How are disruptive technologies redefining the Project Manager figure?
The third PMI Report addresses exactly this topic.

As already highlighted in the previous articles, 1st article and 2nd article, disruptive technologies are revolutionizing entire sectors and entire organizations. In short, they are forcing all organizations to change both what they do and how they do it.

This third Report evaluates the results of a survey of 537 executives – including PM – from all over the world on the effects of disruptive technologies on people, projects, work, culture and strategy.

Project Managers and disruptive technology management

In order for organizations to remain within the market, managers and project managers must learn to manage the influence of disruptive technologies.

Currently, the most used disruptive technologies are those shown in the following table.

When talking about change, the Report highlights that the most active organizations are worrying about:

• Embracing a culture that promotes constant transformation
• Understanding that change management is critical
• Identifing managers and PMs as “leaders” of change, when they make disruptive, digital, and transformation changes.

However, one aspect is fundamental: organizations should not limit themselves to just one or two disruptive technologies.

Managers often take the initiative in creating a digital transformation strategy and become the driving force of change throughout the organization.

It is therefore no surprising that more than half of high-performing organizations consider the leaders responsible for managing the change.

In fact, the most effective way to drive change is to create senior leaders who believe in digital transformation and can manage the culture of transformation within the organization.

 

The change takes place from the top down and will not work unless the employees are managed and led by leading people.

Disruptive technologies: best practices

Considering disruptive technologies, there is no single approach for every organization.

The Report lists some best practices related to promoting change in organizations, which Project Managers should pay attention to:

• Participate in the change process actively.
• Organize meetings and campaigns for change.

A successful action is to meet regularly with employees in order to discuss the benefits of digital transformation, the way in which disruptive technologies can improve workflows and increase productivity.

• Communicate effectively and ask for regular feedback.

But digital transformation doesn’t just happen thanks to this.

Organizations also need a well-designed strategy, smart technology choices, and project management skills. All these factors that should be found in the project manager.

Organizations also need team members with an innovative mindset. This sometimes means choosing people who do not have a high level of experience, but have the ability and willingness to try new things, experiment, fail, move forward.

As a result, many organizations are starting to train their talents in order to strengthen the entire company.

Executives believe it is important for talents to have project management skills among the top three skills.

People with project management skills often support and even adopt frequent changes to compete and succeed in a fast-paced business environment.

Therefore, a robust organizational change management program is a top priority in order to help organizations embrace new technologies.

The 5 fundamental steps for change

To instill a culture of constant change and innovation, organizations must:

1. Invest in continuous education and training

New tools and techniques allow employees, including project managers, to work more efficiently and quickly than ever before. Investment in talent and continuing education must therefore be a priority for organizations. Ultimately, the use of disruptive technologies also affects people and not just technology.

2. Fully involve employees

As promising as new technologies may be, such as artificial intelligence and robotics, workers will easily consider them a threat.

To allay their fears, organizations should provide timely and accurate information on new opportunities.

The management, the PMO, and project managers can help make insecurities disappear by guiding change management from the inside.

3. Make leadership and project managers the leaders of change

Project leaders will play an important role in integrating the culture of innovation and change, evangelizing new technologies and methods throughout the organization. In this way they become educators, helping people understand how to apply new technologies and new systems.

4. Create a data-based organization

Data is the lifeblood of a digital organization.

Rapid advances in data science enable organizations to analyze vast amounts of data for insights and processes. Moreover, predictive analysis can help managers identify problems and risks before they occur therefore taking preventive actions.

To truly make the most of all this information, organizations must promote a data-centric culture in which leadership is based on these to make decisions. For the next generation PMO and future project managers, data science will be an essential part of the skills. Considering all this, also a project management software can play a decisive role.

5. Eliminate the fear of making mistakes

Building a culture of innovation requires the freedom to experiment with new ideas and new ways of working, without the fear of being “punished” if something goes wrong.

By adopting disruptive technologies, organizations must accept an environment in which employees, by experimenting, can fail, learn from their experience, and move on to the next “experiment”.

Traditional leadership is not accustomed to accepting failure, but must allow this experimentation mentality so that innovation can flourish.

 

A huge part of a successful digital transformation depends on an organization’s ability to embrace change.

This evolution is pushing organizations to rethink how to evaluate the success of project management.

Project management was once measured in terms of ability to deliver on time, within the budget and with quality, but what differentiates and creates success in project management is now the ability to innovate within the project.

This is where project leaders become strategic.

Here the link to download the Reports

https://www.pmi.org/learning/thought-leadership/series/disruptive-technologies/the-c-suite-outlook

 

The choice of the right project management methodology is the first step towards success.

Project managers can really become a concrete support for organizations by improving the way they implement projects, by choosing the most effective and efficient method and therefore reducing risks.

But in order to do so, it is not enough to simply recognize the organizational priorities, it takes much more. A deeper understanding of how each methodology impacts on the project is needed.

Once these processes have been developed, they can be documented and repeated.

Thanks to the “standardization” of activities, organizations can concentrate on how to run the project and spend more time focusing on the project goals and results.

The process needed to evaluate and document the right methodologies for each project is very detailed. It is also long and complex at first, but it is absolutely worth it.

Key considerations to determine the best project management methodology

A methodology is not suitable for all projects uniquely, even within the same organization.

In fact, it is unlikely that the same methodology works well in the same organization on all projects. A good practice is to develop and implement a methodological assessment process – MAP – in order to determine the best approach for each project.

It should be taken into consideration that this same process may require re-evaluations and changes as business factors change.

How to perform a MAP (methodological assessment process)

In organizational development, as well as in projects, this list of evaluation criteria is considered.

As mentioned above, this process will have to be reviewed and modified from time to time in order to keep pace with the general needs of the organization and stakeholders.

Here are the general steps:

1. Evaluate the project as a whole

When choosing a project management methodology, a suggestion is to start from the end.

It is necessary to know exactly how the final result should look like and what resources you will need to achieve it.

It is therefore necessary to concentrate on gathering initial requirements.

If the requirements suggest that you need a large and diverse team, for example, you will choose a methodology that supports flexibility.

If the final result is vague, you can instead opt for an iterative methodology like Agile.

