Are You a Mac?
| Situation: You're a serious Mac user with serious project work to do.
Macs are gaining traction in many business environments, yet there aren't that many choices when We recently had the opportunity to interview Dennis Bilowus, CEO and president at AEC Software. Here's what we found out...
Q. Thinking about what your software does - Do you feel that the projects that Mac users generally work on are different (or require different functionality) than PC users? A recent Macworld review offered the following Pros and Cons for your product (see below). Are these driven by the needs you see as specific to Mac users? Can you tell us a bit about your approach to development? A: We here at AEC Software have been developing project-focused software for Mac since 1986 and for Windows since 1993. Because of the close contact that we maintain with our users, we know that Mac users generally work on the same types of projects as Windows users. Sure, there is a bit more emphasis on media and graphics by Mac users, and we definitely have some Mac-specific features. The core features provided by FastTrack Schedule 10 are cross-platform, Mac and Windows. However, we take advantage of the strengths of each platform and provide some features that are unique to each system. For example: FastTrack Schedule 10 has a different User Interface on Windows than it has on our Mac version. On Windows, we provide the user with a choice of 2 interfaces, the new Ribbon interface and a traditional Menu-based interface. The user can select the interface that they are comfortable with. Interesting side note, FastTrack Schedule 10 was the first PM scheduling application to adopt the Ribbon interface (released a few weeks ahead of MS Project 2010). On Mac, FastTrack Schedule 10 provides a Mac UI complete with a context-sensitive Format Bar and parity with the UI look and feel of Apple’s iWork Suite. Every project encounters delays that affect the schedule. The ability to easily make adjustments is important on any project. Both Mac and Windows users would like to have expert-level controls over their projects, together with the means to easily make adjustments. The new features and enhancements in FastTrack Schedule 10 provide a better workflow experience for our users as they track and manage their projects. The software is easy to use for both experienced project managers as well as the PM newcomer. We did a lot of research on the needs of users and incorporated their feedback into the way default layouts are built into files, and we developed an extensive set of project templates to help them get started quickly on their projects. For example, the default file has 40 built in Layouts. For ease of use only 15 of the 40 are displayed in the menu. We simplify the interface, but provide our users with accessible pre-set functionality should they want to utilize more powerful features of the program. After all, if we can provide our users with a great template for their project we can make them more productive. Communication of the project details and team involvement are paramount in successful project management. As such, we also build-in great visual reporting features such as summary graphs, image fields, and enable graphics, logos, and pictures to be placed into project plans which adds a lot of life to a schedule. Too often project schedules are presented as drab spreadsheets – where key project messages and data are lost as they blend into the schedule background. With FastTrack Schedule 10, communication is clear and vibrant. Graphs, images, and graphics foster a sense of involvement and accountability. Schedules are organic: living, breathing, and changing. Users can create fun, visually appealing schedules that bring out the creativity in all of us (and when was the last time the words ‘fun’ and ‘creativity’ was used to describe a project management tool or technique). Our Resource information form provides a Resource Image for a picture of the resource. Resources are not just names or employee numbers they are people. They are team members, and they are accountable for their performance. If everyone on the project buys into the project schedule, if everyone is involved with the schedule creation and schedule updates, then there is more transparency and accountability by all team members. That leads to successful projects. With our Project Consolidation feature, team meetings and stakeholder updates are a snap. It allows for the easy merging of various sub-projects into a single master schedule and provides a comprehensive view of overall project health, insight into potential bottlenecks, and promotes proactive decision-making. The power of this feature is that the users of the sub-project files never need to stop working and close their file. The consolidation occurs with live files. This provides an excellent tool for a manager to accurately monitor all project activities, costs, and resources. It is really powerful, but at the same time easy to use. Improving and streamlining workflow is one of our primary objectives when developing new versions of FastTrack Schedule. One such feature we’ve had great response to in FastTrack Schedule 10 is our Automated MS Project save option. With this feature, your project schedules are automatically saved as both a FastTrack Schedule file and MS Project file. This is a great time-saver when it’s implemented as part of a company’s standard template.
