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Lionel Valdellon

Lionel Valdellon

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Lionel is a former Content Marketing Manager of Wrike. He is also a blogger since 1997, a productivity enthusiast, a project management newbie, a musician and producer of electronic downtempo music, a father of three, and a husband of one.

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9 Phrases to Avoid If You Want to Sound Competent (Work Management Roundup)
Collaboration 3 min read

9 Phrases to Avoid If You Want to Sound Competent (Work Management Roundup)

It's Friday — time for the weekly Work Management Roundup. This week we tackle what phrases to use to sound more competent, note-taking with pen and paper, customizing stock photos, and using kindness as a strategy. Plus more articles on tools, productivity hacks and work.

Brand the Workspace with Your Logo
News 3 min read

Brand the Workspace with Your Logo

We've heard your requests to brand your Wrike workspace more completely. Responding to your suggestions, we first introduced branded e-mail notifications for Enterprise users. And today we introduce the ability to spruce up enterprise collaboration with more options to brand your workspace. You can now customize the upper lefthand corner of your workspace (where you currently see “Wrike") with your company logo. Branding and logos are symbols not just of your company's products and services but also include your business' core values. These visual marks serve as reminders to every employee how they should interact with customers, suppliers, and collaborators. In effect, your logo embodies your brand's reputation and reflects your customers' experience of your organization. Having it front and center where your teams manage their daily tasks is one way to strengthen your employee's consciousness of your values and reputation. And when you bring collaborators into your Wrike account from outside the organization, your logo serves as a reminder of your company brand and what you are working toward. This feature is only available to customers on the Enterprise plan.

