In this episode of The Real PMs of NYC, Bob talks to the developers about both project and personnel issues, and he gets an earful from angry Hank. Bob and Allison are able to figure out the major problems that Intech’s team has with their projects.
Sometimes a small piece of advice can be a game changer. I’ve experienced this in the past when I received a tip from someone which helped me to take my project to the next level by fixing a business issue that I’ve been struggling with.
I would like to share a game changing tip with you that can help you complete projects on time.
Projects are often late. It is a well known issue that in many cases is accepted as something that we just need to live with. But it doesn’t have to be like that. Projects can be completed on time if planned correctly.
So the game changer tip I’d like to share with you today is: Buffers.
A buffer is extra time that you add to the project’s schedule to take into account unexpected changes that might cause project delays. We recommend using global buffers that are added to the schedule at different points, usually before milestone due dates.
Now how do you calculate the amount of time to add for a buffer, you ask? To come up with that figure, you should take the risk factors for each task into consideration. Think about what could go wrong and how much additional time it would take to deal with those potential problems. Once you have estimated a buffer time for each individual task, add them up to get the amount of time needed to create one large buffer at the end of the project.
Elementool can help you complete projects on time using the combination of Elementool’s project management software and our Project Management Formula education program.
I wish you a Happy New Year and hope that next year will be prosperous for you and your family!
And to make your New Year extra special, I would like to offer you the Project Management Formula for free if you sign up and purchase Elementool. This special offer will expire on December 31st, 2013, so you better hurry!
Being a project manager is really a pretty tough job. Every day is stressful because there’s a ton of responsibility on your shoulders when you’re in charge. And no matter how good the work is, people always remember that one little thing in the project that didn’t go right. It’s like they don’t even notice the thousand things that DID work perfectly!
Being a project manager is really pretty tough job. Every day is stressful because there’s a ton of responsibility on your shoulders when you’re in charge. And no matter how good the work is, people always remember that one little thing in the project that didn’t go right. It’s like they don’t even notice the 1,000 things that did work perfectly. When you manage a team of people like I do, there are hundreds of tasks that have to be completed for each project. And honestly, it’s impossible to keep track of them all. I’m constantly running around, chasing people down, trying to make sure they’re all working on the right tasks. It’s extremely stressful. I feel like I spend half of my day saying, “What are you working on?” And you wouldn’t believe how many times, when I do ask someone what they’re working on, I find out that they’re putting all their time into a low-priority task which just wastes valuable time and leads to more delays in the project. It’s frustrating. Sometimes I feel like I need to do everything myself, and that’s exactly why I have to make sure I’m checking up on the team all the time. I’d really prefer not to because it’s time consuming for me and aggravating for them, especially since it interrupts their work. I have to admit that sometimes I feel lost. It’s hard to keep track of so many tasks. I have times where I don’t really even know who’s working on what, and that can keep me up at night, especially when we’re close to a deadline. Next to “What are you working on,” the second question I catch myself asking people is, “When will it be done?” I have to run a super tight schedule, and I need to know whether or not the project is actually going according to plan. I’m constantly fielding phone calls and emails from clients wondering when the latest feature that they asked for will be ready. You’ve probably heard this phrase so many times from your clients– “I need an ETA.” So for me to keep them up to date, I always have to be on top of the progress of the project. And if it’s not running on schedule, then I need to have enough time to make changes to the project. There’s no question, project managing is a high stress job. But fortunately, I finally got all that stress to go away when I discovered Elementool’s Priority List feature. It gives me laser-focus control over the projects and my team. I can define a unique priority level to each issue. That way I can make sure that people know exactly what to work on at any moment of the day, so I don’t have to worry anymore that they’re wasting time doing things they’re not supposed to. Sometimes an urgent issue comes in, and that means making changes to the project plan and having people stop what they’re doing to move on to the new task. The Priority List allows me to make those updates in just a few seconds on the team’s work plan. I can also see at any given moment the progress of the tasks that each team member’s working on and the date that they’ll be completed. In fact, you can wake me up in the middle of the night, and I’ll be able to tell you who’s working on what. It’s really brought back the feeling that I’m in control. Now I feel more confident that I can finish my projects on time. When I go home at the end of the day, my mind is free, and I can play with my little girl, and not worry about work. I just love it. Thank you, Elementool. In order for you to get laser-focus control of your projects, all you need to do is click on the signup button below to get a free trial.
When you manage a team of people like I do, there are hundreds of tasks that have to be completed for each project, and, honestly, it’s impossible to keep track of them all. I’m constantly running around, chasing people down, trying to make sure they’re all working on the right tasks. It’s extremely stressful. I feel like I spend half my day saying “What are you working on?” to everyone in sight.
And you wouldn’t believe how many times when I do ask someone what they’re working on, I find out that they’re putting all their time into a low priority task – which just wastes valuable time and leads to more delays in the project. It’s frustrating. Sometimes I feel like I need to do everything myself. That’s exactly why I have to make sure I’m checking up on the team all the time. I’d really prefer not to do it, because it’s time-consuming for me and aggravating for them, especially since it interrupts their work. I have to admit that sometimes I feel lost. It’s hard to keep track of so many tasks. I have times where I don’t really know who’s working on what. That can keep me up at night. Especially when we are close to a deadline.
