Agile Project Management vs. Process-oriented: Why Not Both? (Video)
Agile project management is all about breaking free of rigid, step-by-step processes and shaking off that old "How We Do Things Here" so you can embrace creativity and ingenuity. Throw those dusty, outdated process manuals out the window! Right? Not so fast. As our productivity coach Errette Dunn explains, the Agile project management triangle still requires clearly defined processes. In this 5-minute video, Errette discusses: the key difference between Agile and improvisation how you can be more Agile with the right process how to use your current process to keep from reinventing the wheel & make your team more efficient Watch the video now: Ultimately, the proper mindset is key. Always be conscious about the way you work so you can recognize opportunities for improvement. Related Reads:8 Attitudes Guaranteed to Sink Your Agile ProjectsIs Agile Viable for Marketing Teams?The 7 Wastes that Cripple Knowledge Workers (Video)
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The 3-Step Guide to Choosing the Right Project Management Methodology
There are an overwhelming number of project management methodologies, many of them combinations and hybrids of several approaches. With so many different options, how do you choose the right methodology for your project and team? We created a short Slideshare to walk you through it. Follow these 3 steps, and you won't have to rely on "eenie meenie miney mo" when it comes to choosing the best way to work. 3 Steps to Choosing a Project Management Methodology Once you're ready to dig into the specifics of top methodologies, download our free eBook The Beginner's Guide to Project Management Methodologies. It covers 16 popular approaches, provides key comparisons, and discusses the pros and cons of each practice. Want to stay up to date with all of our helpful Slideshare presentations? Follow us on Slideshare!
The Rules of the Project: Two Strategies for Aligning Means
Aligning the means between individuals, project and organization is a Herculean task for any Project Leader. The means are the rules of the project. The way things are done. Following are two strategies that can be used to align means. To provide you with some ideas on the project baseline. To start the discussion. Patterning – Going Through The Motions In essence, with this strategy the project team is told what the means are; the larger organization knows best. This idea originates from Jeff Sutherland in “Shock Therapy: Bootstrapping Hyperproductive Scrum”. If you have a new team that has no experience with Scrum, you will put a very experienced Scum Master in charge and he will set the rules. Relentlessly. Only a few rules, that make up the basics of Scrum, but they have to be followed with strong discipline. The Scrum Master will make sure this happens. Set the rules first, than, after a while, let go when it becomes natural. This is called “patterning”. Continuous Transparent Feedback A human system always communicates with its environment and based upon the feedback it gets from it, alters its behavior. If a group of animals will drink water from a well and one of the groups dies because of it, they entire group may search for a different well. If a company introduces a new product, and sees its stock plummeting because of it, it might change its strategy. It is therefore essential that the project members get continuous feedback on their own performance and the environment. This is where the use of analytics, metrics, “in-your-face” information visualization and plain old coaching comes in. By providing feedback to the team on how well they perform under the current project rule set, they will adapt to more effective means if needed.
Why Project Management Tools Are the Key to Great Customer Relationship Management
What is customer relationship management and how can project management tools help you take it to the next level? This post covers everything you need to know about elevating and building client relationships and the benefits of customer interaction management.
Understanding the Basics of Project Time Tracking
Project time tracking is essential for any company that works on multiple projects or clients. A time management tracker can help you monitor employee productivity and improve project costs. Learn about the basics of time tracking with Wrike.
Definition of Project Management 2.0
Today I would like to give a definition to the new term used by me in the title of this blog. I use the term Project management 2.0 to describe an evolution of project management practices inspired by Enterprise 2.0 tools. Traditional project management software implies project manager acting as a proxy in all project related communications, thus reducing productivity of project manager and the rest of the project team. New tools bring collaboration into the planning process, making the team much more productive and changing not only the technology, but process as well. Collective intelligence is not the only change agent in this process. Collaboration opens way to another successful practice, inherited from Enterprise 2.0 – emerging structures. Together these powerful principles determine key differences between Project Management 2.0 and traditional project management: Bottom-up planning is utilized much more often and much more efficiently Tools help to communicate and reduce unnecessary burden Instead of using one work-breakdown structure that is designed before the project is started, multiple structures might be applied and they can evolve on the way. Overall use of these techniques help to increase productivity in many teams, especially in the cases, when either project plans need to change often, or team members are not located in one office building, or project manager is involved in several project teams simultaneously. There are applications that bring Project management 2.0 practices to enterprises. Some of these project management tools, besides collaboration, may offer functions like reports, Gantt charts and overdue notifications. These features follow the progress of projects and increase project work productivity.
