, “Basecamp: I’d give it a 7 - it’s the best UI I’ve seen, but not as feature-rich as some managers might need (ex: no Gantt)”
robalan says, “Oh, and for my own personal task management = Things on the Mac and iPhone, rated 8 (needs synching w/o wireless network).”
BenjaminBrooks says, “use Basecamp at work, love it. Use Backpack at home and love it.”
tofumatt says, “We use Basecamp, and can’t imagine a better working system.”
mattshelton says, “work: atTask - 5/10 for my needs (SDLC, multiple projs), but i’ve heard it’s pretty good for strict single-project management.”
mattshelton says, “home: uhh… a whiteboard. 9/10 in that I can’t take it off of my wall and carry it wherever I need to go.”
captainnapalm says, “The project mgmt software we use at work is JIRA (http://bit.ly/GA8eD) and I’d give it a solid 8. Great issue tracker as well.”
IcemanUK says, “MS project at work and I don’t like it at all.”
chipwell says, “M$ Project @ work - 8 (POWERFUL but ugly) Backpack for personal/school - 6 (easy but LIMITED) #PMOT @mursh @dinag”
JamZest says, “I use Trac both at home & work. Rating: 6/10.”
tghw says, “FogBugz. And it’s free for up to two users.”
rezzz says, “I’d like to know what u use? I’m looking for one for my company but I use omnifocus which isn’t PM”
_bruceb says, “MS Project at work=3, paper at home=2″
benfsmith says, “What project management software do I use? OmniPlan. Rated: 8/10″
plindman says, “Don’t use PM software, though I might benefit from it. I just keep a textfile ToDo showing on Samurize desktop with AHK hotkey”
davejkirk says, “@DeskAway for small and medium projects. 7.5 / 10″
Grodzman says, “we use Basecamp for project management at work and at Walsh College. I love it! 10/10.”
kennonb says, “Been going between Things, OmniFocus and THL. Things (6), OmniFocus (8) and THL (7). None of them are perfect IMO.”
hamzabhatti says, “Basecamp. I’d give it a 9.”
morningglass says, “Basecamp. Leap (no, really). RTM…”
tchviolin says, “I use OmniFocus wherever I go - iPhone version - 9, desktop version - 10!”
shvidky says, ” RTM with Gmail. Created a Project folder, Urgency checkmark color codes diff stages. Notes section is useful & it’s portable”
kevlong says, “I use MS Project 2007 supplemented with Word and Excel.”
noahpurdy says, “I use @thehitlist as my simple but incredibly robust to-do list.”
brijacob says, “OmniFocus! I rate it a 9 & would give it a 10 if it let me manage other employees projects as well! Nice iphone integration!”
manyspears says, “Basecamp 8 out of 10… pricing structure irritates me, but the functionality and ease are excellent”
alanbush says, “I use @centraldesktop at work. I give it a 9. Not a pure project mgt solution, but highly customizable. A+ cust service, too.”
adang001 says, “I highly recommend 37signals Backpack for personal project management (http://bit.ly/FvcAj) - clean, simple, effective, mobile”
hatchethead says, “I use OmniFocus (I give it a 10 and my GTD-mojo a 5). I also use OmniPlan, which I give an 8.”
phnandor says, “I’ve been looking for a good project management sw for years but haven’t found one. Now I know what will be my next project :)”
robmcbell says, “MS Project (5), Google tasks (7), Outlook public calendars (3)”
dongola7 says, ” We use Mingle ( http://bit.ly/avhF3). I give it an 8 for its flexibility.”
pinpix says, “Excel - 6 / 10″
botykai_zsolt says, “@work internally developed ASP.NET s**t. That describes how I hate it. @home plaintext all the way. Grep. Vim.”
EuroCrank says, “OmniFocus. Use it for work and home projects. Give it a 9. Disciplined weekly ‘reviewing’ is the hardest part.”
Roryboryalis says, “I use 37Signals Basecamp for project management. I give it an 8 out of 10 (-2 for smallish usability hiccups).”
beerdiary says, “Thoughtworks Mingle is brilliant”
PhYoshi says, “Notepad, 9 :)”
JohnnyRocket50 says, “Clarity from CA. 8″
brettlleonard says, “At work –> MS Project - rating = 7, MS Excel and One Page Project Manager - http://tinyurl.com/ofb38b template - rating =8.”
gniewomir says, “Today’s a: GTD Inbox http://www.gtdgmail.com/ 8 :)”
thegrayraven says, “We use trac at work, and I give it a 7. I use google docs for personal projects, and give it an 8.”
rendini says, “Basecamp. I’d give it an 8 out of 10. Perspective = I’ve used many PM tools & I can’t think of one other that I’d give a 5 to.”
jutsman says, “things on osx. I rate it an 8.”
cjokrap says, “MS Project, unfortunately. I am not given anything better at work. It works, but not great.”
andylenzini says, “does it count if I use a project manager?”
zarekthenerd says, “Microsoft project I give it a 7.”
SillyCasper says, “Basecamp 7/10, would use something else but it does seem the best. Not a fan of 37S themselves though.”

