What Are the Essential Soft Skills for Project Managers in Hybrid or Remote Environments?
Much has changed about the way we work in recent times, with many of us leaving the office behind for good. Nowadays, roughly 25% to 35% of employees work from home, taking advantage of the benefits of remote work, such as skipping the commute. The flexibility of working remotely is attractive to many people, particularly those with childcare or pet care needs. Others prefer to have a foot in each camp, working remotely for part of the week, and at the office for the remainder. Today, almost one in two ‘remote-capable’ workers say they currently work in such a hybrid arrangement, and more than half anticipate moving in that direction in the future. There is still a certain amount of flux in this area, as both employers and employees seek to find the right balance in terms of time off- and on-site. Studies have shown that while some 83% of workers say a hybrid model is optimal, it does place a new responsibility on leaders to give employees resources and support tailored to their needs. In the world of project management, this can mean adapting the way we work to ensure collaboration, cohesion, and productivity across the board. Focusing on soft skills for project managers is one of the main ways companies can keep teams connected, wherever they are in the world. How to project manage in an evolving environment Project management is challenging at the best of times. Research indicates that despite a lot of hard work, only a quarter of all projects are delivered successfully. There are many factors that affect this, from unexpected delays to budget changes. Working remotely or in a hybrid model adds an extra layer of complication that project managers need to overcome. Many of the challenges will be familiar to us all these days: keeping teams connected and collaborating can be a struggle when some members are in the office and others are at home. Maintaining a strong company culture is tricky too, as employees experience disparate working experiences and develop varying priorities. Talent retention is also a hot topic at the moment – a record 4.5 million Americans quit their jobs in March 2022 – which means that keeping staff motivated and engaged is another major priority. So how should leaders in remote or hybrid project management tackle these problems? One solution is a shift in management styles. For decades, our skills have been honed to best serve face-to-face situations, in an office or on-site. Now, we need to adapt to better suit our new way of working. That means, in part, developing soft skills for project managers. What are soft skills – and why do they matter? Hard and soft project management skills are terms you’ve probably heard many times, at leadership meetings or during the process of recruitment. In a nutshell, a hard skill is your ability to carry out a specific task, while a soft skill refers to the way you work in order to perform that task. Soft skills are sometimes referred to as interpersonal behavior skills, because they mostly relate to how you interact with your colleagues. Most people gain them through experience rather than education: there is potential for learning in every interaction we have with each other. This makes soft skills transferable, which means you can take them with you and apply them in different situations, jobs, or even industries. Many people will put soft skills like dependability, teamwork, and problem-solving on their resumé to help catch a recruiter’s eye. In project management, hard skills like organization, planning, and delegating are necessary tools of the trade. Included under this umbrella would be technical skills in a specific industry, whether it be construction, marketing, logistics, or any other sector you find yourself in. While vital to effective delivery, hard skills are only one part of a project manager’s toolbox. Five top soft skills for remote or hybrid project managers Project manager soft skills are often more important in practice, as they dictate how a leader communicates and collaborates with their team. These are the human-to-human attributes that will help to support, encourage, and inspire success among colleagues. They’re essential at all times, but now more than ever, as we manage rapid change in the way we work. Here are five key soft skills that will help you deliver successful projects in remote or hybrid project management: 1. Robust adaptability Perhaps unsurprisingly, this is among the highest priorities for leaders in every sector this year. A study by EY shows that adaptability in the workplace — the ability to learn and unlearn — is critical to navigating new and novel situations, like managing a hybrid or remote workforce. It’s natural to feel discomfort with change, but tackling an evolving situation with a positive attitude and proactive approach makes for a valuable project manager in today’s climate. Embracing the opportunities that come with shifts in the status quo can lead to previously unimaginable advances or discoveries in the field of project management. 2. Heart-led leadership A project manager’s role is to bring together many different contributors and marshall their individual efforts towards one united goal. Strong leadership is even more important when team members are separated by time, distance, and circumstances. However, the days of tough love are over: nowadays, companies are looking for ‘heart-led leaders’ who show vulnerability, humility, transparency, and empathy in order to effectively support and engage their team. It’s about forging a real connection, not just issuing instructions or delegating tasks. 3. Advanced communication It goes without saying that communication is key in project management: without it, deadlines would be missed, budgets would be exceeded, and delivery would be jeopardized. With team members working in the office, remotely, or a hybrid of the two, communication as a skill has never been more useful. Collaborating, sharing resources, and increasing productivity are made easier with tools like the Wrike Remote Work Template, but often, it’s the individual communication style of the project manager that dictates the success of the message. Ensuring clarity, maintaining empathy, and keeping channels open are key. 4. Artful agility Roadblocks are a fact of life for project managers, and most are very familiar with working around them. Problems with a project can come from any direction, including stakeholders, colleagues, and external actors. Remote and hybrid work can add extra complications, so the ability to side-step issues, rethink plans, and course-correct quickly is a valuable one. So too is solution-based thinking, which will help the team move smoothly through a project’s life cycle, reaching its goal faster. This all makes agility a soft skill that’s very much in demand right now. 5. Emotional intelligence There was once a time when ‘feelings’ were considered irrelevant or even harmful to a business environment. Thankfully, that has changed, as we’ve come to understand that emotions can be used to energize, motivate, connect, and influence. Recognizing and harnessing this power makes emotional intelligence one of the most valuable soft skills for project managers in the modern workplace. This is particularly true of teams in multiple locations, when managers will need to look beyond metrics to see what is truly motivating an employee to do their best work, whether they’re pushing open the office door or logging in from home. Use Wrike to stay on top of remote or hybrid project management These soft skills for project managers are key to making a hybrid or remote workplace work for you. They work best, though, in a collaborative, efficient environment – the kind made possible by Wrike, the most powerful work management platform available to project managers. Built for teams and organizations in an office, hybrid, or remote environment, Wrike helps you plan, prioritize, and execute projects flawlessly, no matter where you are in the world. Real-time commenting, instant @mentions, and online collaboration software help everyone stay on the same page, communicating fluidly and progressing seamlessly. Customized workflows, adjustable Kanban boards, and powerful reporting keep stakeholders informed of each stage of your process – making your hard work visible to those who matter. Try Wrike for free today, and let our industry-leading platform show you the future of project management.
