Category: Productivity

Project Management for start-ups: 5 key tips

Project management may seem very formal to those unfamiliar with the project. This is due to the fact that project management draws up a specific, seemingly inflexible process for starting, monitoring and closing a project. Everything is carried out according to a consolidated methodology.

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For an entrepreneur or a start-up coordinator, the inflexibility of these project management systems may appear limiting. However, the need to have a framework around which to focus team and resources is critical to every business success.

As rigorous and formal as project management may seem, it can be adapted to the most diverse situations.

There are many ways, approaches and project management software, depending on the industry and type of project. In addition, there are always new ideas being released, including hybrid methodologies that achieve the best from two different worlds.

So, how entrepreneurs and start-up teams can get the most out of project management, regardless of the start-up environment or business life cycle?

Project Management for start-ups: Kicking off with a vision

To employ project management effectively, one must start the project with a vision.

It is necessary to have a definite idea or objective on which the team can concentrate. In order to get somewhere, there must always be a destination and this destination must have a specific result that affects the organization.

Start-ups and entrepreneurs often strive to accomplish a million things simultaneously with a limited staff, so developing a vision is essential to ensure the success of the project.

How do you establish this vision?

You need to be specific and invest some time and energy to think about what you want to achieve and the impact you want to have.

It’s not enough to say something like “We want to make our business grow”.

To give the projects some meaning, you should take this general idea and fine-tune it. Saying something like “We want to grow our business by 10% this quarter by creating a new line of services for our existing customers” is already a more specific and limited vision in its scope.

This is a rather simple example, but the bottom line is that you have to switch from a vague idea to a specific set of objectives.

This applies to any type of activity, as all projects must be targeted, whatever the sector.

Project Management for start-ups: Developing a plan

Once the specific goal or result has been achieved, the second step in implementing project management is to establish a plan.

Even though we have just said that we need a plan, we need to know that the creation of a plan to follow can have its drawbacks. Sticking to a plan that is too strict can lead to the freezing of the team, just like a pair of handcuffs. If you do not grant your team any flexibility in the work, in the end the plan can only be counterproductive.

Creating a plan is therefore essential, but you need to be flexible in its creation and application.

As a start-up entrepreneur, you need to be at ease with the changes.

There will always be changes and, especially when you start a new path, being able to rotate is the key to success.

Whatever plan you can think and create today, it will only be a starting point for where you will go in the future.

A plan must be drawn up with the objective in mind:

  • Where are we going?
  • When do we want to get there?
  • What kind of resources do we need?
  • What other factors are involved in the completion of this project?

So, the plan is important, but it can change.

For planning, you could create a time sequence of the project with milestones, or main stages of the project. It will be used to break down the steps or activities that need to be accomplished in order to complete the project in the allotted time.

Let’s not forget about flexibility, though.
start-up project management

Project Management for start-ups: Executing the project

Now it’s time to move on to the project execution stage.

When people and organizations are not optimal, the first two steps we have talked about (vision and strategic plan) are often missed and progress is made directly to this execution phase.

When this happens, the problem is that you can’t ask yourself: “Why?”. For example, if you want to develop a new feature, you’d normally ask yourself, “Why do we want that new feature? Why do we want to create a new product?”

An inefficient organization (and start-ups can’t afford to be inefficient) that lacks a vision and a plan risks devoting a lot of time and resources to things that should never have received attention.

The actual execution stage of the project, when you have created a complete plan and worked backwards, starting from a deadline to create a realistic schedule and a list of activities, should not be hindered in any way.

Obviously, it is necessary to monitor and analyse the progress of the project to ensure that the benchmarks are met, including appropriate meetings.

Project Management for start-ups: Monitoring the progress

  • “Are the plans and milestones still relevant to achieving the goal or result?”
  • “Are we early or late with regard to the milestones?”
  • “Is the result still relevant to our business or are we just finalizing what we started?”

These are just a few examples of questions that a start-up project manager should constantly ask himself.

In addition to asking these questions, you also need to monitor your KPIs and other metrics.

A project dashboard can be invaluable when it comes to keeping track of these numbers on a daily basis.

One obstacle that start-ups and entrepreneurs encounter is the reluctance to recognize and accept a faulty goal.

The best thing to do in such cases is to drop the things that need to be dropped. Knowing when to quit is some kind of art.

Project Management for start-ups: Archiving the documentation

A good idea, especially in the case of a start-up, is to collect all the lessons learned in a framework that can be used for future projects.

Write down the factors and methods that worked and those that didn’t and state why.

You can collect communication programs, reports and other documents that can be used to create templates for future projects.

Creating a resource that helps to accelerate the kick-off of future projects is the key to a successful project.

The word start-up is often closely related to the concept of uncertainty.

Although this uncertainty provides fresh air for many new ideas and innovative cues, it can also lead to the fall of a start-up.

In general, however, if a start-up is able to think about projects structured in these simple five phases, the use of the principles of project management will certainly be easier and more streamlined.

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Project chat: how to use it to motivate the team

Using a Team chat during a project to speed up communications and improve results? It can not only be useful, but I would say that today it has become almost indispensable.

From the pictograms carved in stone to the latest chat apps, humans find always better and faster ways to communicate.

Not surprisingly, MSN Messenger, for example, was one of the most used apps in the 90s, while messaging apps like WhatsApp and LINE are becoming a constant in our smartphones.

There is nothing to do, we like to talk and communicate, especially quickly.

For a project team, e-mails require a generally relatively long response time and an object. Video calls, on the other hand, can be frustrating to plan, just like a face-to-face meeting. Project chat, on the other hand, simplifies this.

 Writing a quick message and getting an answer just as quick – or even an emoji – is often used to reassure and continue with the job, perhaps with a smile on the face. Nothing complicated and no significant loss of time.

That’s how we talk to friends and relatives today! So why not apply this method even in the workplace?

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Today’s best chat apps, let you organize group conversations on multiple topics. And not only that… they also allow you to search in the organization’s archives to check if a question has already been answered and accelerate interactions with robots by exploiting the integrations present in the apps themselves and in the software.

Why use project chat within the team?

 There are so many ways to talk to the team, from e-mails to traditional phone calls, from video conferences to social networks. SMS may also work in some cases.

A Group chat is similar to the aforementioned tools, but it has something extra. Its main advantage is that it keeps all the organization’s communications in one place and makes it easy for everyone to talk. And if you need to say something to a single member of the team without disturbing others? No problem! Communication can take place through group chats but also through private chats.

Through the use of chats as a working tool, it is no longer necessary to search for a member’s e-mail address therefore wasting time. Everyone is just a touch away, even on the phone.

If a call may seem simpler, think that group chats often include the option of conference calls, video chats and screen sharing tools that make this way even more effective.

Usually, if you use the chat tool as a working tool, it is advisable to create both a general group for casual discussions, aas well as groups for each work team. Groups can also be created for specific topics that the organization needs to discuss. It often happens that you also have one or more groups of fun and light topics like jokes, music, birthdays, etc. These groups, apparently far from the working purposes, are instead often useful in creating harmony within the team.