Thanks to everyone who told me what they’re using. Here’s more on why and how I’m using Twitter to run surveys like this.

Sell Your Inner Suit, i.e. Project Management Skills

2009-05-24T07:11:00.000-07:00

picture by yeleyko | article via lawandmore.typepad.com

The world always needs suits, that is, those paid to be in charge. And usually they are paid much better than the non-suits, including brilliant litigators, genius writers/bloggers [like myself], popular performing artists. In addition, we humans seem hardwired to want to remain in our comfort zone and suits provide that zone of comfort. That's exactly the reason successful maverick boutiques have as front-people a suit or more. Myriad times I have been counseled by BigFoots in the field of communications, "Jane, get a suit to go with you and your ragtag team on sales calls."

In the June 2009 edition of THE ATLANTIC "Do CEOs Matter?" the article confirms that it takes a suit to keep organizations and projects on-track. No, it probably doesn't even require a leader, never mind a charismatic one. The current conventional wisdom is that probably, given the macro picture then and the internal resources, a monkey could have profitably run GE during the Jack Welch era. Welch was a nice brandname to have but a private-label one might have done just as well. Current conventional wisdom also has it that it might have been those outsized CEOs with their equally outsized egos who got the global economy into the pickle we're in.

Therefore, there is a hunger for management types, yeah, the suits, those old-line Organization Men which are frequently underestimated today and dismissed as being way too in the box. However, because of all that celebration of the mavericks like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, too many have attempted to sell themselves as non-suits. That has led, I have found over and over again in my coaching, to lost opportunities in job searches, transitions to another field and lobbying for promotions. On resumes, all versions of them, in cover letters, on the phone, and on in-person interviews they position and package themselves as not enough organization man and woman and an excess of visionary.

How to gain access to and sell your inner suit? Here is what I advise those I coach and my virtual team before we call on a prospect or attempt to cross-sell to a current client:

Management skills are inherent. Otherwise none of us would have made it through adolescence. Beneath even the worst outer chaos there is wiring for putting at least the important things in the right boxes.

Analyze the organization man and woman in your circles. What mindset and behaviors do they have? Describe those in terms or keywords that belong on resumes, cover letters, blogs and Tweets. Which of those can you integrate into your menu of skills, with just a bit of fine-tuning?

Drill down into your own past, including childhood chores and paid jobs. What have you managed? What have you accomplished? What of that can be quantified, such as "assisted senior management in restructuring processes, resulting in 34% cost savings" or "researched and implemented technology, saving Firm X 34% on data storage expenses." Yes, it can work to include managerial homeruns from years back. My earnings as an 11-year-old selling Wallace Brown holiday cards nailed me one account.

Distill from law school and legal jobs the managerial aspects and accomplishments. Quantify those.

In applying for anything, take on the role of a team member. Using that platform, gently but confidently make suggestions for improving operations. Do that briefly, offering a more detailed free proposal, upon request.

Always underscore cost savings. That's what it's all about and will be for a long time.

Err on the side of presenting yourself as relatively buttoned-down. They can always loosen you up.

Society must be conservative. If it weren't we would be careening from one banana republic to another. There is only so much disruption it can absorb. That's why there are very few who make it to where Steve Jobs, Christopher Hitchens, and Cirque du Soleil members are and manage to hold on. Being a suit who knows how to smoothly speak the language of innovation is a better earnings bet.

Reflection: Jones Day Managing Partner in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Laura Ellsworth probably is a better organization woman than a litigator. I've observed her in both roles.

Cool In a Catastrophe: How to Tell Your Clients

2009-05-23T07:11:00.000-07:00

from FreelanceSwitch - The Freelance Blog by FreelanceSwitch.com

I hate to be a pessimist, but sooner or later something is going to go wrong — and it's going to affect your ability to complete a project. It's happened to me more than once over the years: I've gotten sick, lost power and faced other situations that spelled disaster for whatever I was working on.

picture from http://gryphonscry.wordpress.com

I still get a little worried when I think about how I'm going to have to tell a client something has gone wrong. I've done my best to make sure that I'm ahead on my work, that even a catastrophe can't delay a project — but I'm also prepared to tell my clients when something goes wrong.

Full Disclosure Isn't Necessary

When I have a family emergency that will affect my ability to complete a project on time, I tell my clients — but that's all I tell them. The words 'family emergency' can cover everything from a funeral to taking a sick child to the doctor, along with anything in between. I've been known to use the phrase 'personal emergency,' as well.

