Project Management Metaphors

• The Extended Mirror Metaphor (Timothy Johnson, 2008)- The use of extended mirrors to see beyond the present is an excellent metaphor for project planning because it stretches the thinking process and imagination to enter a space before physically entering it. In defining your requirements, you have to mentally go forward, then look in your rear view mirror and mentally drive backward through your project, define your route (plan your scope), and then actually drive forward.
• Helicopters Metaphor- helicopters allow the seeing of the forest with the simultaneity of allowing for zooming on the trees. For projects, this metaphor allows for overseeing the overall progress or zooming on certain tasks. We believe this metaphor may be further enriched by supplying the helicopters with infrared camera, CIS information system and meteorological data to capture information and plan ahead.
• Star Wars Metaphor (Phil Bennett, 2006) - This metaphor links the roles in the movie with the roles that project managers undergo
• The Chimpanzees Tea Party (Helga Drummond and Julia Hodgson, 2003) - This is a very interesting metaphor and in a way remind us of chicken herd. The Chimpanzees follow no rules and chaotic party results. How to bring order into project is what this metaphor provides skillfully. This metaphor highlights the limits of assumptions and shows how control-based approaches to project management can be counterproductive. Paradoxically, situations may arise where projects can be more effectively controlled by not attempting to impose control. This metaphor is in essence another example of the extended mirror metaphor.
• The Pie Metaphor (Kevin Shockey, 2005) - This is an interesting metaphor on how to allocate project resources to project tasks and how to expand on the share of a tasks pie. The pie metaphor gives a useful way to relate to management. Sometimes it is who puts on the biggest show that gets more pie.

How to Write a Project Charter

The project charter is the document that formally authorizes a project. The project charter provides the project manager with the authority to apply organizational resources to project activities. A project manager is identified and assigned as early in the project as is feasible. The project manager should always be assigned prior to the start of planning (if possible) and preferably while the project charter is being developed.

In my experience this is not always possible, but I highly recommend that you follow this and as the very least, as soon as you (or someone else) is assigned as the Project Manager, draft this document and have it signed off by the stakeholders.

A project initiator or sponsor external to the project organization, at a level that is appropriate to funding the project, should issue the project charter. Projects are usually chartered and authorized external to the project organization by an enterprise, a government agency, a company, a program organization, or a portfolio organization, as a result of one or more of the following:

· A market demand (e.g., a car company authorizing a project to build more fuel-efficient cars in response to gasoline shortages)

· A business need (e.g., a training company authorizing a project to create a new course to increase its revenues)

· A customer request (e.g., an electric utility authorizing a project to build a new substation to serve a new industrial park)

· A technological advance (e.g., an electronics firm authorizing a new project to develop a faster, cheaper, and smaller laptop after advances in computer memory and electronics technology)

· A legal requirement (e.g., a paint manufacturer authorizing a project to establish guidelines for handling toxic materials)

· A social need (e.g., a nongovernmental organization in a developing country authorizing a project to provide potable water systems, latrines, and sanitation education to communities suffering from high rates of cholera).

These stimuli can also be called problems, opportunities, or business requirements. The central theme of all these stimuli is that management must make a decision about how to respond and what projects to authorize and charter.

Make sure to have these requirements documented and signed off as they will be used to create the Project Scope Document.

Project selection methods involve measuring value or attractiveness to the project owner or sponsor and may include other organizational decision criteria. Project selection also applies to choosing alternative ways of executing the project.

Chartering a project links the project to the ongoing work of the organization. In some organizations, a project is not formally chartered and initiated until completion of a needs assessment, feasibility study, preliminary plan, or some other equivalent form of analysis that was separately initiated.

Developing the project charter is primarily concerned with documenting the business needs, project justification, current understanding of the customer’s requirements, and the new product, service, or result that is intended to satisfy those requirements. The project charter, either directly, or by reference to other documents, should address the following information:

· Requirements that satisfy customer, sponsor, and other stakeholder needs, wants and expectations

· Business needs, high-level project description, or product requirements that the project is undertaken to address

· Project purpose or justification

· Assigned Project Manager and authority level

· Summary milestone schedule

· Stakeholder influences

· Functional organizations and their participation

· Organizational, environmental and external assumptions

· Organizational, environmental and external constraints

· Business case justifying the project, including return on investment

· Summary budget.

During subsequent phases of multi-phase projects, the Develop Project

Charter process validates the decisions made during the original chartering of the project. If required, it also authorizes the next project phase, and updates the charter.

Inputs:

Contract (When Applicable)

A contract from the customer’s acquiring organization is an input if the project is being done for an external customer.

Project Statement of Work

The statement of work (SOW) is a narrative description of products or services to be supplied by the project. For internal projects, the project initiator or sponsor provides the statement of work based on business needs, product, or service requirements. For external projects, the statement of work can be received from the customer as part of a bid document, for example, request for proposal, request for information, request for bid, or as part of a contract. The SOW indicates a:

· Business need – an organization’s business need can be based on needed training, market demand, technological advance, legal requirement, or governmental standard.

· Product scope description – documents the product requirements and characteristics of the product or service that the project will be undertaken to create. The product requirements will generally have less detail during the initiation process and more detail during later processes, as the product characteristics are progressively elaborated. These requirements should also document the relationship among the products or services being created and the business need or other stimulus that causes the need. While the form and substance of the product requirements document will vary, it should always be detailed enough to support later project planning.

· Strategic plan – all projects should support the organization’s strategic goals. The strategic plan of the performing organization should be considered as a factor when making project selection decisions.

Enterprise Environmental Factors

When developing the project charter, any and all of the organization’s enterprise environmental factors and systems that surround and influence the project’s success must be considered. This includes items such as, but not limited to:

· Organizational or company culture and structure

· Governmental or industry standards (e.g., regulatory agency regulations, product standards, quality standards, and workmanship standards)

· Infrastructure (e.g., existing facilities and capital equipment)

· Existing human resources (e.g., skills, disciplines, and knowledge, such as design, development, legal, contracting, and purchasing)

· Personnel administration (e.g., hiring and firing guidelines, employee performance reviews, and training records)

· Company work authorization system

· Marketplace conditions

· Stakeholder risk tolerances

· Commercial databases (e.g., standardized cost estimating data, industry risk study information, and risk databases)

· Project management information systems (e.g., an automated tool suite, such as a scheduling software tool, a configuration management system, an information collection and distribution system, or web interfaces to other online automated systems).