The Ultimate Guide to Project Management
Project Management 5 min read

The Ultimate Guide to Project Management

If you're learning about project management for the first time and you've come across our Wrike blog, you'll realize we've written quite a lot of articles on IT project management, methodologies, and leadership strategies over the years. We collected the best of the best into one ultimate guide to help you understand and learn all about project management. Great for knowing where to study project management as a beginner. It's organized here by general topic, so it's easy to find what you need. Project Management Fundamentals: Learning the Basics There is much to learn in the art of managing a project. For beginners to the field, (and for those willing to review the basics) here's a list of common methodologies, terms, and tips on where to study project management as a beginner. These will also be helpful for learning how to teach project management and introduce the basics to your team! Project Management Basics: A Review of PM Methodologies (Part 1) Project Management Basics: A Quick-Start Guide to PM Methodologies (Part 2) Fundamentals of the Scrum Methodology Project Management Basics: A Quickstart Glossary for Newbies (Part 1) Project Management Basics: A Quickstart Glossary for Newbies (Part 2) Project Management Basics: Beginner's Guide to Gantt Charts What Can I Do With a Project Management Certification? What is a Gantt Chart? [INFOGRAPHIC] What is Lean Project Management? Startups Should Lean on Lean Project Management 5 Lessons in Lean Product Development from the Wright Brothers [INFOGRAPHIC] Things a CEO can learn from a project manager: Part 1 Things a CEO can learn from a project manager: Part 2 Ultimate Guide to Project Risk, Part 1: Risk Assessment Ultimate Guide to Project Risk, Part 2: Risk Management   Management: Leading Your Team to Project Success Leadership is a skill that is in need of constant pruning. If we cease to learn new things, we set ourselves up for failure. Here are strategies and lessons for honing your management skills and refine your project management approach. How Neuroscience Can Make You a Better Project Manager 4 Lessons Hockey Has Taught Me About Project Management 5 Project Management Ideas that Should be Extinct 10 Phrases That Can Ruin Your Project Kickoff Meeting Is your team self-organizing? Who Works More? The Secrets of Male and Female Working Habits in Wrike's New Infographic How to Stay Motivated at Work: The Science of Productive Breaks [INFOGRAPHIC] 8 Attitudes Guaranteed to Sink Your Agile Projects 5 Project Management Lessons to Superheroes [VIDEO] 15 Books Every Manager Should Read Productivity: Tools and Tips for More Efficient Work There are many tools out there that can help you streamline your day, mitigate distractions, and get things done more efficiently. Here's a list of tools and strategies for helping you crank it out. 10 Free Productivity Apps for Getting Things Done How to Increase Productivity at Work: 6 Mind-Switching Hacks How to Set Up GTD Using Wrike Creating GTD Folders in Wrike [VIDEO] 8 Lessons in Increased Productivity from Wrike Customers 10 Encouraging Productivity Proverbs for Your Office Wall (Part 1) 10 Encouraging Productivity Proverbs for Your Office Wall (Part 2) How to Stay Motivated at Work: The Science of Productive Breaks [INFOGRAPHIC] Productivity Lovers, Build Better Habits for Your Project Team What Doesn't Kill You Makes You More Productive [EBOOK] 5 Strategies for Forming Team Productivity Habits [WEBINAR] Proven Techniques to Fight Productivity Killers [WEBINAR] Project Management Software vs. Cloud File Storage: What's the Difference? Professional service contract template Teams and Remote Collaboration: Unifying Your People Nothing is more important than getting the right team in place and forging a collaborative unit dedicated to project success. Here are some tips and strategies for growing your team. 5 Tips for Forming Productivity Habits in Your Team (PMI Presentation Recap) 5 Tips for Embracing Cross-Cultural Differences on Project Teams Top 5 Tips for Remote Collaboration with Wrike 4 Problems with Virtual Meetings that You Can Fix 4 Tips to Improve Your Next Meeting Easy and Effective Remote Collaboration [SLIDESHARE] The Past, Present and Future of Remote Collaboration: Where Does Your Team Stand? 10 Benefits of Cloud-Based Project Management Software The Art of Staying Productive Even Across Distance [EBOOK] Teamwork Across Borders. Secrets to Remote Collaboration [WEBINAR] Wrike for Content Marketing Teams: Collaboration and Copyediting [VIDEO] Top 3 Trends Shaping Project Collaboration Using Wrike for High Performance Marketing Teams Technology: Using the Right Project Management Tools There are many tools used for project management, managing people, increasing productivity, and getting things done. Here are a few of them. 10 Free Productivity Apps for Getting Things Done 25 Online Tools to Run Your Startup How I Use Online Collaboration Tools to Run a Marketing Team Top 9 Project Management Tool Features on the SMB Wishlist Wrike Integrates with Zapier for a World of Automation Wrike and Github: Collaborative Coding Gets Much Easier with Wrike’s API Social Media Resources: Connect with PM Experts Social media is a fantastic tool to connect and learn from experts in project management all over the globe. Here's how to find project managers and thought leaders on major social networks. 20 #ProjectManagement Gurus to Follow on Twitter 5 Project Management Groups to Join on LinkedIn 12 Useful Project Management Boards on Pinterest 11 Ways To Use Social Media To Find Project Management Resources (or just about anything!) Will Your Company's Social Media Marketing Efforts Pay Off? [INFOGRAPHIC] Educational Resources: Learn More about Project Management Sometimes you just need a little more motivation. Or a source of ideas for improving your management skills. These articles list the best reading and learning materials on management and productivity. 20 Online Training Resources for Project Managers 5 Best Project Management Books for Beginners and Accidental Project Managers 15 Books Every Manager Should Read 15 Project Management Quotes to Live By [INFOGRAPHIC] What is a Gantt Chart? [INFOGRAPHIC] Making the Most of Project Management Courses Why (and How) Small Businesses Choose Project Management Software Hope you enjoyed this ultimate guide to project management. Would you add other helpful articles to help people learn? Please share any of your suggestions in the comments. Share this guide with your friends and colleagues to spread the wealth of knowledge!