Such an approach certainly limits the number of discussions that come from a client disagreeing with you on the severity of an emergency, but there's more to limiting just what you disclose to a client. It's unfortunate, but still true that some clients will assume that certain types of emergencies make you less reliable of a freelancer. Anything that leads a client to think that you don't consider your work top priority can fall into that category. It's unfair but even something as simple as sharing that you need to take your child to the doctor can be enough to get a less considerate client thinking about other freelancers he can call.

It's always alright to simply say that you have a family emergency and that the matter is personal. Beyond that, it isn't really anyone's business but yours.

But Politeness Is

No matter what catastrophe a freelancer finds herself in the middle of, courtesy is crucial. I'm not talking about using 'please' or 'thank you' in your emails — I'm talking about the courtesy of sending an email about the situation, and then following up with a date when your client can expect a finished project. When a client doesn't hear anything from the freelancer he's working with beyond a hurried email indefinitely postponing a project, he's likely to go looking for another freelancer. Even if the project isn't particularly time-sensitive, clients like to know that you're still around.

If the project is time-sensitive, you can take politeness a step further: rather than trying to get your client to extend his deadline, think about handing it over to another freelancer who can make the original deadline. It can hurt your bank account a bit, but most clients will still keep you in mind for the next project down the road.

I know some freelancers are willing to offer a discount or a break on future projects if they can't make a deadline based on a personal issue. I don't think it's necessary in many situations, but if a client is being particularly difficult to work with about a delay, a discount may provide a simple solution. It depends on how you operate as a freelancer and how you want to handle your relationships with your clients.

Early Notification Is Best

There are some disasters that you can see a long way off. A couple of years ago, I was living in a city that was sitting right in the path of a wild fire. In the end, we lucked out and the fire was brought under control — but for several days we weren't certain if we were going to need to evacuate. I was lucky enough to be able to work during that time, but the prospective evacuation would have thrown a wrench into my schedule.

I let my clients know my situation as soon as I could. I warned them that if I did have to evacuate, I would be unable to meet my deadlines. I also told them that I would try to inform them in the event I actually needed to evacuate, but I couldn't promise everything. For the most part, my clients were very understanding. It didn't hurt that a few of them were local and had similar worries of their own.

More than a few freelancers will try to convince themselves that they can still meet a deadline, as long as they can foresee a problem. It isn't impossible to keep caught up, even if you do need to pick up and move out of the way of a natural disaster — but it is incredibly stressful and may not be worth it. If you can give a little warning, most clients are willing to be flexible.

Top 10 Tools for Project Management Consultants

2009-05-22T07:11:00.000-07:00

from project-cake.com by Tony Burke

In this day and age, being a Project Management Consultant means you have to be extremely transparent for your clients, be able to work and manage while you're on the move, and be able to utilise quick and easy software solutions to help aid your business.

Photo via http://www.marlerblog.com

Streamlining the amount of admin you have to do is vital in giving you more time to actually work on the projects, and having the adaptability to differing project scenarios means you never get caught out in a situation that you can't handle.

There are hundreds of tools out there that can provide all manner of benefits to your business and Project Management framework, some can improve business processes and workflow, helping you drive and run the projects automatically (so you don't have to work as hard!), others provide excellent diagnostic tools and reporting so you can see bottlenecks, critical paths, resource issues and late task and activities.

Fundamentally they also leverage the professionalism of your business and you as a dedicated Project or Program Manager. If a client can see you have the technology and the skills to apply that technology to help drive and deliver their projects, then you're already a long way towards winning their business and their trust.

If clients can see the overall view of the project or program and where everything fits together, then it also improves on everyone's ownership of the work. This is vital to getting people on board and working hard to deliver the best they can.

Here are just some of my top 10 tools to help a Project Manager.

Top 10 Tools for PM Consultants

1. Online Project Management Software / CRM Software

Having an online project management tool is the first thing you should be looking at setting up. An online repository to manage your projects, and provide a hub to control documentation, resources, timelines, wikis, text chat, version control, survey data and results (the list goes on…) means you can associate your clients to their specific projects and give them transparency on the overall project status.

It is also very useful as you can access the secure area from any internet connection, so you're not limited to working from an office or home environment. You can work on the go, from a client's office, or any Wi-Fi hotspot.

There is a hatfull of Online PM software available on the market, (one project I want to look at in the future is reviewing and rating all the available options), but for the time being, take a look at these as some of the most useful services in terms of the functionality they provide and how they can assist your projects.