Organizational Process Assets

When developing the project charter and subsequent project documentation, any and all of the assets that are used to influence the project’s success can be drawn from organizational process assets. Any and all of the organizations involved in the project can have formal and informal policies, procedures, plans, and guidelines whose effects must be considered. Organizational process assets also represent the organizations’ learning and knowledge from previous projects; for example, completed schedules, risk data, and earned value data. Organizational process assets can be organized differently, depending on the type of industry, organization, and application area. For example, the organizational process assets could be grouped into two categories:

· Organization’s processes and procedures for conducting work:

o Organizational standard processes, such as standards, policies (e.g., safety and health policy, and project management policy), standard product and project life cycles, and quality policies and procedures (e.g., process audits, improvement targets, checklists, and standardized process definitions for use in the organization)

o Standardized guidelines, work instructions, proposal evaluation criteria, and performance measurement criteria

o Templates (e.g., risk templates, work breakdown structure templates, and project schedule network diagram templates)

o Guidelines and criteria for tailoring the organization’s set of standard processes to satisfy the specific needs of the project

o Organization communication requirements (e.g., specific communication technology available, allowed communication media, record retention, and security requirements)

o Project closure guidelines or requirements (e.g., final project audits, project evaluations, product validations, and acceptance criteria)

o Financial controls procedures (e.g., time reporting, required expenditure and disbursement reviews, accounting codes, and standard contract provisions)

o Issue and defect management procedures defining issue and defect controls, issue and defect identification and resolution, and action item tracking

o Change control procedures, including the steps by which official company standards, policies, plans, and procedures—or any project documents—will be modified, and how any changes will be approved and validated

o Risk control procedures, including risk categories, probability definition and impact, and probability and impact matrix

· Procedures for approving and issuing work authorizations. Organizational corporate knowledge base for storing and retrieving information:

o Process measurement database used to collect and make available measurement data on processes and products

o Project files (e.g., scope, cost, schedule, and quality baselines, performance measurement baselines, project calendars, project schedule network diagrams, risk registers, planned response actions, and defined risk impact)

o Historical information and lessons learned knowledge base (e.g., project records and documents, all project closure information and documentation, information about both the results of previous project selection decisions and previous project performance information, and information from the risk management effort) and defect management database containing issue and defect status, control information, issue and defect resolution, and action item results

o Configuration management knowledge base containing the versions and baselines of all official company standards, policies, procedures, and any project documents

o Financial database containing information such as labor hours, incurred costs, budgets, and any project cost overruns.

Develop Project Charter: Tools and Techniques

Project Selection Methods

Project selection methods are used to determine which project the organization will select. These methods generally fall into one of two broad categories:

· Benefit measurement methods that are comparative approaches, scoring models, benefit contribution, or economic models.

· Mathematical models that use linear, nonlinear, dynamic, integer, or multi-objective programming algorithms.

Project Management Methodology

A project management methodology defines a set of Project Management Process Groups, their related processes and the related control functions that are consolidated and combined into a functioning unified whole. A project management methodology may or may not be an elaboration of a project management standard. A project management methodology can be either a formal mature process or an informal technique that aids a project management team in effectively developing a project charter.

Project Management Information System

The Project Management Information System (PMIS) is a standardized set of automated tools available within the organization and integrated into a system. The PMIS is used by the project management team to support generation of a project charter, facilitate feedback as the document is refined, control changes to the project charter, and release the approved document.

Expert Judgment

Expert judgment is often used to assess the inputs needed to develop the project charter. You will see this technique used in many of the Project Processes. Such judgment and expertise is applied to any technical and management details during this process. Such expertise is provided by any group or individual with specialized knowledge or training, and is available from many sources, including:

· Other units within the organization

· Consultants

· Stakeholders, including customers or sponsors

· Professional and technical associations

· Industry groups.

İlgi Diyagramı - Kawakita Jiro ya da KJ Method

İlgi diyagramı fikirleri, problemleri ve çözümleri beyin fırtınası sonrasında gruplamaya yarar.

Örnek - İlgi Diyagramı

Genel Kullanım

Yöneticiler beyin fırtınası sonrasında ortaya çıkan fikirleri kategorize ederek düzenleme yoluan giderler.

Nasıl Uygulanır?

• Amacı belirleyin. Diyagramın en üstüne amacınızı yazın.
• Grup başlıklarını belirleyin.
  
• Maddeleri belirleyin. Beyin fırtınası ile ortaya çıkan maddeleri listeleyin.
• Organize edin. Her maddeyi bir grup başlığı altına koyun.
• Analiz edin ve paylaşın.
  

How can the Project Manager seize the Web2.0 movement to be a PM2.0

By Kumar Sarma, PMP

Most of us working on various projects have our usual morning ritual of spending hours checking our emails. We need to do this activity to catch up on information and critical announcements regarding the project. It is also a common situation in many projects where only some members of the team are aware of important information regarding the project. This situation creates information imbalance among the team members and can be very detrimental to the project outcome. We are in a knowledge based economy where information is power. It becomes increasingly the responsibility of the Project Manager and Project Leaders in the team to disseminate the right information in an effective and concise manner, which brings all the team members to the same page. For the Project Manager, planning, structuring and controlling the communications that are inherently complex is critical to the success of the project. In this article we look at how Web2.0 wiki can help a Project Manager to complement the existing methods of communication and make his or her life easier.

Read complete paper in English

Powering Past the Post-PMP® Syndrome

by Michelle LaBrosse, PMP®

Post-PMP® Syndrome (noun) – A group of symptoms commonly found after project managers tirelessly prepare to pass the PMP exam pass it and bring home the gold, and then find themselves asking: What’s next?

