Certain project management tools have specific defining methodology behind how they work. For instance, Trello and Agile Zen along with Blossom.io follow the Kanban method of project management. A few other project management tools are almost like Facebook or Twitter.

The options can be bewildering indeed. So, here’s an attempt to point you in the right direction as far as project management tools are concerned. If you are a project manager looking for a great tool to bring your team together to work collaboratively and manage projects successfully, look out for these options:

Telerik TeamPulse

Telerik TeamPulse is an all-in-one team management solution that enables multiple project management, enhanced collaboration, planning work, and even helps you leverage agile best practices.

Ideally suited for any software project management requirements, you can improve your decision-making, keep up-to-date on team progress, bridge the boundaries between team roles, open gates for communication, manage bugs, and much more. The web-based solution also extends itself for time-tracking, cross-project reporting, and also doubles as an ideas and feedback portal.

Agile Zen

Focused around visualization, communication, improvement of workflows, and efficient organization of work, Agile Zen is project management software that aims to offer a lean solution for businesses.

It renders itself very well for projects of all types – with a slight emphasis on the coding, software and development niche – while featuring some nifty features such as “performance metrics” showing you cycle times, lead times, and percentage efficiency. On the communication tab, you’ll see some inspiration from Trello-like flow, and especially Trello swimlanes, with ready, working and complete columns to minimize interference in communication and to make sure that you are able to call attention to problems as they surface in the midst of a project.

Basecamp

The folks led by Jason Fried at 37Signals– the company behind Basecamp, High Rise, and Campfire – practically invented web-based project management. They are still big except that they chose not to add too much cream to the milk. By that, we mean that you won’t find anything fancy in Basecamp. No rich UI motions, no Gantt Charts, no visual reporting (except for a project progress bar, if you can call it that).

Yet, it has a strong following. It’s appeal as a simplistic project management tool is irresistible for many businesses. All you need is to assign projects to teams, and check the progress while keeping everyone on the same page using a calendar.

How much more simple can it get?

Asana

It’s amazing how many different ways a simple but powerful project management software tool can be used. Asana is the brainchild of Facebook’s co-founder Dustin Moscovitz and it’s rapidly growing to be a hugely popular web-based project management tool and it’s completely free to use for up to 15 users.

You can choose to run private or public projects, have granular control on who gets to see what, use Harvest App for time tracking, and Google Drive for document uploads and usage (In addition to Dropbox and your own computer hard drive). The project tool makes project management accountable with work assigned efficiently to the right people.

Deskaway.com

Project collaboration tools are getting smarter and with that, project managers and teams get the best of what is available. Deskaway.com is a smart, web-based collaboration tool, which provides you with project collaboration, which includes time tracking, project templates, documents, timesheets, and milestones.

It also provides you with a choice of options for reporting and analytics such as Gantt Charts, individual project and user reports. Deskaway does integrate with third-party apps while also being made available on your mobile devices.

Workzone

For project management, you need security along with plenty of other features that teams find useful. Some of the web-based project management tools either go overboard with features or underplay it completely missing out on what’s important.

Workzone focuses on exactly what teams need with features such as Status alerts, secure file sharing, flexible and manageable permissions, approvals workflow, file version, a group calendar, and even image markup. It has the ability to manage multiple projects and easily duplicate tasks that have similar workflows. It’s easy, intuitive to use, and gets you to work.

Worketc

How about using a single tool for almost everything you’d ever need to do for your business, managing projects and even billing or invoicing? Worketc.com is one single, web-based app that almost gets there with integrated CRM, project management, Billing, Help Desk (Customer Support), and much more.

The cost of using Worketc is much less than if you were to use CRM and project management separately. Further, everything remains on the cloud (much like all other project management tools) with business-wide visibility and real-time accountability. It’s the perfect way to get your team onboard and give them one single office to work from. Even the remote workers feel at home with this tool.

There’s no one tool that’s the best as most of these listed project management tools have some great features and each has their own breed of users. Asana, Workzone, and Basecamp for instance, can fit any type of project while Agile Zen and TeamPulse make better choices for software development projects.

As a project manager, try to fit a project management solution around your needs instead of picking up any project management tool. You’d need a fairly flexible solution, which is also easy on the eye and easy to use. Look for the third-party apps your project management tool integrates with – sometimes, that will decide which tool to go for.