Project Risk Assessment (Ultimate Guide to Project Risk, Part 1)
BOOM! An asteroid has just collided with Earth. Luckily it was a small asteroid, so we’re all okay. Not so luckily, that lump of space rock landed smack in the middle of your project site. Your new construction, your server warehouse, your team headquarters — your whole project has been flattened to a pancake under a mountain of rubble. What now? Life is full of surprises, and even if you budget every penny and map out each milestone, project risk can sneak up and pull the rug out from under you. You can’t predict the future, but with this Ultimate Guide to Project Risk, you can prepare for it. We’ll tell you everything you need to know about project risk and how to manage risk in a project, including free resources so you can prepare for the next asteroid. Risky business: What is project risk, exactly? Here’s how PMI defines risk: “An uncertain event or condition that has a positive or negative effect on a project’s objectives.” Basically, risk is any unexpected event that can affect your project — for better or for worse. Risk can affect anything: people, processes, technology, and resources. Pay attention to this important distinction: Risks are not the same as issues. There can be positive risks in project management. Not every risk is negative or an issue. Issues are things you know you’ll have to deal with. You may even have an idea of when they'll pop up. (Think scheduled vacations or a spike in product demand just before the holidays.) Conversely, risks are events that might happen, and you may not be able to tell when. (Surprise! A key product component is on backorder and will arrive a week late.) They're slippery, and it takes some serious preparation to manage them. We can break project management risks down into five elements: Risk event: What might happen to affect your project? Risk timeframe: When is it likely to happen? Probability: What are the chances of it happening? Impact: What’s the expected outcome? Factors: What events might forewarn or trigger the risk event? Here's another way to look at it: Every time you back up files on an external drive or in cloud storage like Dropbox, you’re practicing risk management. The collapsible umbrella that lives in your bag rain or shine? That's risk management as well. Start applying that same proactive preparedness to your projects and nothing will shake you. Assessing project risk The first thing you'll want to do is prepare a risk assessment to get a better understanding of the kinds of risks you’re facing and their possible consequences. Here's a step-by-step guide: Step 1: Identify potential risks. Sit down and create a list of every possible risk and opportunity you can think of. If you only focus on the threats, you could miss out on the chance to deliver unexpected value to the customer or client. Ask your team to help you brainstorm during the project planning process since they might see possibilities that you don't. Step 2: Determine probability. What are the odds a certain risk will occur? It’s a lot more likely that a key team member will be out for a week with the flu than develop total amnesia. Rate each risk with high, medium, or low probability. Step 3: Determine Impact. What would happen if each risk occurred? Would your final delivery date get pushed back? Would you go over budget? Create a business impact analysis to determine the risk of each potential issue and identify which risks have the biggest effect on your project's outcomes, and rate them as high impact. Rate the rest as medium or low-impact risks. TIP: Start using a risk register to log and track risks. (You can create separate registers for threats and opportunities if you wish.) Include risk probability, impact, counter-measures, etc. How Wrike can help assess project risk Wrike has robust risk assessment and management tools to help you identify and plan for project risks. The project risk analysis template allows you to visualize potential risks, prioritize actions to mitigate them, and implement RAID logs into your workflow. Once you've completed your risk analysis, our AI Project Risk Prediction will monitor your projects for risks and assign them a risk level (low, medium, or high). If the AI finds risks, it will flag them in the Project Progress window for you to review and address. Once you have your risk assessment in place, you're ready to actually start managing the risk, which will be the next installment in this two-part series on the Ultimate Guide to Project Risk. Meanwhile, what are your best risk assessment tips? Share your wisdom in the comments section!
What It Means to Be a Digital Project Manager
Today's most effective project managers are the ones who have moved their teams and processes online. Using online project management, collaboration software, and cloud file storage systems, work is getting done efficiently and with better results. These digital project managers are the new faces of project management, and if you are looking to dive into the field, you need to start preparing now.
Tips to Create the Perfect Intake Process Template for Project Work
You’re sold on the benefits of setting up a work intake process template, but you don't know where to start. A well-defined project intake process template eliminates confusion by giving everyone a prescriptive set of steps that must be followed in order to request work from your team.
Everything You Need to Know About Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) Estimates
A rough order of magnitude estimate, also known as ROM, is an estimation of a project’s level of effort and cost to complete. ROM estimates take place early in a project life cycle and guide strategy and planning choices. In this article, you’ll learn more about ROM estimates and how they are used in project management. Plus, keep reading to discover examples and how Wrike could be used to assist in creating a template for your own rough order of magnitude. What is the rough order of magnitude? A rough order of magnitude estimate is a general estimate of a project's level of effort and cost. It's usually performed during the selection and approval stage of a project. Generally, it’s used for estimating a project budget that doesn’t have a lot of detail. Project estimating is a vital aspect of project management because it helps determine the total budget for the project and whether or not it’s feasible companywide. It also helps keep track of the project's milestones and budget at the very beginning (more on that later). A rough order of magnitude is most commonly used for project screening. ROM is typically meant to be given to executives who need a high-level overview of how much work might cost. This is especially helpful when they don’t yet have the mandate to do a deep dive into the scope and requirements of the work. Comparing the ROMs of different projects helps identify which projects should be prioritized and which ones should be shelved. It can also help uncover and prevent scope creep later on. This tool also helps decision-makers at other levels of the organization make informed choices regarding the project's complexity and costs. That information is critical for proper scope planning before project kickoff. It’s important to know that a ROM estimate is often used for information purposes at the beginning of a project and it’s suitable for use for the lifetime of the project. How to make a rough order of magnitude estimate Estimating a ROM is often thought of as an art. They are quick to make, but the trick is learning how to make them well. Those who are more experienced in coming up with these estimates may have their own way of executing this process. Regardless of how well you understand the rough order of magnitude, it is important to consider the various factors involved in developing one. These include: A guesstimate range of what resources the project will require based on the information you have on hand Opinions from experts and/or higher-ups who hold a stake in the project A variance of at least -25% to +75% Keep in mind that, when calculating ROM, the goal is to provide a rough estimate that is largely accurate even if it’s not necessarily convenient for your plans. By this, we mean you may find it tempting to choose figures on the more conservative side in order to achieve a more desirable outcome. Unfortunately, using inaccurate stats defeats the entire point of creating the estimation in the first place. Great research can help illuminate areas of your rough order of magnitude estimate where it may be tempting to let bias enter into the equation. All that being said, a ROM estimate's variance is not significant enough to deter you from creating one. A ROM estimate provides a starting point for moving forward in much the same way a budget estimate is also used to determine your base. For example, instead of just presenting single-point estimates, managers should present budgets as a range. Remember: the estimate is derived from the available information. If information is missing, you’ll have to make do with what you do know for sure and move forward from there. In fact, you can expect to improve the estimate as the project moves forward. During the planning and implementation phases, the requirements and information will be refined. As you go along, you’ll learn through trial and error what the reality of the project actually is. Rough order of magnitude techniques One technique for creating a rough order of magnitude estimate is known as a definitive estimate. A definitive estimate is a technique that involves estimating an individual project phase or task's level of effort. Planning with this information upfront makes it easier to plot out workloads on visual charts while keeping your team on the same page. This step typically takes a number of hours to complete, but it is a successful way to get an accurate idea of the time and cost of any project. Other popular techniques and procedures for estimating costs include PERT time estimation, COCOMO, and function point analysis. Program Evaluation Review Technique (PERT) PERT charts are used to plan out tasks that will take a certain amount of time to complete. They can also be used to coordinate team members. Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO)COCOMO is a regression model that can be used for estimating the various factors involved in tech and software project management. It is typically used for estimating the size, effort, cost, and quality of a project. Function Point Analysis (FPA)Function Point Analysis is a method of estimating a company's clear business significance. It helps in the evaluation, management, and control of software development. When estimating ROM, it is best to try and estimate in buckets of time and costs. Doing so helps minimize the number of, well, numbers that are required to provide a complete and accurate estimate. Rough order of magnitude examples There are two ways to think about estimating ROM. You can create effort ranges or buckets with approximate figures that any task can fit into. Alternatively, you can use historical data to guide decision-making. Here are some hypothetical rough order of magnitude examples: Creating buckets In this example, a project manager will define effort ranges such as small, medium, and large. Within each range is a total number of hours, personnel, and/or budget needed for tasks that fall in that category. For example, a small bucket may indicate that a task will take two to four hours and is relatively simple or affordable to complete. It all depends on the specific project. Here is a very simple example. Let's say you're considering eating a sandwich for lunch. You know that tasks such as spreading peanut butter and jelly onto two slices of bread would fall into the small category — low effort, low time, and perhaps even a single knife instead of two. However, if you noticed that you're currently out of bread and you know it would take 20 minutes to drive to the store, that task would fall into the medium category because it would take considerably more resources to complete when compared to the spreading task. Historical data Historical data means pulling information from past projects. These projects may have similar tasks, goals, or outlines. This information is good to have on hand in your project management solution. You can use data from projects that didn't go as well as you'd hoped in order to refrain from repeating his mistakes. You can also use data from projects that went above expectations to see where you can replicate those choices here. Let’s continue with our sandwich example. You may have found that in the past when you were craving peanut butter and jelly, it was worth it to you to make the drive. In fact, it also allowed you to run several other errands (a.k.a. projects) at the grocery store. Based on this historical data, you may find that, despite the effort involved, the payoff was worth it in the end. So choosing this path again will be profitable. First-hand experience First-hand experience refers to how experienced the person creating the rough order of magnitude is in this particular field, project type, or as a project manager in general. An expert who understands project management will likely come up with a more accurate ROM than someone on their first day of work. First-hand