Does this sound familiar to you? If so, you or someone you know may be suffering from Post-PMP Syndrome. Here are a few tips to make sure you get the most out of your PMP.

• DON’T KEEP IT A SECRET. Send an e-mail out to team members and managers letting them know about your achievement. Talk to your manager about how you might be able to use your PMP immediately to help the organization. Volunteer to do a “lunch and learn” to help others in your organization learn more about the PMP and prepare for the exam. Update your resume and any online profiles where you professionally network. Put your PR hat on and get the word out.

• WALK THE WALK. The best way to strut your PMP is to show results. Project Management is the art and science of getting things done, and now you can embody that with every project. In our careers, we are often as good as our last hit. You don’t have to be a one-hit wonder. Now, you have the knowledge to keep charting, year after year, with success after success.

• BECOME A STUDENT OF HISTORY. Abe Lincoln has nothing on you. With your freshly-minted PMP credentials, you can show ‘em how it’s done. At the end of every project, capture best practices and lessons learned, creating an invaluable documentation of hits and misses. You’ll quickly become the “go-to” person who is always in the know.

Read complete paper in English

You Can't Avoid Change

Customers change their minds. Competitors zig instead of zagging. Technology advances. Change is constant, and prohibiting it on projects does not work.

In Flexible Product Development, Preston Smith asks, “Is a frozen specification simply fiction?” Citing thirteen years of data collection by Donald Reinertsen at Cal Tech, Smith concludes, “It is not that specifications seldom remain constant during development; it is that they never do. The concept of frozen requirements is a complete fiction in the real world.” [Smith, p. 13]

You can’t prevent changes to your projects, but allowing rampant uncontrolled change dooms projects. Is there solution to this dilemma?

Make Change Valuable

In The New Project Management, J. Davidson Frame points out that change can be valuable. [Frame, p. 48] Companies that react flexibly and quickly can take advantage of market shifts, new technologies, and changing customer desires, giving them an advantage over their slower, less flexible competitors.

Read complete paper in English

15 Faydalı Proje Yönetimi Uygulaması

1. Basic Project Management Apps

These applications are marketed specifically for project management. Most include things like task-, team-, and goal-management features. Some include additional features such as time tracking and invoicing.

Lighthouse

Lighthouse is a bug- and issue-tracking app that tracks timelines and milestones, integrates with your email client and more. You can update tickets through your inbox, manage your beta testing (by making tickets and milestones public), integrate it with subversion and manage and prioritize your tickets.

Project creation is simple; only a project title and description is required. Once a project is created, tickets, messages and milestones can be entered. Ticket creation can be done by email (the email address to send tickets to is displayed on the “Tickets” page). You can show tickets based on a variety of criteria, including date, state (open or closed) and who is responsible for them. Message creation is easier than email, and you can attach files up to 50 MB in size. When you create a milestone you simply enter the title, the date it’s due and the goals or focus for that particular milestone. It doesn’t get much simpler than that.

Permissions are easy to set, and you can invite users by email. One of the best features of Lighthouse is its Beacon and API integration. With the API, you can customize tickets, projects, changesets, milestones, messages and more. Integrate it with other services (such as Google Calendar), or make desktop applications that use Lighthouse. The APIs make Lighthouse infinitely more useful, because you can really customize it to fit your current workflow.

Lighthouse is great for Web development teams (or individuals) and has a very easy-to-use interface. They have paid and free plans, all of which include unlimited open-source projects. The free plan lets you manage one private project with up to two people on the account. The paid plans range from $10 per month for the Personal plan (with up to 3 projects, 10 users and 100 MB of file upload storage space) to $120 per month for the Platinum plan (with unlimited projects, up to 50 public projects, unlimited users and 30 GB of file upload space).

When combined with a subversion app, Lighthouse provides a pretty complete project management app for developers. Subversion integration is pretty straightforward, and the help file provided gives complete step-by-step instructions for setup.

Springloops

Springloops is another subversion browser that integrates project management. It counts a unique AJAX code browser and Basecamp integration as among its features.

The Springloops interface is very intuitive and easy to use. Tabbed navigation provides access to the log, source and deployment information. Adding users is done via email, along with the ability to create usernames and passwords (making it easier and faster for them to get on board with a project). Creating new projects is simple, with a few different templates available (including a starter template). You can migrate an existing repository into Springloops as well (including plain text dumps). For added project management ability, Springloops can be integrated with Basecamp.

Springloops has a number of plans available, both paid and free. The free plan includes 25 MB of space, 3 projects, 3 deployments per day (using FTP or SFTP connections), roll-back capabilities, Basecamp integration, subversion and an unlimited number of users. The paid plans range from the “Flowerpot” plan at $9 per month (including 1 GB of space and 10 projects) to the “Forest” plan at $96 per month (including 18 GB of storage, unlimited projects, automatic deployment and secure SSL encryption). All of the paid plans include a free 30-day trial.

CreativePro Office

CreativePro Office offers complete office management tools. CreativePro Office is completely free, setting it apart from the other apps here.

CreativePro Office has the usual tabbed navigation, including tabs for clients, projects, time sheets, finances and team members. The dashboard presents a calendar with upcoming events, a list of your projects, outstanding invoices, notes and search functionality. Project creation is a bit more in-depth than with most other apps listed here, though only a client name and project name is required (you can also fill in a project URL, description or comments, category, date range, status, contacts and tags). Client tracking is integrated, making this handy for those who work with lots of different clients, and it could even serve as a simple CRM program, depending on your needs.

Integrated invoices and financial information is handy, and the finances page gives you options for viewing and creating invoices, expenses and reports.

CreativePro Office is very robust for a completely free application and is definitely worth checking out before shelling out for an expensive paid solution.

Jumpchart

Jumpchart is a website planning application that allows you to plan the navigation of your website by creating, dragging and dropping pages into the plan. You can also add text and formatting to pages and then export your CSS files and site map when you’re finished.