Project budgets, timing, size and complexity, stakeholder expectations, type of project and industry are some of the other things to take into consideration when evaluating a project.

2. Evaluate the team that will work on the project

The selection and assessment of the project management methodology is essentially a project within the project.

If the team is not familiar with the chosen project management methodology, the expected results will be more difficult to achieve.

Therefore, it is advisable to take into consideration the composition of the team in order to identify its strengths and weaknesses.

If the team relies on collaboration, it is better to choose a less structured approach like Agile.

If the team is highly motivated and disciplined, a Scrum approach might be a good choice.

Team experience, training, self-organization skills, team location (remote, on-site, etc.) are also some aspects to consider when selecting a project team.

3. Evaluate the organization of to the company

The way the company is organized, its culture and its previous records, will have a great impact on the choice of the project management methodology.

Some methodologies work only within large organizations with structured and established hierarchies. Others are more suitable for smaller and faster organizations.

For example, if the previous reports show that all the projects that have applied an Agile methodology have been delayed or have not been successfully completed, it is not a good idea to use this method again.

Some factors to consider when evaluating an organization are:

• Past records and experience with different methodologies
• Corporate culture
• Organization hierarchy
• Level of flexibility
• Maturity level
• Dimension
• Available resources, including external resources such as freelancers and contractors
• Sector

4. Evaluate the project stakeholders

When choosing a methodology, stakeholder involvement is an important factor that has to be considered.

Some methodologies require that stakeholders are regularly involved during the project.

If the interested parties are occupied with other things, it is advisable to choose a methodology that requires them to be less involved.

If stakeholders are known to frequently change the scope of the project, the solution may be to choose a more flexible methodology.

Given the importance of stakeholders for the success of the project, their needs must be considered appropriately; in this way the stakeholders will be happier and more satisfied and the projects will have a greater degree of success.

5. Evaluate the available project management tools

Project management tools are normally designed to work well with a specific methodology.

Therefore, also the choice of project management tools will have an impact on the choice of the methodology – or vice versa.

In order to do this, it is therefore advisable to:

• Create a list of all the tools currently in use
• List their limits and functionality
• Compare their skills against the requirements for a specific methodology

Making this in-depth assessment will help you choose a methodology that aligns perfectly with the goals, team capabilities, stakeholder needs and project management tools.

 

In conclusion, project managers have different project management methodologies to choose from.

Each of these methods has its strengths and weaknesses and choosing the right one will make the project faster, smoother and more efficient.

The so-called classic constraints of the project, ie Fast, Economic and Inherent to the scope, are one of the major challenges of every project manager who must respect these three criteria during each work.

Specifically:

• Time: what is the deadline for delivering the output?
• Cost: what is the budget available to achieve this result?
• Scope: which is exactly the expected result?

The triple constraint of the projects

This triad is also called the triple costraint; if more is required for a given constraint, this will directly affect the other two.

Here is a simple example to understand why: if you decide to extend the scope and create 20 web pages instead of 10, you will logically need more time and money to reach the goal successfully.

The triple costraint is well known in project management environments and most of the literature states that once this is respected, the results will be guaranteed.
Often though, even if this triple costraint is balanced, the problems occur the same. Why?

Often PMs do not take into consideration the existence of further constraints, that should be optimized as well.

A project constraint is a defined or inflexible restriction on a project. All constraints are compromises.

An extended approach to constraints in project management

A project is often defined as successful if the goals of the project are achieved by the deadline and within the given budget.

But in addition to time, scope (or purpose of the project) and cost, there are six additional constraints that limit the process of achieving project goals. Let’s see which they are.

Quality costraint

Although this constraint is quite similar to scope costraint, there are actually differences.

The scope defines the exact result desired; in our example, the scope of the project is the creation of 10 web pages.

The quality focuses instead on the attributes of each of these pages.
It can be defined by answering the question: “How much does the result correspond to the initial expectations?”

In this example, therefore, quality does not define the number of web pages, but can be measured with other parameters.

It could be used as a criterion for evaluating the quality of the project, for example, the number of words on each page.
The request could be 1,000 words and the quality tolerance could be +/- 100 words.
So, if a web page contains 900 words it will be approved, if instead another web page contains only 850, this will be rejected.

In this case, it is evident how quality relates to the other constraints. For example, if the time is almost expired, the deadline can only be respected if the quality tolerance level is increased by accepting a number of words corresponding to 800 – because, in fact, writing further would mean not respecting the deadline.

Risk costraint

Risk management is an important task for project managers and any risk, needless to say, can have an impact – more or less serious – on the project.

For example, when preparing the website, you decide to skip the customer review step because you are late. In this way, there is a risk that the customer will reject the final pages precisely because he had no way, during the work, to give his feedback.

Of course, risk can be controlled to some degree through risk analysis, but contingencies are always around the corner during the entire life cycle of a project.

Resource costraint

Resources are closely connected to the cost of the project.

The amount of budget available to achieve the desired result will limit the use and acquisition of resources, which therefore creates a separate constraint.

Sometimes, even an infinite amount of money can not allow you to acquire the specific resources you need.

For example, it may take longer than expected to receive a physical resource that is essential for the design of web pages, such as an hardware, for example, which will consequently mean not respecting a deadline.

In this case, no amount of money could reduce delivery times and, for this, resources can be considered as a constraint on its own.

Sustainability costraint

The sustainability of a project can play an important role in an organization’s long-term strategy and can often influence the success of a project.

There are three types of sustainability: social, environmental and economic.

Although the first two do not generally apply directly to a project, the economic component should not be overlooked by the project managers.

Basically, managing the economic sustainability of a project refers to how the project manager manages its possible impact on the future of the organization in general.

For example, if you are working in an automobile production line, you can use low-cost materials to build some parts of the car in order to save costs.

However, in this way the economic sustainability of the organization could be sacrificed, as end consumers could complain and, consequently, choose competition’s products in the future.

Processes and organizational structures costraint

The organizational structure of a company can have a major impact on the success of the project, as it defines the project environment.

In fact, stakeholders could have a significant influence on the decisions that need to be taken.

Or again, the flow of communication that is too slow could lead to unexpected project decelerations.

Having therefore an efficient organizational structure behind a project means to have a constraint less.