33 Selected Blogs Update: 11 More Blogs for Project Management Innovators
The post got over 220 comments and still counting! Some of you also pointed me to a few excellent resources that I didn’t mention in the general list. So in this post, I’d like to add another 11 blogs for project management innovators to my initial collection. 1. Instigator Blog is your destination if you are an entrepreneur or a software start-up CEO. The author, Ben Yoskovitz, writes on a variety of topics, but I especially liked his pieces on social media, start-up management and customer service. 2. pm411.org, written by Ron Holohan, is a great resource for the latest news on project management tools, tips, methodologies, etc. I’ve already mentioned in my previous post that what I personally enjoy about this site is how the author looks at the practical side of things and pays attention how the material he blogs about can be applied to real-life projects, including his own. 3. Web Strategy by Jeremiah Owyang is focused on defining and delivering user and community needs, business goals and technologies that help you develop successful Web programs. So this blog would be especially interesting for you if you are a Web-based software entrepreneur or work for a Web-based software start-up. You’ll hear about all kinds of useful things, like finding social CRM vendors, mobile blogging technologies and lots more. 4. I’m Not Actually a Geek is a blog written by Hutch Carpenter, a well-known evangelist of innovation and Enterprise 2.0. This is a not-to-be-missed resource for any innovator, as here you’ll find information on topics like how to accelerate innovation in your company or how to organize innovation management. There’s also plenty of interesting observations on the latest Enterprise 2.0 trends and technology. 5. How to Manage a Camel is about project management and recruitment. The blog features guest posts on a variety of project management topics, such as methodologies, soft skills, communication, etc. In addition, there are valuable pieces on how to build a successful project team and scale up your personal career in project management. 6. CottagePM.com is an unusual blog, as it mostly focuses on small-project environments. The author, Max Walker, MBA, PMP, is one of those project management professionals who have tried applying all the classic methodologies and techniques to his rather small projects, and it didn’t work. Max then paved his way to successful project completion by relying more on common thought processes. If this story sounds familiar, or if you also have to deal with smaller projects, rather than industrial megaprojects, than this blog is a must-read for you. By the way, if this is your case, I also recommend that you to take a look at my post “The Long Tail of Project Management.” 7. Torsten Koerting is a project management enthusiast who writes on all the things that interest him in life and how these things can be applied to project work. You’ll find Torsten’s fresh, creative thinking very helpful in your project management job. 8. ClearPM is your resource for in-depth knowledge for managing large IT and industrial projects, as well as good project management advice for dealing with less complex, smaller projects. The author, Brian Mossing, a seasoned project management professional with over 25 years of experience, tries to make project management clear and understandable for you. 9. Scope Crêpe is a blog by Rich Maltzman, PMP, and the founder of the "Fiddler on the Project." It represents the author’s unique point of view on different aspects of project management, as well as some project management trends. 10. Project — This rather simple name represents an interesting blog that can be your destination for how-to posts on the PMP certification exam, software project management, methodologies, as well as project management software reviews, all written to follow the four basic principles of the author: “be helpful,” “be interesting,” “be critical” and “be amusing.” 11. Reforming Project Management is your destination if you are unsatisfied with their present project management practices. If you feel that there’s a need for change, this blog will help you start your innovation journey. The resource is targeted at all project managers and people interested in this sphere, but it would be especially useful for design and construction professionals. It’s also a great place to get familiar with Lean Project Management. The list of the TOP 10 Blogs for Project Management Innovators is coming up! Stay tuned and don’t stop voting!
What Gilmore Girls Can Teach You About Project Stakeholder Management
Gilmore Girls is a feel-good, American TV show known for its rapid-fire dialogue. And yet its revival on Netflix can teach us valuable lessons in project stakeholder management. Grab a cup of coffee and read on.
Gantt Chart Software: A Key Tool For Project Management (Infographic)
When you're managing projects, it's all too common that tasks slip and releases get pushed back. To remedy the situation, you need to learn from your mistakes and improve planning in the future. Online Gantt chart software is a great way to help your team organize your schedule so that you hit every deadline on time. If you've never heard of or used a Gantt chart before, take a look at this infographic. It highlights the key ways you can use Gantt chart makers and proper project management to make sure work stays on track. Learn something new from this infographic, or want to spread the knowledge? Share this infographic on social media, or paste it on your blog using the code below: Infographic brought to you by Wrike Why do you use Gantt charts? If you're already using an online Gantt chart for your project management, tell everyone about it in the comments. How has work improved since you started using them? What are some tips to help make using a Gantt chart easier? We value your input in helping us teach people better ways to manage work. You can also get an in-depth breakdown of how to use a Gantt chart for project management here.