Critical Path Analysis in Wrike: Adjust Project Schedules Without Delaying Results
News 3 min read

Critical Path Analysis in Wrike: Adjust Project Schedules Without Delaying Results

You created a perfect project plan but then... one of your tasks took longer than expected, a new assignment came out of the blue, and one of the key team members took several days off for a sick child. Don't let unexpected events frustrate you: the brand-new Critical Path analysis view addresses all these issues. Now when something gets in your team's way, you can instantly see what project schedule alterations can be made without delaying milestones or missing deadlines.   This new Enterprise feature, which was hotly requested by users, displays the longest chain of dependent tasks in your project folder on the Timeline view. This view allows you to focus on the vital string of events that must be accomplished to stay on track. Once you review your critical path, you can regroup your resources to get those main tasks done, and reschedule nonessential work that is getting in the way of hitting your project milestone date on time. Now that Wrike possesses Critical Path, it should make the migration from MS Project even easier. Critical path analysis is a project management method that creates the shortest timeline for your project by considering the tasks required to complete the deliverable, along with time estimates for each step, task dependencies, and final milestones. This methodology helps you intelligently plan every project.   You may be wondering how to calculate critical path for your projects. To use our new feature, go to your Timeline view and tick the "Critical Path" radio button at the top of your workspace. This feature is available for Enterprise accounts. Now that it's live in your workspace, we'd love to get your feedback on it. Hit the comments and tell us what you think!

Analytics Widgets: Actionable Progress Insights Now on Your Dashboard
News 3 min read

Analytics Widgets: Actionable Progress Insights Now on Your Dashboard

Remember Dashboard widgets — those highly customizable boxes that help you pre-define any task category and stay on top of these tasks in real time? The new handy update now allows you to make your dashboard truly graphic: meet the recently released Analytics widgets for your Dashboard! Now you can add Analytics reports to your Dashboard, giving you up-to-the-minute charts and infographics tracking project progress and overall team performance. This is extremely useful for project managers wanting to keep tabs on project performance via baseline or performance charts, and even individual team members wanting to monitor personal performance via work progress charts. How to Get Analytics Widgets: From the Analytics tab, choose the report you want to view. Click on the upper right corner of that report for the drop down option: Add to Dashboard. Go to Dashboard and view your infographic in action. 4 Kinds of Analytics Reports You Can Widgetize: Here’s an easy guide to help you understand the type of reports available. Performance Chart: shows you the ratio of planned and completed tasks and how far ahead or behind you are on that plan, based on your tasks. Especially useful for project managers. Baseline Chart: compares actual project progress to the original plan. A staple for project managers everywhere. Work Progress Chart: tracks the performance of your team members. Useful to both project managers and individual team members interested in monitoring personal progress. Tasks by Users (new!): tracks the volume of tasks for individual team members. See exactly how many active, backlogged, or overdue tasks they have on their plate in comparison to their teammates. How are these new widgets helping you be more productive? Let us know in comments!

How to Be Available Even When Out of the Office (Work Management Roundup)
Productivity 3 min read

How to Be Available Even When Out of the Office (Work Management Roundup)

It's time for the Friday Roundup once again. Today also marks 14 years since the tragedy of 9/11. We wanted to put together an especially heroic collection of links to the best articles on work management, productivity, and work. So grab your drink of choice and warm up your Wrike Chrome extension to bookmark the articles you'll want to read later on the ride home. Here they are: How-To Articles: Successful Entrepreneurs Are Never 'Out of the Office' (Entrepreneur): Entrepreneur and sales expert Grant Cardone suggests 2 rules so that you're always open to opportunity, even when you're technically offline. And no it's not a recipe for becoming a workaholic, rather, it's a plan of action for never turning away new business. To Become a Leader, Think Beyond Your Role (Harvard Business Review): Excellent read on defining your role broadly and how thinking like an owner can actually help you lead more fruitfully. Design a Pitch Deck: Lessons from a Seasoned Founder (Medium): The founder of men's fashion app Mylo explains the dos and don'ts of creating and designing a pitch deck. Bonus tip: even Slideshare says bullet points are bad. Find the Cheapest Flights With These 5 Travel Apps (DailyTekk): Forget the days of the mega-sites that promised cheap tickets but never really delivered. This list of 5 travel apps will transform how you shop for flights. Just, be warned that frequent business travel is bad for your health. Get New Content for Your Site (Audience Bloom): Yep, you constantly need new content for your company blog. Marketers know the struggle is real. But here are 7 ways to get new content for your blog from guest posts to interviews and more. And they're all free. Master Twitter Like a Boss (Medium): Buffer put together a guide for Twitter newbies which condenses and combines their best advice on this social media platform —all in one blog post. More Work Management Reads How Can I Leave at 5 P.M. Without Looking Like a Slacker? (Fast Company) The Project Management Guide for Beginners (Wrike) Digital Sabbaticals Don’t Make Sense (Cal Newport) 24 Life Changing Productivity Tools (Medium) 15 Habits That Will Change Your Life (Devious Gentlemen) The Ultimate Guide to the Perfect Meeting (Wrike) Looking for more Startup Advice? Follow our Flipboard magazine Startup Spark Up for links to articles on emerging businesses, founder advice, and best practices for entrepreneurs. Image credit: alone by Giorgio Montersino on Flickr. Some rights reserved. Changes made.