Essentially they all provide very similar setups and functionality, the differences are mainly on price and what you get for that price:

Basecamp - I use this one personally and it does the lot
Basecamp Extras - All the plugins and addons that Basecamp can manage - very impressive stuff and ties in with other tools in the list!
Project Spaces - Great list of features and pricing is competitive
WorkConnect - This has a lot of features and hence is a bit pricier
ActiveCollab - A new player on the market (I think!) but I've heard some good feedback about this one
Huddle - funky web 2.0 style Online Collaboration tool, has a great list of tools and very competitive pricing
Igloo - more online communities and social networking solutions but potentially one to keep an eye on…
Collaber - very cheap (free version!), lots of features and looks promising

2. Invoice Management

Being able to implement simple and effective invoices to your clients will save you alot of stress and trouble in the Accounts area of your business. Keeping track of how much you've billed to clients, who's paid and what's outstanding is
imperative to making sure your business stays afloat and you get paid on time, keeping your business in the black and hopefully ensuring your budget sticks to plan.

Invoice management software can do all the hard work for you, and some packages even provide the opportunity for your clients to pay through an online interface like Paypal or something similar. Most of the packages provide clear and in-depth reporting to show all this information, and you can get 1st and 3rd party addons in some software that expand the standard functionality.

Again there are many services available online that provide Invoice Management, here are the ones I've had experience of and investigated from a top level requirements point of view:

Freshbooks - Gets good reviews all the time and provides a great interface with a competitive price
Free Agent Central - One price for the service, has some great feedback
Concur - Professional looking site but one I haven't personally used. Could be worth looking at for larger / corporate services
Blinksale - Great reviews, new integration with Basecamp and great features
Simply Invoices - simple and does everything needed. Very competitive pricing for what you get
Invoice Machine - great looking interface, huge range of features and good price

3. Timesheet Management

Another easy winner that will control and manage the awkward task of having to sort out your hours, freelancer hours and then providing a clear breakdown and view to the client. A lot of the good Online Project Management software provide this type of functionality or integrate with a package that provides this type of service, some don't based on the package and level you buy into, so it is worth checking first and looking around.

Timesheet management software can be set up very quickly and easily and you can manage your time from anywhere, including your mobile phone (SMS clock-ins and outs). All are secure and provide a range of plans to suit your needs.

TSheets - Can get started in minutes and provides a great interface to work with. Competitive pricing too
Thin Mind - Flexible pricing and a range of packages means this one may be a good bundled service
Harvest - Sleek, intuituve and fast is the call to action on their homepage. I've heard some good reviews from this package
Toggl - I haven't heard of this one before, but it looks lightweight and smart with a solid interface. Great price if you're just a one man band
Projjex - Slightly complicated pricing structure when compared to other packages but looks like it provides the same levels of functionality
ClickTime - Been in the market since 1997, with good growth rates over the years. Looks a solid competitor with good pricing

4. Online Dashboard

I'm a big fan of RSS feeds, news links and stories - ranging from my hobbies: football, scuba diving, keeping fit etc. to trying to keep up to date with all the latest technology news, reviews, information, web 2.0 articles, project management white papers and reports, eCommerce stats and trends etc. etc.

Having one central "dashboard" where I can have all this information and access it very quickly and easily saves me several hours a day.

For my dashboard I use, and have always used - NetVibes. This is a fantastic tool, free and very easy to set up and get running. You can pretty much customise it to however you want the look and feel to be, and you can add a massive range of widgets, tools, news and RSS feeds to the different tabs.

Google have their own version - iGoogle, but there are others: Pageflakes, yourminis,protopage etc. but my money is on Netvibes - again just my personal preference, have a play around with the different options and see which one suits you best.

5. Virtualisation / Skype / VOIP / IM

With the massive emergence of Broadband, streaming information via the web has never been easier, so SAAS (define), Skype for making video and phone calls, Instant Messaging and Online Interactive Collaboration is becoming the norm, and generally has been for a number of years.

Some of these tools will be well known to many people, Skype for contacting family abroad and making free calls through your computer is great, but look at the potential for leveraging them into your business model, and using them as a direct communication tool to your clients or potential customers.

Another advantage of virtualisation is the reduced costs for hardware, software, power consumption and services to manage this. Also think about the fact that you are given the ability to rapidly deploy a new system or service without going through the hassle of ordering new hardware, setting things up, updating systems and managing everything yourself.

Again a quick search in Google will yeild a host of packages that can provide a range of services, from Call Centre staff to take your calls and route them based on your status, to Online Meeting and Whiteboard services for managing interactive meetings.

Webex
Sharepoint
Skype
GoToMeeting
Zoho Meeting
Avoka

6. Wikis

I've seen wikis (e.g. from Central Desktop, EditMe, Jotspot, and Socialtext among others) used with a range of clients to great effect. A wiki provides a private work space which can be left behind after an engagement is complete.

