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Martin von Wolfersdorff

Sales & Marketing Director EMEA @ Americhem Europe Ltd
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What is the latest and greatest and greatest in project and programme management?
I recently was discussing project management with one of my connections and then wondered what you think about project / programme management. What is the key for succesful project management? Do you use software tools like MS Project for Gantt charts? Do you follow a certain methodology? In my view, it is quite important to throughly plan, schedule and implement metrics to track progress. The key however is to chose the right project team and to empower the team members to own their share of the project. Software tools are helping, I just find that MS Project is not easy to use and usually prints Gantt charts either to small or over several pages. I rather use MS Excel and Powerpoint for basic Gantt charts. As an experiment, I have used Mindjet's Mindmanager, a mind-mapping tool to plan small projects and it came closer to what I look for in a software tool. What do you think? What is your experience? Would you have some good resources to share? Thanks & best wishes, Martin (who just started the project "Twins" in late March ; )
posted April 20, 2009 in Planning | Closed | Report question as...
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Jerome Chemit, PMP IT and Project Management Coach, Expert and Organization
see all my answers Best Answers in: Project Management (3)... see more
Hello fellow citizen of the world! Tools: (in terms on licences) Number one project management tool is Excel second comes MS Project. Number one project reporting tool is PowerPoint However there are a lot of tools on the market today from Minjet's (I have used as well nice also for brainstorming sessions) Primavera is still the more achieving functional tool on the market But there is competition like: EPK a very intuitive project management tool suite for low maturity organisation, Clarity, PSNext, EPM etc... for managing all the projects in an organisation (projects and/or business as usual), And free software (Ace, Software Project...) I have added a link below to a wiki listing most of the known PM software out there. Framework: On the framework, standard approach side, you still have the usual three sisters: PMI, OGC and APM. PMI is the more gobal framework for project management out there. PMI representation is shared across many countries and culture but too often view as too theorical. Then OGC (which produces Prince2, MSP, MoR, P3O) they provide a more standard approach with the latest addition P3O: Portfolio, Programme and Project Offices for short provides a universally applicable guidance for establishing, developing and maintaining appropriate business support structures. (for more please follow the link below.) I'm studying at the moment Management of Risk because of the completeness of its vision and also because there are very few Professional Risk Managers for programmes or projects today on the market. I have a soft spot for the Agile techniques but it can really work if the organization as a whole is ready to embrass Agile techniques and if the organization is not outsourcing to offshore integrators. CMMi is currently the referential used by all the major offshore system integrators. So what's new? Organization are today on the edge when it comes to manage projects, portfolios or programmes. They can't really afford spending money on the wrong endeavours so they are turning to project, programme or portfolio management for a solution to better control these cots and keep innovating for after the crisis. This should be a great time for all professional project managers but instead, it is not. Why? Most of the transformations underway in organization today are too often simplistic transitions of an old organizational model into a new one. The period obliges managers to take decisions regarding their values, their notions of right and wrong and their beliefs. In the process of decision-making, managers goals, symbols and aspirations are involved (L. Bourgeois 97). Each individual managers decision will tend to protect their current zone of power. Therefore, a tool is often implemented as the solution because it is a concrete representation of their work model and fits in well in their values and ambitions. So when organizations are on the edge, it usually involves the absence of reference points as well as the demand for newness; therefore, managers should transform into project managers who in turns are willing to take decisions that match the vision or the image of where they wish to head the organizational project. Indeed, these today changes prevent companies to provide a guide and to use existing values and the previous mission statement; therefore, Project Managers decisions are one means to express the organizations vision of the new system to define and promote the to-be innovative and money making organization. (Congrats on the Twins' project!) Jerome
Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_project_management_software http://www.ogc.gov.uk/portfolio,_programme_and_project_offices_p3o.asp http://www.pcubed.com
posted April 21, 2009 | Report answer as...
Ronald Asche Experienced Construction and Planning Professional

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While it may be a pain to learn and use, the Industry Standard for Scheduling is Primavera P6, and project control is usually either Expedition or Prolog. MS Project is a great tool for small uncomplicated work schedules.
fouad djebbar IT Manager

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hi the project managers tools are useful but not complete, each software was developped using a specifique methodology, however we are not using same methodology of twentieth century. So i think its better to focuse on what your eyes see on actual situation, by this way i
think you can be (with experience) better than any project manager tools i think also you can create your own
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exemple: View All let's say EXCEL is Basic tools witch can be used as porgraming platforme for non technical guys..... making your own rules and data you will see that you are creating your own "MS project tools :)" after this you can ask some one to developpe this for Planning the final result would be what you really need and not what you find in the market you. as mindsmanager etc....in order way the project manager tools that you really need i hope that this was helpful for you and excuse me for my english its our 3rd language here Fouad Djebbar IT Manager
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Eric Deraspe Director, Premium Support and Value Analysis at CA Technologies

