Project Management in Your Hands

 

Managing projects often revolves around having the latest information at your fingertips. Quick access to a project's schedule, budget, list of team members and contract information can save a manager time and effort, especially when a customer is pressing for answers. Typically, managers have lugged around large project binders, holding reams of paper or bulky laptops to keep their project information at hand.

Now comes a new alternative--the personal digital assistant. PDAs, like those from Palm Computing, Handspring, Casio and Hewlett-Packard, were originally created to augment Personal Information Managers (PIMs) on the computer, like Microsoft Outlook. The PDA provided a means to keep schedules, contacts, appointments, to-do lists and small memos close at hand. At first, PDAs were no different than the electronic organizers that came before them.

Recently, PDAs have become more than mere extensions of the desktop. New applications like spreadsheets, databases and word processors allow these devices to perform many tasks previously reserved for a computer, while also fitting in a shirt pocket.  Project managers can benefit from this explosion in capabilities. By using some of the built-in and available add-on PDA applications, you can have all your project information in the palm of your hands.

Built-In PDA Applications
Originally designed as PIM extensions, PDAs' five …

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