experience is valuable because you have plenty of anecdotal evidence to back up your estimations from other related projects. It's also helpful because it allows planners to be intuitive about the process and consider the people involved. For example, you may find that a particular supplier often experiences delays. Although the supplier representative promises otherwise, you've seen it happen time and time again. Knowing this, you can factor that into your rough order of magnitude. Now we’ve come full circle with our peanut butter and jelly project. You may have learned from first-hand experience that, despite your intense craving for it, these sandwiches aren't actually worth it for you. You may even have regretted eating them right after you finished and wished you’d opted for a turkey sandwich instead. Knowing this, you may draft an estimate that confirms the amount of resources and effort needed will not have the ROI expected and it would be better to not move forward with it after all. This information isn’t something you can necessarily track with a report. It’s simply a memory of what you’ve experienced in the past. Using this knowledge will help you make better, more informed decisions in your ROM with information you can’t find elsewhere. How to use ROM in project management Project estimation techniques help managers identify the most critical elements of a project and provide them with accurate estimates. These techniques can also be used to plan for resource allocation. It is important that you have an estimate in place before you start a project. Without an estimate, you may not know how long it will take or what resources will be needed. Cost is often one of the most challenging constraints in project management. Having enough money to complete the project is one of the most critical factors in managing it. Creating a ROM will help you understand whether or not it’s financially viable before you even begin. Another key component of a project is time. Having the ability to determine the duration of the work and when specific tasks will take place is very important to project planning. By estimating your project schedule, you can arrange for the people and resources that you need when they are needed. It also allows you to set expectations for the clients. You can create a rough order of magnitude for any project. But there are several project management situations in which it may be necessary to come up with a ballpark idea of what resources will be needed: Larger than normal projects where you will need to provide more detailed information about the project Projects that involve teams across different countries where there may be varying costs and exchange rates Projects that are customized to the client or unique to your team where the product or service is innovative and the scope of the project is being managed through Agile project management methods Even if your project doesn’t fall into one of these categories, a ROM can be used to determine whether or not it’s viable. This is helpful when you’ve got limited resources and more than one project to choose between. Using Wrike to create a rough order of magnitude template Wrike is a project management tool that streamlines the process of organizing, creating, and coordinating a rough order of magnitude. First, start by checking for any historical data from relevant projects you’ve successfully completed. All Wrike users have access to their own detailed project reports. If you have historical data, you can go straight to a more detailed cost figure. It will give you a more accurate and detailed estimate. If you don’t, continue creating your ROM. Then, start breaking the big components of the project down into smaller pieces. Some planners use the top-down approach or the bottom-up approach, both of which can be accomplished with the help of Wrike. A top-down estimating technique breaks down a project into discrete phases and tasks. This method works by estimating the overall time for the project, as well as the phases and work tasks that will be completed within that time frame. If a client tells you that the project has to be done in six months, a top-up approach allows you to estimate how much time you can dedicate to each activity within the project. A bottom-up estimate is a technique that works by estimating multiple tasks and aspects of a project. This step-by-step process combines the various estimates into one final project estimate. In project management, orders of magnitude are typically referred to as broad-brush categorizations of sizes. So use a range when adding in timelines for individual phases and expenses. Tip: don’t forget about project costs spent preparing the ROM and the project management itself. This will take up about 20% of your estimated total time allotted to the project. Next, go above and beyond by using Wrike to calculate risk. Project risk is a set of events that could significantly affect the quality or schedule of a project. It can be triggered by various factors such as unforeseen delays, budget cuts, and legal issues. By estimating the risks involved in a project, you can plan for how those risks will affect the project and develop a risk management strategy later on if you feel that the ROM is convincing enough to adopt the project. Tip: If you’re stuck, talk to your finance department to see if they can help you get a better idea of what things cost. Finally, consider what project planning may look like. Project planning for Agile projects is usually done in phases, with estimates being created initially before the beginning of the sprint. These estimates are then updated during the sprint. Estimation can also happen during a sprint retrospective, where you update the backlog based on the outcomes of the previous sprints. It can also be done during the sprint planning session. The project team is responsible for estimating projects and managing the estimates. They are also involved in the development of the project's documents and databases. Having one central hub for all project estimates makes it easier to organize and communicate your vision and ROM results. As you progress through the project, you should start to produce smaller ranges for accuracy. Over time you will reach a cap for each category that is both realistic and attainable. As the project details become more detailed, the accuracy of the ROM estimates decreases until they are no longer accurate. In conclusion The more data you have about your project, the better it is to draft current project estimates. A project estimation tool can help you build up estimates and track against actuals. It can also help you improve your estimates by recording errors and lessons learned. Discover how Wrike can help you improve your planning and execution with our free trial.
Bottom-Up Estimating in Project Management: A Guide
Need help creating the most accurate project forecast of all time? Look no further than bottom-up estimating. Bottom-up estimating in project management is a method of estimating project duration or cost by aggregating the estimates of the lower-level components of the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). In this article, we’ll dive deep into what bottom-up estimating is, the pros and cons of bottom-up estimating, and how it differs from a ‘top-up’ estimating approach. Explore more about this effective technique, along with the tool you‘ll need to master it. What is bottom-up estimating? Bottom-up estimating is a technique that helps determine the overall cost and timeline of a project. It works by gathering all the details of a project at the most minute level. It provides a better, more accurate forecast than other project planning methods because it allows managers to see every available element of the project before it even begins. How accurate is the bottom-up estimation technique? Because the bottom-up estimation technique uses every known factor to determine the project’s needs, it is considered more accurate than most other methods. When you have all the details related to a project before you begin, it is easier to determine: Where bottlenecks may arise (and how to banish them before they do) How to overcome a lack of project resources How your team can strategically navigate this particular project This is particularly effective when starting a project that is unique or new to your team and doesn’t have historical data to pull from. Pros and cons of a bottom-up approach in project management The pros of bottom-up estimating include: Highly accurate. Laying out the project's scope can be very challenging since it involves estimating the exact details of the project and the people involved in its execution. Bottom-up estimating allows team members to see all the components of a project in one place, and it saves them time and effort by estimating separately. Saves time. By estimating the work package in advance, a manager can make better decisions and avoid costly mistakes. It also helps avoid surprises down the road. Even though there is a large time investment up front, the idea behind the method is that it will prevent wasted time down the road. Reduces risk. A bottom-up estimate allows the manager to address issues related to the estimates without making significant changes. This allows the team to avoid making significant errors. Improves success. A bottom-up analysis also allows managers to implement strategies to help the team execute the project more effectively. A comprehensive bottom-up analysis also allows the manager to identify potential issues before they occur, which allows the team to react more effectively to those that arise. Increases productivity. The team's autonomy and control are also distributed through the various members of the team, which allows them to work efficiently. Bottom-up estimating cons: Not scalable. Bottom-up estimation requires project managers to start from square one on each new project. There are opportunities to pull details from related projects from the past. But the point of bottom-up estimation is to create a forecast based on the individual components of this particular assignment. Time-consuming. The project planning work is front-loaded. It can take days, weeks, or even months to gather all the necessary information. For teams with a high volume of incoming projects or staffing issues, this may not be ideal. Slow-moving. Bottom-up estimation is typically not done in a hurry and is therefore incompatible with last-minute projects or work that has a short timeline. Bottom-up vs. top-down estimating Bottom-up estimating is different from a top-down approach. In top-down estimating, management estimates the project based on the previous work on the same or similar projects. Bottom-up estimation is ideal for unique projects or work that is unlike anything the team has done before. Top-down estimation, however, is ideal for duplicate projects, recurring assignments, or work that needs to be completed ASAP. It’s also easier to templatize past project plans in top-down estimating than in bottom-up estimating. Bottom-up estimating example In its simplest form, bottom-up estimation looks at the individual costs and time duration required for each project task. For example, let’s say you own a wedding cake bakery. The last time you gave a wedding cake quote for a three-tier and several dozen cupcakes, you underestimated the cost and lost profit on the project. Now, you’d like to better estimate a brand new order to avoid making the same mistake twice. In this scenario, you would lay out the individual components needed for each baked good. Everything from frosting quantity to hairnets is factored in. You’ll also need to account for the time it takes to do the shopping, coordinate customer service, and more. Having all of this together on one list will make it possible for you to see the entire scope of the project and provide an accurate estimation this time around. Why you should use Wrike for bottom-up projects Wrike is a project management tool that allows users to create robust yet simple bottom-up estimates for work of any kind. First, Wrike allows you to lay out all of the tasks that are involved in the project. Wrike’s task feature offers individual task due dates, descriptions, assignees, and more. Once a task is assigned to an individual team member, you can also assign approvers and factor into decision-making time to your bottom-up estimate. Instead of asking for approval from everyone, the manager focuses on getting feedback from all team members. Wrike also makes it easy to identify the various skills and people needed to complete the assigned tasks using information already stored in your dashboard. Not only will you have the most qualified team members working on the right tasks, but you’ll also be able to balance out scheduling so that no one person is bearing the majority of the workload. Finally, Wrike's Gantt Chart offers a visual view of project progress that lets you keep track of all your work's phases and dependencies. With our tools, you can set milestones, link task dependencies, and provide a clear step-by-step explanation of your bottom-up estimation to stakeholders. Ready to take your project management strategy to the next level? Use Wrike’s two-week free trial today to create a highly accurate bottom-up estimation for your next project.