This is a great planning app for Web designers, though it’s not strictly a project management application. You can add comments to each page, which could serve to keep track of tasks related to specific pages. More traditional project management functions could be kept track of in the text of each mockup page or through the comments. The mockup and planning capabilities of Jumpchart make it worth using, even if hacks are needed to make it more conducive to full project management.

The free Jumpchart plan offers 1 project with 1 MB of storage and a maximum of 10 pages and 2 users. The paid plans range from the Simple plan at $5 per month (including up to 5 projects, with 25 pages and 5 users per project, and 100 MB of storage) to the Deluxe plan at $50 per month (including up to 30 projects with unlimited pages and users and 5000 MB of storage).

No Kahuna

No Kahuna is a simple project management and issue-tracking platform. It’s very straightforward and easy to use, with an excellent user interface. Features include task and activity tracking and collaboration tools.

No Kahuna is excellent for basic project management and ticket tracking. There aren’t a ton of features, which can be a very good thing. It’s very quick to get started, also a big plus.

There are free accounts available that include unlimited projects and users. However, if your projects accumulate more than 30 open tasks, you will need to upgrade. Paid options are reasonably priced, ranging from 3 projects for $9 per month up to 100 projects for $99 per month. Open-source projects are always free, no matter how many open tasks you have.

Basecamp

Basecamp is often considered to be the best project management and collaboration platform out there. Its features are impressive: to-do lists, file sharing, message boards, milestones, time tracking, project overviews and commenting.

The user interface is definitely one of the best out there, and because of its popularity, tons of other companies are making products that integrate with Basecamp, extending its capabilities.

Pricing is reasonable, though it’s definitely not the cheapest solution out there. The Basic plan is only $24 per month and includes up to 15 active projects, 3 GB of file storage and unlimited clients and users. The Max plan is a hefty $149 per month, but includes unlimited projects, 50 GB of file storage, time tracking, SSL security and a free Campfire Premium account.

2. Wiki-Based Project Management

Wikis are another option for project management, whether you use one instead of a basic project management application or in addition to one. One of the solutions below is geared to complete project management and includes additional features, while the other is just a wiki and is suitable for project management and other uses.

Trac Project

Trac Project is a project management app that is based on wiki functionality. It also includes a subversion browser, a timeline, ticket tracking, a road map (showing milestones and the number of current open and closed tickets) and builds status tracking.

One of Trac’s best features is the range of plug-ins available for it. There are plug-ins for Web administration, authentication, code documentation, file management, ticketing, testing, user management and version control.

Another big advantage: Trac is free and licensed under a modified BSD license.

PBwiki

PBwiki is one of the easiest free wikis out there to use. You can share files with other users, set access controls for individual pages and folders, add other users to your wiki, monitor and track version changes and more.

Setup is quick and easy and can be done in less than a minute. The PBwiki interface is very intuitive, and there is virtually no learning curve. Creating folders and pages is straightforward, as is editing existing pages. You can also comment on each page, and get a printable version with a single click.

There are multiple themes you can choose from for the design, as well as templates for individual page content (or you can start from scratch). There are a few different plans available, both paid and free. The free plan allows from 1 to 3 users. Paid plans range from $4 per month per user (if you have more than 10,000 users) to $8 per month per user (for 4 to 999 users).

3. Bug and Ticket Tracking

Any time you work on a Web application or website, there are going to be bugs and issues that crop up. While some basic project management applications have built-in ticket tracking, others don’t, and sometimes the built-in solution doesn’t quite meet your needs (either because it’s too robust or is missing key features).

16bugs

16bugs is a very simple bug-tracking system. Its main advantage is the color-coding system used for different types of information (like updates, comments and closed tickets).

Setup is quick and easy. The user interface is easy to figure out. Creating bugs is easy, and the color-coded labels on the activity tab make it easy to see what’s going on at a glance.

There are a variety of account types available. The free account allows 1 project, 1 MB of storage and Basecamp imports. Starting at $8 per month, paid plans include more projects (3 with the Basic plan), 150 MB to 10 GB of storage, RSS and email notifications, Campfire notifications and SSL (starting with the $15-per-month Big plan).

JIRA

JIRA is issue- and bug-tracking software that includes a lot of great features. It has advanced reporting features, workflow mapping as well as issue and project organizing; it is also customizable.

JIRA also offers a number of plug-ins to extend its functionality, including Bamboo integration, charting, time tracking, project management, a calendar and more. By using plug-ins, you can customize JIRA to meet your exact project management and issue-tracking needs.

JIRA’s biggest drawback is its pricing; it’s not cheap. A hosted account starts at $299 per month for up to 25 users and goes up from there (250 users costs $599 per month). If you want to download JIRA and host it on your own server, it starts at $1200 for a single project team, and goes as high as $4800 for an entire organization. If you need an academic license, solutions start at only $600.

4. Collaboration and Conferencing

If you’re working with a remote team on your project, you’re probably going to need some online space to collaborate and meet, whether it’s to work on general concepts or to work out specific bugs. Here are three solutions to help you collaborate with those on your team or with your clients.

activeCollab

activeCollab is a project management and collaboration tool that lets you set up a collaboration area right on your website. You can have unlimited projects, organized into groups for easy management.

Collaboration features include file sharing, discussions (set up like an online forum), assignments, collaborative writing and reminders. Project management features include printing and exporting, time tracking, calendar and schedule functionality, ticket management and milestones. Plug-ins (modules) mean that activeCollab can be extended to suit your specific needs.

There are two pricing options available: Corporate and Small Business. The Small Business edition includes source-code browsing, plug-in support, themes, discussions, milestones, checklists, files, project templates, a mobile interface and localization support. It’s priced at $199, with support and upgrades being an additional $99 per year after the first year. The Corporate edition has all of the above features, plus the calendar, tickets, time tracking, pages (with collaborative writing and more), a project explorer, and status updates. Both packages include unlimited projects and users. You can also purchase a Copyright Removal license, which removes the “activeCollab Powered” graphic from the footer of each page, for an additional $199.