Wrike Launches Solution Partner Program
News 3 min read

Wrike Launches Solution Partner Program

Thousands of organizations trust Wrike with their work. We know it's not just because of our award-winning and intuitive software or our superb customer support. It's all the ways we've helped teams perform and function better as a unit. Just in the past 20 months, our Consulting team has helped hundreds of customers in the U.S. become insanely productive by conducting onsite training, change management consulting, and productivity coaching. Leveraging this experience and our recent growth as a company, we figured now is the best time to offer these Professional Services to our customers in other parts of the world. So we're proud to announce the launch of the Wrike Solution Partner program. What is Wrike's Solution Partner Program? The Solution Partner program allows customers to get a total work management solution via our partnerships with firms that specialize in consulting for Project Management, Team Productivity, Cloud Solutions, Marketing Automation, Agile Product Development, and other relevant areas. What is a total work management solution? From the point of view of our customers, it's not just the software, it's also having trusted resources available. People who understand the business, and can guide them to improve the way they work — using Wrike as a technology to sustain and improve those gains. The Opportunity to Help Everyone Companies and teams adopt Wrike as a work management tool because of the drive to do work efficiently and without undue stress. That goal requires teams to take a step back and have a good look at the way they collaborate, communicate, and manage workflows. This presents the opportunity for Wrike and our Solution Partners to help each and every customer streamline their workflow with simplified or automated processes, resulting in higher quality work, in less time, and with less effort. Learn More About the Partner Program or Our Consulting Services If you are a Professional Services provider please visit https://www.wrike.com/partners to learn more about our support tools and benefits of joining the Wrike Solution Partner Program. If you are one of our existing customers and are interested in learning more about how to take advantage of our existing consulting services, please reach out to us at https://www.wrike.com/contact-sales/.

New Enterprise Features: Visualize, Customize Your Product Development Workflow
News 3 min read

New Enterprise Features: Visualize, Customize Your Product Development Workflow

Workflows are unique to every organization. Each company creates and releases products in its own idiosyncratic fashion. That's why it's important to use tools that mold to your specific way of working, instead of struggling to do it the other way around. The latest features in Wrike Enterprise let users customize their experience so they can set up Wrike to fit the unique way they work. But what is workflow automation and how exactly can Wrike help? Finding the Right System Consider ACMEsoft, a (fictional) software development startup only two weeks away from launching their initial product — a game-changing wearable device that's platform-agnostic and powered by customizable open source code. Everyone is feeling the pressure to deliver, and cross-departmental teams are collaborating around the clock. But their product management vs product development team is encountering several huge problems: urgent tasks are falling through the cracks, and with people getting burned out and sick from all the sleepless nights they have fewer resources to accomplish the same amount of work. Plus, they're discovering that project management by email is a beast that is only hurting their efforts. So the ACMEsoft team is evaluating several enterprise project management solutions. They're finding it challenging to decide on a software that can adapt to their unique combination of Agile and Kanban. After a brief but intense review of the best product management software, the company decides on Wrike. How Wrike's Enterprise Features Adapt to Your Workflow With Wrike as their centralized work system, the product development team has streamlined their process. They no longer have to jump between their different tools (email, IM, bug tracker, cloud file storage) to find the latest information. And because of the flexibility of Wrike's folder system, they can create a workflow that matches their hybrid PM methodology. As users of the Enterprise plan, ACMEsoft uses the Critical Path feature to see the longest chain of dependent tasks for their project. The development team is then able to focus on the vital string of events that must be accomplished to meet their deadline. Once they review the critical path, they can reassign people to get those key tasks done on time, setting aside less important work to be completed only if there is time. They are also now able to customize their analytics reports and attach them to the dashboard — picking and choosing which charts (baseline, work progress, performance, tasks by users) greet them at every login. And with the new Wrike Enterprise, they're using multiple, Shareable Dashboards to create an overview that the whole team will see. Project managers can share project-specific dashboards with the team with their special Agile+Kanban-type widgets, and align everyone on overdue items, the project baseline, and progress charts. They can also share department-specific dashboards with executives to give a high-level snapshot of what's getting done. All this visibility into what's going on lets the entire company know which features are close to completion, and which deadlines are need more attention. Discover how Wrike's new Enterprise features can bring order to your chaos.