Another innovative feature is our drawing layer in Print Preview. With the drawing layer in Print Preview users can place company logos, legends, or schedule titles that enhance the presentation-quality of their project plans—thus, leaving their primary workspaces (the Gantt, Resource, and Calendar views) uncluttered.
Q: Who is the ideal user of your software? Is there a project-size, industry, or other attribute that it's particularly good for? Who is it not good for? A: FastTrack Schedule is uniquely positioned as an easy to use project management solution—one that’s ideal for both the PM newcomer as well as the experienced PM who are frustrated with complex, enterprise-level PPM tools. For both these types of project managers, FastTrack Schedule is simple to learn and use, provides more flexibility for customization, and offers superior presentation and reporting capabilities. FastTrack Schedule users range from the largest of companies with deployments in the thousands, to single person companies. Projects range from multi-year space exploration plans to advertizing campaigns; residential and commercial construction to entertainment/feature film special effects productions; manufacturing to pharmaceutical clinical trials, governmental planning to defense industries, IT to higher education as well as sustainability initiatives. Well…you get the picture! FastTrack Schedule is used by all types of industries on all types of projects. That’s the great thing about the project management space – everyone can use our software, because everyone is touched by a project, some way, some how. No matter if you are a distant or hands-on stakeholder; accidental project manager or experienced PMP, everyone can make use and be productive with an easy to use and flexible project management tool. It is not appropriate if someone needs project management software that is fully integrated with customer billing or has portfolio management requirements.
Q. How does your software compare to other PM players in the Mac market, such as Merlin or MindManager? A: FastTrack Schedule 10 is a tenth generation product that was originally developed on the Mac first (before our Windows version a few years after). As it stands, FastTrack Schedule is the longest running project management application on the Mac platform. Unlike other Mac only project management tools, FastTrack Schedule offers a compatible Windows version. After all, project team members can be Mac-based or Windows-based and there should be no barriers to collaboration and achieving project objectives. We have put careful consideration into the design of this version, balancing an easy to use interface with enormous flexibility and powerful tracking tools. With each release of FastTrack Schedule, we have always included features that are firsts for any project management tool on the Mac. With features such as Image Columns, an iMedia Browser, Resource Contouring and the Format Bar (to name a few) this version is no different than its 9 previous versions in its offering of innovative features. There is the unsurpassed flexibility and style of creating a project schedule that communicates all of your project/task details – which not only makes your schedule stand out, but also provides a unique sense of ownership in the schedule. The clearest example that I can think of, is the creation and modification of your bar styles. In FastTrack Schedule, not only are you provided with an unlimited number of milestones, bars and bar points to choose from, but you can create your own! If you want to use a company logo as a project delivery milestone, then import the picture in and watch it become part of your selection of customized bar styles.
Many of our customers work with mind mapping programs to brainstorm during the project planning phase. FastTrack Schedule integrates with the leading mind-mapping program, MindManager, providing an ideal “Concept to Completion” process model. FastTrack Schedule 10 provides full integration with both the Mac and Windows versions of MindManager enabling users to open MindManager files and automatically converts the maps into a traditional Gantt chart. Once in FastTrack Schedule, project plans can be adjusted as needed and rounded out with dependencies, resources, and costing details and then effectively tracked during the execution phase. And FastTrack Schedule will also export a schedule as a MindManager file.
Q: Why would a PM use your software versus a SAAS offering? Wouldn't that be a better choice in a mixed PC/Mac environment? A: No SaaS software offers the speed, sophistication, flexibility, security or unparalleled presentation-quality of FastTrack Schedule 10. Many SaaS solutions are rigid and do not allow for much customization. When you purchase licenses for FastTrack Schedule 10, you pay one price. There are no recurring monthly fees. FastTrack Schedule 10 provides the UI appropriate for each platform. Users are not dependent on having an Internet connection to manage or update their projects – which is a large downside for project managers on the go. We have desktop speed; users are not at the mercy of their Internet connection and their confidential schedules are stored on local computers or secure corporate servers.
