BradEgeland.com #agile #devops #pmp #businessintelligence #virtual #databreach #AI #esports #cybersecurity
  • Welcome
  • Expertise
  • This Week in PM
  • Webinars / training / demos
  • Clients
  • Professional Services
  • Blog
  • PM Forum
  • PM Video Series
  • Software Reviews
  • Books
  • Awards/Recognition
  • White Papers
  • Templates & Downloads
  • Past Survey Results
  • Contact

The Project Manager's New Year Wish List

12/23/2014

0 Comments

 
As we close the door on another year, I thought it would be a good time to look at the top five items project managers should have on their wish list for 2015.

Respect of Their Team

Nobody has the right to receive respect from their team; this can only be earned by reputation or deed. Within project management, respect of your team is essential...
Read the full article...
0 Comments

My Wish List for Project Management in 2015

12/22/2014

0 Comments

 
This is a first for me…a Christmas list for project management, or maybe a New Year's resolution for the project management world. At any rate, here are a few things that I'd like to see happen for project management in 2015. As you read, please consider the changes, additions or deletions you'd like to see happen and share with everyone so we can openly discuss. Thanks!

Now for my thoughts on the look of project management for 2015:...
Read the full article...
0 Comments

4 Signs You Have the Right Creative Team Assembled

12/22/2014

0 Comments

 
Do I have the right people for the project? That is always on the mind of the project manager – and probably senior management personel in the organization. And in a smaller creative organization, those people on the project may be everyone you have on staff. That doesn’t mean you are limited by that – you can always go out and try to find 1-2 additional creative staff to help round out the organization if you find you need particular expertise that you don’t currently possess.

But instead of looking at the negative today, let’s look at the positive. Let’s consider 4 signs that you may have just the right people to do what is needed to do to get the job done on your latest ad campaign or marketing venture for your new big client...
Read the full article...
0 Comments

Using Visual Planning for Easier Project Management

12/22/2014

0 Comments

 
Whether you are a “visual” person who needs to see in order to understand or an auditory person who prefers to hear in order to best comprehend, I think we can all agree that a visual planning system for project management is a great way to go.  Especially if it is meeting our project scheduling, project status reporting, and resource management needs in a way that can make our lives easier and can help us disseminate information throughout the organization (ours and the customers’) to those who need it.

Yes, for PM, visual usually wins out.  Charts, graphs, reports, percentages, and presentation slides abound everywhere you look and every meeting you attend.  And status reporting and meetings….  Well, there are resource usage reports that highlight areas where your resources are overextended.  Gantt charts are designed to provide a visual representation of how your entire project is laid out.  Each task is represented and all dependencies, work completed, dates, and resources assigned are usually integrated into the Gantt chart visual view.  And don’t forget about budget forecasting and analysis.  For the projects I’ve managed over the years, I’ve created numerous ways to display this information very visually for my team, my executive management, and my customer.  Sometimes what I have suffices, sometimes the customer and various stakeholders ask for something new which sends me off searching for or creating the best reporting scenario for the project at hand.  Information is critical, and the delivery of this information can be critical to end user comprehension and adoption...
Read the full article...
0 Comments

How Detailed Do We Need to Be? - Part 1

12/19/2014

0 Comments

 
A project is a project, right? Well, sort of. But it does stand to reason that not every engagement needs to be managed to the same level of detail. Certainly a $5,000 two-week project doesn’t require the same up front planning and detailed documentation that a $5 million two-year project requires.

It is true, however, that every project needs documentation. Every project needs some level of status reporting. I think we can all agree to that statement as well. The question is – how much is enough? What is the breakeven point between project expense and project benefit? Beyond what point are we just burning through the project budget with our planning and documentation and not providing any additional benefit for the project, the customer, and those who may service or support the solution – or even take the project through a future phase? When have we hit that wall?
Read the full article...
0 Comments

5 Reasons Why to Choose activeCollab as Your Project Management Weapon of Choice

12/19/2014

0 Comments

 
In my latest installment of “5 Reasons Why…”, I am discussing activeCollab, a trusted project management tool that has been around for 7 years and boast users all around the world.  Indeed, since 2007, over 150,000 companies have trusted activeCollab with managing their projects and relied on this powerful tool to enhance their productivity efforts.