Custom Reports and an All-New Graph
News 3 min read

Custom Reports and an All-New Graph

As your projects grow, tracking project status via e-mail becomes pretty much impossible. That's why we launched Wrike's Analytics features — so Enterprise users can quickly find answers to critical questions about project status and individual workloads. Today, we're giving you an all-new chart: Tasks By Users, which compares the productivity levels of individuals on your team. We have also expanded the Enterprise analytics section by offering you the ability to customize your progress report charts. Now, you can edit which stats are displayed on Analytics reports, delete charts you don't use, and even add your favorite charts as widgets on the Dashboard. Watch our short video and see the new customizable reports in action: You'll be able to test the waters and find the perfect combination of filters to fit your specific needs, but to get you started we've prepared a list with the most useful filters for each chart. Useful Filters for Familiar Graphs: 1. Performance Chart: This chart helps you measure the pace of your team and quickly spot any setbacks that might disrupt project completion. Filter the chart: Combine Planned + Completed tasks to see your overall project progress. Choose Completed + Due by This Date to check up on your current performance. 2. Baseline Chart: This graph compares actual project progress to the original plan. It's a staple for project managers, especially when you need to plan multiple projects with similar timelines, or report on real progress to Executives. Filter the chart: Filter to milestones only to instantly spot the most important alterations in the project schedule. Choose tasks assigned to you to report on the project components that you're responsible for. 3. Work Progress: This chart tracks the performance of each team member and gives you a historical perspective on their productivity. Use it to identify your top Wrike performers — maybe they can help you spread best practices. You can also spot people who are underperforming and investigate the reason. (Workload too heavy? Complex tasks? etc.) Filter the chart: If you're interested in your current personal work progress, filter tasks assigned to you and turn completed tasks off. Alternatively, you can filter tasks assigned to your department to see the progress your team's making. 4. NEW! Tasks by Users: Similar to the Work Progress chart, tasks are grouped by user so you can compare performance and make sure your team members aren't overloaded with work. Filter the chart: If your team makes up part of a larger corporate account, set your filters with yourself as task author and people on your team as task assignees. Then your chart will show you the performance of your team and the tasks you've assigned them only. When you've landed on your favorite or frequently referenced analytics reports, add them to your Dashboard for instant access to the information you care about. You asked for ways to customize reports and charts, now you've got it. We'd love to get your feedback. Hit the comments and tell us what you think.

Free Online Project Management Guide for New Project Managers
Project Management 3 min read

Free Online Project Management Guide for New Project Managers

If you're taking your first steps as a project manager and feel like you're in way over your head with all the terms, acronyms, and best practices, we've put together something that can help. Today we launch our online Project Management Guide for Beginners. It's a complete guide that tackles project management fundamentals and addresses it in easy-to-understand, layman's terms. In the guide, we break down the basics of project management into different sections: a basic glossary of terms; a discussion on project management methodologies; tips on team management, collaboration, risk, stakeholders, and more; even a section on the PMI and PMBOK. The guide also features a sizable collection of frequently asked questions to introduce you to basic project management concepts. We've arranged the guide to allow you to browse by the topic you're interested in, but you can also read through it sequentially for a full overview. So instead of feeling overwhelmed by all the various processes necessary to bring a project to completion, refer to our Project Management Guide for Beginners, and get a clearer picture of best practices and processes for delivering projects on time, within budget, and to exact specifications. Here's a sneak peak at the sections of the Project Management Guide. Go check it out:

