Resource Management Archives

Two Reasons for Setting Users to “Can’t Login”

In AceProject, users may be given two statuses: "Can Login" and "Can't Login". The default option is "Can Login", which means that the user CAN access the application. On the other hand, "Can't Login" means that the user CANNOT access the application. In other words, the user is blocked. There are a two main reasons why an administrator may want this:

Block employees who no longer work for the organization

Usually, when someone leaves the company or gets fired, their access to the corporate intranet and other internal systems gets revoked. If they don't belong in the organization anymore, they don't belong in the internal systems either. That's usual procedure.

If you need to keep an history of the user's activity in the account, you can't delete their profile as AceProject will ask you to delete all the user's data altogether. In this case, setting the user as "Can't Login" is ideal as they still exist in the account but can't access it.

Create non-human users (i.e. material resources)

We've seen clients who created user profiles for material such as […]

By Daniel Raymond|2009-11-12T16:44:00-05:002009-11-12|

Project management is about humans, not processes

With the Agile methodologies gaining momentum, there is a lot of talk about process. How projects should be managed, how to implement methodologies in an organization, which method is best to achieve project goals on time and on budget.

But what is project management really about? Is it about processes and forms and reports?

It’s all about humans

Project management is about a group of people working together to achieve a common goal. It doesn’t matter if it’s a house, a piece of software or a book. None of it can happen if the humans don’t work together.

The best processes can be thwarted by a key team member who suddenly becomes unavailable for the project or a project manager who leads like a dictator. The best project management methodology will fail unless we convince the team to accept it.

Five things to remember about humans

Humans have feelings. We may not always show it, but we are driven by emotion. It’s important to take your team’s reaction into account when choosing how to present a decision.
Humans like to feel good about themselves. This […]

By Daniel Raymond|2009-09-09T14:15:00-04:002009-09-09|

Take the risk of trusting your team

Background on this post

I wrote this post as a bit of a manifesto. I often have the impression from project managers that, while they expect their teams to trust them, they are not giving the trust back to the team. And it occurred to me that this really was about taking a risk, and managing that risk in the project.

Take the risk of trusting your team

From the part of the person who gives it, trust is hard. It requires
a leap of faith. It requires that we believe the person we trust is
worth it.

From the part of the person who receives it, trust is energizing. It
means that someone was willing to take that leap of faith for us. It
means we are worth it. Trust also carries responsibility: if we want to
keep that trust, we must prove the giver right. This means delivering
on that trust.

Project management requires a high level of trust

The project manager must trust the team to do quality work on time and on budget.
The project team must trust the project manager to lead them […]

By Daniel Raymond|2009-08-19T12:51:00-04:002009-08-19|

Agile and project management

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Bruno Larouche from Génération Agile. He helps businesses implement agile methodologies. We had a conversation on Twitter earlier about AceProject’s compatibility with agile project management.

Bruno gave us a very enlightening presentation. While I had read about agile before, I don’t think I had ever had the chance to talk with someone who lives and breathes agile. One thing that hit me as Bruno was explaining what agile project management was about, is the importance of the human in Agile development methodologies.

What I learned about Agile project management and humans

Agile is about adapting to change. The Agile project team must react to changing conditions in our environment.
Agile project management stresses fulfilling a need. It’s important to manage stakeholders’ expectations well.
It’s crucial to involve the client (or at least a representative of the end users) early in the process. There’s no point in asking for feedback when it’s too late to change anything.
Communication and motivation are essential to deliver early and often.
The project manager is never […]

By Daniel Raymond|2009-06-19T11:49:00-04:002009-06-19|

Human resources management: what do you bring to the table?

I’ve been reading on HR management for my upcoming PMP exam. According to the PMI, HR management is about getting the right team for the right project, and developing that team so that the product of the project is delivered on time and on budget.

As the project manager, what do you bring to the table?

It’s is easy to know what the software developer brings to the project. It’s harder to know what the PM brings to the project. We’re usually the cat herders: we do our best to keep the project on track, the team happy, the stakeholders under control and the deliverables…delivered!

It doesn’t feel like a productive job. But without a project manager, how many projects would ever end, let alone on time?

That’s what project managers bring to the table: cohesion and coordination.

By Daniel Raymond|2009-01-26T19:24:00-05:002009-01-26|