With the spread of COVID-19 as a declared pandemic across the world, the transitioning to working remotely, or what is classically called ‘work from home’ (WFH) has equally spread fast. Many organisations have realised that their staff can continue working from home without interruption, therefore minimising the impact of the virus lockdowns.
However, working remotely has it’s own challenges that need to be overcome in order to stay productive.
Herewith an Infographic guide, with compliments from Wrike, that covers everything you need from room temperature to ergonomic chairs, from what you play on your headphones to what you put in your belly. We trust that this will help you to stay super productive!
We all know how each year can pick-up speed and we become busier than ever. For this productivity to be sustainable, we need a whole lot of motivation.
Especially in the life of a project manager, there are always many important things to do to keep projects on track. Here we think of:
being a leader who needs to motivate others
being a team builder so that your project will have a high performing team
being an excellent communicator, keeping all stakeholders informed and aligned
being a good organiser and planner
being a problem solver of all the inevitable problems that come up
being a negotiator and influencer
knowing how to keep the customers satisfied
keeping your business and industry knowledge current
To all of you who are in the trenches everyday, keeping your eyes on the goals and leading your projects to successful outcomes, I want to share this Infographic, with compliments from Wrike, to bless you with great motivation tips to get more done every day!
Many project managers land in the project management profession due to being technical specialists with great success in their field of expertise. However, they are not always fully prepared for the important skills, knowledge and competencies that are critical for success.
Often there is a high expectation to succeed, especially if they come from a background of subject matter expertise or a general management. This begs the question: Is project management for everyone?
Career Path
Their career path does not typically begin with the goal of becoming a project manager, but rather evolves over time as experience builds. There is little to no clarity on the typical career options that project managers have in many organisations. When employees progress into project management positions, they are left to their own devices with perhaps only their line managers providing guidance and support.
According to a report published by Sage (2015), ’Is project management still an accidental profession? A Study of Career Trajectory‘, the study found there is no single project management career path. Rather, the project management role seems to emerge from employee experiences in different roles within the company over a period of years. The more knowledge and experience gained, the more likely it appears the employee will be assigned an integrative role such as project management that touches all functional groups.
Work Management Practices
Below is an Infographic from Wrike based on a Work Management Practice Survey. It was found that many people are expected to do project management at work, even though less than half had “Project Manager” in their title or description. To make it worse, it found that only a third of companies use standard project management approaches. Too much time is spend in meetings and much stress is caused by the use of various tools and platforms to track progress and to do reports, coupled with unrealistic project goals and not being able to find important information.
Without an organisational culture supporting programme management, a strong training program, strategic staffing and team autonomy, it will continue to be very difficult for project managers to succeed in their roles. This will lead to a profession in dire need for mature, professional project managers, to lose potentially good candidates who could have helped to deliver successful projects and programmes.
You all know how challenging it is to stay productive at work all day long. There is so much time wasted on inefficient work like:
Scouring through email looking for documents
Accidentally using outdated information, causing necessary rework
Waiting for someone to send you the information you need
Answering “Can I ask you a quick question?” desk interruptions
There are productivity techniques to help combat some time wasters like multi-tasking. For example, a time-management method called the Pomodoro Technique (first developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s) that works on the principle that you focus on a task for 25 minutes and then take a break for five minutes. This technique forces you to focus on a single task, eradicating the negative effects of attempted multitasking. This focus has an immediate positive impact on your productivity and will enhance your work speed.
However, it’s estimated that 25% of the average worker’s day is wasted on inefficient work. That’s huge. If you work an 8-hour day, that’s 2 hours wasted every day. …10 hours per week. …520 hours per year. Do the math and you’re paying the average worker for 65 days (over three months of work!) of “info gathering” every year. For every employee in your company!
Another way to increase your team’s productivity, is to use work management tools which help teams cut out these inefficiencies, so we can stop spending so much time on “info gathering” and start putting our time into actually getting work done.
Read more on the challenges teams and managers are facing in today’s workforce in the Infographic below, sponsored by Wrike. Try Wrike’s work management tool free for the next two weeks, and challenge your team to get more done every day.
There are many examples of failed projects all over the world. Like the St. Helena airport, built on a island in the vast open Atlantic Ocean, known for it’s volcanic mountain rising 2600 feet above the sea. The reason for the airport’s opening being postponed indefinitely: “too windy for planes to land” (Source: International Project Leadership Academy). They failed to address the risks or to listen to the advice of experts.
Another project disaster and one of the most expensive scandals in modern history in September 2015, the admission that Volkswagen cheated government emission testing. The engineers intentionally designed and installed a so called “defeat device” into the engine’s control computer. The defeat device was programmed to detect when the car was undergoing emissions testing in order to adhere to the testing limits for clean-air standards. The technology needed to comply with the government regulations was available, but was decided against due to high costs and to protect profit margins.