They cut down considerably on having to e-mail attachments to a range of team and project members and provide a really useful repository for latest information and documents.

I have seen it used for collaborating on datasheets, web site mock-ups, strategy and planning documents, but mostly for learning and development areas within colleges, universities and large corporate Knowledge Base systems.

In terms of the number of wikis out there - there are thousands. You can try using a comparison engine such as WikiMatrix to review and compare the functionality and requirements that you need, or you can run a Google search and review them independantly.

7. PM Resources & templates

No Project or Program Manager would be able to manage and deliver high-level projects without a plethora of templates and PM resources. All the different project management methodologies have slightly differing techniques, terminology and templates, essentially they're all there to provide clear and structured processes to ensure project success.

There are lots of good and free templates on a range of Project Management websites - find a set that covers the full project life-cycle and work with them to ensure they help you to get the best out of yourself for the project.

Good templates will make your life in managing the project so much easier, always ensure that you review and keep on top of the templates, updating them if you find they need a tweak to help improve or streamline a process. This way the next time you start a project you'll have the most up to date template and will be more effective from the start.

8. Blackberry / iPhone / 3G PDA or phone

To ensure you can stay connected to all your online collaborative tools and services, you'll need a decent mobile phone with a 3G connection. With the competition as it currently is, you can find some amazing deals if you're willing to investigate and negotiate with prices and options.

Everyone has their favourites when it comes to phones, handsets and providers, but just look for the best deal that will cover what you need it to do. There's no point in going uber-fancy if you're never going to use most of the functionality of the phone or the extended package!

I've found the Nokia N95 and N96 to be of good standard, with the iPhone coming a close 2nd (again just my preference, I know people who would rate the iPhone as their #1).

My experience of Blackberry is a mixed bag somewhat. I think they are beautiful looking machines but the core user-interface and HCI aspects leave a bit to be desired. If you're happy to hunt for features and options, then you won't mind a Blackberry. if you want seamless and beautiful interface then get an iPhone.

9. XHTML / CSS / DB Developer Resources

The saying, "There is no such thing as a self-made man. You will reach your goals only with the help of others" is very true when it comes to choosing your project team.

Having solid, reliable and competent developers is essential to ensure your
project is built to the correct standards with the proper functionality. Thankfully, there are lots of good developers to choose from, there are also lots of bad developers but you will usually be able to sort the wheat from the chaff by asking some clear questions and testing their skills when you're hiring freelancers or development teams.

Developers ensure that the creative vision is turned into a reality - whether that may be a website, or a back-end database system. Getting a team of good developers means you can relax a little bit knowing that if you've got the Technical Specifications correct, they should do a good job in delivering the solution.

I've been very lucky in my time to work with some amazing devlopers, both database solution specialists and XHTML/css/Ajax/JQuery gurus. All are worth their weight in gold, so if you get to know one, work with them and keep them part of your plans.

10. Designer Resources

Having a good resource-pool of designers means you can get creative put together in very quick turn-around times to deliver above and beyond client's expectations. This is imperative in environments where you need to act fast to push through deals or special offers; such as retail. A client who wants promotional banners and graphics for a website or email campaign will be more inclined to work with you if they know you can deliver to tight timescales.

You need to ensure though that the resources you hire and use can deliver the quality and precision needed for specific or dedicated campaigns and creative work.

Ensuring your resources have the correct information and details needed to deliver fantastic and compelling creative is down to the creative and design briefs you can provide to them, and that information is based on the data you can extract from the client. Good designers and creative specialists will know the right questions to ask to get the best information from your clients, so it is always useful to get them involved early in the project so they're on board and up to date with requirements and the overall goal (and direction) of the project.

If you find good resource in this area, working with them on a regular basis may hopefully ensure better understanding between you both and you can also push for more competitive rates if you can keep offering work their way.

I've used both individual freelance resource and worked with specialist design teams that provide a packaged service. Both have their pros and cons, and both have the ability to deliver some amazing creative solutions.

Hopefully this list has given you some thoughts and ideas on resources that will help you take your PM services to the next level, let me know if you've come across any other tools that have helped you in the past and you think should be included and I'll update the list.

Thanks,
Tony

The Fast Track Past A Failed Project: 5 Steps

2009-05-21T07:11:00.000-07:00

from Stepcase Lifehack by Thursday Bram

I've been working on a pretty big project — a book — for going on eight months. This week, I got word that the project had been scrapped, at least as far as the publisher was concerned. It was a pretty big let down for me: we were only about two months away from the end of the project. Since I've gotten word, I've been working through everything from shock at the news to anger at some of the other people involved. When you're emotionally attached to a project — which can happen just because of the sheer amount of time you've been working on something — hearing about its cancellation can take it out of you. You get knocked down; it's important to get back up again and keep moving forward.

