Method123 Ltd has announced the release of its new software for project teams.
The “Method123 Project Management Methodology” (or MPMM) is a software toolset for organizations that run multiple projects at the same time. These organizations usually need to implement projects in a standard manner, using best practice project processes. MPMM contains such processes to ensure that projects are always run in the same way.
“Project management can be chaos at times,” says Jason Westland, CEO of Method123. “Everyone is scrambling for time, money and resources to try and achieve an objective that the organization is dependent on meeting. Most successful organizations attempt to control this chaos by implementing projects in a standard manner. “
By J. LeRoy Ward, PMP, PgMP, Executive Vice President, ESI International
Imagine being asked to work on a project, only you don’t speak the language in the country in which it will be conducted. You wouldn’t get very far, and you’d most likely experience a lot of raised eyebrows because all you could do is point and smile. Sharing a common language is not the same thing as speaking the same mother tongue. But, as project managers will tell you, project-speak has a dialect all its own. Whether in Singapore or Stockholm, communicating what you mean in business is critical to completing a project on budget and time.
An emerging global business culture has brought with it an ever-expanding language of ‘project-speak’ that you hear in boardrooms around the world. My advice is to learn the lingo in your field as quickly as possible to maintain your competitive edge.
The more diverse the field, the more terms are needed to operate within it. With over three decades of experience with project managers from Shanghai to Stuttgart to Salt Lake City, I have witnessed an explosion of new terminology in project management first-hand (from just over 1,600 terms in the 90’s to over 3,400 today). As globalization broadens markets, the language required to keep up grows with it. What you say is as important as how you say it.
The best thing you can do to enhance your IT career is stay up to date on training and get certifications. A lot of work done in IT today is project work. Adding project management skills to your skill sets will greatly enhance your worth and your ability to contribute to your company.
The top five project management skills an IT professional should look at to add to their toolbox include:
PMP - Project Management Institute’s Project Management Professional
Individuals who hold PMI’s PMP credential demonstrate a proficient level of project management leadership skills, and as a result are able to command salaries that exceed those of their non-credentialed counterparts. To be eligible for a PMP credential, you must meet specific guidelines that objectively measure experience, education and professional knowledge.
For more information about PMP certification visit the Project Management Institute web site.
The online collaboration market is crowded and includes established leaders like BaseCamp and Central Desktop. OnePlace a self-pronounced “chaos management system” is now in beta is looking to edge into the market.
Press Release
Riverock Technologies has announced a ground-breaking way to manage business chaos with the availability of its OnePlace on-demand project management and collaboration solution.
“The Chaos Theory tells us that chaotic systems are systems that look random, but aren’t,” said Steve Kickert, ceo, Riverock Technologies. “Business operations fundamentally prove this theory. The Chaos Theory suggests that a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil could cause a tornado in Texas (known as the Butterfly Effect). Likewise, in business, an individual’s actions can impact the performance of the entire business, both in good and bad ways.” Kickert theorizes a business can influence this impact by providing teams and individuals with tools enabling them to collaborate more and coordinate their efforts.
iTaskX v2.5 has be released as an update for the Mac OS X project management software package. New in v2.5 is improved support for Microsoft Project. You can open native Microsoft Project files and exchange data using Microsoft Project’s XML and MPX support. iTaskX cost $106.25 to purchase.
iTaskX provides the support you need for professional project management. iTaskX 2 adapts to your working processes and ensures an overview on your targets, dates, costs and the current status of your projects. iTaskX supports you in making your projects more transparent in terms of organizing, monitoring or administrating your tasks.
Key Features:
Do you need Project Management software, but don’t have a lot of money to invest in it? Take a look at dotProject. It is a free open source Project Management tool alternative to Microsoft products and other expensive applications.
Features Include
- User Management
- Email based trouble Ticket System
- Client/Company Management
- Project listings
- Hierarchical Task List
- File Repository
- Contact List
- Calendar
- Discussion Forum
- Resource Based Permissions
Method 123 a company that offers a comprehensive suite of Project Management templates is now offering a free project management e-book.
The free e-book covers the project life cycle from initiation, planning, execution to closure.
This e-book helps you manage projects more successfully by describing each of the steps in the Project Life cycle. Every phase, activity and task is described, helping you to apply a best practice approach to managing your project.
If you want to deliver your projects on time and within budget, then this short e-book will give you the knowledge you are looking for. You will also learn how to manage time, cost, quality, change, risk and issues as well as manage staff, customers and suppliers.
At times Project Management can seem like an art more than a science. IT projects can be particularly challenging. So how do you choose a project and what are the essential criteria to ensure a successful project?
While there is no magical formula, here are seven tips to keep in mind for a successful IT project.
1. How to Choose Projects
You should choose projects that are important to the organization. Not just in the present, but in the future as well. They should fill an important need such as a new service or the expansion of a present service.
The project should be in alignment with the business needs. This is a huge factor. No matter how good the idea, if it does not align with the business it is doomed or worse the project will be revised to death. Align with the business needs from the start.
2. Resources
Once you have chosen a project you must ensure that all of the appropriate resources are available. These include the budget to fund the project, the people, equipment, space and anything else needed for the project.
Nothing can derail your project faster than a lack of resources. Upper management must be committed to providing the resources needed to get the job done. By the time an idea reaches the project status, failure is not an option. Be SURE you have all of the resources you need from the start.
Agile Agenda is an Adobe Open Air tool for project management, letting you schedule and assign tasks, assigning priorities and more. It currently runs on Windows, Mac OSX.
They will soon offer Linux and web based versions.
The philosophy behind the software:
Durations and Priorities
Agile Agenda asks for durations and priorities and then figures out the start and end dates for you. The more detailed information you enter, such as vacations and dependencies the more accurate it becomes.
Schedules Constantly Change
Nobody has perfect knowledge of how long a project will take before it’s completed. In many projects scope, resource availability, and task estimates all change fairly frequently. Agile Agenda wants to make it as easy as possible to make those changes without going back and reworking unrelated things.
Innovation in an organization increases performance and growth through improvements. Innovation is not just about having good ideas. Innovation is a team effort where all areas of an organization contribute. Microsoft is attempting to address this with its Innovation Process Management Solution.
The Microsoft Innovation Process Management (IPM) Solution is built on the Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007, and the Microsoft Enterprise Project Management (EPM) Solution. It facilitates the following three aspects of innovation process management.
Ideation and Knowledge Capture
The ability to capture and share ideas easily and rapidly to promote a culture of innovation by increasing first the quantity and then the quality of ideas contributed
The capability to collaborate to solve problems, gain incremental benefit or break new ground in a product, service or process by garnering feedback, gauging interest, forming teams and further developing concepts to transform them into well-thought-out ideas