A Quick Guide to the MoSCoW Method Technique
The MoSCoW method is a prioritization technique used by project and campaign managers to work smarter not harder. In this quick guide, we’ll explain exactly what the MoSCoW method is, how it works, and provide some examples you can use to inform your own analysis. Keep reading to better understand the various categories within the MoSCoW method, as well as an alternative prioritization tool for project managers. What is the MoSCow method? The MoSCoW method is a technique used by organizations to communicate the importance and priority of the various requirements being met in various projects. This method is also referred to as MoSCoW prioritization and MoSCoW analysis. The term MoSCoW is an acronym that refers to the first letter of each of the four priority categories. It uses four categories, which are must-have, should-want, could-have, and will not have. While it’s meant to be used at the start of a project when time is on your side, it can also be adapted to work seamlessly for time constraints. Software developer Dai Clegg originally created the MoScoW method. Since then, many other leading companies have used it to get their team on the same page, properly distribute resources, and achieve project goals. How does the MoSCow technique work? The MoSCoW technique works by allowing teams to include multiple representatives from the organization in their project management discussions. This gives everyone a wider perspective on the organization's operations and where their collective priorities lie. Before you begin your MoSCoW method, think about which people can provide valuable context for your team. They can help you identify opportunities and threats, and they can help you make better decisions. Once finalized, the MoSCoW method will also force stakeholders to show evidence before they can submit additional work requests mid-project. Critics of MoSCoW often say that it does not include a comprehensive objective scoring system for all initiatives. This is a common mistake that many teams make. A weighted scoring method will more accurately measure the backlog against a set of predefined benefits and costs. One of the most challenging aspects of the MoSCoW technique is learning which categories their initiatives should go in. As the manager, you will need to know which of your team's initiatives are “must haves” for their product or which are merely “should haves”. You may even need to solicit feedback from a different department in order to get greater perspective on your current project prioritization. For example, a marketing department head may have greater insight into which selling points for your upcoming product launch are resonating more with buyers so that you can work on perfecting those components first. Another key idea about how the MoSCoW technique works is that it’s only effective if you follow it. This means that, once an initiative is placed into a category, the entire team needs to stick to that decision. Many beginner MoSCoW teams end up agreeing that an initiative should have been initiated, but they move on to the next step instead because it feels better or more familiar to them. Finally, when it comes to making decisions about prioritization, your team will need to have a consistent framework in place before you engage with this technique. A consistent framework for assessing and ranking all initiatives is critical if you want to avoid biases and falling into old patterns. Your team’s prioritization strategy helps set expectations across the organization. It lets them know that they have made the right decisions and weigh all the factors that go into making those decisions. Don’t be afraid to make your MoSCoW method results available to the rest of your organization if applicable. Understanding MoSCow prioritization categories Before the MoSCoW analysis can begin, all participants need to agree on which initiatives will be prioritized. It's important to discuss how to resolve disagreements in order to prevent them from holding up progress during this preparation stage. This can help prevent issues from happening in the first place. Once the framework has been established, it is time to start identifying the appropriate categories for each project. Here are the definitions and explanations of each of the MoSCoW prioritization categories: Must have Musts are defined as initiatives that are critical to the success of a project or product. These are usually non-negotiable and can be used to describe specific functionalities or solutions that need to be implemented. The “must have” category is challenging to define. Before you start, ask yourself if something is truly necessary in this category. Should have Although “should have” initiatives are not essential to a product or project, they may add significant value. A “should have” initiative is different from a “must have” initiative, which means it can be scheduled for a future release. Could have “Could haves” are initiatives that are not necessary to the core of a product. Projects that are placed in the “could have” category are often the first ones to be deprioritized when another project takes longer than expected. Will not have The MoSCoW method places several initiatives in a “will not have” category. This method allows you to manage expectations about what will not be included in a release or another timeframe. Putting initiatives in the “will not have" category can help prevent scope creep. This category shows the team that the project is not a priority at this specific time frame. Some initiatives are prioritized in the “will not have” group, while others are likely to happen in the future. Some teams then decide to create a subcategory for these initiatives. How is the MoSCoW method used in project management? The concept of MoSCoW allows project managers to prioritize tasks that can be done efficiently even when they have limited time. For example, if the team has a tight budget, it can use MoSCoW to determine which initiatives can be completed within those limitations. This is especially useful for managers juggling more than project or leading cross-functional teams. This is because cross-functional teams are sometimes obligated to another company or department’s priorities. While your team is working on a new product release, another project manager may have them on a tight timeline for another client’s goal. And, as we all know, things come up throughout the lifespan of a project. Although efficient planning helps teams remain agile, the MoSCoW method can make even the biggest and most unexpected roadblocks more manageable. MoSCoW examples This method can be used for nearly any industry or project type because it has to do more with project decision-making than the subject matter itself. Here are a couple of MoSCoW method examples you can use to get started with your first draft: 1. National College of Ireland’s website project In this example from a lecture on the MoSCoW analysis, Professor Eugene O’Loughlin demonstrates how to use this technique when building a website. The project goal in this example is to create a platform where users can securely log in and access files. Because of this, the tasks listed under their MoSCoW categories will look different from other standard website creation projects. For example, while another project may add “have an eye-catching design” to their should-have section, this particular website has added “password retrieval” because it directly applies to their security-oriented goal. Even if this website project could benefit from a great design, the MoSCoW method helps managers and teams laser focus on completing the highest priority activities first. If they have more time later on, they can potentially add a design improvement task to their “could haves” if they determine the ROI is high enough. Takeaway: Consider your project holistically when assigning priority. Your goals should be your north star for determining what is or is not truly important, regardless of what conventional wisdom says to do. 2. Slideteam’s Assessing HR Requirements Template This is one of the MoSCoW examples that shows how many different types of tasks this technique covers. Here, we see storing employee leave history as a must, leave letter printing a should, notifications for pending leave dates a could, and remote access a won’t. In HR, many of their decisions around prioritization will be made by compliance and legal counsel that they must adhere to. Still, it’s important to define these tasks and their MoSCoW label so that employees understand at a glance that it’s less important to set up leave notifications and more important that they update employment histories in their software. Takeaway: The MoSCoW method can be used to cover many different aspects of projects including compliance and procedure. How to undertake a MoSCoW analysis using Wrike Wrike is a project management software that allows users to strategize how they prioritize their portfolio of projects as well as the tasks within each individual initiative. Using visual tools such as road maps that show what progress will look like from kickoff to completion, managers can easily see which of their chosen MoSCoW analysis configurations work best for achieving their goals. Wrike also allows you to centralize all of your project planning in one central location. You can view potential resource conflicts across projects, individual task progress statuses, and automate tasks from your should or could have categories that you otherwise wouldn’t have time for. Ready to get started with the MoSCoW method and Wrike? Sign up for a two-week free trial today.