1. Find Out The Whys

It's not unusual to be shocked, or even have a little bit of denial, when something happens to a project you've worked hard on. In many cases, you'll probably get advice to just move on and get past it — but there are plenty of reasons to actually find out a little more about the circumstances. At the bare minimum, you'll want to be able to avoid similar issues in the future. Such information can make the situation a little more painful in the short run, but I've found that if I know what happened, I get a little more closure with the whole situation. Don't assign blame, though: even when one person was clearly at fault, you've got better things to do than focus on that.

2. Resolve and Repurpose The Project

Just because you've received word that a project has gotten axed doesn't mean that you simply walk away from it. Assuming that you're a principal in the project — that you have control over the information and resources of the project — you may be able to reuse at least certain elements of the project towards your future efforts. If you're lucky, you may even be able to turn around and repackage the project for another client entirely. If you don't control the project, you'll still need to shut down the project, box up files and so on. Even if it seems like there's no point to doing so, it's worthwhile so that if you can restart the project or reuse a part of it sometime down the road, you can do so easily.

3. Profit From Your Time

If the project really did go very wrong, you may find that your expected payment isn't forthcoming. That sort of situation makes it particularly important to repurpose your work. However, there are certain ways to profit from your experience on a given project, despite an unfortunate ending. You can update your resume or portfolio in light of what you work you've done, take a look at how the project has expanded your network and even wind up with the leftover resources from the project. Taking a look at these opportunities can be a way to keep your mind on the bright side when thinking about what happened. You should expand on what you have, if possible. Maybe you can pick up a letter of reference or get an introduction for another project.

4. Check Your Reputation

You may not be able to come out of a failed project smelling like roses. Depending on the environment you work in, a big cancellation may become part of your reputation. With the number of people looking out for themselves in some industries, there may be a few people that decide to cover their out responsibilities by placing the blame on you. Complaining or justifying your actions won't really help in such a situation. The best option is generally to find opportunities to prove such rumors wrong. Even if you aren't going to start looking for a big project immediately, taking care of small projects or tasks well can go a long way towards reminding people of your skills and willingness to work hard.

5. Gear Up For The Next Project

No matter how big this project was, it's unlikely that it'll be your last project of all time. Instead, you've got plenty more to look forward to both in your professional and personal life. You may as well start getting ready for the next one: that can include going out and finding another project. Even if you don't take on another big project for your work immediately, it may be worth actually seeking out something — it's just like getting back on the horse after a fall. Taking on a big even at your church or planning a new project around one of your hobbies can help you get past a disappointment, but there's not a limit on the types of projects that can help you get back into your groove. In fact, deviating from the normal types of projects you find can help you move past a less-than-ideal situation much faster.

Sometimes you can find yourself in the middle of a disappointing project — one that simply gets canceled. Even projects that look pretty good from your view point can get cut. But that doesn't mean you have to let the situation turn into your personal bridge to nowhere. No matter how much time, effort or even emotion you have invested in the project, take the steps necessary to move on and move towards better and lasting projects.

Thursday Bram blogs about a variety of topics, from personal finance to small business. She is the author of an upcoming book on the tools and tricks you need to build a career you can take with you during long-term travel. More information about Thursday and her book, Working Your Way Around the World, is available on her personal site, ThursdayBram.com.

The Technology Job Market is Broken! (Alec Satin says so)

2009-04-11T08:35:00.001-07:00

If you're looking for work right now, you're not alone. While Todd Thibodeaux, president of the Computing Technology Industry Association claims that there are 300,000 well paying IT jobs available now, LinkedIn groups and online forums are filled with posts from highly skilled project managers, technical leads and database administrators who are struggling to find work. Can both sides of the debate be right? The truth is that the technology job market is broken and desperately in need of repair. You can choose to:

(a) Complain about it (b) Work to fix it (c) Roll up our sleeves and do whatever is necessary to find appropriate work for yourself

This post is about option (c). Let's get to work.

Be Prepared

2008-12-30T15:12:00.001-08:00

We cannot totally predict what will happen during a project but we can be prepared for those eventuallities.

How would you handle the following:

What happens to the project if a Star gets hit by a bus (becomes incapable of work)?
What happens if you lose funding or the company is sold/bought?
What happens if the "shared" repository/directory is deleted?
What happens if you get replaced?
What happens if the project priorities get changed?
What happens if you realize that you cannot complete the project on time, on budget, with the staff you have?
What happens if everyone (or their kids) gets sick? for a week?
What happens if the project Sponsor quits?
What happens if another project becomes the priority?
What happens if your political rival gets promoted and inherits your project?
What happens if someone offers you a better position with double the pay?