For instance, Agile Zen mostly integrates with development tools and not with some popular apps such as Google Apps, High Rise, Zen Desk, etc. Do your due diligence and you won’t have to waste time working with the wrong project management solution.

What’s your favourite when it comes to project management solutions?

The post 7 Project Management Tools that are making Life Simpler for Project Managers appeared first on Project Accelerator News.

Companies go through great lengths in order to hire the ‘right’ Project Manager. Many insist on taking their pick only from the cream of the crop – experienced professionals with proven expertise and recognized credentials hanging on their walls. They believe that good project management equals good end results and they would be right on several counts. But no matter how careful a company is when making their selection, there are certain unpredictable factors that that they simply cannot foresee when building a team.

No matter how experienced a Project Manager you are, there are just some human factor barriers that you could face that go beyond what your prestigious  PMP Certification training prepared you to handle. Let’s take a closer look at some of the human hurdles that can come in the way of productivity when working on a project. What exactly are we talking about and can they be anticipated or even prevented in advance?

Ego Clashes

We all have our pride and it’s hard to swallow that pride when a cocky, young team member resists your authority or a client behaves like he or she knows better than you do. If you give into your human impulse to lash out at the people who hurt your ego, great project manager or not, you will immediately put up unecessary walls between you and your team members or between you and your customers. That’s not the ideal way to cultivate a work environment that is conducive to productivity. Remember that team leaders aren’t the only ones with egos.

As a Project Manager, your greatest challenge lies in managing your people. Planning and implementing best practices aligned with a company’s strategy may be a great way of bringing order and balance to your project, but you still need to be able to understand basic human nature and implement leadership methods that bring balance to the dynamics of your team.

Put aside your ego but not your authority. You must be able to garner the respect of team members as well as your client, without needing to lose your cool or disrespect them and their points of view.

Ego clashes can lead to internal team resentment that can fester below the surface and ultimately negatively impact the way a team member functions on a project. This is not what you want. Be smart, learn to choose your battles wisely and ensure that you give your team freedom without too much micro managing. If you think that you are the key to a project’s success, then remind yourself that you can only guide and motivate your team. Without your people, nothing would be accomplished.

Procrastination and Accountability

If you’ve been working for a while, it doesn’t take long to spot the one person in the team who works hard…only when crunched for time. This person always gets the job done, so you can’t really haul them up for non-performance. However, their way of working is predictable and not very healthy for the team. Procrastinators are often people who can only function when under a great deal of pressure and they create that pressure for themselves by pushing their work to the eleventh hour.

The procrastinator on your team is as cool as a cucumber when you assign him or her some work to do. In fact, they’ll be happy to take on responsibility for a greater workload and you’ll be thrilled at first to have such an enthusiastic hard worker on your project. Initially you may ignore the warning signs – the procrastinator is watching a video online when everyone else has rolled up their sleeves and is elbow-deep in project-related work. When you gently question the team member, they will assure you that they’ve got it all under control and their confidence may make you believe what they say. The real alarm bells go off when there’s only a day to deadline and you realize that the procrastinator has just begun work on the huge task load that had been assigned to them.

There are many kinds of procrastinators. These range from perfectionists who are afraid to start work because they are afraid of failure, to professional control freaks who likes to create a false sense of dependency and then feed off it. Whatever the reason, it isn’t acceptable professional behavior.

Nip procrastination in the bud by making every team member accountable on a daily basis. Set goals every morning and make it mandatory for team members to finish those tasks within the mandated time limit. Link performance reviews to this format of working and you’ll definitely see results. You may face initial resistance from the procrastinator, who truly believes that he or she functions well under duress. Don’t let their personal views cloud your judgment. You will have to put your foot down when it comes to unnecessary delays that impact your project’s progress.

Taking Advantage of Poorly Defined Roles and Responsibilities

If you don’t clearly designate responsibilities to the people on your team, there will be an overlap of roles and sometimes these blurred lines can lead to trouble between teammates. Imagine a team member who always likes to take the lead, working on the same job as another team member who is more passive and doesn’t always speak up. Even if the passive team member has a valid point of view, the more aggressive team member could overrule it, ultimately leading to a simmering dissatisfaction that causes stress and tension.