Next to “What are you working on?” the second question I catch myself asking people most is “When will it be done?” I have to run a super tight schedule, and I need to know whether or not the project is actually going according to plan. I’m constantly fielding phone calls and emails from clients wondering when the latest feature that they asked for will be ready. You’ve probably heard this phrase so many times from your clients: “I need an ETA”, so for me to keep them up-to-date, I always have to be on top of the progress of the project. And if it’s not running on schedule, then I need to have enough time to make changes to the project. There’s no question, project managing is a high-stress job.
But fortunately I finally got all that stress to go away when I discovered Elementool’s Priority List feature. It gives me laser focused control over the projects and my team. I can define a unique priority level to each issue. That way I can make sure that people know exactly what to work on at any moment of the day. So I don’t have to worry anymore that they’re wasting time doing things they’re not supposed to.
Sometimes an urgent issue comes in and that means making changes to the project plan and having people stop what they’re doing to move on to the new task. The Priority List allows me to makes those updates in just a few seconds on the team’s work plan.
I can also see at any given moment the progress of the tasks that each team member is working on, and the date that they’ll be completed. In fact, you can wake me up in the middle of the night and I’ll be able to tell you who’s working on what. It’s really brought back the feeling that I’m in control. Now I feel more confident that I can finish my projects on time. When I go home at the end of the day my mind is free and I can play with my little girl and not worry about work.
Hi, it’s Allison here, and I have a brand new form to tell you about. As you may know, the Issue Form is the main form that is used with the Issue Tracking and Help Desk tools to submit new issues and to update existing ones.
The Issue Form is the main form that is used with the Issue Tracking and Help Desk tools to submit new issues and to update existing ones. We’ve come to the conclusion that it’s finally time to retire this form because we want to introduce more advanced technology. I want to introduce you to the new Issue Form.
The current form was designed when Elementool was originally founded, in 2000. Back then, the web technology was simple and quite limited compared to what we can do today. People were using much smaller computer monitors back then, too, so there was limited screen space to display the form.
Over the years, we have updated the form several times with great new features, but we kept the original design. However, as much as we love it, we’ve come to the conclusion that it’s finally time to retire this form because we want to introduce more advanced technology.
The truth is, we are still a little bit limited with the level of technology that we can use since most of our clients come from the corporate world, where there is a slower technology adoption rate than with the average tech-savvy geek. In fact, 27% of our users still use the old Internet Explorer 8. Nonetheless, the advanced technology we’re now using is definitely going to provide you with a better, more efficient user experience.
So without further ado, I want to introduce you to the new Issue Form. The main advantage of this new form is the improved structure and layout, which makes it possible for you to do things faster with less effort.
Let me give you an example. Let’s say that I want to update the status of an issue. With the old form, I had to scroll down to the status field, update the status, and then scroll back to click on the Update button.
But with the new form, I can update the status field and click on the Update button above it without any scrolling. See how fast that is?? That’s just one of several advantages of new and improved form.
If you’re ready to switch to the new form – and you’ll be glad you did – just follow these steps:
Login as an administrator. Click on Control Panel. Click on Edit Issue Form. Click on Edit Fields. And then click on the Switch to New Form link.
There, now you can start using the new form. Enjoy!
Today I want to talk to you about the 2 most common questions project managers ask their team members and how these questions can be answered by Elementool.
The first question is: • What are you working on? Each project includes many tasks. And when you have a team of even a few people, you can have a few dozens issues assigned to them. Project managers find it hard sometimes to know which tasks are currently under development, and in order for them to track the progress of the project, they need to frequently ask their team members what tasks they are currently work on. You probably know how time consuming this can be, both for the project leader and the team.
The second question is: • When will it be completed? Project managers run a tight schedule. They want to be able to know if the project is progressing according to plan, and if not, they want to have enough time to make the necessary changes to the project. Sometimes they receive phone calls or emails from clients who want to know when the feature they requested will be ready. So they need to know when tasks will be completed. Now that can be stressful.
I don’t need to tell you how going back and forth between the team leader and the team members can be frustrating. But luckily for you, Elementool offers a quick and easy solution for these two questions.
Our Priority List feature enables team leaders to see at any given moment which tasks each team member is working on, the progress status of these tasks, and the date in which they are estimated to be completed.
Here’s how it works: • Open your Welcome page. • On the Priority List chart select the name of a team member and click on display. • The list of tasks will be displayed showing their status and completion date.
For a full view of the Priority List page, click on the ‘expand’ button. This page shows you a list of all your team members and their latest active issues. You can see the progress of each issue and their completion dates. You can also change the priority of issues by changing their location on the list using Drag n’ Drop.
See, it’s so simple!
If you still don’t have an Issue Tracking account, I suggest that you open a free trial account by clicking on the Free Trial button below.