A Definitive Guide to Choosing IT Metrics
A metric is a unit of measurement. In project management, for example, metrics are used to track progress based on goals or critical success factors. In this guide, we’ll teach you everything you need to know about IT metrics and why they are so important. Keep reading to discover what standard IT metrics are, how to choose your IT metrics, best practices for choosing, and potential challenges when working with them. Stay tuned until the end to discover a project management tool you can use to define, monitor, and analyze your IT metrics. What are the standard IT metrics? Standard IT metrics are the quantifiable values used by IT industry leaders to measure the value of technology, productivity, and output to the business. They help them manage the business of IT PMO and demonstrate how technology can improve the bottom line. Here are the must-know terms: Time to resolve Time to resolve is the shorthand for MTTR (mean time to resolve) and refers to the average time it takes to resolve a failure. SLA breach rate SLA stands for Service Level Agreement and a breach refers to a break in that agreement. The SLA breach rate defines the total monetary fee for violating the contract terms. User satisfaction The user satisfaction score is a widely-employed metric that measures how much respondents do or do not enjoy a product or service. The survey asks respondents to rate the level and typically uses a small scale such as 1-10, with higher numbers meaning more satisfaction and lower numbers meaning less satisfaction. Cost per contact The cost per contact is the sum of all costs involved in running a contact center. It is often divided by the number of contacts that were handled. Service availability Service availability is the percent measurement of how accessible a service is during the time when you promised to keep it. It typically refers to digital products and software. Incident counts Incident counts are the number of reports made to the service desk regarding issues with the product. Downtime Downtime refers to the total amount of time a product is not available to users for events such as scheduled maintenance or security threats. How to choose IT metrics As you can see, there are a lot of IT metrics to choose between. Like with any professional services management project, the key is to make sure that the metrics you choose are aligned with your goals. There are two main categories of metrics: service and operations. IT service metrics: IT service metrics are the process of applying knowledge and expertise to enable organizations to improve their operations. They often provide resolutions for issues that users experience when using the product. IT operations metrics: The mission of the IT operations department is to provide the necessary tools and services to enable organizations to manage their hardware and software. This includes the development and deployment of software and hardware solutions. Best practices for choosing your IT metrics If our goal is to achieve a specific outcome, then choosing IT metrics that help us evaluate how well we're executing our strategy makes sense. However, many metrics are neglected simply because they don't match the goals of the product or the organization. In order to choose your IT metrics, you’ll need to start by learning more about which ones correspond with your next big project management goal. From there, you’ll want to narrow down your top choices to only the IT metrics that directly tie back into your benchmarks. It’s also good to think about how the IT metrics you’ve chosen may affect how your team works. In general, choosing IT metrics may motivate employees to work faster. Known as the observer effect, simply seeing how they are being measured in real time will increase the speed of their output. But when it comes to influencing behavior, you may find that a particular set of IT metrics will push your team in a direction you don’t want them to go in. So make sure to consider the real-world impact these goalposts will have on your unique team. The challenges of choosing IT metrics Hyperfocus on metrics When choosing IT metrics, we should be aware that we are not adding more goals on top of those we already have. Instead, IT metrics serve as a tool to quantify progress made toward the PMO’s goal. They are not goals in and of themselves, even if we plan to improve their numbers. Focusing too much on the IT metric progress may actually waste resources in the long run. Lack of balance As Bill Graff, SVP & CIO, Cerner Corporation, told The Enterprisers Project, managers will have to strike a balance between internal and external IT metrics. “To show IT’s real value to the organization, you need two sets of metrics,” shared Graff. “One internal-facing set focused on how you run your business on a day-to-day basis. This should include metrics such as turnaround time on support tickets, vulnerability remediation, budget adherence, and uptime/availability. The other set of metrics is external-facing. These metrics describe how the consumers are using your services, their satisfaction, and how they add to the company’s bottom line.” Overly complex management Another one of the challenges of choosing IT metrics is complexity. The complexity of an organization’s adaptive systems makes it hard to determine which metrics are right for you. Most of the time, they cannot measure cause-and-effect behavior. Yes, it’s easy to create dashboards with metrics. But applying too many at one time will increase the complexity of our system and make our dashboards less useful. Using Wrike as an ITSM solution A good IT service management tool such as Wrike provides high quality and timely planning, reporting, and monitoring. All of this combined enables other teams and individuals to perform their jobs more effectively. Wrike’s tailormade ITSM template is the most commonly used framework to provide a base configuration and a sample data set. But it also provides support for Agile teamwork, project management performance monitoring, and complex projects with phases. You can use Wrike's predefined folder structure to create a hierarchy that takes into account what your team does and what type of work they deal with each day. Wrike also lets you keep track of all your tickets and IT project management issues and review all of your progress reports. These reports combine with visual dashboards that detail all of your team’s work alongside your chosen IT metrics so you can compare progress against these data points. Not to mention that you can seamlessly manage multiple open projects and requests in one centralized location. Ready to start using IT metrics to achieve your goals? Get started with organizing team workload and tracking these important KPIs using Wrike’s two-week free trial.