Reliability.  Most managers choose activeCollab for its reliability - a self-hosted version that works from anywhere and a Cloud version that prides itself with 99,98% of uptime in the first year of its existence. activeCollab is secure and stable enabling thousands of customers around the world to manage their work seamlessly.

Robust features.  Being robust with features and easily adapted to the company’s needs makes it a good choice for project managers who don’t want to spend months transitioning to a PM software and training their employees to use it. activeCollab is the #1 choice for busy managers in software development companies, advertising agencies, design and photography studios, corporations with teams spread around the globe and more.

Uses native iOS and Android applications.  With native iOS and Android apps, activeCollab makes it easier for people to access their work anywhere in the world being the perfect choice for freelancers and digital nomads but also corporate managers who spend a lot of time traveling.

Cool Notebooks feature for easy collaboration.  Creatives use its Notebooks feature to collaborate in real time and edit content together seamlessly while software developers adore the Source module that allows them to attach code to tasks and develop amazing software together. Nonprofits and Universities enjoy a 50% discount on activeCollab Cloud plans saving money needed for greater causes.

Convenient invoicing feature.  Invoicing is one of activeCollab’s most praised features with thousands of people exporting invoices every day  After you make your template, activeCollab will always automatically create invoices for you making it easier to bill your clients and charge for your services.

activeCollab is a powerful and reliable tool used and praised by businesses around the world, enabling great projects every day. Over 500,000 projects are completed by activeCollab’s users so far.  Join them, start your free trial today.

0 Comments

Adding PM Value to the Project

12/17/2014

0 Comments

 
Many times we find ourselves running the project methodically because we’re busy, we have lots of projects on our plate and things are going fairly well. Kind of like the saying, “If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.” But when we do that, we tend to miss doing the things that we do that can be adding value to the project, helping the project team, and helping to ensure the highest degree of satisfaction to our project client.

If you find that you’re not leading your teams well…they don’t seem to be taking direction and following your leadership, or if you are not experiencing the level of project success that you had hoped for, or if customers never seem quite as satisfied with your project efforts as you would like, then maybe it’s you and not them. And maybe it’s time to ask yourself, “Am I doing the right things right?”...
Read the full article...
0 Comments

Keeping Team Morale High During Slow Times

12/15/2014

0 Comments

 
No one is busy 100% of the time. And that’s good. There are times when we are all over worked and feel like we are working 30-hour days. That happens. But what about those times when things are slow in the creative industry? What about those times when the customers aren’t pounding on your door for projects for your creative team to take on? How do you keep everyone motivated? How do you keep them engaged, excited, and on top of their game? How do you avoid high anxiety levels…fearing layoffs and frustrations? It takes great management skills, a confident team, and some tricks on your part to make this all happen. I’m going to share with you some tips on keeping team morale high when things slow down – keeping your team members from fearing that their families are about to go hungry.

Through the years I've had instances where the company, division or business unit, or PMO was in doubt and I had to be creative and come up with ways to keep my team’s morale high during these seemingly down times. I look forward to your input as well as to what has (and hasn't) worked for you in these situations, but for now here are my top 3...
Read the full article...
0 Comments

A 5 Step Approach to Keeping Your Remote Project Team Successful - Part 2

12/12/2014

0 Comments

 
In Part 1, we began looking at the first two of my personal idea of five areas to focus on to ensure you get the most from your remote project team.  I fully believe in remote project management and virtual teams as a way to utilize the best talent available no matter the location, and as a means to keep costs low and avoid some of the timing setbacks that happen when teams are “required” to be co-located.

Let’s continue by examining the next three on my list…

Always conduct weekly meetings with the project team

It’s not all about status meetings with the customer.  Before that can even happen you need the most up to date information from your team that you can possibly get.  To that end, I always conduct weekly internal team meetings 1-2 days in advance of a formal weekly meeting with the customer.  That allows me to get status info from each team member, prep everyone for key discussion points during the customer call, and have all the info I need to get the customer a revised project schedule and current status report that will drive that formal weekly discussion.  No surprises and a smooth customer meeting is usually the benefit from this effort...
Read the full article...
0 Comments

Managing Creative Differences Amongst Your Project Team Members

12/9/2014

0 Comments

 
Having a team that can think on their own is great. Having a team that comes to blows due to all that individual thinking is a different matter completely. Conflict resolution is one of those project management responsibilities that most of us project managers like to put down on our resumes and our LinkedIn profiles. However, in reality we try to ignore it, avoid it like the plague or pass it on to our project team member’s direct supervisor. We are the leaders - the chosen project manager for the engagement - and we should be able to manage our team as well as any issues or conflicts that arise between them during the course of the engagement.

