Do you find yourself doing the work of many or perhaps have a team that does not work cohesively? You are not alone, but with some project management tips you will find your team to work more productively. Productivity is important to getting all the projects completed as well as a team that works well together. With the New Year approaching it is wise to adapt a system that will help you stay focused. When you are focused your team will also be focused.
The acronym C.A.S.T. was developed to help you tackle all the projects all year long with a …read more

Although it may seem simple to stay focused, it is one of the main reasons your projects are not completed as scheduled or anticipated. Retaining your focus and applying the same principles to your project will keep you and your team motivated. The focus will prevent other factors from intruding and your projects will be accomplished in a timely manner. Continuing with our acronym C.A.S.T. brings us to the next important point of project management.
S – Stay focused and control your risk factors. There are many risk factors that can impede a project and staying focused will prevent this from …read more

Have you ever decided on a project and found yourself distracted with other ideas that had nothing to do with your project? You are not alone, it is very easy to get distracted when you do not have a plan or scope for your project. It is best to determine what the scope of your project will be and not sway from it. That brings us to the second part of our acronym C.A.S.T. that was formulated to help you tackle all the projects for the New Year and keep you focused and in turn more efficient.
A – stands for …read more

As part of the series about using project management in the New Year, you may find yourselves with items on your to do list that were not accomplished. Are you determined to begin the year on a positive note? Have you set a goal to be in better control of your projects? It may take determination and commitment on your part and your team’s part to successfully control your projects. Let’s continue breaking down the acronym C.A.S.T. further to help you tackle of your projects for the New Year and keep you focused all year long.
C – stands for Control …read more

Have you found yourself at the end of a year full of busyness and projects, yet feel that you haven’t accomplished everything? Well, join the crowd because as I listen to many who manage projects, it has been a year of ups and downs. To get a handle on things, I have decided for the New Year not to make a resolution, because those end with good intentions. But I have decided to set goals of making life changes when it comes to project management.
To start things off with a level foundation, I have created an acronym from the letters …read more

This is the final post in a series about virtual project management teams. Read the rest of the articles: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
As a project manager with almost 15 years of experience, one of the important things that I have learned is that project management tools are very important to the success of a project. I have used Microsoft Project, Zoho Project and tested many others but have found for my business that Zoho Projects is best to use (checkout the Software Review: Zoho Projects). I can integrate it with Zoho’s other products which makes managing …read more

Make sure that you check out the other articles in this series: Part 1 | Part 2
As a project manager, I have learned to deal with the hard lessons straight-on so that I could learn from them. Some of the hard lessons that I’ve learned have been…

Hiring the wrong person for me team. If this type of problem is allowed to linger, it could cause major problems on your team and stress on you as a project manager. Solved this problem by either working with the person and helping them improve and synergize with the team or replacing the person …read more

Spending several years as a technical project manager in Corporate America, I used Rapid Application Development (RAD) on many technical projects. RAD is a process used to encourage user interaction through the use of prototypes as an application project is being developed. Now as a website developer, I may use RAD on many projects because this process is helpful when working on projects where I have a non-technical client.
According to Tom Mochal of TechRepublic.com (Examining the life cycle of a RAD project), below are simple steps that can be use when applying RAD to a project.

Planning: plan the work first
Analysis: …read more

Being creative while holiday shopping among the masses is a necessity. One of the ways that you can achieve this is by using project management planning. I know, it sounds strange but in reality it may make your life a little simpler during this holiday season.
Let’s use the Deming Cycle: PDCA method that I shared in an earlier post to manage holiday shopping.

Phase 1: Plan-establish your objectives

Buy presents for all those on my shopping list; most economically

Phase 2: Do – take action to implement your processes

Compile list of presents that need to be purchased along with who will receive them
Research …read more

As a project manager, having software that meets the need for my projects is essential to a successful outcome. Thus I have decided to write a series where I review project management software. My goal is to share information about various types of project management software to help you determine the best one for you.The scale of the software will vary from use by small business owner to use by major corporations.
In reviewing the software, I will share screenshots, interview details from a company representative and my person feedback regarding the software. If you are interested in having your …read more