Methodology costraint

Scrum, Agile, Kanban … Different project management methodologies can be used to work on a project.

Each of these methodologies has different limits.

If you use the Scrum methodology, you will have to organize daily meetings and receive numerous feedbacks and, consequently, invest in adequate resources to cover these efforts.

On the other hand, if you use the Agile methodology, it will generally be more difficult to estimate the time necessary to conclude a task in advance, which increases the risk of losing the deadline.

Therefore, to choose the right methodology, it is important to evaluate the specific situation of each project.

Customer satisfaction costraint

Customer satisfaction measures how much the customer’s expectations correspond to the final result of a project.

If the team has delivered excellent results on time and within the budget, the customer will most likely be happy and satisfied.

But if the cost turns out to be higher than expected, this would mean compromising in order to reach a level of satisfaction, at least sufficient, on the part of the customer.

Customer satisfaction will greatly influence the success of the project and it is therefore possible to consider it as a separate constraint.

To conclude, it is essential to know the different constraints of a project. The only way to control them is to understand them.

Therefore, when working on a project and, above all, when making important decisions about it, the project manager will not have to consider only the time, scope and budget, but also the quality, risk, resource, sustainability, organizational structure, methodology, and customer satisfaction factors.

Every time a project begins, there is a need for a project charter.

Projects can arise from the most diverse motivations including, for example, changes to company goals, the need to undertake initiatives to achieve existing goals, internal and external environmental factors, customer needs, technological, political or legal changes, regulatory requirements … etc

In short, there are many motivations …. but only one Project Charter!

But what is a project charter?

It is a document that describes the vision of the project, a document that collects the goals and the plan of implementation of the project.

Here are the three main uses of a Project Charter:

1. It is a necessary document to authorize the project. In fact, this is the document that “sells” the project to the stakeholders and defines what their return on investment will be.
2. Serves as a primary sales document. Stakeholders have a summary to share or present when they are contacted for other projects, so that they can distribute their resources according to the needs.
3. It is a document that remains throughout the project life cycle. It is therefore a reference document for the entire period of time in which the project is active. The Project Charter is like a roadmap for the project.

Key steps to write an excellent Project Charter

To meet these needs and write an excellent project charter, follow the following steps.

Step 1: establish the vision of the project

What is the vision of the project? Without identifying this general goal, in fact, it will be impossible to continue – in the right way – to achieve it.

In short: what is the final goal for the project team?

It is then possible to further break down the vision into goals, scope and results.

Goals: what the project aims to achieve. It is important to make sure that each of the goals is SMART that means specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and binding.
Scope: the formal boundaries of the project. It describes how the company can change or evolve after the delivery of the project and what is relevant to the project. Clearly definining the scope at the beginning of the project is essential to help maintain the control of the project.

Results or deliverables: here, we describe each final result that the project should produce.

Step 2: catalog the project organization

This step consists of four subsets.

Customers / End users: the customers of the project are identified.

In this phase, it is necessary to identify the customer or end user and the context where the project is located. Furthermore, it is important to define the person or entity responsible for accepting the results of the project.

Stakeholders: after the customers, stakeholders are the interested parties that must be identified. The persons or entities, inside or outside the project, having a specific key interest or a sort of “participation” in the project.

Roles: the key roles necessary to start the project are defined. This means project sponsor, project board and project manager, with a brief summary of each role and specific responsibilities.

Structure: it describes the lines of reporting and communication between these roles in a structured organization chart.

Step 3: Plan the implementation

At this point the Project Chart is almost finished and now you should have a fairly clear idea of what the project needs and how to organize it in order to complete the job.

This third passage is also divided into four parts:

Implementation plan: one of the responsibilities of a project manager is to manage creating an atmosphere of trust in the team, with customers and with stakeholders.

One way to achieve this is through the implementation plan that must be well studied. It is therefore necessary to list the phases, activities and timing of the project life cycle.

Milestones: one of the most important things of the project to consider. Milestones are more important and critical than activities and should be chosen with parsimony. These are indeed key events in the project life cycle.

Dependencies: A dependency is an activity that will probably have an impact on the project during its life cycle.

Resource plan: summarize the resources that will work on the project by subdividing them into labor, equipment, and materials. In this way, a project manager can know what he needs before budgeting and starting the project.

Step 4: list the risks and problems

The project chart is almost ready, but there is one last step needed in order to complete the process: identify any risks, problems and constraints related to the project.

Without a real risk analysis, in fact, a project chart is not complete and the probability that the project will fail is much higher.

Have you already started your project with a Project charter? What difficulties did you encounter?

The project organizational structure is an essential configuration for determining the hierarchy of people, their function, workflow and reporting system.

It is a factor in business that plays a fundamental role in guiding and defining the way in which the organization carries out its operations.

There are different project organizational structures defined according to the area in which the organization operates and activities related to the core business.

If an organization is dealing with temporary jobs for example, the structure will probably better manage the recruitment and dismissal of employees as needed.

On the other hand, if the organization is involved in a production chain that requires continuous operation, it will have a different structure. In this case, the task assigned, will be in order to support employees for a longer time to achieve the goals of the organization.

As organizations grow or their needs change, the organizational structure must adapt to support the new goals.

Why is a project organizational structure necessary?

Every organization must have a well-defined organizational structure in order to work efficiently and achieve its goals with fewer risks and obstacles.
In the modern market, organizations must be very competitive, efficient, and dynamic in order to survive and grow. Stakeholders become, in fact, more and more aware and demanding and want quick answers.
Therefore, in order to meet the needs of the client and survive in the market, each organization must build an organizational structure capable of best supporting its goals.

Types of project organizational structure

The organizational structure depends on many factors, such as the style of government, the style of leadership, the type of organization, the workflow, the hierarchy, etc.

The PMBOK orders organizational structures into eight types:

• Organic or Simple Organization
• Functional or Centralized Organization
• Multi-divisional Organization
• Matrix Organization – strong, weak or balanced
• Project Oriented (composite or hybrid) Organization
• Virtual OrganizationHybrid
• PMO

There are actually many other classifications, but we prefer to report the official one, mentioned in the sixth edition of the PMBOK.

The table below shows better the functions and characteristics of each single type of organizational structure.