Clearly define roles and responsibilities, putting it into writing where possible. As a Project Manager, it is your duty to capitalize on the strengths of the individuals in your team. Designate work that you think would best suit a particular team member.

Lack of Communication

This one may seem obvious, but remember that when dealing with human beings, clear communication is possibly one of the biggest challenges you will face. From giving a vague instruction, to poor updates on project goings on, lack of communication can be a huge barrier to your team’s productivity.

Poor communication often leads to confusion, arguments and accusations. This in turn leads to an extremely unhealthy work environment and ultimately impedes a project’s progress.

To avoid any future issues, set communication protocols in place at the start of the project. Whether it’s for communicating project updates to team members or sending across a report to the customer and senior management, a fixed time, and format is always the best way to go.

Make sure you include a communications plan in your Project Planning master document. If you feel that communication is a personal challenge, you’d do well to hire a communication specialist as part of your team.

Lack of Motivation

Not every project you manage is path-breaking or exciting. For team members this can often lead to demotivation through boredom. One could argue that the work is what they get paid for and therefore they should give it their 100% best. Unfortunately, when the human factor is involved, nothing is ever as simple as it seems.

Team members need to be motivated in order to function well. Sometimes that motivation needs to come from their team manager. Try to create a feeling of camaraderie between team members, so that they feel more at home with the work that they are doing. You could also ensure that team members have fun while they work. Order in pizza and donuts on a Friday evening, and call for an enforced break from work. Even small recreational events can help alleviate mental fatigue.

In conclusion, remember that your greatest assets on any project are your people. No matter how qualified, experienced or skilled your team members are, you will always have to be prepared for the one little fact that is rarely taken into consideration when a project is planned – the fact that your team members are only human!

The post 5 Human Hurdles in Project Management and Tactics to Overcome Them appeared first on Project Accelerator News.

The management processes used are segregated into elements to create a step by step process of handling various aspects of the project. The main elements that are a part of the basic framework of any project are :

1. Initiation
2. Planning
3. Execution
4. Monitoring
5. Completion

What does an initiation process do?

The initiation process is a critical piece of a project. The loss of time and resources due to a sloppy initial review cannot be recovered during the time frame needed to complete the rest of the processes. As part of this process group, a review of the business requirements is done to create measureable goals. Financial analysis and an analysis of the personnel to be a part of the project. It also includes the project charter. This topic is of great importance in all project management training programs.

What does a project charter contain and why is it needed?

A project charter is a critical document as it provides a comprehensive review of the project that includes

1. A description of the scope of the project and its key requirements needed for the successful completion.
2. It outlines the goals and the long term benefits to the organization
3. A financial analysis to determine an approximate costing. A rough budget estimate could include a list of the resources needed, costs – human and otherwise.
4. It contains time frames for the completion of some project requests. Targets that need to be reached for the completion of a part of the process can be set. These will be the means for the measurement of the success of the project and also as a means to study and review the progress made up to that time. A scoring system could be added for each process to give a clearer idea.
5. It contains information about the key people who are to be a part of the project and their responsibilities. It also defines the level of authority of the project manager.
6. It includes steps that need to be taken for the next elements of the process group to be initiated. Products or resources needed for the project delivery process are identified.
7. It may also include an assessment of the potential risks involved at various stages of the project.

Once the final document has been approved, changes are rarely, if ever, made to the scope of the project. The responsibility of the project is with the project initiator who speaks to the stakeholders and the other players and after the project terms are agreed upon starts the draft of the charter.

A standard company template could be used to standardize content across various channels while keeping the charter concise and effective. A standard template would contain the following headings

1. A brief description of the project
2. A brief list of benefits of the project to the company and why it should be taken up.
3. Scope of the project
4. Milestones to be reached
5. Resources needed and costs
6. Measurement of progress made
7. Roles and responsibilities
8. An outline of the risks involved
9. Agreement form for all the members involved

To be used as an effective communication tool, the project charter would be most useful if it is placed in a location that is easily accessible to all the members involved. For the project to be managed online, there are a number of apps and tools available across various operating systems that make it easily accessible to the project stakeholders, designers, freelancers and the management.

The post A Definitive Introduction to a Project Charter appeared first on Project Accelerator News.