Online Application Archives

Project managers who like to learn belong on Twitter

Ah, Twitter. Possibly the most misunderstood tool online.

A lot of people wonder “what’s the deal with Twitter? Why would I tell the world what I had for lunch?”

For us at Websystems, Twitter is a learning tool. The amount of information, wisdom and discussion that happens on the twitternets is simply amazing. Since each post is only 140-characters long, not only must people be concise and to the point, but it’s also very quick to browse through all those tweets.

The secret to getting good information from Twitter is to use hashtags. Hashtags are like search terms that people will put at the end of their posts. Then, through a simple search on the Twemes website or with your favorite Twitter application, you can see everything that’s going on for that keyword.

The popular one related to project management is #pmot (for project managers on twitter). There’s also #pmi, #pmp, #agile and #pmiagile

Here is what was posted recently:

Essentially, […]

By Daniel Raymond|2009-07-16T12:50:00-04:002009-07-16|

Teaching project management with AceProject

Last month, Melinda Cline gave a presentation about using AceProject to teach her students about management information systems and project management systems.

Here are her conclusions:

“Using AceProject, students have an effective tool to increase their understanding of planning, organizing, controlling, and monitoring projects in a global environment. It is a cost effective way for instructors of project management and other IT management topics to introduce students to project management software without having to buy Microsoft Project licenses, which may be very expensive. It also has the advantage of being a web based tool with 24/7 access by students and instructors.”

You can download her PowerPoint presentation here.

By Daniel Raymond|2008-12-10T15:56:00-05:002008-12-10|

Project management: share the burden with your team

Project management can sometimes feel like such a burden. But is doesn’t have to be this way.

When only Project Managers support the burden: desktop tools

In this situation, the project management tool is desktop-based and only accessible to the project manager. She needs to update the project, tasks and produce the reports on a regular basis. In order to do the update, she relies on her team to give her the information in a timely manner. Then she must transcribe the information into the project management tool.

Once the reports are produced, she has to email them around. Team members and upper management cannot have up-to-the-minute updates when they want to, they depend on the Project Manager to provide the information. What happens when she’s on the road? Either she tries to squeeze in the updates somewhere between breakfast and her first meeting, or everybody waits.

This method begs the question, why can’t the team update their stuff in the project? Why can’t upper management click on a button and get the reports when it’s convenient for them?

The […]

By Daniel Raymond|2008-10-01T11:57:00-04:002008-10-01|