Assuming we have decent software, the essential strategy for making it work well is deciding how we want to work with it. In this article, we explore the considerations behind what we need to do to develop a good workflow for using software. What are the things we need to think about in using the software? What are the critical steps that actually enable us to define a useful software workflow? And why should we care?
For anyone thinking about or faced with implementing a PPM tool, here are some tips to keep in mind to help you wade through the sometimes problematic process.
This form is designed to assist a project manager with ensuring that every workgroup is prepared to function at peak performance prior to the start of work. The planner uses a quick but detailed analysis of the components of workgroup performance success. The items evaluated are typically controlled within a project.
Gartner’s new report on the state of the PPM market evaluates 30 technology providers and identifies important trends, including the infiltration of the SaaS deployment model and increasing support of Agile.
The combination of the two companies creates a major player in the $1.3 billion project and portfolio management software market, with more than 500 customers and 150,000 users worldwide.
This comprehensive presentation covers all of the basics of Seibel 7 Workflow Processes.
Performance issues cropping up in your workgroup? Stop them before they get out of control using this form.
Your workforce improvement program will really take off if you use this Microsoft Project plan based on a real-life project to automate the workflow and improve organizational structure, communication and work processes.
User involvement is key to designing an effective application and a good user interface. Give the business users a template of standards and procedures to follow so that they can describe how they do their work, including workflow, and thus how the application should work for them.
Projects benefit from tools that promote communication and collaboration among stakeholders and team members. By increasing understanding of goals, priorities, issues and expectations, tools such as Microsoft SharePoint also help to identify — and eliminate — areas of duplication, improving productivity.
A wide variety of technology solutions and services are available to help organizations implement, customize and improve their project portfolio management processes. Here is our August roundup of recent updates and announcements from CA, Daptiv, Innotas, Oracle Primavera, Planview, PowerSteering, Rally and others.
There’s a new tool available to project managers. Are you a MOSSaholic yet?
Professional Edition for business analysts, project managers responsible for eliciting and documenting requirements for software.
After more than 20 years in the financial services industry, this writer thought he knew exactly what to anticipate moving into his new role as a software vendor project manager. He was wrong...
This form is designed to assist the project manager with managing workforce performance beyond the traditional training plan, as substandard performance can be caused by many factors other than inadequate training.
Acquisition of makers of popular Kanban-based project collaboration tool will strengthen Rally’s position in emerging market.
Some project managers have an easy facility for eliciting detailed information from their stakeholders while others find it a struggle to obtain more than just a monosyllabic answer. While some of this variability can be attributed to the questioner’s competency in formulating effective questions, the circumstances under which the questions are asked--and how receptive and engaged the parties are in answering those questions--also come into play.
CollabNet updates its TeamForge platform and ScrumWorks project management application, focusing on scaling agile to the enterprise through flexible reporting, ease of use and other enhancements.
Software is built on a variety of assumptions, and we need to understand what those assumptions are--and work around them in defining how we use the software. With so many options in the marketplace, how do you decide what’s good and what’s not? How do you navigate the promises of software vendors to know what you should be looking for, and how do you decide what will actually work for you?
Kanban is gaining popularity in project management circles as more teams relate to its principles of visualizing workflow, limiting work in progress and balancing demand. Here, a self-described “pragmatic Agilist” explains what drew him to Kanban, where it delivers benefits, and how it differs from other agile methods.
The Agile2011 Conference drew more than 1,600 attendees to Salt Lake City, where dozens of companies showcased new technology solutions and training offerings. Here is a recap from the busy exhibition floor.
Supporting project delivery across project, program, PMO and portfolio management processes, BrightWork is a SharePoint-based collaboration tool that can be adapted to each organization’s capability and maturity level without overwhelming users with unnecessary functionality.
Here’s our February 2011 roundup of the latest technology solutions for project leaders, teams and organizations, including social-based requirements management … security-focused PPM … enterprise-level Agile integration … software lifecycle management … and more.