Let’s see them now in more detail.

Organic or Simple Organization

This type of organizational structure is the simplest. Businesses composed of only one person are also included in this category.

In this type of organization also freelancers are included. Of course, the role of the project manager is partly covered by the owner or the professional, who personally manage the workflows.

Functional or Centralized Organization

This type of organizational structure is the most commonly used.

In a functional organizational structure, the organization is divided into various departments where people with similar skills gather together.

It is the classic configuration in which the staff is structured in areas and departments such as the sales department, marketing department, finance department, etc.

This structure is functional as it improves the efficiency of each working group.

Multi-divisional Organization

In an organization of this kind, you can have many functional divisions with a small centralization.
Most of the time these divisions are independent of each other.

Here, an organization is structured in various divisions in which people, with different skills, are held together according to a similar product, service or geographic location.

ach division has the resources necessary in order to work and can carry out the task autonomously.

Matrix Organization

A matrix organizational structure is a hybrid between the functional organization and the project oriented organization.

In a matrix organization, there can be two main structures: vertical and horizontal.

Here, an employee can be part of a functional group, but can also work on a project.

In turn, a matrix organization can be of three types:

• A strong matrix
• A weak matrix
• A balanced matrix

Stronger organizations are closer to a project oriented organization and here the project manager has most of the authority and has a full-time team.

On the other hand, weak matrix organizations are closer to a functional structure. in this case, the project manager has low authority, no budget control, and often runs a part-time project team.

Instead, balanced matrix organizations unifies the properties of both previous types. Here, the project manager has a medium-low authority and a part-time team, while the budget is managed both directly by him and by the functional manager.

Project oriented (composite or hybrid) Organization

An organization of this type considers every job as a project. Here, the project manager has full authority to complete the project successfully, has a full-time role, budget control, and a full time team available.

A team-based organization is another name for a project oriented organization.

Virtual Organization

This structure is also known as virtual society. Here, the central organization is connected to external companies (such as vendors, customers, associates) with a network connection that allows to achieve business growth and profitability. This structure allows the organization to work as a unit.

In a virtual structure, the organization maintains its core business, while the rest of the processes are outsourced. Sometimes, this type of organization is also known as an empty organization.

Here, the project manager has a low-moderate authority and mixed power over the budget. The project team can be full or part-time depending on the situation.

Hybrid

In a hybrid organization, a combination of the above-mentioned structure types can be used.

Responsibility, authority, and other factors are also mixed depending on the structure.

PMO

The PMO is also a mixed type of organizational structure, but here the project manager has the highest authority, controls the budget, and has a team completely at his disposal.

The advantages of having an effective organizational structure

An organizational structure is a framework that helps an organization effectively manage its operations and achieve its goals with minimal effort.

This structure defines the relationship between the various departments and teams of the organization. Moreover, it helps organizations to delegate authority, power, and responsibility.

But the project organizational structure also defines how the employees relate to their superiors or to the Project Manager; therefore, it becomes somethings strategic for coordination and cooperation within the group members.

The main advantage of having an effective organizational structure is the reduction of friction and discussions among the employees since the roles, responsibilities, and reporting structure are very clear.

Having an appropriate organizational model can bring huge benefits to any organization. Some of these advantages are:

• Allowing an organization to grow.
• Keeping attention on strategic goals, instead of having each department focused and limited on its agenda.
• Joining a group of people and directing them towards a common goal.
• Allowing employees to improve their skills.
• Making the decision-making process more efficient, smoother, and faster.
• Facilitating employee specialization.
• Allowing better control and use of resources.
• Enabling easier and better communication, which helps reducing conflicts.
• Allowing employees to behave better.
• Helping employees to grow professionally, to make a career, and to simplify the inclusion of new colleagues.
• Helping identifying roles and responsibilities in a clear and precise way.

Therefore, each organization needs an organizational structure, otherwise chaos would take the upper hand.

In short, an organizational structure is essential for the good functioning of a company. Each company should choose its organizational structure according to its specific needs and requirements, since this also depends on the achievement of the prefixed results.

Which project organizational structure have you adopted in your company? Are you satisfied with it?

The participation of non-profit organizations in the growth of the industrial sector and in Western societies services has increased considerably in recent years.

Some of the social and economic issues arising in the context of sustainable development have already been experienced by this specific type of organizations.

However, in the field of Project Management, the scientific literature focused on project management in non-profit organizations seems to be poor.

In fact, it is difficult to find data and analysis factors on project management practices in the non-profit sector.

At the same time, it is true that, for the vast majority of these organizations, projects seem to be the fundamental way to develop its business.

Although project management principles, best practices and standards are applicable to a wide range of projects, there are differences between profit and non-profit projects.

Companies and organizations must therefore adapt these elements to their projects and to their specific sector.

Let’s see today how to manage a non-profit project.

 

What exactly are non-profit organizations

The term “non-profit organization, entity or association” is a word that is part of the language we use every day.

This type of organizations are part of the Third Sector, and have the peculiarity of having solidaristic goals and try to reach their mission without profit. Basically, they fill the gaps of a State that is not always able to provide the right social support or the right contribution to cultural welfare, etc. …

In Italy, non-profit companies have increased exponentially in recent years, leading to a real reform of the third sector.

The latest ISTAT Report presented in December 2017 about 340,000 non-profit institutions, over 5 million volunteers, and 788 thousand employees.

Differences between non-profit project and profit projects
Is the management of the non-profit project different?

It is not that the management of the non-profit project is different from the management of the for-profit project, but it is the organizational context which is extremely different.

Project management in non-profit organizations differs in some respects. Let’s see where.

First of all, most of the activities are carried out by volunteers. This aspect, therefore, puts the project leader in front of new and different challenges regarding the management of human resources. Moreover, hierarchies tend to be less structured, forcing project managers to rely much more on influence and leadership.

Although strategic planning, governance, processes and key performance indicators are adopted by structured and mature nonprofit organizations, the situation is changing. Indeed, the reality is different for a large number of organizations that have a negative impact on the portfolio and have to do with managing projects with changing priorities.

Even the life cycles of the budget and the management of finances change. They are usually less predictable because non-profit organizations depend on donations and grants. Restricted funds, restrictions and legal regulations place an additional level of complexity in the management of the project. Funding, grants or donations, acquiring project teams (ie volunteers) are just a few examples of real needs.