Groups are generally public and everyone can participate. Thanks to private messages, on the other hand, it is possible to communicate directly with a colleague or chat with a smaller and more reserved group. Often, these small groups are created only temporarily in order to solve small contingent problems that involve few elements of the Team.

Chats therefore offer a place for everything, from casual conversations to private messages. This will save time and hopefully stimulate productive discussions. The chats, as already mentioned, sometimes also become playful tools. For example, it may happen that foolish wars with GIFs start, which will keep the organization a fun place to work, increasing motivation and harmony in the office.

Although a chat can be an extraordinarily effective element for a project group, it is essential to understand that it does not replace e-mail. Thinking of using the Team chat for everything can be a serious mistake and it is therefore useful and necessary to know well when to use one and when to use the other tool.

Let’s see what are the advantages that can be obtained by starting to communicate through a chat in a project group:

  • Drastically reduce the volume of e-mail, even up to half. By sending messages directly through the chat, you will save time and the team will be much more productive. Chat conversations are much more focused on the activity in question and the people involved will be reached directly.
  • Organize information with the corresponding activity (dedicated chats), so that communication is effective and direct as it covers a specific activity.
  • Keep active, open communication with all those involved in the project as it is easy to use, comfortable and accessible to all.
  • The meetings are targeted and more effective. Anything that can be clarified through the chat will mean hours of effective work instead of unnecessary meetings.
  • Promote monitoring and planning control. If the team enters and follows the conversations about the activities, it will have the project at hand. It will be easier and more convenient to see what you are talking about and, in this way, follow the process and planning. This will avoid unnecessary questions, doubts and wasted time.

project chat

Optimal communication with a chat tool

It sometimes happens that some members of the Team do not how to properly use a chat. It is therefore useful to establish which are the fundamental characteristics for an optimal communication with this instrument:

  • Private Chat: allows you to quickly connect with any team member and communicate privately.
  • Group Chat: useful for not writing an e-mail and putting all interested parties in CC. This places an update on the project in a space visible by the entire team and you can be sure that all the right people can access the communication and be informed immediately.
  • Project Chat: every project that you manage should have a dedicated chat so that conversations can be organized together with the content of the project. For larger projects, there must be a way to connect chat threads to specific resources, such as activities, files, diagrams or text.
  • Video / Audio Team Chat: when detailed discussions are required to happen quickly, embedded video conferencing is an essential requirement.
  • Visual indicators: Simple visual cues such as “full percentage” indicators of activity, out-of-office icons or emoji feedback to comments, help ensure that the team is aware of progress and updates are noticed.
  • Triage: first thing in the morning, or when you return from a vacation, you must first deal with the important things. A clear view of all unread notifications and the projects they come from will help the person decide what he or she has to focus on and what can wait.

In general, if the team or organization needs a dedicated chat app or a project tool  that also includes the chat option, there are a myriad of possibilities on the market.

The simplest tools allow you to organize chats in conversations and talk in real time, while the more advanced ones allow you to automate conversations with bots and make video calls when necessary.

Each organization will make its choice.

Manage projects with integrated chats

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Process or project? What differences? What goals?

People often confuse projects with processes.

Some might argue that this is only a question of semantics and that saying “project” rather than “process” does not change much.

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In fact, there are some areas where projects and processes can overlap (which is why confusion arises), but there is also an essential difference that impacts the way in which the activities are managed in one case or the other.

Project vs. process: the definition

A recognized definition is that:

Projects concern actions never done before, while processes are actions that are done repeatedly.

A project is about creating something new or implementing a change. On the other hand, a process is designed to create value by repeatedly executing an activity.

In a project, the goals and plans can be modified by the stakeholders. The processes, on the other hand, are established procedures for work and can be generally modified only with planning and investments.

In fact, a project is ideally needed to change an established process within an organization.

A project is temporary because it has a defined beginning and end date, and therefore defined scope and resources.

Moreover, a project is unique in that it is not a routine operation, but a specific set of operations designed to achieve a singular goal.

Projects are designed to create changes.
On the other hand, processes are designed to resist change because they establish a repeatable and executable workflow.

Project vs. process: the common points

Both processes and projects aim to achieve something through a sequence of planned activities.

In general, they both need teams and resources that can execute them.

Moreover, they can coexist, as in the case where people work on processes and have a project going on.

process-project


Project vs. process: the differences

It should be underlined that between projects and processes there is a significant difference: the frequency with which the activity is repeated.

The projects are in fact one-off, even if there are cases in which the projects become repeatable.

In this situation, if the project becomes repetitive, it becomes a process.

The processes are in fact repeatable and create value by producing a given output on demand.

The fact that the activities are repeated means that it is possible to efficiently cushion the planning effort thanks to the many repetitions.

Instead, in the case of an already planned project, the effort must be repaid by the outcome of the single time it is performed.

When dealing with a project, much of the effort goes into the initial planning. After this step, the effort is focused on checking that everything is following the plan.

The process works differently. In fact, you can review the result from a process and learn from it, you can make changes to the process and you can experiment and see what works and what does not.

The “management effort” is less focused on keeping things on track and is rather oriented to learn how to optimize the process.

So this is the big difference regarding the “management effort” in projects and processes.

Further differences between process and project

In addition to this, projects and processes are supervised differently, making most of the tools incompatible for managing both of them.

Projects are supervised by a primary authority, usually a project manager, who guides the project towards its goal.

The processes are instead managed by all the people involved in the workflow in progress. In other words, they are everyday actions that are formalized with the goal of improving overall efficiency and productivity.

process-project1

Project management is a consolidated methodology for managing and executing changes within an organization.

It is interesting to see that the project management itself is a defined and repeatable process. Ultimately, all the work involves a process and the project management functions in the same manner.

The correct management of the project proceeds according to well defined principles and procedures that allow to manage organizational changes and new initiatives.

It is simply a very specific and carefully designed process that is repeated and performed every time the company makes a major change and is doing something new for the first time.

The process of implementing these changes is called project management and each change must be managed as a project.

Projects, projects and Twproject

All of what has been said so far shows that there are several reasons for extending project management with processes; often projects or processes are presented as alternatives for the organizational needs of the team.

With Twproject you can get benefits from both, in an integrated solution.

Surely it has happened over time to repeat some of the company’s projects and to standardize them and transform them into “business processes”.

Well, in our software you can find the solution to this situation …. And many others!

In TwProject, the integrated tool for managing business processes greatly expands the possibility of modeling in relation to the project tree. It improves usability even for complex cases, keeping the organization based on the project.

In our  meetings with customers we often present two ways according to which they can model their business processes:

  • with the projects, aimed at giving a minimal structure to work and collect a maximum amount of feedback, worklog, etc.,
  • using business process models, which are workflows. Workflows are more rigid but more accurate. They are more complex to plan but often easier for the end user, who has just to say “go ahead” on their tasks when this is the case.