There is no right answer, except that you must prepare a list and have an answer to each of the questions on your list.

About Andy

2008-12-30T15:01:00.001-08:00

I am a 16 year veteran of IT projects. Five of the last Seven years I worked internationally as a project and program manager in Greece, Romania, Turkey, Egypt, India and France. Hopefully I bring real practical experience to the table, not just theories. My work in project and program management has been the cornerstone of multiple successes throughout the world (self plug).

Simple Easy and Fast

2008-12-30T14:59:00.003-08:00

How do you know if your IT systems will be successful with real humans? Just ask three questions…

Is it Simple to use?
Is it Easy to understand?
Is it Fast to execute?

Here are my basic definitions of the criteria…
Simple: the art of providing enough value without becoming a burden on the environment.
Easy: when normal people can complete a task without instruction.
Fast: the system responds before the human can predict or request the next action.

If each answer is yes, then your system will probably be successful. If it is complicated, convoluted and slow, it will be a disaster. Ask these three questions and you will be very close to the target.

Star Factor

2008-12-30T14:59:00.001-08:00

When you arrive at a new project, write down the names of the superstars. There will be 10-20% of the team are the high producers. You can identify them as the motivated participants that everyone talks to and works to gain their approval. Write down these names and watch the progress, growth and enthusiasm of these key stake holders. These are the stars of your project.

During your monthly review of stakeholder management, rank each of these stakeholders on their participation, motivation, energy and willingness to help work through the current issues. The rest of the team will find these people (stars) easy to work with and motivating. If you have a really good core team of stars you will appear to be the best project manager in the world.

Although it is expected to have some churn during a project. Keep a close eye on the stars. If at any time you find that a star is gone replace them immediately. You need to have someone other than yourself to carry the load. Make it your personal mission to identify and nurture these stars.

If you suddenly find that you are the only one left, your project is probably already dead.

Low Performers

2008-12-30T14:58:00.003-08:00

Why do projects fail? Management of resources and communication are the keys. When you find yourself in the difficult position of identifying a low performer, your job is to replace them. Hopefully they can better serve the team in a different role, but if not you must replace them. Can you afford the have the project fail because of this person? If this was war and you would all die, would this change your perspective? Give them another role or get them off the project.

Of course, It is difficult and uncomfortable to give bad news. We would not be human if it was not difficult. The least painful way is to start doing this from day one. Tell the truth and do not pull punches. Softening the message will only hurt everyone because it means that you are lying. Tell the whole ugly, naked facts when coaching the low performers. The need to hear the truth. It is not personal if you have kept the facts, failure to deliver according to the schedule is one of the most common reasons.

If you do not replace low performers your project will fail and it will be your fault.

Managers Make Sure Things Get Done

2008-12-30T14:58:00.001-08:00

Have you ever said, Just assign it to me and I will do it.? This is the classic mistake for a project manager. I like to view a project manager as the captain of a ship. The captain does not set the sails or turn the wheel. Their job is to make sure that the ship, its crew and cargo arrive safely at the destination. When the storm comes everyone turns to the captain for leadership and direction. This is accomplished by requiring the crew (or team) to do their jobs.

If you start to do the work of the team then you are causing two problems both are fatal. The first problem is that you diminish your authority because you cannot get the team member to perform. The second problem is that the rest of the team will default their problems to you, instead of finding a way to solve them. Both of these problems will cause the project to fail and it will be your fault.

So, what should you do? Ask the magic question… "What do you need to help you complete this task?

A manager does not do things, they make sure things get done.

Are All Meetings Necessary?

2008-12-30T14:57:00.001-08:00

Yes and No.

Is life just a series of unnecessary meetings? Status meetings could be replaced with an issues meeting and a written status update. Issues meetings could be replaced with people actually identifying and fixing the issues. Management meetings could be replaced with coaching sessions (for the managers). Communication meetings are the only really important meetings because nothing can take the place of face to face communication and building a real trusting relationship with the other person.

Have we become too scared to talk face-to-face, forcing us to use email, text messages, chat and voice mail to communicate?

Use meetings effectively to communicate, build consensus and relationships.

Capt Obvious Version of Project Management

2008-12-30T14:56:00.001-08:00

Too many times we (PM's) over think our tasks. We like to get into list organizing and reporting metrics because we are geeks. We are very comfortable reading our charts and graphs. We seek out the best formulas to use and metrics to show and validate our value. But, does this alone serve our clients? Does it add value to our discipline, or does it detract from the perception of a PMP? I submit that we (PM's) need to simplify our process and procedures into the most basic terms.

