Project Management Course – Manager's blog

An upcoming post will focus on cloud-based project management. This will cover some of the major providers, along with trends and tips for project managers.

Services such as Basecamp (from 37 Signals) or Planbox offer collaborative project tools online. These fall into the overall Saas (Software As A Service) category of providers. The benefit is scalable services, at a cost comparable to desktop-based products. They also allow collaboration while offering data security (online storage is a given) and platform independence (only a browser is needed).

If you have any suggestions on project management-as-a-service type of providers, or other related areas for the post, leave them below.

Today in project management news & blogs:

5 pitfalls that derail EVM success – an article in FCW details these areas, along with ideas for solving the issue. The pitfalls are executive ambivalence, poor data & data overload, poorly chosen software, and inexperienced contractors.

Law firms look to process management – for both in-house counsel, and independent firms, use of a model other than the billable hour method gets a look by law.com, as a way to streamline and increase effectiveness.

Who Knows What in the Wall Street Journal discusses how organizations need to make it easier to find experts, and how blogs and wikis can help, along with social networks and “tagging”.

The Project Management Tip You Can’t Ignore – a blog post on Articulate.com that highlights the importance of getting email communication right.

Below is a video about project management, designed as the start towards making a great project manager. What is a project? (an effort or initiative with a defined beginning and an end). What are the triggers of this initiative? What is project management and what does it mean to you? It is applying your intellect and various tools to managing an effort, and it can mean many things.

The video is about 8 1/2 minutes long.

If you or your organization are considering project management training, this video shows some of the course options & features that may be applicable. The training for construction projects is mentioned.

The video is about 4 1/2 minutes long, and it is a pitch to use a company that trains project managers and other employees, using PMI (Project Management Institute) (R) registered courses.

The habit of saying “Good Job”

Strictly speaking, giving praise to team members won’t cost you anything. It’s free. So, if you see any of your project team players doing a spectacular job, don’t hesitate to acknowledge their efforts.

If someone deserves praise, why not provide some? Some managers are old-school, maintaining “work is it’s own reward” thinking. But in a competitive modern hiring & retention environment, even people who don’t report to you are usually people you want to have ‘retained’ for your project continuity. Even people who always give praise, to almost everyone for even small deeds, are generally seen as conducting beneficial acts for the group.

Meanwhile, your words of praise would do wonders for your project team’s self-esteem, and will also encourage continued dedication.

Project Management Course homepage

Here are some stories highlighted regarding the challenges of project management:

More news stories will be posted on a recurring basis.

There are three primary types of project management methodologies:

• Linear or waterfall
• Spiral development
• Product development

All three of these types of methodologies can be related to process management in some way or another.

Linear or Waterfall Project Management Methodology — This methodology is sometimes referred to as the Life cycle, and is the best known of all project management methodologies. This methodology centers around a sequential process which is oriented toward computer software and other similar applications. Unfortunately, this methodology tends to also prohibit development on a parallel level.

Spiral Development Project Management Methodology — This approach on the other hand, is based on the idea that the development process is naturally very evolutionary, which means that you can design a program initially, and then constantly revise the program in order to add additional work phases or to enhance specific features.

Product Development Project Management Methodology — This methodology approach combines elements from the other two methodologies that were mentioned, but with an added nuance. This methodology uses product orientation as the mane base for the entire product development process.

There are several properties that are generic to all project management methodologies, including all of the following:

- A project management methodology should define all of the stages of work. These stages of work may vary based on how an organization wants to chunk out the work, but should define all five “W”s. These five are: Who, What, Where, When and Why, and they should all be established. In order for you to be able to define the direction of your project you must be able to synchronize all of the work responsibilities and relationships between all of the different steps in the methodology. The definitions should have all of the following characteristics:

a – They should be measurable. You should be able to evaluate each stage of work in terms of how long it is going to take for you to perform You should also provide criteria which will substantiate the completion of deliverables, allowing you to essentially ensure that a quality product will be delivered.

b – They should be independent of techniques and tools. These techniques and tools may be deployed as they are required, but they should be independent of the project management methodology.

c – They should be independent of other aspects of project management. These methodologies can exist with project management systems or even without them.

If your methodology does not match the criteria listed above, then the odds are that it is not really a methodology, but rather is a specific technique or a tool.

There are three types of project management methodologies, which will be covered in part 3 of the methologies series.

Project management systems cannot be effective without some form of project management methodology in place. A project management system without a methodology of some sort will be challenged because nothing is measured. The term ‘project management methodology’ is being thrown around a lot these days, as software developers, vendors and consultants are claiming to have a fool proof methodology for solving just about every single potential development problem. However, the term is being used sloppily, and the true definition of the concept is being lost in the mess.

Project management methodology is absolutely critical in determining the failure or the success of a specific development environment, meaning that it is absolutely imperative that you can truly differentiate between the concept of a methodology, a technique or a tool. There are some properties that are generic to all project management methodologies, which will be detailed in part 2 of this methodologies series.

Project management tasks can be found in every single industry, and the number of project managers in the world has rapidly grown with the popularity of project work. Because there are so many responsibilities which can easily be treated as project manager duties, possessing the right project management skills is an important part of succeeding in the world of business. Now there are project manager duties in all facets of a company, not only in actual project management positions, which means that with the right qualifications, you can assume certain project manager duties as part of a team, even if you are not actually on the payroll as a project manager.

A project can be pretty much any activity which involves following through with a task that is non-repetitive in nature. So in a sense, everyone is a project manager, and everyone practices project management to a degree. However, there is a very large difference between carrying out a project which is very simple and involves a few people, and carrying out a project that deals with a complex number of people, tasks and organizations. Projects on a large scale once tended to use very simple techniques for resource and control, including brute force in an attempt to motivate the workers.

The art of planning ahead for the future is a trait that can be found in many people. It only really takes a few specific elements to capture a project on paper, such as a start and end date, what tasks must be carried out and a rough outline of when they should be finished, along with a basic idea of what resources will be needed, including people and material resources like machines and tools. Unfortunately, many paper plans can quickly become unreadable when the plan begins to involve more intricate details, including different events occurring at different times, different resources required at different points throughout the plan’s completion, different work rates and so on. Once the paper plan begins to cover an area which is much more vast, it will be difficult to keep track of.

Many project management tasks can be handled by computers that are designed to analyze, but project management software is only meant to be a tool for a project manager to use, not to serve in the role of the project manager itself. Project management involves control, teamwork, resource management and leadership skills which cannot necessarily be handled by a computer or a software program.

Every leader or project sponsor would prefer for their projects to be finished on time, with all objectives met with quality, and without costing more than the originally prepared budget. These three facets of project management form the core of all project manager duties, as well as what is known as the classic “time, quality, cost” pyramid. Project management can be an easy, or a difficult task depending on these three facets, so while you may start a project with an unlimited budget, unlimited time, or a fairly average expected quality for objectives, it will not always play out that way. Generally you should expect projects where time and money have become critical, and where the highest quality of work is expected, but with the right tools and experience, there is reason that you cannot tackle any project as a project manager.