In conclusion, we can say that there is no difference in importance between a project and a process. In fact, everyone plays an important role in achieving goals within an organization and it is necessary to make sure that they are both used appropriately.

Processes are continuous and repeated procedures that help to achieve business goals, while projects are ways to change processes, launch new products, or otherwise make changes within the organization in order to develop the goals in new ways.

Did you already know the difference between a project and a process? Are there any further differences that you consider relevant? Give us your opinion.

Projects and processes in an integrated solution.

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Lean and Agile: differences and similarities

Agile and Lean are two popular methods in the project management world that help teams deliver faster, more sustainable results.

However, the differences and similarities between these two methodologies are often not clear.

Even the terms themselves are often used in the wrong manner, as synonyms to describe a particular set of practices.

For a project manager, it is important to understand the differences and similarities between Lean and Agile methodology in order to guarantee the correct application and to obtain an effective and efficient organization.

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What is the Lean methodology?

“Lean” generally refers to a set of knowledge called more specifically “Lean Manufacturing“, developed in Japan in the ’50s and’ 60s by an engineer named Taiichi Ohno.

Lean Manufacturing has transformed many traditional concepts including:

  • Production should be based on demand and not on supply. It is simply about doing something when someone wants it and orders it, rather than doing it first, hoping then that someone will need it;
  • The production is more efficient if performed in small lots in order to exploit economies of scale;
  • Taking the time to focus on quality also increases production and efficiency;
  • Employers, not managers, are responsible for defining their method of working;
  • Rather than executing predefined tasks over and over again, workers must continually improve their way of working (the so-called “Kaizen”).

These ideas, at that time, seemed to be heretical in the eyes of the American and Western industry, but the Japanese industrial organizations that adopted these philosophies quickly outperformed their “colleagues”.

In short, the Lean methodology says to implacably eliminate all that does not add value.

Eliminating waste means eliminating unnecessary meetings, tasks and documentation, but also means eliminating inefficient methods of working, such as multitasking.

The Lean methodology also places a very strong emphasis on what is called “the system”, i.e. the way the team works as a whole.

Work should always be seen from a higher level in order to ensure that the process are really optimized.

This methodology says to respect the fact that the people who do the job are those who know how to do it at the best. Once they receive what they need to be effective, they must be left “alone” and trusted.

What is the Agile methodology?

Agile refers to a set of values and principles set out in the Agile Manifesto.

The Agile Manifesto basically underlines the following aspects:

  • Interaction of individuals on tools and processes
  • Collaboration with potential customers in the negotiation of project results
  • Respond to change with a plan

The Agile methodology is very similar to the Lean methodology and for this reason you will see many similar points between these two.

The Agile methodology, in general, is more based on development rather than production, we use for example Twproject to manage all the features we insert in our software release.

Agile as you need it

In Twproject you find everything you need to manage your projects in an agile way keeping everything under control.

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.Agile and Lean are very similar …

There are some clear similarities between the Agile and the Lean methodology.

The Lean methodology expects the construction of objects / products in the least possible number of lots. According to the concept that it is more efficient this way.

The Agile methodology provides many small frequent versions of a product, rather than a large production.

The Lean methodology also says that every process should be continuously inspected and adapted in order to improve it. This method is therefore very focused on continuous improvement, the so-called Kaizen.

The Agile methodology also provides for regular checks of the results and of the working method in order to evaluate possible improvements.

Another similarity between Lean and Agile is the focus on cooperation between employees.

In both methodologies, the people – the workers – who perform the tasks are more important than the tools they use.

agile and lean (3)

When it comes to Agile and Lean, nothing is more important than the final result. This result must create value for the customer and is the only goal of the development process.

The Agile methodology allows the client to constantly adapt his needs, while the Lean provides for the manufacture of the product in such a way that there is no waste. In any case, the customer must get exactly what he expects.

But Agile and Lean are also very different

The main difference is that the Agile methodology concerns the optimization of a development process, while the Lean method concerns the optimization of a production process.

In production we generally have a predefined product and we want to produce as many high quality products as possible, in the most economic way possible.

In production, variation and rework are negative and expensive, while in a development process they are good and optimal.

Indeed, in the development process the factors are continuously reviewed and are changed according to new information or feedback.

It is no coincidence that Lean Management was born in the industrial sector with the intention of making production systems more efficient, while the Agile methodology was born in the creative and software development environment.

In the first it is important that processes work in such a way that no waste occurs. This ultimately translates into a final product that is produced as efficiently as possible.

In the second situation, instead, the development of prototypes is foreseen, which are first tested and evaluated in order to then develop the final product.

But the differences between Lean and Agile are not over.

The Lean methodology is often applied to improve processes in all organizations. On the other hand, the Agile methodology is applied within a team, often composed of no more than a dozen people.

So Lean or Agile, can a software help?

It is difficult to say which methodology is better. This is something that people must understand for themselves and also depends on the organization and the type of project that must be developed.

Both methods are strictly interconnected, everything revolves around the focus on customers and giving them the product they want in the most efficient way possible.

This is way a project management software should not force in one methodology but should let you use both, managing even different projects in a different way.

Twproject let’s do this, following YOUR way of work but giving you all the tools for implementing these approaches.

Each method has its strengths and weaknesses and it is necessary to know the characteristics of both in order to be able to evaluate them.

In our experience, success and productivity are linked to how you manage two aspects of work management:

  1. Carefully model the complexities of your work environment – and here, of course, Twproject assists you perfectly
  2. Bring this complexity to something simple, light, quickly manageable and upgradeable by the individual user.

Twproject let’s you have the best from both methodology, try it now!

Improve your project management method.

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Corporate change: the 8 reasons that cause difficulties and resistance

Today, the resistance to change in the company is a very important, and the same time delicate, subject.

In fact, in business, it is assumed that – big or small – organizations must change to remain competitive and survive in an ever-changing market.

However, facing this (big) change leads to face resistance barriers.

There are many different types of organizational changes.

Organizations can change:

  • their strategy,
  • their use of technology,
  • their structure,
  • their culture,
  • any combination of these aspects.

That’s why having a perspective view becomes fundamental.

Only by looking forward and defining the new organization and the new way of working of the people involved it is possible to identify the key aspects of the change process.

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In short, it will be appropriate to plan “how the hypothetical change must take place” and to define the necessary actions that can counter the potential obstacles that may arise.

It is necessary to understand to what extent the people, in this case the employees, are ready to accept the changes and if the process threatens them in some way.

For a manager who must effectively manage the process of change implementation, it is important to know the reasons why people might resist change. The comprehension of motivations is essential to find and apply ways that encourage cooperation.

Resistance can delay or slow down the process of change, hinder its implementation and increase its cost. A manager can not afford it.

Why do people resist change?

In practice, there are 8 reasons why people resist change at work place.

A good manager must recognize these signs easily and understand the emotions that employees feel in this phase. Let’s try to examine one by one the causes of resistance to change.

1.Loss of work

In a company, any technological progress, process or product change will include more optimized work. This means a reduction in costs, an improvement in efficiency and a focus on faster completion times.