Moreover, in non-profit organizations, stakeholder management is even more important and critical. This is because non-profit organizations often interface with governments, private companies, regulatory agencies, communities and more.

Similarities between a non-profit project and a profit project

There are also obviously some similarities in project management for a traditional organization and a non-profit organization.

In fact, both types of projects require a plan that identifies the goals, defines the purpose, assigns tasks and has measurable result criteria.

Projects require a program with activity details, dependencies, assignments and periodic reviews, as the ultimate result is to achieve the organization’s strategic goals.

In any case, the PMs of both sectors have to deal with the acquisition of resources and their management.

The real cost of the project is fundamental in the analysis and could be the decisive criterion in an evaluation.

Managing a non-profit project is as challenging as a profit project. This is why it becomes essential to activate Project Management Tools for planning, tracking costs and managing time and resources.

Effective communication with key stakeholders is essential.

Risks must be identified and managed.

On which aspects should you particularly focus when managing a non-profit project?

The project manager in a non-profit organization must pay particular attention to the following elements:

• Identification of project stakeholders
• In-depth stakeholders anlaysis and identification of those with major influence on the project
• Produce a Work Breakdown Structure
• Select project team members based on the skills needed and structure a training plan for the resources that need training
• Empower team members and stakeholders, if necessary, by building a responsibility assignment matrix
• Define the Gantt chart of the project in order to keep an eye on the contribution of each resource
• Communicate the method by which the monitoring and control of the project and its activities will be carried out
• Organize a kick-off meeting at the beginning of each project in which all the information previously cited will be exposed and in which any doubts or objections will be answered

In conclusion, we can therefore say that non-profit organizations have similar characteristics to traditional organizations. At the same time, they present very different goals that inevitably influence how projects are managed.

In NGOs projects exist and are often the basis of their daily work and their future development.

In some cases, however, these types of organizations are so focused on their mission that they do not sufficiently care for their internal processes.

On the other hand, sometimes they concentrate so much on the financial aspects necessary for their survival that they forget the original goal and mission.

Therefore, there are still many steps to be taken in order to create an adequate culture concerning the management of projects in non-profit organizations.

We believe in a structured reality. A reality in which even non-profit organizations can always have their original mission in mind, while at the same time structuring themselves internally.

To manage complex projects, a project management software becomes essential.

For this reason, we have activated a discounted license policy dedicated to non-profit organizations.
Many are the no-profit companies who have already chosen us, and who perform their projects.

If you are part of a small non-profit organization that basically does not have an IT budget, write us; you could ask for a discounted license.

There are so many tools for managing projects everywhere!

Each with its characteristics, suitable to meet different needs.

In this article, we want to point out those that (for us) are the key aspects, or at least factors to consider, when choosing a project management tool in the company.

But first of all, here is a statement.

Structuring an entire project, from its birth to its conclusion, assessing potential risks, choosing the right team communicate with stakeholders in a clear and timely manner , and face the unexpected … it’s not easy at all.

In order to organize all these variable phases in a single coherent plan, certain skills are not enough  ( essential for this activity); there is also a need for a high-performance project management tool.

Why choose a project management tool

When working on a project – of any size – there are four main elements that must work together:

1. Scope: basically, it refers to the dimensions, goals and requirements of the project.

It is the connection between the goals that have to be achieved and the budget allocated in order to reach them.

Scope changes are the most demanding and it is imperative, in these cases, a reflection and a review of the project that involves all stakeholders.

2. Resources. It has three aspects: people, materials and equipment.

First of all, it is important to ensure that the right number of people is employed in a project and that they have the appropriate skills and knowledge to complete the assigned tasks.

Next, you need to get the right materials and equipment, in the right location and at the right time, essential for the team in order to operate efficiently.

3. Time. When doing a project, time management is a crucial aspect.

Each activity must be listed, programmed with a pre-established duration and deadline and allocated with the right resources.

4. Budget. All activities have a certain cost that must be estimated and added up.

It becomes clear that at any level the use of a project management software can make the difference.

This need begins to be perceived in different sectors; in fact, excluding the traditional ones in which project management was born, even new types of companies start to use this tool.

What key aspects to look at when choosing a project management software

Each software has its own characteristics and is different from the other …. So ours ☺

Let’s see together what are the key functions that a project management software must have considering the new market trends and scenarios.

1. To-Do-Lists

Regardless of whether they are structured with numbered or bulleted lists, colors, markings, etc. to-do lists are optimal ways to organize information.

That’s why people love them … and even project managers.

The simple list of things to do remains a cornerstone of project management.

The easiest way to measure your productivity is to look at the to-do list in the morning and check at the end of the day whether all the tasks have been completed or if there are open points left.

Although many project management tools include to-do lists, not all of them give the right connotation to them.

Instead, it is essential to simplify the creation and management of activities, but also the sharing of lists of activities and to do lists with colleagues.

We are aware of this, therefore, in Twproject we have created a system that leaves freedom of management.
With Twproject, in fact, it is possible to switch from activity lists to Kanban cards to views on calendar – always for the same project.
This allows team members to view their activities in the way they most prefer.

2. Workflow

Workflow tools help keep track of activities and projects as they move through various stages of the process.

These products often use a Kanban card and boards as a framework for showing jobs in progress.

Like the to-do list, even a workflow management tool is not that complex, but it is an invaluable help for a project.

Therefore, when choosing the best tool to successfully run projects, it is good to choose one that is complete.

The suggestion, therefore, is to identify the software that offers a large amount of functionality when considering the cards, such as:

• design boards as a framework for any type of process
• attach file
• comment
• assign team members
• etc.

Even the start of the project should be simplified: to start a new project, it should be enough to create a new board. It should take just one minute.

3. Gantt chart

Designed by mechanical engineer Henry Gantt in 1910, the Gantt chart has had a relatively long run as a project management tool.

A Gantt chart uses horizontal bars to illustrate the completion dates of the project, from start to end, progress and milestones.

While a Kanban card is best used at a single task level, Gantt charts are better for the overall view of the project and its flow.