DimDim

DimDim is a Web-conferencing platform that provides collaboration tools for meeting online. It’s scalable, reliable and flexible, with both hosted and on-site versions available.

DimDim allows you to share your desktop with those you’re meeting with, as well as share and present documents (both PowerPoint and PDFs). You can also share Whiteboards, and it has built-in voice-over-IP and teleconferencing capabilities. There are public and private chat capabilities as well as annotation and markup tools.

There are free and paid plans available. The free plan offers the complete feature set, with support for meetings of up to 20 people. DimDim Pro offers the complete feature set, plus custom branding and up to 100 people in a meeting for only $99 per year. There is also an Enterprise-level package that includes all of the above but also allows simultaneous meetings with up to 1000 attendees for $1998 per year.

Vyew

Vyew is a browser-based Web presentation service that allows for custom branding and PowerPoint-like authoring. With Vyew, you can give a live presentation or just post a document for your colleagues to review at their convenience.

Features include real-time desktop sharing, whiteboarding and drawing tools, embedded comments, built-in voice over IP, free teleconferencing, built-in webcam video support, text chat, dedicated rooms and direct URLs and more. It’s a complete solution for Web conferencing.

Vyew has a number of plans available, including a free plan, which includes unlimited meetings, SSL secure log-in, up to 20 participants (all seeing ads) and up to 5 VyewBooks (presentations) with up to 50 pages each. There are two paid plans: Plus at $6.95 per month, which includes everything the free plan has plus up to 25 participants (or 5 with no ads), and up to 25 VyewBooks with up to 100 pages each, and Professional at $13.95 per month, which includes everything the Plus plan has, but with up to 45 participants (or 15 with no ads), and up to 100 VyewBooks with up to 300 pages each.

5. Invoicing

Unless you’re working on an internal project, chances are you’ll need to send out invoices. Having an invoice program that also does proposals is helpful, as is having one that integrates directly with your project management app.

Simply Invoices

Simply Invoices integrates with Basecamp, More Honey, Tick and Harvest to invoice based on time that you track with those programs. Features include invoice templates, unlimited invoices, the ability to save invoices as PDFs and invoice tracking.

There are a few different plans available, including a free plan that includes up to five invoice templates and SSL support. Paid plans start at $9 per month (which includes up to ten invoice templates, plus a custom logo and link-free invoices) and go up to $25 per month (which includes an unlimited number of templates).

Less Accounting

Less Accounting is a simple online accounting and invoicing program that is incredibly easy to use. Less Accounting has a variety of features, including proposal creation and tracking, mileage tracking, sales-lead management and expense tracking. You can import your existing Wesabe.com account, and you can even invite your CPA to look at your books. Less Accounting also sends a weekly email with an update on the status of your accounts.

There are a variety of account plans available, including a free plan. The free plan includes up to 5 invoices, expenses, sales notes, deposits, proposals, mileage logs each month, SSL encryption, reports and bank-account integration. The paid plans range from the Even Less plan at $12 per month (including invoicing, expenses, contacts, SSL encryption, technical support, deposits and reports) to the More plan at $24 per month (including everything in the Even Less plan, plus sales notes, bank accounts, proposals, mileage logs, bank reconciliation, support for multiple types of sales tax and more). A 30-day free trial is available for all plans.

6. Time Tracking

Whether you need to keep track of your time for billing purposes, for your boss, or just to measure your own productivity, chances are you’ll need a time-tracking application.

LiveTimer

LiveTimer is an easy-to-use time-tracking program that works on both your computer and iPhone. It can be used for billing purposes or simply to improve your productivity and accountability.

Features include a daily ledger, bulk time entry (by day or week), customizable classifications, multiple currencies, custom billing rates, intelligent report filters and a developer API. The iPhone integration makes it easy to track your time even if you’re not at your desk, making it more useful than many other Web-based time-tracking applications.

Pricing is cheap, at only $5 per active user per month. Qualifying non-profits get a 50% discount. There is a 30-day free trial available.

fourteenDayz

fourteenDayz is a time-tracking program specifically for teams. It features day-by-day time sheets, exportable reports (in both PDF and Excel formats), drag-and-drop categories and no user limit.

There are 6 different plans offered, including a free account (which includes up to 4 active projects/clients, 10 project categories, an unlimited number of users and reporting functions). The paid plans range from the Personal at $5 per month (which includes the free account features plus up to 7 active projects/clients, 15 project categories, 30 project subcategories and PDF reports) to the Platinum at $99 per month (which includes all the Personal features plus unlimited active projects/clients, unlimited project categories and subcategories, XLS/CSV exportability and SSL connections).

Project Server Blogs

Project Server Blogs adresinde Project Server'a ilişkin bir çok faydaı yazı bulmak mümkün.

Proje Yöneticilerinin işine yarayacak web siteleri

Aşağıda proje yöneticilerinin işine yarayacak bir çok site yer almaktadır. bu sayfayı bookmarlayıp saklamanızı öneririm. Alfabetiktir.

10x Software Development

Steve McConnell’ın yazılım geliştirme üzerine düşünce vee önerileri.

A Girl’s Guide to Project Management

Elizabeth Harrin’in proje yönetimi üzerine görüşleri.

Agile Project Planning

Dave Churchville’in Agile(Çevik) yöntemlere ilişkin görüşleri.

Alex S Brown

Alex S Brown’ın sağlıklı prooje yönetimi üzerine çalışmaları.

Aligning Technology, Strategy, People & Projects

Eric D Brown’un teknoloji, strateji, insan ve projelere yönelik görüşleri.

Bruce’s Brain

Bruce P Henry ‘nin yazılım projelerine ilişkin görüşleri.

Construx

Construx Yazılımı, Steve McConnell’ın yazılım danışmanlığının ürünü. Sitede bir çok yazı, okuma önerisi mevcut.

IT Leadership

TechRepublic’den IT liderliğine ilişkin bilgiler.