All this means that there will be changes that can affect certain roles and jobs. The team will tend to resist to protect their role.

2.Fear of the unknown

Employee responses to corporate change may vary. It can be fear or total support.

During times of change, some employees may feel the need to stick to the past because it is safer, more known and more predictable.

If what they did in the past worked well for them, they could resist change because they fear this comfortable situation will change in the future.

How can you blame them?

What is known is definitely an anchor, a safe haven, whatever the area.

This is why listening and dialogue become fundamental in this situation. Periodic meetings, comparisons and communication on change can be therefore very useful.

corporate change (2)

3.Loss of control

Asking to change the way the work is made can make employees feel helpless and confused.

People are more likely to understand and apply changes when they feel they have some control over them.

The key is therefore to keep the communication doors open and to encourage input, support and help from employees.

4.Lack of competence

This is a fear that employees will hardly admit openly.

Some people will feel that they will not be able to make the transition. This is because of their (few or insufficient) skills.

Therefore, the only way for them to survive or not to show their “ignorance” is to counter change.

Some employees express reluctance in learning something new in general. In this way, however, besides hindering change, they also hinder their personal growth.

5.Wrong time

It is important to consider that change is, itself, an event!

For this reason, change must be introduced when there are no other important initiatives in progress.

In this case, it is essential to prepare a strategy for change management since the beginning. The general situation of the organization must be assessed and the analysis should be complete.

In some cases it may be useful to hire a business change management consultant. This serves to design an effective and objective change management strategy.

6.Lack of rewards

Employees can resist changes when they see no reward. It is the simple question “Who makes me do it?”.

Without reward, in fact, there is no motivation to sustain change in the long run.

Therefore, to support change management, it is important that the organization’s reward systems are modified accordingly. The change must be seen as a rewarding system, an improvement for the company itself.

7.Social environment

Each company has its own internal policy. Thus, some employees resist change a priori, like a “political strategy“. It is simply a way like another to go against the management.

Employees can also join forces against change. They can do it, for example, to show that the person leading the change is not good for the task.

In the same manner, employees can resist change in order to protect their work colleagues. They do this when, for example, there is a risk of layoffs.

Sometimes even managers themselves could resist change in order to protect their working teams.

8.Lack of trust and support

A corporate change can not succeed if it takes place in a climate of distrust. Trust implies faith in the intentions and behavior of others.

In this case, any change in the workplace can be a cause of fear for the employees. The fear that their roles within the company may change.

In companies where a high degree of trust exists and employees are treated with respect and dignity, there is less resistance to change.

corporate change

Recognize resistance to change

How do you know if there is resistance to change in the company?

Sometimes people say or demonstrate quite directly that they are not happy or that they will not follow the plans.

Often, however, resistance is less obvious. It tends to act in a hidden way.

Those who remain silent can resist just as firmly as those who openly communicate their dissent.

Silence does not always mean consent. It is more difficult to manage a silent dissent than an open resistance.

Others may question the methodology. They could do it by undermining the process by which the changes were decided. In short, they will tend to weaken the initiative of change.

Then, there are those who are too busy to think about implementing changes.

Running everywhere the whole day, sending messages and continuously answering calls, they simply do not have time to make changes to their operating modes.

 

So, how do you handle the obvious and less obvious resistance to change?

Strategies to overcome resistance

If new initiatives seem to fade before moving on and the best plans go nowhere, these can be signs that employees are resisting to change.

Even if not all resistances are negative, the inability to adapt to change can have disastrous consequences.

Several studies have shown that around 70% of corporate changes fail due to the resistance of the workforce.

So what do you do to face resistance to change? Here are some suggestions.

[av_font_icon icon=’ue812′ font=’entypo-fontello’ style=” caption=” link=” linktarget=” size=’40px’ position=’left’ color=’#145b79′ av_uid=’av-33k5u7v’][/av_font_icon]Link the change to other issues that affect people. To improve the perception of change, one can think of connecting it to other issues that people care about (eg work safety). By showing how change is linked to these factors, it is possible to make resistance less likely.

[av_font_icon icon=’ue812′ font=’entypo-fontello’ style=” caption=” link=” linktarget=” size=’40px’ position=’left’ color=’#145b79′ av_uid=’av-x87i3′][/av_font_icon]Show attention and understanding of concerns. Communicate with employees about new initiatives and their progress. Ask them which are their worries that they see behind the change. Listening to others’ opinions is the first step to influence them.

[av_font_icon icon=’ue812′ font=’entypo-fontello’ style=” caption=” link=” linktarget=” size=’40px’ position=’left’ color=’#145b79′ av_uid=’av-1z6bg4b’][/av_font_icon]Identify team members who support change. These people are the supporters of the new way of working. They can be the link between change and the rest of the team. Ensure that they participate in the forums and to the change initiatives so that their voices can be heard.

[av_font_icon icon=’ue812′ font=’entypo-fontello’ style=” caption=” link=” linktarget=” size=’40px’ position=’left’ color=’#145b79′ av_uid=’av-1s8wyt7′][/av_font_icon]Communicate openly. It is essential to give precise information on what will happen and when, which aspects will change and what will remain unchanged. People are more likely to get stressed when they do not know the details of the situation.

[av_font_icon icon=’ue812′ font=’entypo-fontello’ style=” caption=” link=” linktarget=” size=’40px’ position=’left’ color=’#145b79′ av_uid=’av-12pf457′][/av_font_icon]Offer resources and tools. In a change, one of the biggest obstacles can be employees who are unprepared to manage changes. It will be necessary to provide training courses, equipment and everything that will not only help them to adapt, but also to excel in the changed environment. In this way, not only they can stop resisting, but they can even feel encouraged and confident about the new situation.

[av_font_icon icon=’ue812′ font=’entypo-fontello’ style=” caption=” link=” linktarget=” size=’40px’ position=’left’ color=’#145b79′ av_uid=’av-rp4zwb’][/av_font_icon]Timing is everything. Good timing is crucial when it comes to change. If you try to make important changes all at once or too quickly, employees may be more likely to resist. It is good practice to introduce change in measured doses in order to give employees the chance to acclimatize. This not only guarantees less interruptions to the activity, but also makes employees more inclined and therefore more productive.

It is a cliché, but it is true that change is difficult, in every sector, both in the working as well as in the private sphere.

By following a few simple strategies and a well designed plan of change, it is possible, however, to reassure the employees that the company’s commitment is to ensure, as never before, their well-being and success.

Have you ever found yourself in a situation of corporate change? Which side did you stand for? Tell us about your experience.

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How to Improve Resource Management and Get The Best From Your Team

We know that, you are a project manager and you really need to close your tasks on time and on budget. Recently, increasing company’s culture has become important as well so now, to those two goals you have to add a third one: work with an happy and productive team.

Work in a relaxed environment without any pressure, with shared methodologies and goals, has a positive impact on the entire company, you have experienced that for sure; although this concept is probably clear to everyone, it is not as easy to apply, often projects are overdue, people are overloaded, and the team is divided.

