Things are heating up – Combating project management delays

These last couple days have been got. We are breaking records, and the cool weekend can’t come quick enough. Yesterday it was 97 degrees, breaking the old record of 94 degrees set in the 80’s. It normally isn’t this hot this early. At work our air conditioning is only working in half of the building, so it is working overtime just to maintain a tolerable temperature. So what does all of this have to do with project management? Happy, comfortable employees work harder.

Originally Posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup By Josh Shackelford

Big Things Coming
We have a big event coming up on May 23rd, and plan to release about 7 new products. Only half of these are even ready for full production. And if they all were all ready by now, we probably would have already launched them. The fact that these products aren’t ready is not an issue. The challenge is that we need to get all of them created, reviewed by legal, and then sent to print. Once the products are ready we need to create all of the marketing material, such as web promotions, print promotions, flyers, postcards, store display signs, video for the internet, and videos for the live events.

Adjusting to Cuts
I’m sure that IT departments across the US have made cuts over the last year. We have all had to deal with the reality of the current situation. So how do you deal with the staffing adjustments you made in the past, and compensate for the increased work load of the current?

One solution would be to pick up some temps. Without committing the long term work force, you can hire some very well qualified individuals to help get you over that hump. We have had tremendous success with Pride Staff, and Express Employment Professions, both of which are temp agencies here in Stockton, California. Though we use Express nationwide, as we host events across the US.

Having a strong workflow management is the only way to adjust to increased work load, without adding additional staff. IT receives projects from just about every imaginable source within a company, and even outside of a company. If all of these tasks are not funneled through an easy to manage task management list, you will lose too much time.

Lost Time
Your staff needs to be effectively communicated to. Without an easily managed task management system for all projects to funnel through, your staff will have a lot of dead time between projects, and questions will not be addressed very quickly. In addition, if people are allowed to circumvent the task management system, tasks will not be completed on time, and your days will be chaotic. Often executives of companies feel that their tasks will be completed more quickly if they circumvent management, going directly to the laborers that perform the task. While their personal task might be completed slightly a head of schedule, the company will suffer. They do not see the impact on the overall workflow.

Team Work Project Manager
About two weeks ago I started putting our current projects into a site on http://www.teamworkpm.net/, and then 3 days later, I introduced the site to our graphic designers. The following day, to our programmers, and the next to the balance of the IT department. This site was met with excitement from everyone. It was rolled out in stages to the department to ensure a smooth adoption, and was a complete success. The next step would be to start introducing the site to the rest of the company.

All of the staff that have begun using this site have really enjoyed it. I was glad to see that the adoption went so smooth. I had been exploring various project management applications and task management resources, when I stumbled on teamwork. It is very close to Basecamp, but came out a head.

Hopefully within the next couple weeks, I will be able to introduce a login for management throughout the company, so that they can track the progress on their projects, without being able to interfere with our workflow. For now, I just meet with them regularly to give them updates.

Originally Posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup By Josh Shackelford

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Success Like Children - Child like Faith

Originally Posted On Successful Thinkers Meetup by Josh Shackelford

There are few things that stand out in my mind from year to year. Normally these phrases are short, incomplete sentences that pack a powerful punch behind them. There are 3 words that have just about always stuck with me, “Child like faith.” I’m not going to go in too deep on the philosophy or origin of this simple phrase, but lately it has been on my mind as I’ve been thinking of successful people.

Learn from Everyone
Recently there was a young child, only 8 years old, that was highlighted on TV, newspapers, the radio and internet. Tanner Leuellen calls himself an “Apprentice Creator”, and was published as the next Donald Trump. As an Apprentice Creator, he is learning to create anything, and looking for anyone that will give him an opportunity to learn from them.

We should all strive to have a child like faith. Success comes from trying endlessly, without giving up. Children feed off of the knowledge around them, trying endlessly to make themselves better, celebrating every step of the way.

Listen to Learn
Children are constantly listening to learn. If you watch their faces as as they listen, they are not thinking about anything else, just listening intently. Over time, as we grow up, we start to loose that. When listening to people, we all too often find our thoughts wandering to other things. Or even when our minds are focused on the conversation at hand, we are not listening to learn something, we are looking to interject. Typically we are either defending, looking to contribute, or looking for how we can show our superiority. This defensive, self-centered listening will inhibit success because it stunts our ability to learn and grow.

Believe
Children have no difficulty in accepting the truth of things. They trust their parents, grandparents, older siblings, etc… to guide them and teach them. As they begin to interact with other children, they are looking to learn from their friends. Yet, as we get older we begin to see more and more with a doubting eye – only trusting our own thoughts as dependable. Yet – is it not wiser to trust a more experienced source than ourselves when it is available? Success comes not from our sole ability to improve our lot in life – it comes from our ability to learn from and have faith in the knowledge of those who went before us.

Self-Confidence
Children have the most amazing self-confidence. Every accomplishment, even if it is something they’ve already done, is celebrated joyfully. Watch a young child as they learn to jump, dance, and throw. Every time that they jump or throw, they celebrate this advancement, and celebrate that they are able to repeat these results. They never discourage themselves with negative critiques of their skill level – children are happy to be where they are at and excited about where they will be next.

As adults we start to loose that joy. Children are focused on enjoying life and bettering themselves. They are constantly at everything and everyone to discover new ways to have fun and new skills to learn. Many top level executives are recognizing that success doesn’t just happen. They are hiring executive coaches and learning how to listen to learn. Success is more likely when those in charge value the individuals they’ve collected around themselves – and in turn listen with the purpose of learning from those valued people.