Johanna Rothman

Johanna Rothman tekni,k projelerde uzmandır ve iki blogu vardır: Managing Product Development ve Hiring Technical People. Ayrıca tüm makalelelerini bir araya topladı.

PickTheBrain

Kişisel verimlilik, motivasyon, pozitif psikoloji ve kendini geliştirmeye odaklı içerik.

Pawel Brodzinski on Software Project Management

Pawel Brodzinski’nin yazılım projeleri blogu.

PM Hut

Çok sayıda kategorize edilmiş makale.

Practicing Earl

Earl Beede özellikle yazılım konusunda ürün geliştirme anlatıyor.

Project Management 2.0

Enterprise 2.0 teknolojilerinin nasıl geldiği ve mevcudu etkileyeceği.

Project Shrink

Bas de Baar’ın yazılım projelerinde insanın önemini belirttiği yazıları.

Undocumented Features

Stacey Douglas’ın yazılım geliştirme projeleri ile ilgili düşünceleri.

Raven’s Brain

Raven Young ise sitesinde liderlik gibi soft beceri gelişimlerine odaklanmış.

The McCarthy Show

Jim ve Michelle McCarthy’nin yüksek performanslı ekiplerle ilgili yazı ve podcastleri.

The Practice of Leadership

George Ambler’dan liderlik becerileri.

Tyner Blain

Scott Sehlhorst’in yazılım geliştirmeye ilişkin alternatif etkin yöntemleri.

Lessons Learned while studying for the PMP Exam

Lessons Learned while studying for the PMP Exam (Best Sample I found from the internet)

Overview

In this document I will explain the following:

• My plan for preparing for the PMP exam.
• The materials I used while studying.
• The difference between my expectations and what I found on the exam.
• What I would do different if I did this again.
• My thoughts on the PMI-OC class.

Proposed Study Methods

I began studying for the PMP examination by reading Kim Heldman’s PMP Project Management Professional Study Guide. As I read, I began to grasp the breadth of the material. From prior experience I know that my studying is most efficient when I begin with a framework, and then fill in the spaces within that framework. Based upon those experiences, I established the following plan:

• Read Heldman to get an outline of the scope required.
• Find a diagram that shows the framework for how all the processes fit together.
• Read the PMBOK searching for details.
• Memorize the framework.
• Use the PMP class to add content to the framework.
• Read peripheral material to verify the breadth of my studies.

What I Accomplished

I came close to accomplishing what I had planned.

• I read Heldman, twice (electronic version once and hardcopy once).
• I read the PMBOK (electronic version) twice.
• I created wall charts to illustrate the Core and Facilitating processes.
• I memorized the framework, meaning that I could visualize the interconnections between the processes in my mind and re-create it on paper.
• I learned a great deal from the PMP class.
• I read the following peripheral materials:
  • PMI Compendium of Project Management Practices,
  • PMP Role Delineation Study
  • OuterCore study guide (twice)
  • Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures
  • And I read the first several chapters of Kerzner’s Project Management, A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling and Controlling.
• I also purchased the Rita Mulcahy Hot Topics: Audio Flashcards for Passing the PMP and CAPM Exams. I listened to these CDs at least a dozen times because I wanted to have a precise understanding of the core vocabulary.
• I took notes and then organized those notes into a study guide. I would glance through those notes when time permitted. I even went all the way through them one last time at a Starbucks just before taking the test.
• I used the on-line practice exams in the Heldman book to help me understand the format of the test material and the structure of the test questions. I found that once I took one of the Heldman exams, I did not benefit from re-taking it because I remembered the questions. Even the random tests were useless to me on my third try. Nonetheless, these tests helped because they taught me about the format and style of the exam.
• My final preparation was to run through a 200-question random test concocted by using questions from Heldman and Exam Cram 2. From this I learned that I could finish in about 2 hours. I also learned that I was likely to have the wrong answer on about 50% of the questions that I marked for review.

What I Found on the Test

There were a few things about the test that surprised me:

• All of the questions seemed to be in order from Initiation to Planning to Execution to Controlling to Closure and finally Professional Responsibilities. I had expected more randomness.
• I had at least six CPM questions on my exam. I had only expected one or two.
• There were several questions where I wanted to write-in “none of the above” as the best answer. Specifically, a couple of the professional responsibility questions seemed likely to elicit a lawsuit no matter which of the four answers I picked.

There were also some aspects of the test that did not surprise me.

• The look and feel of the exam was very similar to the Heldman practice exams.
• The questions were generally of better quality than the practice questions I had seen in Exam Cram, OuterCore and Heldman. Heldman was the closest to the actual questions, but few of the Heldman questions were as complex as some of the real questions. OuterCore had a better selection of complex questions; the type of questions that took 5 or more minutes each. Exam Cram had little resemblance to the real test.
• I took 2:20 to go through the exam. So my practice run of 200-questions was good preparation. Confidence that I would finish and still have time to review allowed me to pace myself and not stress when I hit time-consuming CPM questions.
• I then spent about 45 minutes going back through the 39 questions that I had marked for review. It worried me that I had marked 39 questions and it bothered me that even reading a second time shed little light on some of them. Generally, I just did not like any of the possible answers on about 10 of the ones I marked. Another 10 seemed to be designed to challenge me to find the least objectionable answer. Others I realized were probably straight out of an auxiliary PMI book that I had not read.
• My estimate that I would miss about 50% of the ones I marked for review suggested that I was likely to get about a 180 on the test. So, after this one review I submitted my exam for grading, and waited for the answer. I passed with a score of 180. My time and accuracy estimates were good.
• Altogether, I spent 3:05 on the test.

What Would I Do Different If I Did This Again?

I am not sure that I would do much of anything differently. There are other areas that I would like to have studied, but I ran out of time. I was given a new project a couple days before the PMI-OC class ended. That project required a lot of overtime. Then the afternoon after I took the test another project went badly awry so it was transferred to me. I suddenly found myself working 18 hour days. If I had waited to do more studying, I would have missed this chance. I was lucky that I took the test on the day that I took it, even if it meant that I did not have the time to finish Kerzner or read anything by Verma.