How can you recover your team culture, achieve your goals without delay and, finally improve your resource management?

Share your goals but also doubts:

Being a project manager you have to focus on sharing and communicating to improve your staff management. One of the main causes of delays in taskworks is the lack of communication. The goal of the project must be clear to everyone from the very beginning,  desired end dates, and in general the whole planning.

To improve resource management, it is essential that, in case of doubt, team can discuss together, prompting problems that would otherwise remain hidden until the end. The choices taken should not fall from above as unquestionable, but be proposed and discussed together. Likewise, if someone is in late, they must notify the group immediately, in this way, if the delay has an impact on the work of others, it can be managed immediately.

Increasing communication in your work group will not be easy, you will have to start dedicating more time to your team and for this reason you will need to learn how to organize meeting efficiently, initially you might feel like taking away work’s’ time, but it is not like that!

Start in the morning, get together with your colleagues and make a quick point of the situation: are we on time? Is someone in late and why? Can I help you? Once a month, make a more in-depth meeting, check that the project is getting according to initial requests and that everyone is happy and not overloaded. If a problem occurs, act immediately and do not leave your resources alone. To manage your staff, you often have to take responsibility for others’ mistakes, learn to tackle problems constructively without looking for scapegoats that can divide the team.

Delegate to improve resource productivity

To be a good leader you must instill confidence and trust to encourage your resources to become autonomous. Recent studies show that a resource, if she becomes more responsible for a project (or sub-phase), becomes more focused and increases her productivity, for this reason, it is therefore necessary, to improve your staff management  to start a process of delegation and empowerment which must start from you.

To facilitate this process, you can use a system that allows you to properly manage and plan your work and, at the same time, split projects into phases that you can delegate to individual resources or subgroups. For example, a project management software such as Twproject can help you identify these phases, monitor their real-time performance, and monitor the workload of your collaborators. Twproject, thanks to an interactive Gantt editor, allows you to (1) create your tasks structure within minutes, (2) assign your colleagues on their respective stages, and (3) check the load in real time:

5 tips to improve resource management:

So, to improve your resource management, you need a strategy:

  1. Share with the group your goals and the project planning but also delays or difficulties and act immediately where possible: in this way, you will always be aligned and will not regret unexpected delays and bottle necks.
  2. Schedule regular meetings to make a point on project progress, closely follow your team: thanks to a tight communication you will always be up-to-date on what’s going on, about the mood of your collaborators over the tasks.
  3. Delegate the work that resources can do autonomously and keep them involved: in this way, you will be able to focus more on the management work and their, being responsible for their stage will be more focused.
  4. Always check their load and balance as much as possible: try not to overwork the team too much, face the deadlines smoothly will allow them to work better.
  5. Use a project management software like Twproject to improve resource management, control the work assigned to your resources, their work-load, and track activities progress. This will give you a valid helper to reduce your load and will allow you to have an always up-to-date picture.

 

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3 Useful Tips to Improve Work Time Management

Have you ever had the feeling that everything in your to-do list has maximum priority? If yes, which method do you use to identify what can be postponed?

Being a project manager, you know that managing project timelines is crucial; with a correct and realistic plan you will be able to work better, and all your team as well, if organized, will give its best.

There are several methods for improving work time management, each one focused on a different aspect of the problem: minimizing interruptions, identifying realistic deadlines, correct project planning, and organizing activities according to their importance. You have to find the method that best reflects your work strategy to maximize productivity.

Here are 3 effective methods that will help you improve your organization:

Define real priorities:

You think to have a high priority to-do list, but sometimes  what is urgent can be confused with what is really important. Thanks to instant messaging systems such as Skype or Slack, working together with the team has become much easier, however, the number of interruptions has grown exponentially, with the result that you often receive urgencies that were not yours. The same e-mail, if used as a to-do list, introduces an incorrect concept of urgency, transmitting a sense of rush away from reality. The last mail always seems the most important.

You need to learn to recognize what is really important, what is urgent and what can be postponed.

The best moment to set and categorize your priorities is in the morning, as soon as you arrive at the office, even before checking your inbox.

To determine if a to do is really important you need to make some considerations about its effort, its due date, and its cost. Properly planning your job will greatly help you improving work time management, when a project has a clear end date and your effort has been established, you will be able to define its importance more easily.

How much is missing at the end of the project? How much time do I need to close this activity? Can I postpone it?

Once the sequence of project activities has been established, you can analyze the urgencies by placing them in the list already created. In general, interruptions are perceived as urgencies and must therefore be minimized. If an urgency, interrupting your concentration on a specific activity, leads to waste resources and reduces your productivity, it must be postponed. It is therefore important to use some strategies to minimize interruptions, for example check mail only in the morning and after lunch or use tools that tell your colleagues that you can not be disturbed.

Ask for help and delegate:

If you cannot complete an activity within the established schedule without delaying the project, it is important to ask for help. Hiring a colleague with a lower workload can save the project from an undesirable delay. In general, whenever possible, it’s always a good idea to involve and delegate your team. In this case, controlling their workload is crucial, not to overburden those who already have a dense to-do list.

A method that works very well is to analyze the list of priorities in a shared meeting so that you can balance tasks across all project resources. This improves the management of the entire team’s work time by maximizing productivity and improving team culture.

Using an agile approach to project management, for example, greatly helps the entire team to work on the time allocation and distribution method. This method requires that the team meets regularly to analyze deadlines on a small and selected activity list. By dividing the entire project into recursive steps it will be easier to keep control.

Stay organized:

To organize your team’s activities, it can be of great help to use a tool that tracks your things to do and lets you set up priorities. Writing a list of activities on a paper is risky: every change requires effort and you can not show it to anyone who works with you in real time.

If you rely on a software to manage your project timings, it will be easier to have a look at what to do and when, for yourself and for your team. For example, by entering a project with milestones, you will receive a notification when approaching, that will allow you to act promptly in case of delays, or by entering assignments to all resources, you can facilitate communication and swap activities, speeding up the process.

Another advantage, planning your activities with an ad hoc tool, is to be able to control your colleagues’ workload by identifying who is less committed, as well as having a history of how much they spent dealing with certain activities for an increasingly precise and realistic organization.

Conclusion:

By following these simple work time management tips you will learn how to manage your processes better:

  1. Create a list of realistic priorities and minimize interruptions / urgencies: learn to identify important things against urgent things/interruptions
  2. Share your tasks with your team by optimizing time:  learn to balance work within your team, count on your colleague and delegate.
  3. Use a project management software to maximize productivity: rely on a tool that can help you checking your ordered to-do list, keeping you focused on what has to be done.

If you want to learn more about how a project management software can help you, download Twproject and begin to improve your organization right away.

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How SCRUM methodology can help you minimizing project risks

Most of project managers have to face projects whose planning was done incorrectly, not in line with customer expectations, with the bad result of  big delays and budget overflows, and maybe this has happened to you too.
It is true, companies are being renewed, working groups are heterogeneous and distributed, increasingly flexible, and often, this flexibility forces the project managers to review their processes in order to make them more flexible too. Agile methodologies is the perfect response to this need.