On a smaller scale project disasters happen quite often, even on IT projects, for example when a record number of high defects are logged during a testing phase leading to re-design and expensive re-development work to the point where committed deadlines are missed or almost missed.
In following good Project Risk Management practice, you will always plan risk management upfront, identify all the risks, perform proper risk analysis (qualitative, quantitative), plan risk responses including assigning risks to owners and then control the risks rigorously throughout the project.
Below you will find a good approach for handling crisis on projects in the Infographic brought to you by Wrike free task management tools.
Let us know in the comments what project management crisis you have come across and how it was handled.
Whether you’re a new or an existing Project Manager, it’s always a good idea to validate your project schedule. This is especially useful if you use a scheduling tool like MS Project, or similar to plan your projects and then to execute against the plan.
Watch the short video below to help you to validate that the project schedule contains all the necessary Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) elements to complete a project successfully.
Project management software is any software solution with the capacity to help with planning and estimation, scheduling, cost control and budget management, resource allocation, communication, decision making, quality management, task management, documentation and collaboration.
You want information about scheduling, costs, time management, task assignments, quality control, issue tracking and more. When you need to make a selection of the right project management software for your business, there are a number of factors to consider.
Selection Criteria
1
Software as a Service (SaaS) or On Premise consider:
Pricing information
Support and updates
Data security
Compatibility
Features
Client-server software is on-premise and installed onto a computer/server, giving the owner control and complete ownership of the software. Do check that the software is compatible with your servers and operating systems. It comes at a one-time price with a high start-up cost, as well as support costs. Integration with existing company software is easier. Collaboration can be difficult especially for remote users.
SaaS requires no local installation of software because the vendor manages all the code and the data. You access the system through a web browser, but ensure all of its features will display and function correctly in the web browsers used at your offices. Typically licensed per user with a subscription plan. No start-up costs and support is included. Integration with existing company software could be hard, but collaboration is easier, especially for remote users.
2
Features
Understand project manager and team needs before making a purchase. What vital features do team members need to make projects successful and to help overcome obstacles, but also list non-required, but desired features.
3
Company size
The size of your business, the number of projects and team members will help to determine which features are needed, as well as the storage space required.
4
Important trends
Consider the most important trends.1) Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions have gained popularity. PM software industry is one of most mature with 85% that are SaaS solutions. Now a standard offering providing ease of use, frequent updates, mobility etc.2) Collaboration software – include collaboration features to cater for widely distributed (virtual) teams (offered by 94% of software).3) Agile solutions making provision for Agile development (30% software are Agile solutions).
5
Main functionality
Software consists of modules to make provision for functionalities like:
Traditional project management (see explanation nr 7)
Collaboration (document management, create teams, messaging, social collaboration, forums, Wiki, RSS feed, Web Conferencing)
Task management (create to-do lists, set due dates and priorities, add contacts to certain tasks, task history, etc.)
Learning and support to learn functionality, troubleshoot issues (mail, phone, blog, videos, demos, knowledge base, brochures, help desk, Webinars, Live chat, tips and hints, User manual, White Papers, Wiki, Podcasts, etc.)
Reporting to summarize and graphically represent data (Dashboard, Financial, Resource, Custom reports).
During project execution there are typically a number of issues that need to be resolved. It is important to involve like-minded individuals who can share their knowledge and experience and provide valuable inputs for a breakthrough in resolving an issue.
Why is there a need to hold a discussion over an issue?
An issue that is creating a problem for the project needs an in depth understanding and analysis. Some issues are too complex to come up with an easy solution. Some issues are specific to individuals working in a particular department like marketing, procurement, etc.
For example, a marketing project that is launching a new product into the market require input from people who have the experience in the marketing field to resolve issues. These type of issues need to be addressed fast enough, so as not to delay the implementation of a project.
With many modern day projects having virtual teams who are distributed geographically, it poses a challenge as to how to bring them together on the same platform in order to have a discussion accurately and timely.
Technology comes to the rescue here. Project management systems are specifically designed to enable team members to collaborate over a common issue instantly and spontaneously. The centralized structure of a project management system allows a project issue to be discussed actively by the project members and in a fool-proof manner.
A project management tool allows people to be looped into the project. They can receive email notifications about their expected role in a project and how they can contribute to the project. They can express their willingness to join a project through email. Once their reply is received, they get connected to the project automatically and can start contributing to the discussions. Since certain stakeholders will only participate to help resolve project issues, their security access will be limited. The discussions feature promotes communication amongst small teams comprising of some selected members who are involved in discussions over an issue.
Project discussions can be categorised into two types. The first category is where every member of a project is involved and the other category is where only a few selective and knowledgeable individuals can participate. By applying this structure overloading of shared information can be avoided. Any type of discussion can be initiated depending on the need, scope and sensitivity of the issue.
The facilitation of issue discussions is done effectively by a project management system likeProofHub allowing users to deal with issues faster, contributing to a successful execution of a project.
About the Author: Sharon Thomson is an author who likes to write on themes and issues related to project management. Through her write-ups she provides tips and suggestions for businesses, so they can better manage their projects and duly achieve their business objectives.
