a blog about project management...

Frank Patricks Focused Performance Weblog
Linkapalooza - More Project Management

• Glen defining “done” in an agile context.
• From Hal, Misunderstanding Project Planning as Anticipation, and some commentary providing some clarification on “continuous re-planning” from Jack.
• Eliminating the 90 Percent Done Game, a StickyMinds.com article from Johanna (Not done is not done.) Also, Codependent Schedule Games from the same source.
• From Jack Dahlgren, a piece on the difference between rules and principles associated with project management.
• Stephen Seay asks “What is your project management process?” and points to the TenStep Project Management Process, a methodology for managing work as a project.

BaseCamp alternative… I heard about these guys because they left a comment forme. I love anyone who leaves comments!

TeamWork Live - Project Management, Group Communication, File Sharing, and Collaboration Software
With TeamWork Live, working together has never been easier.

TeamWork Live is a web-based application that makes it easy for groups to communicate, collaborate, and share information with each other.

The service is hosted so there is no software to install or maintain. All you need to get started is a web browser and an internet connection.
start trial

Use TeamWork Live to…

Make information more accessible

• Centralize information
• Share documents and files
• Search content pages and uploaded files
• Access information while offline

Improve team communication

• Centralize discussions and feedback
• Plan events using team calendars
• Communicate contextually with others
• View recent team activity

Collaborate more effectively

• Assign and track tasks
• Author documents collaboratively
• Stay informed with alerts & notifications

http://www.projectwizards.net/en/merlin/

http://www.primavera.com/

http://www.activecollab.com./

http://www.copperproject.com/

http://www.projectx.com/

Web Based Portfolio & Project Management Software Online, Resource Planning

PPM6 empowers project managers with advanced features to improve forecasts, quickly resolve issues, strengthen team member accountability, identify cross project dependencies and monitor project health. Color-coded Project Health Status Indicators make it easy to track project health.

NovaMind and Merlin

NovaMind gives you the best of Mind Mapping, visual planning and communication. Merlin gives you the best of project, risk and issue management.

The combination of NovaMind and Merlin brings a powerful extra dimension to project management, allowing much improved planning, staff buy-in and involvement in the whole process. One of the tenets of project management is the increasing cost of errors or omissions in the plans at each stage of the project. By starting the project with brain storming and Mind Mapping, project scoping is clearly defined early on, problems are resolved during the planning process, and the team is able to have input into identifying issues before they cost you a lot of time and money.

Couple NovaMind and Merlin with the resources of the Apple iPhoto, Address Book, and iCal applications, and you have a very powerful solution for the whole of the project from inception to delivery.

We have been working with the Merlin team since March 2004 to bring you this solution, and we will be continuing to increase the data transfer between the two applications in the new year. Both NovaMind and Merlin are built around the same principle of being simple for beginners but efficient and powerful for experts.

More project management software.

Mindjet: Software for Visualizing and Managing Information
Mindjet MindManager 6 is the market leading productivity software for visualizing and managing information, allowing individuals and teams to more effectively think, plan, and collaborate.

Yeah, not so much…

I’m using Basecamp for day to day project management and while most of it is juicy goodness, there are some areas that I really don’t like it. The “To Do” list is fine, as long as nothing has a due date associated with it. Yes, I know I can associate them with milestones, but they should be MILEstones, not “every foot stones”.

I also am not happy that I can’t have an internal schedule separate than an external schedule. I want to tell my developer that his part needs to be by the end of this week, so I can check it next week, but tell the client that this task will be done next week. How do I hide a task from the client?

It’s a nice system and does many things well, but it needs some time to grow up. It’s still a slacker teenage for now that doesn’t do everything I need it to. Get a hair cut.

Slacker Manager

I mentioned a while back that I was really liking Basecamp. I still am. In that previous review I mentioned using it to collaborate cross-country on a presentation. Well, we kept on collaborating and finished the presentation which was pretty well received. I can’t say that it wouldn’t have happened without Basecamp, but it sure made the whole process easier. For the presentation at least, the best thing was to be able to keep a revision history, with comments, on all our files. We used PowerPoint and MindManager as our main source files and when we updated them, we were able to make a note about what changed, and comment on the notes. Kind of a dumb guy’s SVN, or something.

I’m also still using it to juggle marketing projects at work. I’ve generally got two or three on the burner, with different players on each project. I can use Basecamp as my dashboard to see what’s new and what’s due. It’s been great for uploading proofs and commenting, brainstorming ideas, etc. I make good use of the Milestones feature, but I haven’t really used the To Do lists much. Not sure why…maybe because my role is more of an ‘executive producer’ for these projects and other people are managing the daily stuff and they aren’t using the To Do feature. I dunno. Probably should think a little more about that.

Anyway, still digging it. Anyone else have success stories to share? (I’ve noticed that there are a couple of potential competitors with ActiveCollab and Streber. Haven’t used either because I’m just too pleased with the hosted goodness of Basecamp)

43 folders pointed at this 52 Reviews articles on GTD resources. (Should I name my site 61 somethings?) Take some time to check these out. I’d like to know who uses what and how in Project Management. I’m thinking of checking out some of the analog systems myself.

New GTD resources page | 43 Folders
New GTD resources page

52 Reviews » Getting Things Done, Resource Edition

52 Reviews has a handy reference page on popular GTD implementation tools. Although, personally, it looks incomplete to me without Kinkless GTD on there :) .

Many of these will be familiar to GTD fans, but there are a few I hadn’t seen or that are worthy of a second look:

* gsd3 - “It’s all about checkboxes, baby. Bang out a list of the things that you have to do, and draw a little box next to each of them. Finish one up and check it off. Decide to blow it off forever? Just draw an ‘X’ through the box. Simple, clean, done.”
* Creating a Custom Moleskine Planner - “With the Palm, I could see a full week, but it was either filled with very tiny type, or the type was large but clipped off, requiring additional taps to see an entry.”
* Jason: My GTD Implementation - ‚ÄúThis system is working well for me. I enjoy the freedom of using 3?ó5 cards in that they are portable (I also use a Hipster PDA‚Ķ) and disposable. I love being analog!‚Äù

I don’t use Moleskines as much as I used to these days, but some of these paper systems get me itching to pick one up again.

Wow. This is free project management software worth checking out.

activeCollab - open source project management and collaboration tool.
activeCollab

activeCollab is an easy to use, web based, open source collaboration and project management tool. Set up an environment where you, your team and your clients can collaborate on active projects using a set of simple, functional tools. 100% free!

1. Easy to install and easy to use
2. Web-based. After installation only thing you’ll need to use it is web browser
3. 100% open source, 100% free
4. No limitations on number of projects, clients, team members…
5. Per project permissions

Facts

1. activeCollab is not a service but a script that can be installed on your server
2. It is build using PHP and MySQL
3. PHP5 is required if you wish to install and use activeCollab
4. Currently only alpha version of activeCollab is available