In the 1990’s, there was a significant deviation of the projects from planning and, above all, customer requirements, particularly in the software development sector that used the standard waterfall approach.
Now, as then, companies plan and evaluate the project according to the requirements initially established by making only one final product release that could leads to misunderstandings. The project, so managed, often ends late and out of budget.

Agile methods, such as SCRUM, arise from the need to move the project from the planned and contracted part to bring it closer to the client, its needs and satisfaction throughout the entire development process.
A company that decides to use this framework is able to minimize the risks by keeping track of the progress of the project cyclically. By involving the team and the customer throughout the process, it is much easier to stay aligned with planning and stay in times and budget.

What is the SCRUM methodology?

It is the most famous of the agile techniques, it is a framework, a set of procedures, for the iterative management of the development process from a default set of tasks. It is based on the idea of refining, iteration after iteration, the initial idea of the customer, according to what is released from time to time and to his feedback.

At the beginning of the project we defined a task list (backlog), then, cyclically, we select a prioritized subset executable in about 1-2 weeks (sprint), tasks are completed and at the end of the sprint is submitted to the client for the test. Each sprint includes meetings for prioritizing activities, sharing work progress, and a final one for review and analysis. These cycles are repeated until the end of all activities.
The aim of the SCRUM methodology is to have no misunderstanding, so that the customer can work with the team cyclically to guide the product in the right direction without any unpleasant surprises at the end of the project. Thus, there may be not a final release date, the project closes when the activity list is empty and the customer is satisfied.

This framework also facilitates the estimation of the project, in fact it does not require a complete and total estimate, just a cyclical estimate that protects both the customer and the company from incorrect estimates: if the customer has a limited budget will be limited his list of activities, if the customer has infinite budgets, he can refine and add activities until project completion in agreement with the company.

cicli-metodologia-scrum

Why should I use an Agile Methodology?

Although the SCRUM methodology has born in the field of software development, it can be of help to many companies, not only by getting into it but by embracing the general philosophy.

We have recently applied the scrum method to digital marketing finding that also such companies can benefit from this framework, some examples:

1) Define a list of requirements / activities / desires with the customer as detailed as possible: this will help you estimate your project’s effort, make the client aware of any critical issues and protect you from any extra requests.

2) Prioritize the activities and estimate them with your team: this habit can be of great help in carrying out the project, involving the team in estimating, it will be involved and empowered, obtaining from them accurate information that resides only in the knowledge of the technicians. Not only that, the team that prioritizes activities, in fact manages its own workload and becomes more aware of it. Involving the team is the most effective strategy to estimate projects.

3) Organize management in production iterations: whether the customer interacts or the cycles are internal to the company, organizing productions into iterations forces each team to make the point of the situation on regular basis, immediately recognizing any deviations from the expectation avoiding useless delay.

4) Daily meetings for work progress: this activity, often underestimated, is in fact crucial. Updating the team on the progress of their work allows them to share more stressful moments and to help with delays by saving the project from bottlenecks.

The list of benefits that you may have by approaching agile methods are numerous, whether you follow the letter, or just apply the philosophy. The system cyclicity will allow you to improve over time, understanding with your workgroup what works and what does not.

If you decide to use a project management software that supports this technique, organizing  your work better will be even easier, a software like Twproject, can guide you in improving internal processes giving you back control on your projects.

Start now managing your projects with SCRUM

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The Most Effective Strategy to Estimate Projects

Estimate projects correctly is a difficult task that every project manager has to face. It doesn’t matter if you estimate in order to evaluate resource work load (time/effort estimation) or just to create customers’ offer (cost estimation), the problem is just the same.

How can I predict exceptions, delay, bottle necks and create an estimate that is as close to reality as possible?

The answer is quite simple, you can, if you count on your team.

Identify the problem:

Estimate projects is difficult, in particular when you came to big ones that last months, maybe years. In these specific cases estimation could be just a guess. An incorrect estimation can generate several problems, for your team and your company in general:

  • Underestimated projects: this is what happens the most, particularly when project managers have direct contact with customers, if you want read more about why underestimation is so common you should read this article.[av_hr class=’invisible’ height=’15’ shadow=’no-shadow’ position=’center’ custom_border=’av-border-thin’ custom_width=’15px’ custom_border_color=” custom_margin_top=’15px’ custom_margin_bottom=’15px’ icon_select=’yes’ custom_icon_color=” icon=’ue808′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-8mxc4q’]Robert works for a small company where he is a project manager and also the commercial director. He knows that his team is doing its best but he doesn’t want to lose any new customers opportunity. For this reason he underestimates his projects, trying to convince the team that every new customer can make the difference for a small company like theirs. Doing this, the quality of the product decreases, the team is overloaded and the project manager completely loses the correct perception of the project cost. Robert knows that his company will suffer of high turn over.

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  • Overestimated projects: Project managers more connected with the team tend instead to a pessimistic estimation of the project.[av_hr class=’invisible’ height=’15’ shadow=’no-shadow’ position=’center’ custom_border=’av-border-thin’ custom_width=’15px’ custom_border_color=” custom_margin_top=’15px’ custom_margin_bottom=’15px’ icon_select=’yes’ custom_icon_color=” icon=’ue808′ font=’entypo-fontello’ av_uid=’av-mc3sa’]John is a project manager and lead architect of a young software house. Every time a new projects begin he speaks to his team to make the correct estimation of tasks. Being near to his colleagues he knows how many problem they face and he prefers to overestimate his projects. Resources look over planned and the commercial department can lose opportunities for this lack of communication. At the end of the year John knows that his team could have released more products with a correct estimation.

Being a project manager with estimating problem you have probably found yourself in one of the two described above, maybe with different circumstances but probably with the same outcome.

Of course a correct project estimation can fix all these problems, correct scheduling, resources’ workload. So, how can we improve it?
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Find the solution:

Being a project manager, maybe a senior one, your management skills are probably very refined, you know the effort for managing a team conflict, you probably know how to calculate the revenue of your task, but what about developing that specific product requirements? The project manager is able to identify all the phases of the project structure, but who better knows how does it take to accomplish a specific phase than the resource working on it?

The key for a correct project estimation is in your team knowledge.

Nicole is a project manager at ACME spa. She works with a smart and diversified team. Every time she is assigned to a new project and she has to estimate it she organizes a meeting with her team to develop the Gantt of the projects. Nicole sets the milestones if she has some and tries to define the end date of the project. She identifies the best resources for the work and then she asks them a refined schedule and estimation of their small portion of work. No one knows better than Giulia how effort it takes to make a perfect email layout. Nicole asks also to her colleague which problems she encounters the most and with which delay. Nicole asks to her team members to become everyone the project manager of his own specific tasks.

The knowledge of the team is very precise and very close to every specific matter, they know most of the possible exceptions, every possible delay, every bottle neck on their specific phase. To have a complete and precise estimation you have to go deeper with your team and analyze with them all the phases, let them estimate their phases like they would be the project managers, delegate. This approach will help you improve your resource management in general.