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In my mind, corporate culture has an important role to play in how you structure projects and the tools you use. You could argue that the best way to manage projects is to follow the guidelines given by the Project Management Institute (PMI). There is definitely a lot of good processes in the PMI methodology that will improve your chance for a successful project. You could also see this methodology as too strict for your corporate culture. Not knowing the specifics for your company, I would recommend you go through the following steps to get you started in the right direction: - Project Culture: understand how projects are viewed in the company and how supported they are by senior leaders - History of Projects: gather best practices from projects in the past and understand why some failed and why some were successful - PM Methodology: review project management methodologies like PMI and pull the processes that are more in line with your culture - PM Tools: consider how team members will work and if they are distributed over different offices. If you don't have a requirement to use MS Project, there are a lot of online PM tools that do a good job for distributed teams. - Sponsors and Stakeholders: finally, always make sure to get agreement from you sponsors and stakeholders on how you will communicate with them and engage them in the project management process. The steps above are of course in the case you do not have a PMO in place. A PMO would provide you with methodologies and tools suitable for your project. I would also recommend that you capture what went well and what you could improve at each phase of the project and share this knowledge with future project managers. Repeating this across many projects will give you a good view into your corporate culture in regard to projects and improve your chances for success. I hope this helps. Eric Deraspe Links:
http://www.pmi.org
Joyce Janda-Cole Owner, JAC Design

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There are many Project Management Systems available on the market. Some are heavily geared toward a certain industry and some are only able to do various Gantt Charts and depict the flow of the project. What really needs to be consider is the depth of which you need to track your resources and costs associated with the project. Your contract requirements, government or private may dictate the required level of schedule needed. All systems meet the basic principles of project management. It is the project needs that warrant more costly systems. Try looking at Deltek's Open Plan, Primavera Systems, PlanView, etc. A good source to find reviews of the various project management systems and all that is available is in PMI's PM Network. For larger projects it is necessary to have a drum roll printer/plotter. This allows you to have a schedule that is legable. The days of babysitting a plotter are over. But it is still necessary to have the appropriate tools available to be effective.
Gerry Scullion Interim Project Manager, Pinion Project Management Limited
Hi Martin,
Project Management Limited

Before worrying about how to deliver a successful project it's always wise to identify and rank key stakeholders and their needs. People often disagree about whether a project was successful or not simply because they did not gather, define and agree the success criteria with stakeholders at the start. Some organisations will want you to focus on processes, others on people and all on money. As Eric points out, this us due to differences in culture but it's also due to differences in organisational structure and configuration. I'd also strongly recommend project reviews as these will help you to understand and address the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals and groups that form the organisation. If you're struggling for ideas, check if existing lines of project communications are being hindered by functional reporting structures. As regards tools, MS Project has a place in some but not all organisations and as with CAD, not everyone has it on on their PC. I agree, MS Excel is by far the most versatile, especially when it comes to business risk assessments, finance, costs/benefits analysis and other decision-making tools. I also find MS Word ideal for most other business reports and combining MS Powerpoint with flip charts helps to deliver more interesting and authentic presentations. For me the most versatile PM tool is a risk assessment that's dynamic and covers all business risks through a combination of team brain storming sessions and early reviews of previous projects. This can be done manually or better still with the aid of FMEA software. That said, the best PM processes will fail if you don't have empathy, communicate well, and get most of the people on your side for most of the time. Hope this helps, Gerry
Matt Gardner Strategic Management & Business Continuity Professional