There are several valid tools that use the Gantt chart, including, of course, ours too!
In particular, we wanted to push ourselves towards an innovative solution.

Our software balances advanced project management functionality with a very simple interface.

4. Time monitoring

If you work in direct contact with customers, time monitoring and invoicing are two necessary features that the project management system must have.

For this, it is essential to find a software that presents a time tracker. So, whenever you want to time a specific task, it is sufficient to start the clock in order to keep track of every second.

In order to monitor the time, it is essential that the chosen project management tool also offers the possibility to manually enter the time related to the activities.

It is important to guarantee the traceability of time spent.
Over the years, we have found that the whole project team is benefiting from this functionality.

Surely the project manager will be able to:

• Keep track of the work done at any time of the day;
• Consult and assign the timing to each activity at the end of the working day.

In TWproject it is also possible to manage several projects simultaneously and display them in different ways, depending on the analysis required.

5. Collaboration

Improving collaboration between teams and in the team is an evergreen goal for every type of organization.

It is now clear that e-mail are not a reliable and effective collaboration tool and in most cases do not help to improve team alignment.

As a result, some project management tools focused on the collaboration aspect in the group.

In order to guarantee the best opportunity to collaborate with colleagues or customers, the chosen software must have:

• Message boards
• A chat
• The possibility to share files / documents.

Therefore, we suggest that you choose a tool that focuses on business collaboration, and that is perfect for heterogeneous teams.

Combining project management, communication, digital asset management and basic payment tools in one software, becomes fundamental given the alternation of the size of projects in companies.

6. Management of the project budget

Defining a project budget, implementing it and monitoring it in real time are key steps to keep project performance high.

Therefore, when choosing a project management tool, it is important to pay particular attention to the allocation of costs.

In TWproject, we have chosen to give the Project Managers the tools related to costs, and at the same time to give the possibility to split them on different fields.
Thus, it is possible to manage both the costs generated by the work and the additional costs.

The costs, then, are tracked by all the tasks, therefore, from the root of the project it is easy to have an overview of the total costs as a whole or for a single branch.

7. Customization

The software must be a support tool for the Project Manager, it should facilitate the activity and help complete the project successfully.

Therefore, the tool must be able to adapt to the project, and not vice versa, by creating:

• custom fields and forms
• custom reports
• custom advanced analysis

Twproject allows multi-level customizations.

8. Integration

In an interconnected society, work must also maintain the same standard.
In evaluating a project management software, it is important to analyze what evolutions and connections the software allows.
This means projecting the choice from a strategic point of view. If the software integrates with the major corporate CRMs or ERPs, the current investment can also be considered from a perspective point of view.

9. Remote feasible, even on ios and android

With the new ways of remote work, first of all the smart working, there should be the opportunity to work on different platforms by connecting also with a tablet or an Ipad.
Therefore, when selecting a project management software, it is important to evaluate that the software is able to perform on systems such as ios and android.

10. Language and assistance

When choosing a project management software, it is important to look at the language in which the software is available.
This is because the software must be used by the entire team and often the language can be a brake.
It is possible to create a winning project if all the team members find the tool easy to use, and the language is one of the elements that contributes to the usability of the software.

Finally, we want to underline the importance of technical assistance. Too many times this aspect is neglected. But when working with projects, timeliness is essential … together with the language.

 

Whether you are managing large, complex projects or simply trying to create a process for your daily work, life will be much easier if you choose to use a project management tool.

This, of course, is our point of view!
And what’s yours? Which project management tool do you use in everyday life?
Tell us which features are essential for you.

 

Crashing in project management aims to shorten the duration of the entire project by reducing one or more activities during the life cycle.

In concrete, less time can be spent on completing the project, but doing so requires additional investment.

Precisely for the greater cost that it represents, the crashing of a project is used only in emergency situations. The decision should then take place only after carefully analyzing all the possible alternatives.

The goal is obviously to obtain the maximum reduction in project completion time with the minimum additional cost.

Project crashing is an advanced project management technique that involves adding the appropriate amount of qualified resources to the activities being taken into account. It will inevitably have a direct impact on two of the three constraints, ie. planning and costs.

Crashing accelerates delivery and increases spending; however, it will have no effect on the scope of the project.

If it is not possible to add resources to critical activities, it is not recommended to implement the project crashing.

 

What methods can be used for project crashing?

There are several methods of crashing a project. Clearly, the modality to be chosen will be the one that allows to speed up the end of the project at the lowest possible cost.

So let’s see the two methodologies in detail:

Method 1: Increase the number of resources

This is the most commonly used method and involves increasing the number of resources dedicated to certain critical activities.

This essentially means reducing the time needed to carry out individual activities by increasing the number of people working on them.

For example, if Luca takes 4 hours to complete an activity, by logic Luca and Martina will take 2 hours each to complete that same activity.
However, adding resources is not always the best solution. In fact, it is sometimes the cause of long-term loss of time. We need therefore to consider the following:

• New resources may not be familiar with the tasks to be performed, so they will probably be less productive than current team members.
• New members will most likely have to be teamed up and led by the most productive members of the team, who could instead dedicate their time completely to the task and get it done more quickly.
• Being available does not mean being qualified. Sometimes the extra resources are qualified yes, but tangentially with respect to the activity, and even if the new resources have the right skills, they may not be of the same quality as the current team members.
• On the contrary, if new resources are over-qualified, conflicts may occur within the team.

For these reasons, if the insertion of new resources proves to be too problematic, there is a second technique that allows the crashing of a project.

Method 2: Fast Tracking

This methodology consists of overlapping activities that were initially programmed in sequence. These activities will therefore take place in parallel, rather than one after the other.

Of course, the application of this technique requires a prior analysis of the feasibility and potential risks.

Other valid alternatives can be:

• divide longer activities into smaller blocks in order to concentrate more work in a shorter period of time;
• reduce latency times between one activity and another;
• review the scope of the project in order to eliminate the tasks considered less important.

Sometimes the best method can even be a combination of the various techniques.

For example, in addition to adding new resources, you can reprogram the project in order to work on multiple items at once rather than sequentially.

For each circumstance and specific project, it is therefore necessary to carefully evaluate the methodology to be implemented because there is no universal approach valid for all situations.