Also, if you work on projects that can repeat in time you could ask your team to specify every step of the work with its effort.

This to-do lists could be used as a template in time, to avoid loosing time estimating the same things again and again.

Save your team knowledge is the key to estimate projects correctly. It is what you can use to make comparison and learn in time estimating even better.

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Conclusion

Using this strategy you could be able to have a better idea of the effort of the project and every possible exception that can occur.

  • Identify your project phases and your goal end date
  • Identify your milestones and discuss them with your team
  • Select the best resources for each phase and delegate the task to them
  • Let the team write down every step of their phase to estimate it.
  • Use the knowledge from the team on every phases to estimate the entire project from bottom up

Using this strategy with a project management software that can help you creating a Gantt chart, assigning your resources, checking their workload could really make the difference, estimate projects will become easier.

If you want to learn more about how to introduce a project management software in you company you can read our article.

Start now estimating your projects correctly

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How to Introduce Project Management Software & Succeed

One of the biggest challenges, a project manager can face in a new team, is to change things for the better and let this changes take effect without the resistance of the team.

One of the most frequent examples is when a project manager decides to introduce a new tool for project management.

This moment of change, even if it is felt like very stressful,  is actually a great opportunity for a company to improve its strategy and organizations.

So,  what if you are that project manager? What if you really want to change things in your company organization with a new project management software?

Fix your expectations:

One of the most important things you need to do, before introducing a new software, is identifying your goals. You have to answer these 2 questions:

  1. Which are the main reasons that bring me to search for a project management tool?
  2. Which are the key features of the tool I chose?

these very simple questions can let you analyze what you are missing in your team now and which are the milestones you want to achieve in the future. Here are some examples:

“I really need to let everyone see what they are working on, stop wasting time with e-mails, pointing out problems and delay. The software I’ve chosen has great dashboards with the list of active assignments by priority.”

“I started searching for a project management software because we really do not know how much our projects cost. We wanted to track time and extract reports with resources costs. We chose the software that lets us manage resource costs easily, together with a time tracking tool”

Once you have your goals in mind be realistic and set some small achievements for your near future. Having realistic expectations is very important, actually it is a key point, if you expect to achieve unrealistic goals  you will immediately face a sense of fail in your team, and this will bring the software to fail.

At the same time, if you do not communicate your expectations, no one will understand how much  helpful will be this change and they will abandon the software.

No one said it was easy….

stereotype metapher leadership or exclusion
stereotype metaphor leadership or exclusion

Team communications, change is for the better..

The other key point about introducing a new software in a company, is to let everyone know, that this will actually help everyone working better, not just the project manager.

This, in some cases, is very difficult.

If you are the project manager of a cohesive team, maybe this will not affect you, but now I’m talking to all those pm, having a big team to manage, maybe a distributed one, with several people working in different ways. So, how to let them feel that changes are for the better?

It is not a software to control who is working and who is not. It seems a bad thing to say, but most of the time, these kind of software are felt like tools to control. They are not and you have to tell them clearly. It doesn’t matter if in the future you will get amazing reports of all worked hours, or if, thanks to the software, you will be able to see who is overloaded. The reason for changing is not to control, or at least it shouldn’t be ;-).

Be your own pm and organize your work better. Once the project manager has created the structure of the task, with dependencies and time frames all the team will be able to check their priorities, organize their to dos and manage their work in autonomy. If you, as pm, are able to let them understand the utility of this new responsibility you will have them on board.

These are just two examples of what you can point out to your team to let them know how helpful can be a project management software, let them know that is a tool for the whole team.

Get the best from the software

Following this easy yet effective strategy to introduce the new software in your company you will get in time amazing results. If your team will use the software, inserting and updating data with no effort, you will get something like:

Inserting estimation and worklog -> team workload and cost tracking

When the software is well introduced you will start inserting projects charts, assigning your resources with estimation and hourly costs. Thanks to this, and having your team inserting worklog you will be able to see your resources workload, control tasks progress and check costs, all data updated in real time.

Managing teams and agenda -> meeting and documents sharing

If you start using a shared agenda, you will be able to share appointments and create meeting easily according to task work-groups. check unavailability and the same connection will be created to easily share documents.

Read more here about managing distributed team agendas.

Using task checklist -> self management and responsibility

When a pm software is introduced, it can give you also the possibility to track to-do lists connected to projects. This is a very useful way for all users to organize, prioritize their work, finally they will stop using notes on the desk and no ideas or messages will be lost.

If you feel that your team needs a more structured way to work, it is probably time to introduce a project management software. Yes, it will be a big change but you can really get results if you follow our strategy. Our software, Twproject, can really give all the results mentioned above, all those features in one software only.

Introduce your team to Twproject.

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How to be an Innovative Project Manager (Infographic)

Despite what people think, being a project manager requires a lot of creativity. A project manager has to be creative managing his resources and their productivity lacks , emotions or peculiar ideas,  be creative in communication with his own bosses, be creative managing large projects with unexpected delays…

So, how to stay creative even when your are managing complex projects? Here there are some suggestions:

Do meditate and don’t stay up all night – this is good suggestion in general. To be more productive and yet creative, studies show that you have to rest at least 6 hours per night. In addition to this, learning to meditate, can teach you the art of patience and to avoid to much stress accumulation.

Do be a sponge and don’t wait for inspiration –  project management methodologies are there to try them out and find the best one fitting your projects.  Agile methodology, waterfall, GTD, these are just few examples of methodologies to experiment. Try to be open minded to new strategy and learn to walk on unknown paths, teams are generally positive to a more structured organization that let them feel more secure and followed. If you are facing problems managing your projects and checking their progress you can use a project management software like Twproject that lets you work in different ways according to your needs.

Do trust yourself and don’t go it alone – even if you are the project manager do not forget about your team opinion. Trust yourself ideas and creativity but ask for their opinion too before going forward with an important decision. If a choice will fall back on your team too, it will be easier if they participated to the final decision. This will reinforce your team culture.

Do pay attention and don’t pass judgement – projects, from start to end are like a big creativity process, that requires your attention constantly. In this sense, you need to pay attention to everything happening in your company, if there is a problem that can impact on your projects too you have to operate immediately even in a creative way.  Never stop analizing your delay and their causes because they may happen again, and a deep study can help you facing them in the future.

Do say “Yes, and…” and don’t say “That never works” – Do push back and don’t argue – here we are talking about team building, because you can’t be an innovative project manager if you do not have an innovative team and a team can perform its best if everyone is free to express his opinion, and you , as projects manager, have to learn to listen to them, even if you do not agree. To have the most innovative team you have to look outside of the box.

“Old pattern only bring to old results”

“New ideas require risk. People need to know it’s safe to express new thinking”

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Source Entrepreneur.

Tips & Tricks: Create Projects by E-mail

Even if I’ve worked with Twproject for several years I get surprised every day by  its number of hidden features. The one that I show you today could really help you, if, for example, you cannot access the application and you have to create a task to save information that you can loose otherwise.