Q: How do you see your software evolving over the next year? A: We have some interesting concepts in the pipeline. As with most software companies, we are not at liberty to discuss specifics about future products. We’re excited by the opportunity that amazing mobile devices such as the iPad, iPhone and Android phones offer for project collaboration. Stay tuned. |
Are You a Hero or a Zero?
| Situation: You like to play games. I rarely plug advertorial here, but this game that CA has produced is kind of neat.
The ‘PPM Hero Challenge’ has contestants navigate a series of PPM questions, So if you have a minute to run around a virtual office trying to solve problems (like you're not doing that now), you check it out. In the end you get to see how you rank against your peers. |
PMI Standards - How Would You Do It?
Categories:
Certification
Categories: Certification
| Situation: You know how to please most of the PMs some of the time.
If you think about it, PMI has a pretty tough job on their hands. Every time they create a new standard, they have to build something that:
- works with the PMBOK (really alignment across all of their standards) - adheres to a rather complicated set of rules set out by ANSI - is general enough to be applied across every functional area of an organization. - is validated by a volunteer consensus-based process. (a pretty tough screen) - gets them closer to achieving the mission outlined on their web site
"It is the mission of the PMI Global Standards Program to improve the understanding and competency of project management practitioners and customers worldwide by identifying, defining, documenting and championing generally accepted project management practices and a common project management lexicon. Through the program, PMI works to develop standards for the profession that are valued by our members, the marketplace and other stakeholders. By doing this, PMI hopes to achieve worldwide excellence in the practice of project management through standards that are widely recognized and consistently applied."
Some standards, like the Standard for Portfolio Management have been accused of being uneven and of failing to address the needs of specific functional areas, like IT. However, the focus is really to "champion generally accepted project management practices", rather than best or perfect practices. They've been described to me as "practices that have stood the test of time" rather than what is cutting edge today. It's also just the ones they can validate through volunteer consensus. For some of these same reasons, some describe a friction between Agile approaches and the PMBOK and there's been a great deal of talk about whether PMBOK V4 goes far enough in integrating Agile methods. I think we all "get" that PMI is well intentioned in the approach they are taking. I also know that that it's much easier to be an armchair quarterback and poke holes in something that already exists. However, there are a lot of smart people out there and sometimes the best ideas come from unexpected sources. So with that in mind, I have two questions for you.
1. Is the mission above the right one for PMI's standards organization? 2. If it is, is there a way to improve the approach they take to developing standards?
We'll pass on any suggestions posted here or sent to us. Or if you like, you can contact the Standards Department directly by email. |
There's No Need to Make Things Up
Categories:
Advice
Categories: Advice
| Situation: You need to make a point.
So often people feel like they have to "exhaggerate for effect". People do this every day now because its a cheap way I felt the need to mention this now, after watching a couple friends fail because they didn't take the time to thoughtfully communicate with their team. I think we all run across this sort of situation many times during our careers. There are also many times when we run across some great advice related to the basics. Here are two that I've just come across. Each of them is very much worth a quick read. The first is about being "real" or authentic in the same natural way you would be with friends. We've heard a lot about this recently, but I like the angle that this article takes on the subject. Why is Business Writing So Awful? walks you through how much of what we write for business is overly sanitized and devoid of meaning. If you look at the examples of great writing in this article, they are just people saying what they mean - talking about their real intentions and goals in a meaningful way. If we could all do more of that, the world would be a better place. The second outlines a simple truth related to basic story-telling. The ideas contained in The Five Basic Stories That Can Give Your Speeches Power are just as true when relaying a story to a team member as they are when you talking to a crowd. All of this often takes a little work, but I think it's work worth doing. What do you think? |
to create a hot Managing Your Most Important Project
| Situation: You'd like to manage you life as well as you manage your projects.
I met Joseph Phillips a couple of years ago. He's a PM trainer and author that has an unusual passion for everything
Q. In the book you open with a chapter describing how you came up with your "lifelong project" concept. Could you tell us a bit about that here? When the concept of The Lifelong Project dawned on me achieving goals was the farthest thing from my mind. I was at one of the lowest points of my life and having fleeting thoughts of ending it all. I was wrestling with the life I’d created and the life I really wanted. I reasoned that if all I had was project management then I’d make project management work for me. I took what I knew on project management, created some lofty goals, and then addressed each goal like a requirement in my project. In one year I went from the misery of self-defeat to experiencing some incredible joy and momentum in my life.