The 6 valid reasons for choosing Project crashing

Project crashing is hard work and is not recommended in many cases. Now let’s see the 6 valid reasons to opt for the crashing of a project as a correct solution:

1. Get the most compression on the duration of a project

The main reason for which project crashing is chosen is precisely to speed up its conclusion.

If the end date of the project needs to be anticipated, the crashing allows you to get the most compression of the planning with the least impact and the lowest cost.

2. When the project has a fixed final date

During the projects, changes are inevitable and may cause a delay in the project plan. When dealing with projects with fixed end dates, this can be a problem.

What can be done when the necessary and obligatory changes to a project cause the postponement of its delivery date?

In this case you have two possibilities: tell the project sponsor that you can not respect the end date and that it must be changed or try to recover the time through project crashing.

The decision to opt for project crashing or not, will depend largely on the relationship with the project sponsor and on how urgent the end date is.

3. When there is a delay

The delays that occur at the beginning and during a project inevitably have an impact on subsequent jobs and on the final delivery date.

In these cases, project crashing can be considered as a way of trying to recover some of the lost time.

4. When the team is involved in other activities

The project may not be the most important thing that is happening within the organization at a given time.

The team, or some members of it, may therefore be needed for other more important projects.

Project crashing is, in this case, a way to free some resources more quickly, so that these are available for other activities or projects.

5. When there are more resources available

Sometimes the opposite can happen from the previous point, ie more resources suddenly become available.

In this case there can be two situations:

• The resource is added and one or more activities are completed more quickly;
  or
• The resource is added but this takes a long time to reach the level of the other team members. In this case, it is more the time invested than the one saved.

Here, the crashing of a project helps to deal with these situations.

6. When a resource needs training

Finally, another situation is one in which a resource is not contributing effectively to the project because it simply does not have the appropriate or updated skills.

Therefore, if the resource is committed to follow a training course, it will obviously not be available to work on the project during that period.

If there are no other resources that can do the work, this will mean postponing the delivery dates of these specific activities.

Hence the crashing of a project offers more flexibility in these cases. For example, the resources could do the job before starting the training or it is possible to accelerate the time when they will return at work.

 

In conclusion, the business and its environment are today more complex than ever, so project managers must become more rational in making decisions using the most effective tools and techniques.

Before deciding to use project crashing, make sure you have examined all the possible options and have carefully evaluated the cost analysis models. This way you can get the best results for every effort.

Let’s talk about project procurement management in this article. This is not because we want to talk about psychology or counseling, but because we are interested in practical aspects, useful for the project.

Projects are not carried out in isolation by the project manager and his team. In fact, most of these require other resources to be able to achieve the defined goals.

Most project management discussions and articles focus on the necessary processes and knowledge, which are certainly important, but insinuate the idea that a project manager and the team can do everything.

This is not true. It is essential to know when you need help and how to get it.

What is Project Procurement Management?

This is a collaboration with external suppliers in order to obtain or purchase goods and services for one or more projects.

These relationships are often created on the basis of a contract. This is to ensure that the necessary goods or services are received on time and meet the standards required by the purchasing company.

This unique function is an essential part of project management and concerns the supervision of a series of temporary operations.

Procurement, in terms of project management, is necessary when purchasing, renting or contracting with the outside in order to achieve the project goal. These relationships, like any process within the project, need management.

Project procurement management is divided into four processes that we see below.

Procurement management planning

Purchases must be identified already during the first planning phase of the project.

In this phase, it is evaluated which objects will be produced or obtained internally and which will instead be produced from the outside.

This information, in turn, will affect the budget and the financial scope of the project.

For each external contractor, there must be a work declaration that serves as a document that delineates exactly what has been contracted.

These statements function as guidance documents through the project. The more specific they are, the better. This avoids confusion later and helps develop more accurate plans.

This process is collected in the procurement management plan which includes requirements documents, risk log, project planning, cost estimates and more.

To guide these decisions, there are tools and techniques, such as the “Make or Buy” or “Lease or Buy” analysis, which help to determine if the activity needs an external supplier or can be carried out internally.

In the case of “Make or Buy” it is a question of buying a resource, while in the case of “Lease or Buy”, we are talking about renting, for a determined period of time, a specific type of resource, generally machinery.

Here are three fundamental questions that the project manager must ask himself:

• How much does it cost to build the resource instead of buying it?
• How will this decision affect the scope of the project?
• How will this decision affect the project’s program?

The execution of procurement management

After completing the documents of the first phase, we move on to the execution phase in which we study the offers received and determine which one to accept.

The comparison is made between advantages, disadvantages, and contractual offers of the various suppliers.

Before deciding, however, a criterion should be based in order to decide which is the best offer for the project. Generally, this offer will not be based solely on price.

It also does not hurt to seek expert advice in certain areas and departments.

A necessary phase will then be the negotiation in order to satisfy the needs of the contractor and the seller.

Proposals are carefully evaluated and, if satisfactory offers are not available, the project management team will solicit new bidders.

The control of procurement management

Once the contracts are signed, the management of these contractors must be integrated into the general management responsibilities.

Contractors can have a negative impact on budgets and programs, so regular status updates are required to review contract agreements. You will have to get updates on the progress of the work and evaluate the performance. In essence, it must be ensured that contractors meet the requirements set out in their contracts.

Although they hire contractors because they believe they are experts in what they do, they still need to regularly monitor their work. Monitoring is essential in order to ensure that this is proceeding as intended.

A centralized system for monitoring and controlling contract changes will be used. It will be essential to evaluate and determine if any changes to contracts are necessary.

There will be formal physical inspections, internal audits and reviews of procurement operations in order to generate reports on performance that provide real-time feedback.

Monitoring the performance of the supplier is as important to the overall project results as the work done by the project team.

The conclusion of procurement management

Just as there is a process to start procurement management, there is also a process to finalize it.

What is expected at the end of the job should be detailed in the initial agreement with the contractor. There should be no confusion between the parties regarding the final product or service.

The closure process does not only concern the conclusion of supply contracts, it also includes the detection of any weaknesses, the documentation of successful processes, and the summary of the project for future needs.

The documentation is important for future projects that may involve completely different teams.

During the closing process, negotiations may be necessary to resolve contractual disputes.