Here are the basics of the PMBOK condensed into the Capt. Obvious terms…

Make "the plan" (how you are going to run the project)
Talk with the client
Establish "the list" of deliverables
Sequence "the list" by adding the dependencies
Assemble "the team" needed to complete "the list"
Get "the team" to determine "the time" necessary to do each task (duration)
Combine "the list", "the team", "the time" and you will end up with "the schedule" and milestones
Execute

Can You Believe What They Say?

2008-12-30T14:55:00.000-08:00

When you start a project, ask each stakeholder what they personally want out of the project. This creates a personal relationship with each stakeholder and demonstrates your concern with them and their Needs. To gain the trust necessary to dig out these goals, you must be honest and up front about your intentions and project boundaries in a non-formal, casual way. Usually, you will encounter some answers that do not match the documented or verbalized goals. Do not worry about whether the stated goals are real, perceived or petty… just remember them. Each stakeholder will have various personal,professional and corporate goals.

After you have spoken with each of the stakeholders, have a public kick-off meeting and ask all of the stakeholders to be present. State the documented written goals in the contract and ask if everyone agrees. The purpose of this meeting is to establish your position, gain trust from the stakeholders and set the expectations about the deliverables and time lines. You can expect some discussion about these points.

Watch the stakeholders… if their actions reflect their words, you can believe what they say.
If their words and actions are in conflict, only believe what they do.

Goals

2008-12-30T14:54:00.001-08:00

A familiar story: We are trying to defend an area from the enemy and have set up some fire bases. A squad of men with small arms behind a sandbag barrier will shoot at the enemy from these fire bases. The bases will be much more effective and the men safer if they can support each other with small arms fire so we carefully measure the elevation and place the bases on high ground for maximum vision, clear jungle and some old buildings to improve the line of sight, and install firing platforms to improve stability and accuracy. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this configuration via simulations and congratulate ourselves on a job well done. Oh, remember those old buildings?

Yes senator, it became necessary to destroy the village in order to save it.

We have all seen and done this many times on our projects: gotten so tied up with tasks and process that we lose sight of the goal.

Contributed by Brian Mason, bmason@itassociates.com

Put Your Clients First

2008-12-30T14:22:00.003-08:00

Who is your client? As a contractor I am hired by a recruiting firm, who supplies me to a service integrator, who is delivering a project to their client. Confused? You bet, there are four different entities involved in the transaction.

Fortunately, it is easy to determine my client. My client is the entity who pays my invoice. Here is an example, Big Consulting Company hires me to help deliver a new ERP system to Giant Oil Company. My client is Big Consulting Company because they pay my invoice.

This is a problem when your client's needs conflict with the delivery of the project. Take staffing for example. Do you hire the best you can find, or the cheapest? The Big Consulting Company has to make margin to survive. Sometimes your staffing and budget constraints are in direct conflict with delivering a high quality product. With a contract in hand, the choice is clear. You must act in the best interest of your client.

Identify your client and then put them first.

End Gracefully

2008-12-30T14:22:00.001-08:00

I like movies because I like projecting myself into the story. Stories have a beginning, middle and an end. Star Wars (one of my favorite movies) doesn't end when they destroy the Death Star, it ends in a ceremony where the heros are recognized for their efforts. For the same reason I like projects. They have a beginning, middle and end. I've always promoted that the key is to end gracefully.

"Project management is the discipline of organizing and managing resources (e.g. people) in a way that the project is completed within defined scope, quality, time and cost constraints." according to wikipedia.

Most project managers have been taught how to organize the tasks and build a team to complete them but few have learned how to gracefully end a project. They simply complete the job, get the sign off, have a party and go off to the next project.

Here is a quick assessment question. When you finish a project and have the obligatory party, does the client want you to leave or stay?

Ending gracefully is simply providing a service in a friendly and helpful way. "Added value" is the term used most frequently to describe this idea. Office politics is all about liking the people you work with and them liking you. If people don't like you then it does not matter how much immediate value you provide eventually, when you alienate the rest, no one will help you and you will fail.

Be nice and (try to) end each project gracefully.

Finish the Project

2008-12-13T22:59:00.001-08:00

How can a project manager decide what tasks to complete, which resources to commit, or what meeting to attend? The answer is priorities.

A project manager must prioritize everything in order to be able to choose when each event must take place. If you ask the business department to prioritize their requests, everyone will be a "high priority" and a "must have". If you ask the IT department you will get the same answer. Lucky PM's will receive a few tasks that are "normal priority" and "nice to have". Immediately move these things to the road map and the next release.

Schedule, costs, deliverables, stake holders, documentation, third party vendors, client demands and internal constraints all contribute to the complex nature of project management. Add to this list the people issues of politics, departmental pressures, social structures, language challenges and personal agendas.

So, with all the demands and constraints on managing a project… What is the number one priority?

The number one priority of a project manager is to finish the project.