Here’s our May 2010 roundup of the latest technology solutions and services for project management practitioners and teams, including collaborative access to the cloud and a variety of Agile offerings for portfolio management, application lifecycle management and dispersed teams.
Ever stop to ponder all the different PM frameworks that have been developed over the years and which one you should be using in your organization? Is there really one best framework out there? The options are dizzying, so here we take a look at four of them in depth. What can they do for you? Remember, one size does not fit all...
There are certain strategies and actions that the PM may take when managing a virtual team in order to make it more productive. These strategies will also increase the likelihood for a successful project implementation--and hopefully a very satisfied customer post-deployment.
Microsoft hopes a beta release feature pack that integrates Project Server and Visual Studio Team Foundation Server will bridge project managers, software developers and different methodologies by simplifying data exchange.
Project management tools can improve collaboration, team performanance and bottom-line results, but it doesn't always work out that way. Here are 10 all-too-common mistakes to avoid when implementing an online project management tool, along with some corresponding best practices to get it done the right way.
CRM tools are becoming much more common. Can they assist a project manager as well?
Getting in step with workflow means knowing the difference between workflow and process, and keeping it straight.
Managing customer expectations in an era of aging analytics can be challenging. IT business interface managers need to become more active in understanding business intelligence users’ gripes and "wow" factors regularly.
Gartner’s 2009 Magic Quadrant report surveys the state of PPM in a challenging economy, evaluating 19 technology providers, naming six “leaders” and addressing some emerging market trends.
Recent alliances, acquisitions and implementations in the world of project and portfolio management.
The secret to rapidly capturing requirements lays in understanding the business processes that the application is suppose to leverage and support. And it is in the gap between how things work today and how they need to work to achieve core business objectives that the fruit of the requirements tree can be harvested.
This cloud thing’s just not working...the silver bullet seems to have misfired. So what went wrong? A tool won't solve all of your problems; in reality, it's a combination of the tool, training, process re-engineering and integration with other corporate functions that will keep you up to speed.
Make sure your IT projects are bulletproof. This checklist doubles as both a quality review plan and a risk assessment document.
Few know the evolution of Application Lifecycle Management and how the Structured Revolution of the 1970s and '80s was a major turning point in software development. This article presents a retrospective on ALM and Structured Development Life Cycles--those that shaped it, the influencing principles and the related methodologies and tools the movement spawned.
Portfolio managers don’t always need a full-feature package with all the bells and whistles. Reviewing the variety of solutions available led this writer to generate a basic list of PPM requirements as well as a few nice-to-have features--leading him to a recommendation.
When implementating a program or portfolio management solution, it is better to have 80 percent of the potential users of the system (adoption rate) using 20 percent of the system functionality, than to have 20 percent of the users exercising 80 percent of the system functionality.
Content alone doesn't get you very far. The right technology, however, can help you manage that content to its maximum advantage. Choosing technology options to match your content requirements can give your web business the spark it needs to really heat up.
Our May 2009 Cool Tools roundup highlights some of the latest Agile-focused technology solutions and services for project management professionals and organizations.
Rational wants to be your one stop shop for OO knowledge. Which means that you need a process for your object-oriented project. Rational provides the Rational Unified Process to accompany the panoply of other services already offered. What is the RUP? Can it help you save your troubled project?
What are the business drivers for enterprise project portfolio management, what are the consolidation challenges and what is the solution?
As the project manager, you need to help the customer understand why agile could be a suitable approach for them. Here's some help in preparing them for a wild ride.
Selling your project’s benefits is easier if you can translate them. Consider which of the these three valuables will hit the mark with your customers.
Collaboration is a common theme throughout many of the leading trends for project management in 2012, as determined by a global panel of senior executives and subject matter experts.
Operating with leaner workforces, organizations are adopting new approaches to professional development initiatives that align to the individual’s workflow and the translate into tangible, measurable business impact.
Product development requires a unified, collaborative team effort. A social project management framework, combined with the right social tools, helps to connect team activities to the product development process and stakeholders. The benefits include increased visibility, more accurate estimates, responsive, real-time analysis and streamlined workflows.