How to use Wrike thanks to the ease of use of e-mail API
If you are a developer you might wonder whether Wrike is extensible via some type of API. As of now we do not expose SOAP or REST services, but we do have extensibility through e-mail. The example of how you can use it might be useful not only for developers, but for managers as well. Let’s say your web-site allows a user to fill a form and provide some feedback. This feedback is then e-mailed by the website to the representatives of your company. You can easily let these people automatically get the feedback logged into Wrike as a task. Simply extend your code (with one or two lines) and add [email protected] to the CC recipients of such messages. The representatives who get the e-mail can re-assign it to somebody, track its progress and harness the full power of Wrike.
Secrets to Getting Projects Done in Less Time
The secret of efficiency in project management is pretty simple: You don't need to do everything; you need to do everything that's important. But with tight deadlines, lots of people and multiple projects, planning your time can be very tricky. Matt has first-hand knowledge of what it means to manage multiple project groups with their own goals, priorities and working habits. He knows precisely how crucial it is to have a clear picture of all projects to allocate resources between them, especially when you plan hundreds of tasks for a really large team. "At some point, we decided to bring all that to a system, rather than continue trying to work through the Outlook Calendar," comments Matt Bullock. In less than three months of using Wrike, Matt systematized all his team's tasks and projects in one place. After that, he implemented four project management rules that dramatically changed project planning for Base Camp Franchising and allowed the team to do more in less time with better quality. If you feel overloaded with tasks and stressed out by deadlines, Matt's experience can really help you out. These four rules revolutionized project management in Base Camp Franchising. If you face the same challenges of running multiple projects simultaneously, they might be helpful for your business, too. Here's what Matt advises: 1. Coordinate your team's efforts This may seem obvious, but in reality, too often people are overloaded with unstructured information when new tasks spontaneously appear from everywhere - via e-mails, phone, Skype, etc. Employees rarely see the whole picture of the project, so they're not aware of where the team's priorities stand, or their own definition of capacity in business. Consequently, they get out of sync in collaboration. We all have faced situations when, say, it took three days to complete a task, while there were only three people working on it for an hour each. When a worker isn't in the loop with what his peer does, he might have a wrong vision of priorities. People work on things that seem to be the most important for them, but the priorities may be different on the level of an entire project. To avoid misalignment in his team's efforts, Matt implemented Wrike project management software, which made collaboration in Base Camp Franchising absolutely transparent: "There are two things I like about Wrike. First, it gives me a list of to-dos within each project any time I need it. Secondly, it automatically sends notifications, so that not only me, but all other project contributors are always aware of what they need to accomplish and when." 2. There can't be too many experts We got used to the idea that too many cooks spoil the broth. However, with the impact of technology, this proverb doesn't really match modern collaboration. If your team is able to share information and communicate efficiently, involving experts can help you discover mistakes on earlier stages and avoid losing time on unpromising projects. "We have an outsourcing coder, and I'm able to pull in other subject matter experts on each particular project. We all work in the same environment in Wrike and thus manage to keep everyone in the loop. We involve more people and produce a better product because of that." (Matt Bullock) 3. Use technologies that save time Try to minimize the time you spend on collecting status updates and spreading the information between all collaborators. Instead, focus on the activities that add real value to the results you deliver to your customers. Matt highlights: "Instead of having long meetings in order to know how is the project going, in Wrike, it's like in Facebook, where you post a status on a task when something is happening, and you always know when something has changed or needs to be changed. That helps a lot!" 4. Be precise; it really helps! Project management is not only about managing projects, but also about managing opportunities. You should be ready to estimate your resources immediately when a new idea comes up. This way, you don't risk jumping into something that you are unable to accomplish before the deadline. Matt believes that the Gantt chart is the most efficient tool for making this tip work: "We use the Gantt chart, where we can easily see how much time we have and decide whether we are able to add a new feature or not. I can set task dependencies and milestones, so it's easy to plan to see how changes might influence everything." ___ Applying these methods to its project management practices, Base Camp Franchising improved its time planning and made collaboration more efficient. As a consequence, no change can knock the team off the course – it's now able to react way faster than before. Matt admits that Wrike has greatly influenced these improvements and supports his business a lot on the way to achievements. We welcome you to join one of our FREE Webinar, where you'll learn how Wrike can make your business more successful, too!
Take Control of Your Project Plan Calendar
There are many different ways to set up a project planning calendar template, and it's important for every leader to find an approach that works for their team's needs. Here are a few key considerations to bear in mind as you establish the schedule for managing a project.