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The key for successful project management... Ensure your project team can answer 3 critical strategic questions before answering the question "How do we get there?". The How question is the space in which most traditional project management tools operate. While these tools add significant value, they should only be employed in their proper place, last, after the following 3 questions are understood by all stakeholders. "What Is the Project Trying to Accomplish and Why?" - this question addresses a number of key project Objectives; 1) the Outcomes or specific results expected from the project, 2) the Purpose or change expected from producing the Outcomes, and 3) the big picture Goal in which Purpose contributes to. "How Will the Project Team Measure Success?" - this question is significant because it clarifies what the Objectives (previous question) really mean, in terms of quality, quantity, time. "What Other Conditions Must Exist?" - this question captures assumptions and outside factors which may disrupt your plans (i.e. project risks). Linking your project planning activities to overall organization/business strategy is the key for successful project management. Martin - all the best with your Twins project!
Richard Randall President/Principal and Consultant at New Level Advisors.--- Business Writer --- Interim Operating Executive
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I believe that organizations spend too much time on tools while ignoring fundamentals. Anyone can get a copy of MS Project, Primavera, etc. and get trained. What I see lacking is... -Defining the accountabilty of PM's. They must be accountable for on-time completion, on budget financial performance and customer satisfaction. Too many times the accountability is muddled with group accountability which is the same thing as no accountability. -An estimating and tendering process where the people who will execute the project have input to specification exceptions, milestone dates, labor and material costs, etc. This is where you get the group committed, not after the fact. -A good project kick-off process that gets the key players up to speed and recommitted to successful completion of the project. -Regular project review meetings with higher management asking tough questions about the schedule, the budget, risks, countermeasures and forecasted margins. Whenever I can get an organization to implement these steps, project results make a quantum improvement.
Matthew Bruggen Managing Director at Cloudpoint Asia
Martin - firstly, congratulations on the 'Twins' project! Specifically with tools in mind (which I admit is just one part of the equation), I'd recommend a look at some of the
Managing Director at Cloudpoint Asia

SaaS alternatives to MS Project which focuses entirely on planning (and forces you to plan to the 'T' before you can even begin your project) rather than on execution. Inviting others to co-plan concurrently by delegating work items, immediately viewing changes each person makes to the plan and their impact, viewing up-to-date resource loads, assigning notes to tasks, sharing discussions and documents are all benefits of these online tools, speeding decision-making and delivery times and encouraging team participation. I'd be pleased to run through some of the alternatives. Best wishes, Matthew
Links: http://www.clarizen.com
Courtney Engle Social Media Strategist at Social Mobile Local Marketing Pros
see all my answers Best Answers in: Pricing (1)... see more
Courtney Engle suggests this expert on this topic: Mark Carbone
Mark represents http://xecorporation.com - check out their system. It looks powerful

Rick Price, MBA, MPA, PMP Seeking Senior Management role

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Martin great question with lots of excellent answers. As far as Next Generation Program/Project Management goes I have 2 imputs: Software as a Service (SaaS) hosted software tools for program/project management. I now advise executive management teams/CIOs more and more about Portfolio Management in their suite of projects. They want visibility of the IT spend. More and more the answer for that is Earned Value Analysis/Management. Also, with more and more offshoring/outshoring; project communication needs a lot of work, process improvement, to reduce bottlenecks and re-work. Please let me know how I can help you. Regards, Rick
Jaishree Viswanathan Marketing/QA Analyst

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It would probably be a) A bug tracker tool like Lighthouse b) For startups, a proj management tool-- PBWiki, that advocates version changes-basically staying in the loop-- whats happening and everything. c) Communication and resolving bugs/file sharing or online conferences for the team d) Time tracking. Have a stopwatch kinda application that would help you be deadlinefriendly(or NOT!)
Martin Madsen Senior developer at TimeLog A/S

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Hi Martin As a natural tail on the previous comment, would I like to introduce you to TimeLog Project - A SaaS offer from the company I work for. TimeLog Project is not just a time tracking application, but can be considered as a complete Project Control solution, that will handle milestones (with Gantt mapping), project economics such as billing plans and invoicing, and resource management (Time-off, workload etc). Regards Martin For more information se: Links: http://www.timelog.com http://www.timelog.com/products/timelog-project.aspx http://www.timelog.com/customers/customers.aspx
Martin Madsen also suggests this expert on this topic: Peder Wuth

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What is the latest and greatest and greatest in project and programme management? | Link...

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Martin von Wolfersdorff

Good Answers (9)

Ronald Asche Experienced Construction and Planning Professional

fouad djebbar IT Manager

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LinkedIn Corporation 2011

Eric Deraspe Director, Premium Support and Value Analysis at CA Technologies

posted April 20, 2009 | Report answer as...

Joyce Janda-Cole Owner, JAC Design

Gerry Scullion Interim Project Manager, Pinion Project Management Limited

Project Management Limited

Matt Gardner Strategic Management & Business Continuity Professional

Matthew Bruggen Managing Director at Cloudpoint Asia

Managing Director at Cloudpoint Asia

Courtney Engle suggests this expert on this topic: Mark Carbone

Mark represents http://xecorporation.com - check out their system. It looks powerful

Rick Price, MBA, MPA, PMP Seeking Senior Management role

Jaishree Viswanathan Marketing/QA Analyst

Martin Madsen Senior developer at TimeLog A/S

posted April 27, 2009 | Report answer as...

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