Create Multiple, Shareable Dashboards; Change the Way You View Work
News 3 min read

Create Multiple, Shareable Dashboards; Change the Way You View Work

The Dashboard is a perfect place to track the most important tasks and the latest updates in your Activity Feed. It's also a good starting point when searching for specific tasks. Today, we release a new feature for our Enterprise and Professional customers. Now you can customize multiple Dashboards exactly the way you want them and then share these dashboards with members of your team. This means you and your colleagues can align over the same project view. Enterprise workspace can hold up to 20 Shareable Dashboards while Professional users can create up to 10 Dashboards. It also means that Enterprise users can pick which custom reports they want front and center for all team members on their shared Dashboards. With this new feature, the possibilities are endless: You can run a weekly meeting off a custom "Weekly Overview" dashboard. Instead of giving each other links to separate tasks, the entire team can now share a common view of just the crucial tasks. First, create the appropriate widgets for your meeting (e.g. tasks completed this week in the Content Marketing folder, overdue tasks in the Engineering folder), embed them into a Shareable Dashboard, and give your team access. You can track multiple projects at once by creating a Dashboard of relevant widgets for each project, then you can share each Dashboard relevant stakeholders so everyone is actively tracking the key pieces.   When you share a Dashboard, your team will only see tasks that are shared with them. If you have multiple accounts, you can create widgets selecting tasks across all of your accounts. In this case, users with access to the Dashboard will only see tasks that have been shared with them. Just go to your workspace now to reveal the full power of the new Dashboards. Tell us what you think of the new Shareable Dashboards in the comments below!

How to Build a Best-in-Class Creative Team & More (Work Management Roundup)
Leadership 3 min read

How to Build a Best-in-Class Creative Team & More (Work Management Roundup)

BWelcome to the Friday Work Management Roundup, where we bring together the week's best reads on productivity and work. This week, we feature articles on how to build an internal creative agency, earn a 4-day workweek, unlock new ideas, and meditate for creativity. Not to mention many more lifehacks and work tips. Read on! How-To Articles: Build a World-Class Internal Creative Agency (Wrike): A free eBook and a comprehensive guide to finding the right talent, and building your creative team into a true strategic partner within your organization — not just "the people who design the website." Convince Your Boss to Give You Every Friday Off (FastCoExist): A 4-day work week is possible — but you'll have to do a little convincing to get Fridays off forever and make sure you bring your A game to the office. Unlock New Ideas (Fast Company): 10 ultra-creative people share their secrets to unlocking new ideas, from uncovering past experiences to constant trial-and-error. Transform Your Day with Meditation (Fast Company): Can meditation really lead you to more fruitful creativity? An initially skeptical writer tested the waters, and now she's talking about how it worked for her and how she hopes to make it a daily habit. Open All the Links For Your Project in One Click (Cloud Coach): A really simple browser trick! Save a set of sites that you use frequently into a folder of bookmarks, then open them with just one click with this quick tip. Engage Employees More Fully (When I Work): A good list of activities that will be sure to fully engage your employees, including: parties, trainings, learning lunches, and more. More Work Management Reads: The Project Management Guide for Beginners (Wrike) What Happens to Your Brain When You Eat Junk Food (And Why We Crave It) (James Clear) The billion-dollar aphorisms of Ray Dalio, who built the world’s biggest hedge fund by running it like a cult (New York) How an Accidental Email Sent to 33,000 People Created a 'Reply All' Nightmare (Entrepreneur) 25 Quotes Leaders Read Daily To Motivate Themselves (Employee Scheduling Pro) Finally Reach Inbox Zero: 4 Expert Solutions for Your Email Personality (Sidekick) 100 Fresh Blogs for Creative Professionals to Follow (Creative Boom) Follow "Social Project Management" on Flipboard If you use Flipboard on your mobile device, then follow our magazine Social Project Management for links to project management technology, PM techniques, and tips on collaboration and team management.

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