6 Project Management Trends to Expect in 2022
Project management will undergo significant changes this coming year. Worldwide physical and cultural events are shaping every new project management trend happening in the industry. They may even be transforming the entire project management discipline. Keep reading to stay in the know about some of the most notable changes, alongside our predictions for what to expect in the near future. What are the current trends in project management? While we all want to see into the future of project management trends, these current industry ideas are sure to influence project management teams for months to come: Improving communication across blended teams Effective communication skills are required to stay motivated during and after the pandemic. This means having the necessary tools and expertise to work remotely. Today’s project managers must learn how to use systems that overcome the challenges of working from home. Not only does improving communication increase productivity, but it may also improve mental health in the workplace after the pandemic. Maximizing the effectiveness of hybrid and remote work Even after the global pandemic has subsided, the hybrid work model will still be a staple of business moving forward. There are many advantages to having face-to-face interaction with employees. However, this interaction will require the use of new technology and strategies to manage it properly. Embracing Agile as a means to combine strategy with output In 2022, companies will need to ensure that their teams are Agile and fast-moving. Instead of having a one-size-fits-all framework, teams will need to have the knowledge and experience necessary to choose strategic frameworks that fit their needs. Over the past year, more companies have started using Agile methods to improve their project management processes. We would expect them to increase their usage in the coming years. A prediction of future trends in project management Based on our experience and research, we believe that the following future trends in project management are worth exploring. Use each one to better understand your goals for the upcoming year and what the industry may look like in a few months' time. 1. Fully remote project teams The onset of the coronavirus pandemic forced many organizations to rethink their work-from-home policies. As a result, many workers in the US have shifted to working from home full- or part-time. That means project management is no longer confined to the typical office. Some tasks are more easily carried out when team members are located close to one another. For instance, team building exercises are less time-consuming when done face-to-face. Despite the challenges, remote work has many advantages that can help organizations attract and retain top talent. For instance, it allows employees to work from anywhere in the world. Alongside that, full-time employees are increasingly working as members of dispersed, global teams, communicating and coordinating via online software and apps. Technology plays a huge role in that. Meetings are held via Zoom, tasks are tracked in a project management tool,and schedules are developed and delivered to team members entirely online. Since the rise of remote work is likely to continue, project managers need to find ways to reduce friction and make their work more efficient. So the question to ask yourself is: can you improve your projects by bringing on freelancers or remote workers? If the answer is yes, don't hold back because of technology complications — the right tech exists to support you. 2. An increased dependency on project management tools Project management has always been a tool for carrying out goals and managing risk. Over the years, however, its scope has broadened to encompass a wide range of activities and initiatives. Project management tools help organizations execute their strategy but they can also be used to manage the portfolio and the various tasks related to that strategy. Doing so will help them make more informed decisions and improve their organizations' progress on key goals while providing more value. There are external project management trends affecting our dependence on these tools too. As the world changes due to the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning, project management will be affected by the need to collect and analyze vast amounts of data. Exactly how this will play out is difficult to predict but most experts agree that it will be unavoidable. 3. A focus on enhanced collaboration The true digital transformation of project management should be complete by the end of 2022. We’re referring to relying on online tools for collaboration and coordination between teams, and not just complex back-and-forth email exchanges. New remote, hybrid, and flexible working options allow employees to work wherever they want, while employers benefit from the higher quality output of their workers. Despite the advantages of distributed teams, it can be very challenging to promote collaboration among the employees. In an effort to solve this issue, many companies have started implementing online project management tools. For example, some teams use multimedia conferencing so that remote workers can still meet and communicate with their in-house counterparts. Others use project management software such as Wrike to plan, schedule, and monitor progress across all active initiatives. No matter which tools you choose to use in 2022, one thing is clear: learning how to work well with others despite physical barriers will continue to be essential as we continue to deal with the global pandemic. 4. Understanding different types of soft skills Project managers typically need a certain level of expertise in various areas of operations in order to be successful in their roles. However, without the right combination of soft skills, they may not be able to effectively manage people and produce the best results. First and foremost, the ability to communicate expectations and work well with all parties involved is very important. This is why soft skills such as empathy, decision-making, and leadership are critical to a project's success. A project manager who has these abilities plays a critical role in improving the entire team’s performance as both a model for behavior and setting the tone for workplace culture. Because at the end of the day, the project manager will determine the level of cooperation between the team members until the project is finished. Wondering how to stay ahead of the curve and improve your own soft skills? Here are some tips to practice: Don’t make assumptions about what others are thinking and feeling. Encourage discussion and always get important project details in writing. Encourage employees to be themselves, contribute to project planning, and express their personalities. Connect on a deeper level with individual team members by asking questions about their life outside of work. Learn how to properly apologize and resolve an argument for yourself and for others. Be open to feedback. You can always learn and improve. 5. Emphasis on avoiding physical and mental stress In 2022, we predict you'll be more challenged by employee development than employee retention, requiring your new team members to settle in faster with optimized training programs and work delegated to new team members sooner. Avoiding physical and mental stress will be a large part of keeping employees happy, healthy, and on your team. You may not realize it but there are a lot of ways you can make work smoother for your entire team. Here’s how: Set clear expectations with goals and deadlines This method would allow your team members to focus on the things that they're good at and not on the things that they're not good at. It would also prevent them from accidentally repeating the same exercises or processes. Offer schedule flexibility Everyone wants to work more flexible hours. This is why it is important to allow your team members to work without being monitored often. They can only complete their work once specific deadlines have been met. Address issues, if they ever come up, and focus on making work easier for everyone involved. You can also provide more freedom in terms of where employees can work from. Offer at least one work from home day per week or month. Or, if your employees are local and have been entirely remote, give them a desk to come in and work from if they ever need it. Make fitness part of workplace culture Your staff members should take time to exercise. Some ways to ensure this include offering some assistance through onsite yoga classes, walking meetings, or even small activities such as a group stretching session every morning. Offer more praise than criticism Great managers recognize the efforts of their team members. They can either congratulate them on a great job in private or make a small announcement about their achievements during a weekly meeting. Even a small acknowledgment of someone’s hard work can make a big difference in how they feel about the project so far. 6. A continued concentration on Agile methodology Agile development is a set of principles that enables developers to get started with projects without having to learn how to manage traditional tasks and processes. With Agile, teams can easily break down a project into multiple stages, allowing them to manage the work seamlessly. It also allows them to collaborate more effectively with project stakeholders. Not only is it more adaptable—a must now that we’re seeing a renewed importance on remote work flexibility and increased attention on how we collaborate—but it’s also completely customizable. How Wrike will help with project management in 2022 Wrike is a project management tool built to bring teams into the future of work with all the support they need to get ahead of new project management trends. That includes managing complex project phases, communicating across teams and departments, and collaborating seamlessly. Managing complex project phases Complex projects require a phased approach to ensure they meet expectations and budgets. They also require a team effort to identify and understand the various dependencies that could affect the project's success. The Complex Project With Phases template by Wrike simplifies the management of large, complex projects. It features a variety of predefined phases and tasks, and it can be viewed in the project chart view. Communicating across teams and departments Communication is a vital component of a successful project, especially when juggling hybrid and remote teams. Without a good communication plan, it’s easy for misunderstandings to happen between the teams and departments. This template will help you build a consistent cadence for communicating with the team and stakeholders. Use it to create a project schedule to keep track of all the updates that are needed by each stakeholder. Collaborating with everyone involved With more people working remotely, the need for effective collaboration tools is more important than ever. The good news is that thanks to Wrike, teams can work seamlessly from anywhere. Use Wrike to create a digital workspace that's organized and secure in the cloud. Our project management platform is ideal for securely storing all your files and details with individualized permission settings. Teams can work more effectively with others through Wrike’s custom-field request forms and tools. Wrike’s tools will also help you cut down on emails and make suggestions in real time. Get a jump-start on your 2022 project management with Wrike’s two-week free trial.
What is Takt Time & Why Does it Matter?