Based upon my experience, here are a few things that I recommend to others:

• Take the test as quickly as you can after you finish your class because you never know what might happen.
• I am not sure that reviewing the questions that I marked helped at all. I only changed the answers on about 4 out of the 39 I had marked, and I am not sure whether my changes helped or hurt.
• Ignore some of the peripheral materials that I read. I do not believe that either the PMP Role Delineation Study or the Practice Standard for Work Breakdown Structures helped my preparation.
• Focus your time wisely. I pulled the CD from the Exam Cram book to get the test questions, but I did not spend time reading that book. I also borrowed a copy of Mulcahy’s book, looked at it for about five-minutes, and returned it. It may be the best book on the market, but it’s style was not to my taste.
• Get more breadth in your studies. Although this point seems to contradict the prior two points, all three are actually recommendations to use your time wisely. I missed three out of the seven questions on “corrective actions”. I believe that I would have gotten most of those correct if I had been able to read one or two of the books by Verma. They are short, and can probably be skimmed through in one or two evenings. I wish I had done that instead of reading the role delineation or WBS books.
• Memorize even more. I know all of the process names and I can draw them on paper from memory. I memorized about 50% of the inputs and about 75% of the outputs. Even so I had to guess at the answer on two or three of the questions on tools and techniques. There were a couple questions where two answers both sounded reasonable. If I had memorized the tools and techniques I would have known those answers.
• I have an engineering background so CPM was easy for me. I was lucky because there were a lot of CPM questions on my test. Each of those questions takes a lot of time.

Kazanılmış değer formülleri

BAC = Budget at Completion (Project budget)
AC = Actual Cost of the Work Performed
EV = Earned Value
EV = Budgeted Cost of the Work Performed
EV = % complete times BAC
PV = Planned Value
PV = Budgeted Cost of the Work Scheduled
CV = Cost Variance
CV = EV – AC
CPI = Cost Performance Index
CPI = EV/AC
SV = Schedule Variance
SV = EV – PV
SPI = Schedule Performance Index
SPI = EV/PV
EAC = Estimate at Completion
EAC = BAC/CPI
ETC = Estimate to Complete
ETC = EAC – AC
VAC = Variance at Completion
VAC = BAC – EAC

Ten Minute Guide to Project Management

Bedava indirin

http://sites.google.com/site/savassakar/Home/py-kitap/10minute_guide_to_project_management.pdf?attredirects=0

PMP and ITIL: Framework Methodologies with Valuable Synergy

PMP and ITIL: Framework Methodologies with Valuable Synergy: "PMP and ITIL: Framework Methodologies with Valuable Synergy

By Paul Rice
ITIL Framework Methodologies

For a long time, IT professionals were apt to believe that ITIL and project management certification (PMP) were conflicting frameworks, and you were either certified in one or the other, but rarely both. The ITIL framework and project management framework both serve different purposes to be sure, but when combined within an organisation, they ultimately create great synergy. The ITIL framework, a lifecycle that addresses the way an IT organisation operates, is first and foremost business driven and answers the question 'Are we doing the right things?' The project management framework addresses the implementation of projects throughout the organisation, requiring that companies ask 'Are we doing things the right way?'

The UK Office of Government Commerce (OGC) is responsible for the management and distribution of materials on the ITIL framework. The OGC also controls another framework called PRINCE2, a project management framework used primarily in Europe. Both the ITIL framework and the PRINCE2 project management framework follow a lifecycle approach to their respective subjects.

In the US, the Project Management Institute manages the PMP certification which does have overlap with"

Bringing 'Lean' Principles to Service Industries — HBS Working Knowledge

Özellikle Toyota Üretim Sistemi ve diğer uygulayanlar açısından önemli bir makale. Lean Kuralları gereksiz tüm süreçleri temizleyip müşterinin istediği doğrultuda doğru iş çıkarmaya hedefliyor
Bringing 'Lean' Principles to Service Industries — HBS Working Knowledge

KİŞİSEL DEĞERLENDİRMELER

İnsanlar uğraşılması en zor ve karmaşık yapı olarak proje ortamında takımı oluştururlar. Bilgi teknolojisi ortamında çalışanlar kurum içinde ilerleme olanağına sahiptirler. Eğer yönetici elemanının ihtiyaçları ile doğrudan ilgili değilse, o eleman başka bir firmaya geçmeyi şahsi ihtiyaçlarına kavuşmanın en iyi yolu olarak görür. Bu durum proje ekibine zaman ve para açısından önemli bir sekte vurur. Bu nedenle personel değerlendirmenin muntazam yapılması, çalışanlara yaptıkları işle ilgili geri beslemede bulunulması ve yönetici açısından da elemanlar için gelecekteki ihtiyaçların tanımlanması açısından çok önemlidir.', 'Amaçlar

Personel değerlendirmesi yapmanın amacı, söz konusu kişinin performansını geliştirirken, aynı zamanda firmada kalmalarını sağlayıcı bir hareket planı geliştirebilmek ve bu planda taraflarla anlaşmaya varabilmektir.

Faaliyetlerin zayıf ve kuvvetli yanları gözlemlenmeli proje sırasında ilerleyişle ilgili gözden geçirmelere dikkat edilmeli ve dökümante edilmelidir. Bu gözlemler doğru yorumlandığında ve karşılaştırıldığında personel değerlendirmelerinin alt yapısını oluştururlar.

Performans gelişimi;
n Yeteneklerin Geliştirilmesi
n Zayıflıkları azaltmak ve güçlü yanlar kurmak
n Alınan dersler ve tecrübeler
n Eğitim
n Danışmanlık ve fikir verme
n Daha yüksek motivasyon
n Yönetimin personeli onaylaması
n Fırsat tanıma
n Hedef verme

n Daha iyi yönetim
n Proje yönetimi
n Bölüm-departman
n Firma

Personel değerlendirilmesi, proje yöneticisinin birçok başlığı elemanıyla tamamıyla açık ve özgür bir görüş ve fikir alışverişi ortamında görüşmesiyle yapılır. Bu başlıklar açık ve net olarak çalışanın iş açıklamasında tanımlı olmalıdır.