Twproject is able to create a task, with document attached and assignments simply reading an email written in a specific yet simple defined format.

Example:

Email Subject
NEW PROJECT Twproject Mobile Release 3.0
Email Message
CODE TW_MOB3.0
START 08/11/2016
END 15/03/2017
A complete redesigned user interface and functionality for Twproject mobile app.

This email will create a task with name “Twproject Mobile Release 3.0” and code “TW_MOB3.0”. As you can imagine this task will start on the eight of November and it will end in the middle of March.
All the text of the message will be saved inside the description, and last but not least, in case you attach documents to this e-mail, those will be saved as document in the task.

Twproject security model works also in this case, the sender e-mail, in fact,  needs to be related to a user with task create permission.

ScreenShot005

Is that simple, isn’t it? You can even create a template of your message that you can use to compose it in seconds!

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How To Manage Distributed Teams – Sharing is Caring

These days, companies has to face an ever growing need for dynamic teams, shared groups of people working together through the internet. This need increases hand by hand with the difficulty of managing team dynamics and project updates.

For this reason, using conventional software like Microsoft project, built for managing projects in their best case scenario with clearly identified teams, could not fit the needs.

Many Projects – Lots of Teams

Big companies, and small ones too, with a high number of projects can see their number of teams increase accordingly, and when I say team I mean people that are actually working on the project.  Even if your company has just seven colleagues like ours, and you have one team working on several different projects,  you can face the same problem: a meeting for a project, a meting for another, uncounted e-mails refer to a projects, many refer to another, what a mess!

For this reason we cannot underestimate this trend and we better try to manage it.

Sharing is Caring

Actively work on a project often involves sending  tons of e-mail to keep everyone updated on what is going on, share documents and information about progress and commitment, schedule meeting with customers and colleagues, share the list of to-dos to get the project done.

This continuous flow of information assumes that you have always in mind all those who compose a specific team. How many of you spend more than a minute checking the list of attendees to be sure that everyone has been added? What if someone is forgotten?

Distributed Teams – Somebody Help!

It’s clear now that we need something helping us managing distributed teams. But what if I told you that the solution is at one step distance? Dynamic teams are implicitly defined by your projects. No one knows better, who is involved, than project management software.

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Node by node, different people could be assigned and different information could be shared. Simply looking at the team from the project’s point of view, you will see the work-group changing.

This simple yet effective idea, let you start from the point of view of your project: when you have an information to share you just need to focus on which is the specific project related, your team is already there!

Just open you projects management software, your changing teams are saved there!

If you have not introduced a project management software in your company you can try Twproject that solves this problem with a suite of functionalities that starts exactly by the work group created on a project.

Finally we will have the distributed teams problem solved and nobody will be forgotten.

If you want to read more about how to introduce a project management software and succeed you can read this post:

https://twproject.com/blog/how-a-project-manager-can-introduce-a-significant-change-and-actually-succeed/

We have the tools, we have the culture.

Try us for free!

Software Development Project Template – Free Download

Even if every company has its own peculiarity, we find, in our experience, that company with same business share also the same internal processes.

This is probably the reason why, often, our customers, ask us for project’s template that they can import and adjust in their own Twproject instance. This helps them starting with Twproject easily, refining processes on the go.

We got then the idea to share all these templates in a series of blog posts where you will find the template file free to download.

Which is the project?

Today we create a typical software development project template. Software, but also a different kind of product. We created this with one of our customers that has lunched its product on kickstarter, of course, we simplify the project, removing all tasks specific for its project.

This project is a great example, in fact, we recognize in it, all the common phases and dependencies of a  software development project. It could work for our software house too. Of course, once imported, you can change it to best fit your company’ production process.

The first step of the project is to analyze competitors and collect ideas and requirements. This steps for example could be different if the software is owned by your company or if it is created for a specific customers, in this second case you will probably skip competitor’s analysis to focus on collecting requirements from your  customer.

Second step is “development”, in this case we are talking about a web application, but it could work for a mobile app too.

Testing phase is not included but you could add if it is done internally instead of by your customer.

Last but not least we have documentation and the marketing Phase, which starts immediately and maybe before the beta launch.

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The structure of the development phase is probably the most variable, for example you could have a series of beta releases instead of one, you could have internal testing and also a customer approval step. This are just some ideas of this project possible changes.

How can I import it?

Download the file below and open your Twproject instance. In the project list page there is a button with two arrows that will open a menu with the import functionality.

 

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How does it work?

In Twproject every project could be a template for creating a new one. The copy function, in fact, is available in every project details page.

The best part, is that you can create really complex projects with a click but, at the same time, you can decide to copy/clone only small part of a single project, and re-use it in the same project or in a brand new one. Its up to you.

Our file is a complex project that you can just import and transform in your own template, adjust names, task duration and you are ready to go.

Ignore start date and task status, because your project will be relocated in time once you copy it.

Great right?

Click to download the template

If you created your own template in Twproject and you want to share it with us you can send them at info@twproject.com!

Our template can be exported in MPX format too, if you want it you can send us an email at  info@twproject.com.

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3 Productivity Infographic You Need to See

Perhaps your are the busiest person you know….. in this case you will probably need some help to stay productive and focused on your main tasks and goals, so go ahead and read this post 🙂

Global research and studies have pointed out  some great new data in order to help us  understanding what prevent us to be productive. We have recently found 4 interesting info graphic that you really need to check. Nothing about procrastination or interruptions, these 4 info graphic, with a touch of irony, show us something new.

Identify what makes you less productive

We have talked about productivity enemies several times: multitasking, interruptions, notifications, procrastination, these, and many other reasons, force you working by breaks, reducing hugely your productivity.  A recent study pointed also out that time management systems, focused only on tracking minutes, can reduced it even more. This is one of the reason that convinced us to create a software focused on helping people working better instead of simply tracking data. Why getting things done is so hard, if we are always so busy? Of curse it’s a matter of how we manage our time across projects and in particular our energy. Are we focusing on the right tasks? Check here how Twproject can help you work better.

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Take a serious break

The study brought to us by the first info graphic told us that in the past few years the number of cases of work related stress, depression and anxiety are grown, and that 60% of British employee (probably not only in Britain) work beyond their contract hours, that said, the importance of breaks is grown as well. Successful people recognize the need to dedicate time to what is really important and fun and tell us how they manage their week-ends. Nothing surprising, it is just interesting to understand how important it is, for your productivity, to dedicate time to yourself and to what makes you happy.

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Get inspired!

Some of the most successful people have and had a very accurate schedule to follow day by day. Has been proven that a consistent habits helps being more productive, waking up early, having an healthy breakfast and exercise every day at the some time are just few example. Having a routine is reassuring and allows you to be more relaxed and better focus yourself on what needs to be done. Check the schedule of these 20 famous people and get inspired 🙂
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Sources:

First info graphic from Make It Cheaper.

Second info graphic from Lifehack.

Last info grafic by   When I Work

 

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