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There are many useful tools that Project Managers (PMs) use in their day to day work. You may have heard that Microsoft Project is THE tool that PMs should use to manage projects.
But what if you don’t have $300+ to spend on MS Project or then spend countless hours learning how to use it properly?
To use MS Project effectively you may have to spend a considerable amount of time to set up the tasks, resources and schedules. Then you would spend a lot of time to maintain the file with the numerous changes that would occur on any large scale project.
MS Project is a great tool if you have a large project but for smaller projects, it may be an overkill. You want to have a tool that doesn’t cost too much, is relatively easy to learn and commonly used. That tool could be another Microsoft product – Excel.
With Excel you have a tool to do scheduling, budgeting, charting, create checklists and much more. You don’t need to be an Excel expert to create useful files for communicating with stakeholders. It has robust charting capabilities to create effective graphs and flow charts that can be done up fairly quickly. However if you wanted more complex applications, you can even use Excel to create advanced dashboards to show performance metrics.
It is fairly affordable depending if you buy it as a standalone software package or part of the Microsoft Office bundle. It may already be part of the standard software your organization puts on your desktop or laptop computer.
Ask most PMs and they would say that they have worked with MS Excel. So if you wanted to collaborate with others, most of the time you already have an audience that is familiar with the tool and could work with you on updates. So what if you wanted to increase your skills on Excel or just learn a few tips….where should you go?
If you don’t have MS Project and would like to consider Excel as an alternative project management tool, here are some quick video tutorials that will help (and they are free!). Just go to Excel for Project Management video tutorials.
About the author: Doug Hong is a business analyst for a Fortune 500 technology company. He was a former PMP certified practitioner and now focuses on metrics dashboards and visualization using advance Excel features. He shares his knowledge with training videos on his Excel Training 101 site. He also has an extensive list of training videos where you can subscribe to on YouTube.
It all started with the belief that a contribution can be made to the project management profession! From the context of “learning, earning and returning”, it was time to return. It was fuelled by my strong desire to help people.
That was the birth of Virtual Project Consulting 5 years ago. The company would only consist online with its presence on a website or blog with the same name: www.virtualprojectconsulting.com
It was targeted initially at small business owners who didn’t have project management competencies or capacity within their own businesses and who would benefit from advice and guidance about project management, leadership, best practice tools and processes, as well as other related topics. This community was served through a product called, ‘The Project Management Toolkit’, guiding users about the application of project management on small projects. Coaching was also provided to aspiring project managers.
It was quite a journey. While figuring out ways to market Virtual Project Consulting online, I had to learn about Internet Marketing practices, as well as social media marketing and apply that to my online business. This contributed to the creation of another website at linkymerwe.com, which was complementary and all about integrated online communications.
Over the course of 5 years the target audience has changed to aspiring and existing project managers who are now also served by comprehensive lists of recommended resources for project management practitioners who are looking for products, software, training, websites and books. My social media community has grown on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
Every year brought about some ‘recalculation’ in terms of what to focus on both professionally and personally. To me it meant reassessing my goals, direction and my view of what success means. Towards the end of 2013, this process of recalculating lead me to refresh the website, as well as to make a conscious decision to focus on one community only, instead of different audiences through additional websites. It’s about growth, perspective and new possibilities.
With a constantly moving landscape in which we operate today, being flexible, adaptable and responsible are key to success in a changing world. Success requires that one be nimble and ready when opportunity knocks. But opportunity favours those who are prepared rather than surprised.
Some highlights that caused me to celebrate over the years were:
Publication of articles in the Project Manager Magazine and associated website; contribution to articles in PMI’s PM Network magazine.
Being interviewed various times by international contacts for contribution to Webinars, training, surveys, research and for blog articles
Awards of being in Top Ten list of favourite project management bloggers more than once
Success Stories Shared initiative whereby experienced project managers share their stories about challenges and lessons learnt on projects. One of these stories was used as a case study in a printed text book for Operational Management. It also lead to talks at national conferences as well a local chapter meetings.
Participation on global initiatives like the PMFlashBlog when more than 80 project management bloggers contributed stories about “what does project management mean to me” by publishing them on the same day at the same time. Many stories are collected in an ebook that’s available for down-load here.
Excellent guest authors who have contributed blog articles over the years
I’m celebrating the opportunities of meeting wonderful new people every year and being able to participate in so many creative initiatives that contribute to the growth of our profession. It is still an honour to be around and to be able to serve people and to make a difference in many small ways. I am truly blessed and enriched by this experience and wish to continue sharing, enabling and growing.
Thanks for reading and sharing my 5 year celebration!!!
Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you would like to see more of as resources and information for PM’s.
Please subscribe to my blog to become part of our community and let me know how you want to collaborate.
If you would like to contribute to Virtual Project Consulting as a guest author, please send me a mail: linky@virtualprojectconsulting.com
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