Resmi değerlendirmelerde, başlıklar personele en azından bir hafta önce iletilerek ön çalışma yapmasına olanak verir.

Personelin bir önceki değerlendirmeden sonra katıldığı tüm faaliyetler ve yapılan işlerin tarihçesi, toplantı notları da değerlendirme esnasında ek belge olarak tutulmalıdır. Bu belgelerin ulaşılabilir olması, gerçekler üzerindeki anlaşmazlıkları engelleyecektir. Bu arada proje yöneticisini sadece personel sorgulayabilecektir.

Sıklık ve Hedef Belirleme

Resmi değerlendirmelere ek olarak, personelin glişimi ile ilgili gayri resmi tartışmalar, problem tanımlamaları, genel performans seviyesi ihtiyaçlar doğrultusunda istenen sıklıkta gözden geçirilebilir. Bu tür değerlendirmeler kişinin onayı alnımadan resmi kayıtlara sokulmamalıdır. Bu durum güveni kötüye kullanmak olarak yorumlanabilir. Her tür değerlendirmenin yazılı hale getirilmesi çok önemlidir.

Gayriresmi değerlendirmeler, resmi değerlendirmelerin yerini almamalıdır.

Resmi değerlendirmeler altı ayın altında gerçekleştirilmemelidir. Fazla aktivite yer alan projelerde veya proje ekibinin yeni olduğu durumlarda üç ayda bir yapılabilir. Değerlendirmenin en zor yanı hedeflerin belirlenmesidir.

Hedefler;
firmanın;
· amaçlarına ulaşması
· amaçalrını iletilmesi
· çalışanların takdir edilebilmesi
· kaynakların planlanmasına ve kontrolüne yarar.
Bireylere ise;
n bir yöne sahip olma
n işlerini nasıl yaptıklarını bilme
n zamanlarını yönetebilme
n uyumlarını tanımlama gibi kolaylıklar sağlar.

Tüm bunların yanısıra önemli olan ÖLÇÜLEBİLİR olmasıdır. Bu olmazsa bir sonraki gözden geçirmede anlaşmazlıklar çıkabilir ve bu bireyle yöneticiyi karşi karşıya getirir. Münakaşa durumunda öncelikler belirtilmelidir.

Takımın Gözden Geçirmesi

Bireysel değerlendirmelerin yanısıra ekibinde değerlendirilmesi gerekir. Birçok gözden geçirmede genel gelişme ve ekip üyeleri arasında etkin iletişim adına olabilir alanların altı çizilmektedir.

Bu gözden geçirmeler sonucunda çıkarılan değer Proje Yöneticisi’nin kendi performansını ve bunun ekip üzerindeki etkisini göstermelidir. Ekip üyelerince değerlendirilen Proje Yöneticisi ise yapıcı ve proje amaçlarına uygun gözükmektedir.

Geliştirme Planı

Bireysel ve takım değerlendirmeleri Proje Yöneticisi ve ekip üyelerine pozitif bir getiri sağlamıyorsa anlamsızdır. Proje Yöneticisi ve ekip üyeleri arasındaki tüm değerlendirmeler ve uzlaşmalar kaydedilmeli, yayınlanmalıdır. Bu kayıtlardan çıkarılacak gelişim planında, Proje Yöneticisi ve ekibin yükleneceği görevler ve ilgili tarhler belirtilmelidir. Bu faaliyetler tek bireyin yada tüm ekibin performansını yükseltecek faaliyetler olabilir. Proje Yöneticisi seviyesinde toplam kapasitesi, bireysel kapasite kadar önemlidir. Ancak bu durum Proje Yöneticisi’nin BT bölüm ve firma genelinin çıkarları doğrultusunda, bireysel yetenekleri geliştirici faaliyetlere engel olmamalıdır.

Gelişme faaliyetlerinin gerektiği durumlarda, eğitim imkanları tanınmalıdır. Eğitimler bittiğinde derhal pratiğe uygulanmalıdır. Pratik uygulamalar ve eğitim gereksinimi özel projelere yol açabilir. Böylelikle bireysel ve takım potansiyelini geliştirici bir proje oluşturulabilir.Bu eğitimler sadece egzersiz olarak ele alındığında, amaçlara ulaşmada zorluklar yaşanmaktadır.

Çalışanların potansiyelini arttırma çabaları projeye, BT bölümüne veya firma geneline yarayacak amaçlar içermektedir. Amaçlar net olarak tanımlanmalı ve ana amaçlar olmalıdır. Genel proje amaçları doğrultusunda oluşturulmuş özel proje daha verimli olacaktır. Böylelikle Proje Yöneticisi’nin eğitim isteği diğer bölümlerin dirençleriyle karşılaşmayacaktır.

“Özel projeler” , çalışanların alışkın olmadıkları becerilerini kullanmaları ve çalışma anında o ana dek geliştirilmemiş yetenekleri üzerinde pratik yapmaları üzerine oluşturulur. Bu nedenle bu tür projelerde, Proje Yöneticisi daha üst seviyede bir destek, denetleme ve kontrol seviyesi kurma ihtiyacı hissedebilir.

Proje Yöneticisi, proje plan ve programındaki aktivitelerde inilen detay seviyesinin;
n projenin belirlenmiş ana amaçlarına ulaşması
n eleman gelişiminin hedef ve amaçlarına ulaşılmasını sağlıyor ve geliştiriliyor olmasını amaçlar.

Sonuç

Personel değerlendirmeler acil olmamakla beraber önemlidir.

Değerlendirmenin pozitif bir etkisi, motivasyon ve tecrübe olması isteniyorsa;

n Geçerli yani ciddi hazırlanmalıdır
n İyi hazırlanılmalıdır
n Açık objektif, dürüst ve yapıcı olmalıdır
n Geçmişe değil geleceğe yönelik olmalıdır.