In the next few weeks, we’re going to be making some design enhancements here at elementool.com. But don’t worry, these changes will not have any affect on the way that you utilize our site.
During the redesign process, the application functionality will remain completely the same throughout the website, so you can continue using it without interruption. Here’s a sneak peek at the changes we have in store for elementool.com.
Here’s an email I received from one of our clients:
Hi Allison,
I wonder if you can help me.
I watched all your clips about project management and understand the importance of prioritizing tasks.
At my company, we prioritize everything. We have 3 priority levels:
High – tasks that should be completed ASAP.
Medium – Tasks that should be completed but are not urgent.
Low – tasks that can wait until we completed the High and Medium tasks.
This works fine for us. But here’s when things become confusing.
Let’s say for example that I have 9 high priority tasks.
I remember that you said in the past that multitasking is a bad idea, and we should avoid it at any cost. So if I can only work on one task at a time, how do I know which task to pick out of the 9 high priority tasks?
Best regards,
Allan.
Allan,
That’s a very good question and I’m happy that you brought it up.
It is very common that when you prioritize tasks correctly, you might have several tasks with the same priority level and it’s hard to decide which one to work on first.
This is why we developed a new feature that will enable you to sort tasks with the same priority level by the order in which they should be completed.
We call this feature ‘Priority List’. It will be released in a few weeks.
The Priority List feature enables you to define the order in which tasks should be completed, by assigning a priority level value to each issue.
For example: Priority Value 1 means that the issue should be completed first.
Priority Value 2 means that the task should be completed second, after the issue with Priority Value 1 has been completed, and so on.
Each issue has a unique priority level value. This means that it is impossible to have two issues with the same priority level.
This solves your problem of not knowing which task to complete first.
The Priority Level value is defined by the team leader. This is a user that has permission to setup Priority Levels.
The team leader opens an issue and sets the Priority Level of this issue on the top right corner of the form.
When team members login to the account, they can see the list of issues assigned to them sorted by their priority levels on their Welcome page.
The issue with the highest priority will be displayed first.
This way, team members know exactly which issue they should work on.
An issue is removed from the Priority List when the team member who’s assigned to this issue marks it as completed.
If you don’t already have an Issue Tracking account, I suggest that you sign up right now to a free 30 days trial by clicking on the Sign Up Now button below.
If you’re watching this clip, it means that you are looking for an easy-to-use, low-cost issue and bug tracking solution.
Well, I’ve got great news for you. You came to the right place!
There are of course several reasons why you might want to use issue and bug tracking software. Issue tracking can help you deal with a lot of common problems. Team members that spend too much time working on low priority tasks instead of high priority ones. Time being wasted by searching through the inbox for project-related emails. Deadlines being missed due to a lack of clear communication between team members.
There are of course several reasons why you might want to use issue and bug tracking software. Issue tracking can help you deal with a lot of common problems. Team members that spend too much time working on low priority tasks instead of high priority ones. Time being wasted by searching through the inbox for project-related emails. Deadlines being missed due to a lack of clear communication between team members.
Good Issue Tracking software can help solve these problems by smoothing the development flow. Bug tracking software can also stop bugs from falling through the cracks, and, as a result, minimize angry customer complaints about buggy software. That’s why you need an application that includes the entire process, is easy to start using, and doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.
Let me show you what Elementool can do for you.
Say you have a team of 5 people: Jennifer, Bob, Roger, Melissa, and Jack. Bob is the team leader and together they develop a software project for a bank.
The team collects the tasks that are related to the project as issues in their Elementool Issue Tracking account, making all project-related tasks easily accessible and simple to locate.
Bob then uses Elementool to set the priority of each task and assign the issues to the team members, ensuring that the highest priority items will be dealt with first.
For example, when Jennifer logs into Elementool, she can now see the list of issues assigned to her, sorted by priority, and she can start developing them one by one. From the highest priority issues to the low priority.
When she’s completed working on a task, Jennifer changes the status to Fixed and assigns it forward to Roger for testing.
Bob, the team leader, can run a status report at any time to see the status of each task that is assigned to each developer. This gives him full control over the progress of the project.
Elementool is fully customizable, which makes using it extra easy for Bob and his team. With 15 different field types, it enables you to setup a form based on your special needs with a simple drag and drop. And you can add an unlimited number of fields to your form. Some people prefer to have only a few fields, while others prefer 30 fields. It’s all up to you.
Using our API, you can integrate your Elementool account with external applications and create automated tools that report bugs to Elementool, making it easier for you to exterminate those bothersome bugs.
Elementool Issue Tracking is very simple to use, you can set it up in less than 30 minutes. And I’ll be there for you to hold your hand and guide you through the process.
See what people are saying about Elementool.
If you are already an Elementool client, you can add the Issue Tracking for only $29.99/month with unlimited users.
If you are new to Elementool, Issue Tracking is only $89.99/month, and that is also with unlimited users.
Try Elementool for 30 days for free and find out why it is a valuable tool for you and your team. Click on the button below to sign up.