But it is never fun…and usually it isn’t very easy either. And especially on the creative team everyone has a great deal of creative talent and individual thinking. That’s why they are tasked with ad campaigns, marketing undertakings, design projects and similar projects. They have the skills that our clients need in order to get the job done. Do they always think alike? Almost never…because we don’t usually want clones on our teams…that wouldn’t be very effective or productive, would it?...
Read the full article...
0 Comments
<<Previous

    Authors:

    Picture

    Brad Egeland


    Brad has over 25 years of professional IT experience as a developer, manager, project manager, consultant and author.  He has written more than 6,000 expert online articles, eBooks, white papers and video articles for clients worldwide.  If you want Brad to write for your site, contact him.

    Picture

    Anna Egeland
    ​

    Anna is a self-professed tech girl and enthusiastic gaming follower, writer, and co-host of a podcast. She attends professional eSports competitions and gaming conferences, allowing her to write with a first hand experience from a female perspective about the Las Vegas gaming scene. Contact her for interviews, product/event reviews and article ideas.

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    March 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    November 2009

    Categories

    All
    5 Reasons Why...
    Ad Agency
    Agile
    Apple
    Applications
    B2b
    Best Practices
    Best Practices
    BI
    Blogging
    Book
    Budget
    Business
    Business Continuity
    Business Intelligence
    Certification
    CES
    Change Management
    Cheap Trick
    Cloud Computing
    Coaching
    Collaboration
    Commentary
    Communication
    Conferences
    Conflict Resolution
    Consulting
    Content Marketing
    Contractors
    Control
    Creative
    Creative Management
    CRM
    Current Events
    Customer Management
    Customer Management
    Customer Service
    Customer Service
    Cybercrime
    Cybersecurity
    Cyber Security
    Data Security
    Decision Making
    Desktop Virtualization
    Disaster Recovery
    Documentation
    Document Management
    EBook
    Enterprise Ppm
    Eppm
    Estimating
    Expense Reporting
    Expense Reports
    Financials
    Forecasting
    Funding
    Government
    Green Pm
    Hackers
    Hacking
    Hosting
    Hvac
    Ipad
    IPhone
    IPhone6
    IPhone 6
    Issue Management
    Kickoff
    Leadership
    Lessons Learned
    Management
    Marketing
    Meetings
    Mentoring
    Methodology
    Milestones
    Music
    Negotiation
    Networking
    News
    Onboarding
    Opinion
    Outsourcing
    Paperless
    Performance
    Performance Management
    Planning
    Pm Career
    Pmo
    Pmo Director
    Pmp
    Pmp Exam
    Pm Roles
    Pm Roles
    Pm Tools
    Portfolio Management
    Ppm
    Presentations
    Pricing
    Productivity
    Project Approval
    Project Budget
    Project Management
    Project Management
    Project Management Office
    Project Manager
    Project Schedule
    Project Sponsor
    Project Team
    Quality
    Remote Project Management
    Reporting
    Requirements
    Resource Management
    Resource Planning
    Review
    Risk
    Risk Management
    Schedule
    Scope Management
    Scrum
    Security
    Small Business
    Smart Pm
    Social Media
    Soft Skills
    Software Development
    Software Review
    Stakeholders
    Startups
    Status Reporting
    Study
    Survey
    Task Management
    Teams
    Technology
    Telecommuting
    Templates
    Testing
    Time Management
    Tools
    Training
    Trends
    Vdi
    Video
    Virtual Desktop
    Virtualization
    Virtual Teams
    WBS
    Webinar
    What Would You Do
    White Paper
    Workflow Management
    Work Management
    Wwyd

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
✕