Even though it’s a simple concept, takt time can be a very powerful tool for project managers who need a more productive strategy. Knowing the exact production rate of a project will help you avoid running out of time or resources. It will also help your organization increase profits and better serve customer needs. In this article, we’ll answer all of your top questions about takt time along with examples, benefits, and more. What is takt time? Takt time is a formula that enables you to manage every step of the manufacturing process efficiently and without waste. The total represents the time it takes to make a product to meet a customer's demand. It does not include unsupervised work time such as lunch breaks or scheduled maintenance. Takt time is a German term created by airplane manufacturers in the 1930s that means "to regulate the tempo" or "to play" music, which makes sense considering the symphony of complex steps needed to complete most projects. Manufacturers use the calculation to control the speed of their production lines. But it can also be used by project management offices and marketing managers to efficiently pace out initiatives. This calculation allows businesses to effectively create supply without leaving too much inventory on the market. Takt time also shows the rate at which a finished product should be produced which improves the accuracy of project planning and setting clear expectations. Additionally, takt time helps to monitor the efficiency of a production line once it is up and running, as well as the performance of the entire process, to ensure that waste is removed. All in all, it’s useful for both managing time and predicting any future production issues. Takt time can be used in any phase of project planning to improve productivity. Because takt time makes it easier to adjust competing project schedules without losing progress on either, managers will often use takt time to maintain a continuous flow of products without wasting any resources. Project management solutions such as Wrike are great for tracking takt time and improving resource management. The goal is to get rid of the non-value-adding activities that we don't need to complete. This makes it a strong incentive to get rid of those tasks that are not related to the work in order to improve takt time. Wrike has several features that assist with this, including time tracking, visual project planning charts, and reporting. How to calculate takt time It's important to know the exact takt time of your product to avoid wasting it. The good news is that calculating takt time is relatively simple. Knowing the time it takes to meet a customer’s demand is not rocket science. This data can be pulled from your project management tool’s report features to help you make informed decisions about how to manage your team’s workloads across an entire portfolio of active projects. Monitoring takt time can make a significant difference on success during the lifecycle of a project. For example, when the demand for takt time rises so much that it has to come down, managers can reorganize activities to fit into the shorter takt time. Here’s the simple formula you can use to accurately calculate takt time: Takt time = the total number of available working hours divided by customer demand. Tip: In order to get the most out of the lean process, it’s important to break down the production into smaller cycles. Then, compare the takt time for the total project to the individual cycles to get a more accurate estimate. Takt time example Using the takt time formula, we can look at a simple example of how to calculate and understand the results: Let’s say there are eight working hours in a day. Right now, customers demand one item that takes eight hours to make. The takt time equals one working day. Some will break down those hours into minutes and calculate minutes per item creation. In this example that would be eight hours x 60 minutes or a takt time of 480 minutes. If there are any breaks, meetings, administrative tasks, or work unrelated to the direct project outcome within that eight-hour period, you’ll have to subtract the average minutes from that total for your takt time calculation. What are the benefits of takt time? Takt time is a popular project management tool for a reason. Whether you want to master leads and lags or simply manage incoming work requests without derailing progress in other areas, then takt time is for you. Here are the benefits of takt time you can achieve regardless of your industry: Create efficient processes Takt time helps Scrum project managers measure exactly how much they’ll need to shave off of production time in order to meet customer demand. With this in mind, they can find new methods for task scheduling, planning, and execution. Instead of overhauling the entire process, they can instead focus on the areas that need the most improvement and go from there until they meet their goal. Eliminate or reduce waste Takt time is all about efficiently using project resources. When you’re focused on improving productivity to reach a specific time goal, it’s easier to identify which resources can be used in smarter ways. If you’re using a project management tool, this can look like finding roadblocks ahead of time or sending automated notifications to team members once it’s their turn to begin their portion of the project. Strategically manage inventory Customer demand ebbs and flows throughout the year for many industries. By using takt time, managers can accurately forecast so that their production aligns with customer demand, saving time and money on wasted output. Manage time wisely Takt time is best for deciding where you should invest more or less time as a team. Many managers who use takt time often find and eliminate bottlenecks in their process that they may not have found otherwise. Set the right pace Takt time helps managers holistically set the pace for multiple ongoing projects. As you receive incoming work requests, experience delays, and manage customer expectations, you may find that some projects must be slowed while others are rushed in order to adjust. By using takt time, you’ll be able to properly pace out initiative while keeping everything on course. Are there limitations of takt time? Takt time, like any project management strategy, does have its limitations. Over the course of an active project, the task hierarchy has to be leveled to make sure that the tasks are not bulked in front of certain phases. This prevents the action plan created from the takt time calculation from being flexible as a whole. Also, the concept of takt time does not take into account the human factors that happen during certain processes, such as a team member needing a longer lunch or PTO. This means that the demand must be leveled in order to make the processes more efficient. Takt time vs cycle time vs lead time While cycle time and takt time are both commonly used by lean practitioners, they measure different things. Cycle time is the time it takes for the team to complete a task or order from start to finish. Takt time is the time it takes to finish a product to meet demand. For example, if a customer orders a new product every hour, the team needs to finish it in an hour or less. That means the takt time must be less than an hour. If the team takes longer than an hour (the cycle time), then the process will need to be streamlined or minimized in order to align with the takt time. People also tend to confuse the terms cycle time and lead time, which are both lean metrics. Lead time is the time it takes for a customer order to be fulfilled. And, as we’ve already mentioned, cycle time is the time it takes for a team to complete a task. For example, if a single customer order takes five hours to fill but the team needs six hours instead, they’ll need to adjust their own timeline to meet the customer demand (takt time). And unlike takt time, which refers to meeting customer demand, lead time focuses instead on individual order fulfillment. Still not sure what the difference is between takt time vs cycle time vs lead time? Here’s a handy summary: Takt time = how long it takes to meet customer demand in general Cycle time = how long it takes for a team to complete an order or project Lead time = how long it takes to fulfill an individual customer’s order In conclusion A production system that is designed to provide continuous flow and value for the customer is ideal for minimizing waste and producing high-quality results. Wrike offers features such as visual project status dashboards and teamwide time management that make it easier to analyze and adjust your takt time. Start your free two-week trial of Wrike and begin mastering this powerful project management tool today.
8 Project Management Infographics You Have to See
You just became a project manager, or you've been in the field for a while but you're ready to learn more. These great project management infographics from sources all over the net provide interesting education for PMs and PM-wannabes. Check out all these infographics and learn something new about how to define a project. 1. Bust some project management myths you probably believe Myths about remote collaboration, PM certification, paperwork, meetings, and project failure. This infographic busts 5 common myths with cold, hard facts. See the 5 Project Management Myths Infographic. 2. Learn the basics of being a project manager Ever wonder what steps are involved in each project management decision? This infographic breaks down the four important considerations for project managers: scope, resources, timeline, and budget. See the Project Management Level: Legendary infographic on Pinterest. 3. See how to balance hard and soft skills for better project management Discover both the hard skills and the soft skills you need to be a successful project manager, complete with advice on how to improve in those areas. See the Balance of Hard Skills & Soft Skills infographic on Pinterest. 4. Choose between different project management methodologies Once you're working on projects, you'll need to decide which methodology you want to adopt for your team — and Agile or Waterfall project management are not the only options. This infographic covers 16 popular PM methodologies. See the 16 Popular Project Management Methodologies infographic. 5. Know the common causes of conflict in project management You're going to be a project manager, and you're going to have a team of people that will not always get along. It's important to be aware of the most important causes of conflict so that you know how to battle them when they rear their ugly heads. See the Causes of Conflict in Project Management infographic on Pinterest. 6. Everything you need to know about PMOs Who uses PMOs? What kind of challenges and benefits do PMOs bring to their companies? Learn all this and more in a simple infographic. See the What is a PMO? infographic. 7. A rundown of Gantt charts You keep hearing about Gantt charts, but you aren't really sure what they do or why you would use them. This infographic breaks down the history, anatomy, and benefits of Gantt charts for your project planning. See the What is a Gantt Chart? infographic. 8. Lessons in project failure from the Death Star Projects fail. It happens. The best way to bounce back is to learn from those failures. Learn vital lessons from the management mishaps of the Death Star. See the 10 Reasons Projects Fail: Lessons Learned from the Death Star infographic. Which is your favorite? Which infographic is your favorite? Or what new infographic would you like to see us create? Let us know in the comments.
