With the drive towards smaller and smaller projects, what we call "micro-projects" that may only last mere days or weeks are full-featured tools becoming passe? If your project team consists of three people working together for two weeks, is a collaboration tool really necessary? Please share your thoughts on how much tool is required for these types of projects and if you determine they are necessary, what are the minimal features required? Saving Changes...
It depends on whether your team are in the same office with you, are are remotely distributed.
If you are in the same office, a full-featured tool may be overkill. I personally prefer using a simple excel spreadsheet for these small projects.
If my team is geographically distributed, I regularily use ICQ's chat function on keep everyone on the same track. ICQ has a very nice feature where you can save the history of your chat conversation to a chat file. This is really useful for writing your post-meeting minutes. Saving Changes...
Hi Geoff, Good point on the distributed team bit - so just to clarify though let's say you have a team of less than 6 members, some of which are in distributed locations, and a project lasting less than six weeks, other than the chat feature and ability to track those conversations what would you say are other required features? What about very nice to have features? Thanks, Karen Saving Changes...
Since I'm keeping a simple excel spreadsheet to keep track of project tasks, resource assignments, and milestones/deadlines, I would like to be able to present/update this information online to all my team memebers in a clear and concise manner.
And most importantly, a contacts page with office/home phone numeber, mobile numbers, ICQ, etc.. Saving Changes...
Karen, as consultants, we don't have the "luxury" of not using a full-featured project management tool. Even on short-term client engagements, project plans along with the requisite forms are a necessity. You could liken it to using a sledghammer to drive in a thumb tack, but it's a very flexible sledgehammer. Saving Changes...
Hi Joe, Good point, I hadn't considered the consultant angle as of yet. Can I ask what tool you do use? What do you mean by it being a flexible sledgehammer? Saving Changes...
Karen, we use MSP98 & 2000 along with Project Central. It depends on the participants and the copies they use. So, we're not in the same league as a Primavera, but we've built some industrial-strength project plans for multi-year projects. Using the same tool to build a plan for mini-projects works just as well, hence the flexible sledgehammer.
Since we already have an investment and proficiency in Project we use it everywhere. The added benefit is consistency in our data store for archived project plans. Saving Changes...
Mark MullalyPresident| Interthink Consulting IncorporatedToronto, Ontario, Canada
One of the big challenges in terms of small projects can often be not managing the team itself, but managing communications with everyone else to let them know the status/progress of the project, and its impact on them.
What kinds of tools and solutions have people used to create awareness and visibility of all of the little projects in the organization, and to manage making sure they deliver the results they're supposed to? Saving Changes...
Thanks for the flexi-sledgehammer definition Joe. I'm curious as to whether you also use something like ICQ for chatting with project members and/or if you take advantage of Message Boards? Saving Changes...
Karen, we built a web-based issue management tool that we sell on a subscription basis. Some users only need issue management for brief periods or bridge that time until they acquire a more full-featured product. The internal version of that tool enables chat and discussion groups. Saving Changes...
Michael BrownProject Manager| JPMorganChaseDeerfield, Il, United States
Given the flexibility and cost (free, in many cases) of today's collaboration tools, the choice of using or not using such a tool can be done independent of project size or duration. We've been using tools such as Placeware and Webex as a means of "collaborating" - sharing powerpoint slides for a meeting, conducting remote end-user training, reviewing code or test plans, etc. Whether the team is co-located within one building, one city or one country, these tools have become invaluable and very easy to use! Saving Changes...