Ideally, however, during the administration and control process, potential problems may be noted in order to begin the mediation process in advance.

The regular check, explained in the previous point, contributes in fact to reach the goal without receiving unpleasant surprises at the end.

Suggestions for optimal procurement management

Each organization develops its own internal policies and procedures when it comes to projects and tenders; however, these purchasing management tips can be applied to all companies:

• Develop a clear understanding of all goals
• Focus on suppliers’ capabilities and how their solutions will help achieve goals and tackle obstacles;
• Resist the temptation to evaluate final decisions based solely on cost;
• Ensure that solutions are not only short-term, unless this is the main goal. Sustainability and future support are always factors to consider.

When we talk about procurement management, there are standard features and functions. For example, most companies prefer to use fewer suppliers and establish long-term relationships, rather than turning to numerous suppliers every time and therefore activating a “price war”.

Establishing and consolidating relationships with suppliers is important because it allows various partners and shareholders to work closely on improvement and coordination activities, for the benefit of the project as a whole.

Fast Tracking is defined as a compression technique of the project program with the aim of concluding the project as soon as possible.

When it comes to managing project planning, Fast Tracking is a well-established technique used to reduce the time needed to complete a given project.

The compression techniques of the project program consist of two steps that should be applied sequentially:

1. Fast Tracking
2. Project Crashing

The second step, project crashing, means to add resources to critical path activities.

What is Fast Tracking

Fast Tracking is an advanced project management technique.

To be able to use it, it is necessary to identify all the possible activities on the critical path that have the potential to be performed together instead of sequentially.

In other words, the essential task is to identify specific activities of the critical path that can be executed at the same time.

But what happens in concrete? If two or more critical path activities are performed at the same time, only the longest activity will remain on the critical path, rather than the sum of the duration of the individual activities.

For example, at the beginning of the IT security system project, two of the critical path activities are:

• Hire a seller of IT security software within 10 days
• Hire members for the project team within 12 days

You can perform these two activities, considered critical path activities, at the same time.

This means that instead of using 22 days to perform both activites, the maximum duration for both activities is now reduced to 12 days. This is because the longest critical path activity is the recruitment of members for the project team.

It will thus be possible to deliver the project 10 days before.

Perhaps the case taken for example may seem trivial but a simplification was essential. In reality, at first glance, it may seem that we can not work on any activity in parallel. This is why sometimes it is necessary to think creatively.

In cases where the assets have different resources, it is possible to start one before the other ends.

Where activities depend on each other, it is possible to perform a risk assessment in order to see how fast it is possible to start the second activity. It will be necessary to take into account the fact that the employee activity has not been completely completed.

Where the risk is not too high, the opportunity to anticipate the program by a few days could be easily managed.

Resource allocations need to be checked after changing the schedule in order to make sure that the changes will not overload the team or a member of the team.

The dangers of Fast Tracking

Accelerating the project is not without dangers.

Planning an initial project is something that allows you to monitor progress completely, and with Fast Tracking you are trying to do something completely different.

The main challenge of parallel task management, aside from the effort required to reschedule the activities and the resources, is that it adds much more risk to the project in general.

For example, you can buy all the furniture for a new office that you are building before it is completed. Doing so however, there is a risk that the size will change slightly during the preparation and that the items purchased, perhaps even expensive, are no longer suitable.

There is therefore a risk of reprocessing when starting an activity in advance and it is therefore necessary to take this into consideration and manage it.

Finally, there is the danger of doing a lot of work in order to put into practice the fast tracking, and in the end there could be no difference in the final date of the project.

In this case, focus on the project activities that fall into the critical path. This is the longest path within the project and defines its duration.

Activities that are not displayed when highlighting the critical path of the project plan do not allow you to anticipate the final date.

It is therefore necessary to concentrate on the right activities, in order to get the maximum benefit from the compression of the planning.

What are the advantages of fast tracking?

1. Early delivery of the project
   Being able to deliver and implement the project ahead of schedule is a plus for any individual and for the project manager.
   Each project sponsor has the desire to see his project delivered sooner than expected.
2. Bring the project back on track and on schedule.
   The project, during its elaboration, can undergo various delays that induce to postpone the delivery date.
   Delivering a late project is detrimental to a project manager’s career.
   In this case, by using fast tracking techniques, it is possible to bring back the project within the expected time frame.
3. Promptly release the project resources
   When delivering a project in advance, it means that the project resources are free to work on other activities. This will allow you to deliver multiple projects with the same resources.

What are the disadvantages of fast tracking?

1. Lack of knowledge of the critical path
   Never attempt to apply the fast tracking technique if you are not well informed about the critical path or how to find it.
   If you select the incorrect activities, in fact, no value is added.
   There is always the risk that one or more critical path tasks will be subject to an unknown change towards the end of the project.
2. Monitor the critical path closely
   It will be necessary to exert extra effort to monitor the critical path in detail.
   It may happen that an activity previously present in the critical path, due to changes, is no longer considered critical.
   In order to avoid working unnecessarily, it is therefore necessary to constantly monitor the critical path, a task that requires time and attention.

How to perform fast tracking

Fast tracking planning begins with the analysis of five key assumptions and continues with the seven-step planning process.

In fact, it is necessary to answer the following questions:

• Do you have a realistic program with all the activities correctly identified?
• Are you sufficiently aware of all the dependencies of the activities, which activities must end before others can start?
• Do you have a solid understanding of the project requirements, goals and priorities?
• Do you have a good working relationship with the project stakeholders?
• Do you have established and proven practices for governance, supervision and problem management?

If you answer yes to these questions, it is therefore possible to implement fast tracking to the project program, in whole or in part.

Now let’s see what are the 7 basic steps of the fast tracking technique:

• Determine the goals expected from fast tracking.
• Examine project planning in order to identify dependencies.
• Finding critical opportunities / activities in the project timeline.
• Identify all valid alternatives for making program adjustments.
• Make informed decisions.
• Monitor progresses.
• Keep track of problems.

When it comes to project management, more than one approach is required in order to achieve success.

The way in which activities are managed when environmental conditions are good is not the same way they are managed when time is running out, resources become thinner and people do not work together.

It is precisely in these moments that fast tracking comes to help.