7 Stakeholders To Consult Before Starting A New Project
When starting a project, there are plenty of things to do: planning your schedule, plotting dependencies and milestones, finding the right tools, setting up your budget and allocating recourses. But one of the most difficult (and important) tasks is finding the right people to work with. After all, the success of your project doesn't only depend on your funds, goals, and ideas. Consulting the right stakeholders from the very beginning can make your project run more smoothly and result in better outcomes. Here are 7 people you should work with to make your project a success. 1. Users Who could be more important to consult than the very people who will use the product of your project? Find out their expectations and requirements — the more details, the better. If you are aiming your project at a particular group of users, your top priority should be making sure your project delivers something of great value to them. 2. Subject Matter Experts In most cases, SMEs are either IT or engineering staff, but it can be anyone who possesses the skills or expertise you need: technicians, architects, data analysts, developers, business analysts, testers, IT team and more. 3. Finance Team Having a clear picture of your finances is a very important part of project management. A good finance team can review your budget plan, check your models, and help you with any issues that may arise, like staff rates, formulas, etc. Additionally, they can help you put together a business case for the project you are working on by reviewing your benefit assumptions. 4. Senior Management When you decide on your objectives and project strategy, always consult with senior management to make sure your project is in alignment with overall business goals and objectives. It's also a big step in securing project sponsors who will be engaged in your project's success. 5. Legal Team If you're working on a new feature or security upgrade, you need to be proactive in discussing potential legal issues. Even if you are informed on all the legalities for your project, there is always a chance that you are not aware of upcoming changes to codes of practice. Luckily, a legal team can not only inform you on what you should expect, but will also deal with compliance and issues of any legal kind. 6. PMO Resource allocation, estimates, templates, models — seasoned project managers can help you identify best practices and find similar projects whose success you can learn from. Project management offices typically have searchable databases that you can look into to find all the information you need. 7. Yourself Listen to your gut! Your experience is a valuable resource — along with that of your project team. Draw on all of it to create the best possible strategy to execute the project and achieve your goal. Author Bio: Kate Simpson is a professional writer and editor. She works for assignment help team where she is a senior content creator for various projects and also manages an editing team.
Why You Need to Record Your Project Management Lessons Learned: Tips & Templates
You've checked off the last few tasks on your to-do list, submitted the final deliverable, and shaken hands with a group of happy stakeholders. Time to congratulate your project team on a job well done and pop the champagne! Wait, what do you mean the project's not finished? Record lessons learned?? Groan. It can be tough to make time for any retrospective when many urgent new tasks and projects are waiting. And if your team has already moved on to new work, it can be like herding cats to get everyone in the same room again. However, the benefits of recording project management lessons speak for themselves: you can identify best practices for future use and share them with the rest of the company so everyone can learn from others' experiences. Your life gets exponentially easier going forward, and your company becomes more competitive. This article includes a simple how-to guide, along with the downloadable "Project Management Lessons Learned Document" templates at the end, to make the process of recording project takeaways quick and painless. The Importance of a Learning Culture Recording lessons learned is not just a task to be checked off at the end of a project. It's a crucial part of fostering a learning culture within your organization. When teams see the tangible benefits of learning from past projects, they're more likely to embrace continuous improvement and strive for excellence in every project. Creating a learning culture in project management can result in benefits you can appreciate for years. Best Practices for Recording Project Management Lessons Recording lessons learned in project management is a crucial practice that helps in refining project strategies, avoiding repetitive mistakes, and continuously improving team performance. Here are some best practices for effective documentation of project management lessons. Make it a Regular Practice: Don’t wait until the project's end to document lessons learned. Make it an ongoing practice throughout the project lifecycle. This ensures that insights are captured when they're fresh and most relevant. Encourage Open Communication: Foster an environment where team members feel comfortable sharing their successes and failures. Open communication leads to more comprehensive and honest insights. Be Objective: When documenting lessons, focus on the situation and the outcome, not on individuals. This helps prevent the process from becoming personal and encourages objective analysis. Categorize Lessons Learned: Organize lessons into project planning, risk management, or communication categories. This makes it easier to reference and apply the lessons in future projects. Use a Standardized Template: A consistent format ensures that all necessary information is captured. This should include the situation description, lessons learned, and recommendations for future projects. Review and Apply Lessons: Regularly review and incorporate the documented lessons into your project management practices. This ensures that the team benefits from past experiences and continuously improves. Remember, the goal of recording project management lessons is to build a knowledge base that contributes to the success of future projects. How To Identify & Record Project Management Lessons Learned 1. Don’t save it all for the end of the project. Attach quick review meetings to project milestones to support continuous learning. Periodic reviews are known to have a positive impact on team motivation, since they'll directly benefit from the lessons learned instead of altruistically passing on tips to other teams. This also means you'll get better quality insights, as people aren't trying to remember what happened weeks or months ago. Plus, it's easy to gather everyone while the project is still active. (This is especially true with contract workers or consultants, who typically scatter once a project ends.) The importance of recording project management lessons will become clear as we work through the rest of the steps. 2. Focus on why and how. A lessons learned document isn’t simply a report or description of the project’s results. Go deeper: what problems did you encounter and how did you solve them? What cause-effect relationships did you notice? What insights did you pick up into how work processes could be improved? 3. Emphasize successes. Which strategies and procedures contributed to success? Knowing what worked well is just as helpful as knowing what didn't! Answer these questions: What should we start doing? What should we stop doing? What should we keep doing? What's still causing us trouble? 4. Evaluate each stage of the project. If you're stumped on where to start, discuss these aspects of the project with your team to get the conversation going and make sure you hit all the important points: Project planning Defining scope & requirements Resource and budget management Risk management Reporting Testing/Revisions Stakeholder communication Team communication Quality of meetings Quality of final project outcome 5. Find consensus. Your whole team should agree on the lessons learned, and everyone should contribute. The people personally involved in the work are the ones with the insights you need! 6. Make takeaways actionable and widely applicable. Once you’ve collected lessons learned with your internal team, you need to repackage them for general use and apply them to your future work. They shouldn't be so specific that they don't pertain to new projects, or so generic that they confuse people. Create a preliminary plan: what would improvements look like, and who would be responsible for making them happen? 7. Make your conclusions accessible. Wouldn't it be a shame to reflect and record lessons learned only to have your insights lost or forgotten? Set up a knowledge base or an intranet where every team can store their lessons learned and access advice from other teams. Learning how to write a project management report will also be beneficial to document all of the project's details and identify potential changes to implement in your next project. Additionally, practicing how to document project management lessons learned is a skill that your entire team will benefit from, which will benefit your organization overall. The Long-Term Impact of Recording Lessons Learned in Project Management Recording lessons learned in project management can profoundly impact an organization's efficiency, productivity, and success. Here's how: Continuous Improvement: Documenting lessons learned fosters a culture of continuous learning and improvement. It helps teams to identify what worked well and what needs to be improved, leading to better project outcomes over time. Knowledge Sharing: Lessons learned serve as a valuable knowledge base. They provide insights and guidance for future projects, ensuring teams don't repeat past mistakes and capitalize on proven strategies. Enhanced Decision-Making: With a historical record of lessons learned, project managers can make more informed decisions. They can predict potential risks, foresee challenges, and devise effective solutions, improving the quality of decision-making. Increased Efficiency: Over time, applying lessons learned can streamline project processes, reduce waste, and increase efficiency. Teams become more adept at managing time, resources, and scope, leading to more successful projects. Improved Team Morale: When teams see their experiences are valued and used to improve future projects, morale and motivation can be boosted. It cultivates an environment of growth and learning, enhancing team satisfaction and retention. Recording lessons learned in project management is a strategic investment that pays dividends in the form of improved project outcomes, knowledge sharing, and organizational growth in the long run. Conclusion Recording lessons learned in project management is a strategic activity that reaps long-term benefits. It fosters continuous improvement, enhances decision-making, and boosts team morale. It provides a treasure trove of insights for future projects, ensuring teams evolve and grow from every project experience. Utilizing the provided templates can further streamline this process, making it a standardized part of your project lifecycle. Remember, the wisdom acquired from past projects is a powerful tool for future success. So, keep sharing your insights and tips, and contribute to the collective learning and growth of the project management community. Use these ready-to-use templates to record and share your team's most helpful project tips: Download template #1: Project Management Lessons Learned - Periodic Milestone ReviewDownload template #2: Project Management Lessons Learned - Final Review What are your tips for better project management? We know you've picked up some project management wisdom along the way, so share your tips for recording lessons learned with your fellow readers in the comments! Read Next:The Ultimate Guide to Project ManagementThe 3-Step Guide to Choosing a Project Management Methodology4 Strategies for Dealing with Difficult Stakeholders Sources:Harvesting Project Knowledge, PMTips.net, The-Program-Manager.com, Intland.com