Q. Can you tell us a bit about others who have benefitted from reading it? I’ve presented The Lifelong Project for PMI chapters, churches, and other groups around the world. I’ve met many men and women who’ve told me, sometimes in tears, that they were considering suicide. Each promised me that what I shared convinced them to try life anew. While I don’t claim to be any guru I’m humbled and thrilled to have said something to connect with these people. I’ve also heard from readers that have shared their goals of weight loss, changing careers, returning to school, and renewing a passion for life.
Of all the people that may ever read The Lifelong Project I’m always the person who needs it the most. I wrote this book with myself in mind, but do believe that if I can do it then others can too. It’s been an incredible blessing and joyful experience to see people reading the book, to hear from participants, and to share my vision with others.
Q. Many people object to the structure that PM approaches lend to actual projects in our work lives. I would think that at least as many people would say the same about applying PM to the lives. What would you tell someone who feels that way? To use the Lifelong Project concept, to treat the next year of your life as a project, does require some faith in the logic of project management and the joy that’s waiting in your life. If a person willingly doubts the ability to use project management to achieve goals then they’re giving themselves permission to fail. You can’t manage a project while believing that the processes, standards, and approaches of project management won’t work and then be surprised that the project failed. Goals and joy in life work the same way – you must be committed to achieving the goal in order to achieve the goals.
It’s tempting to compartmentalize our lives; to create a work compartment, a family compartment, a career compartment, and more. The truth is, life is what it is. There are no compartments, no separation of work, family, joy, and pain. Life, like project management, is integrated by all of its components. When you have a toothache your tooth may hurt the most but the rest of your body aches too. It’s no different – when you’re miserable in your work it affects your joy, your family, your mental and spiritual well-being.
Q. When planning and executing your life, what would you say is the most applicable aspect of PM? What aspects of PM of translate poorly? Project management is really all about changing: you’re changing the current state to some desired future state. To reach that future state you need to identify the future state in whole, create requirements, create a scope, create a WBS, and so on. In The Lifelong Project I walk readers through the same basic processes. Project management in work or in our personal lives is simply project management – it doesn’t matter if you’re managing an IT project, a construction project, or even a health care project, the principles are the same.
Having said that, what does translate poorly is the unmentioned project management component of accountability. In your career as a project manager you’re accountable to management and customers, while in life there is a looser form of accountability. No one’s going to fire you from your life because you abandon goals, shirk off tasks, or mentally beat yourself up. One characteristic I stress, and have learned by doing, is finding someone to make yourself accountable to in your Lifelong Project. Friends, family members, even a blog are all good approaches to sharing our goals and asking others to keep us accountable to the goals and requirements we’ve created. Accountability is inherent to our careers, but not so much in the choices and decisions we make in our lives.
Q. To me, your book felt like "Covey's Seven Habits" for Project Managers. In other words, if you are familiar with PM concepts, the book helps you apply those concepts to building a better life. Was it your intent to focus on the PM market? What do you see as the differences between your approach and Covey's? First, I’m thrilled to be compared to Steven Covey’s book – it’s a favorite of mine. Because I’ve written so many books and have taught project management for the past decade it was a logical goal to write a book on goal setting for myself and then other project managers. The book isn’t technical to the extent as a traditional project management book, it’s brief and speaks about project management in simple terms so anyone can read it and grasp the concept. When you consider that most people, project managers or not, are working on a project it’s not a stretch for readers that aren’t project managers to apply these principles and propel their life forward.
The primary difference between The Lifelong Project and Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is that I’m using the principles of project management to get things done. I stick to the known terms and business logic that we all use to move from concept to creation.
Q. What is the greatest benefit you've seen from applying the approaches outlined in your book? I’ve found joy again. There’s joy in creating and working towards goals and this book has helped me create and achieve goals and rekindle my passion for writing, teaching, and getting involved with life. Since I wrote this book I’ve dropped nearly fifty pounds of weight, ran the Chicago Marathon twice, travelled around Europe, and changed the way I think about myself and others. |
PM. A couple of months ago he sent me his latest book, 