We must not forget to remember that we are continually learning and growing – and that celebrating the small things we do does not mean we do not aspire to bigger things. Don’t discourage yourself – or your team – by only dwelling on what you can not yet do. And be humble enough to recognize that we can, and should try to, learn from anyone and everyone.

Commitment
This morning, someone I admire told me that frequently people don’t commit to fixing tough issues. Often people will give up. Though he was speaking in reference to the rising divorce rate, there is a connection to be made to employees. Many employers think that their employees owe them a debt of servitude. They don’t praise the successes of their employees and over time their employees loose the joy of the job. Commitment slowly dries up, and rather than fixing the problem, they leave. Children, on the other hand, have a completely different attitude. They commit completely and figure that since they will be staying, issues need to be resolved, so that they can go back to having fun.

If you're losing good people, look to their immediate boss. The immediate boss is the reason people stay and thrive in an organization. And he's the reason why people leave. When people leave they take knowledge, experience and contacts with them, straight to the competition.

Managers can stress out employees in different ways - by being too controlling (micro-managing), too suspicious, too pushy (unrealistic demands), too critical, or even too absent. These managers forget that workers are not fixed assets, they are free agents. When this goes on too long, an employee will quit - often over a trivial issue.

Parade Your Achievements
Children are happy and parade in their accomplishments, admiring those around them, celebrating their successes as well – without jealousy or false praise. In order to complete the long race to full success, we need to fortify ourselves with each achievement – enjoy each step as it comes. Let each achievement contribute to the successful person you desire yourself to become. No success is too small to smile about!

Like children, we will always need help from others to grow. We must treat others as the valuable assets they are – to encourage them to stay close and continue to be of help. The best way to encourage the loyalty of our employees is to inject fun into the workplace. People who enjoy what they are doing, will go a lot further.

Child Like Success
All of our potential success is anything but assured. It can be easy to ruin and difficult to realize. Yet, children give us such a clear example of achieving success. We must have faith in those around us – namely our employees, colleagues, and advisors. Trust that they have something to teach you – and listen intently for those lessons. When accomplishments are made – celebrate like a child! Resist your self-critical tendencies and do a Happy Dance! Laugh out loud! Smile with pride! And remember that this is just the tip of your iceberg. Let the people around you see your glee at the work of their hands. Get excited at each step – it will encourage the next one. Commit to those around you. Treat them well to encourage their loyalty. Loyal and happy employees will offer you much – but an unappreciated one will never seek your approval (and will not hesitate to leave you in a lurch). Believe in your staff (and let them know that you do) and they will work harder for you. Put your full heart into every task (great or small) you begin – make it worth your time. You can not ace a project if you don’t believe in it’s importance.

In short – you are not likely to succeed as a negative, isolated, & arrogant island… Take a page from a toddler – Listen to Learn, Commit to Your People, and Have Fun!

Originally Posted On Successful Thinkers Meetup by Josh Shackelford

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Expediting IT Projects – Successful IT Expedition

Expediting IT Projects – Successful IT Expedition
Originally Posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup By Josh Shackelford

I guess it is time to finally get down to some of the nitty-gritty. Actually, with this being the first post about true expediting, it will be more of an overview. How do you expedite IT projects…?… We all have tons of projects on our plates and receive pressure from all departments, demanding that their projects have priority. Each manager, executive, and director wants to have their projects elevated to the top of the list. They all believe that their projects are the most important and need to be done yesterday.

Every project is important and it is vital that you treat each director with respect, and make sure that they feel important. I’m going to focus on a few of the most frequently requested projects. I almost hate giving away some of these tips, but it will make projects run more smoothly as they come in.

Web Design
With today’s economic downturn, everyone is looking for new ways to revitalize their companies. Many companies are asking for their sites to be overhauled or at least to put a new face on their existing site. The first step is to make sure that the client, whether internal or external, knows what they are trying to achieve, and who the target audience is. From here, I often direct people to look at Template Monster, to get design ideas. While many IT departments and companies don’t like to share sites like this (because other people will de-value the service) it is a great starting point. This site will help put your design projects on the right track. Countless hours, or even weeks will be saved, by starting with what the person likes. If they want to purchase one of these templates outright, then go for it, but they will be back when they are ready to take their company to the next level.

Web Applications
Web applications can take on a life of their own. You really need to watch out for scope creep. The most important time saving advise I can give, is REASEARCH, RESEARCH, RESEARCH. Many people feel that research is a waste of time, as they try to push forward with a project, before researching to see what already exists. Most things have been done before, just not in a way that will integrate or meet the current business model needs. However, it is important to start with this research to save time by starting with, or adding on to, a module that has already been written. There is nothing more frustrating than to realize weeks into a project that you have succeeded in reinventing the proverbial wheel. Do not re-invent the wheel. Do not try to sell someone else’s work as your own. Let your executives, and clients, know that they can save time (and money) by purchasing something that has already been written. You will gain their esteem & trust in knowing that you have their best interest in mind.

Define the goal. After researching to see what already exists, be sure to re-define the goal. After some research, you will have more questions, and possibly more options. You will need to have another conversation about some of the options that exist, and the arguments for and against the use of them. From here you will have a much clearer picture of what you are trying to achieve. It does not matter how pretty something is, if it doesn’t work. Nor does it matter if it functions the way that was requested, if it does not meet the business needs. You will speed up any project, by first recognizing what exists, and redefining your goals.

Reporting / Dashboards
After a new project has been completed, requests will begin to flow in as to why things aren’t working, or how can they measure their success. Every platform has multiple ways to build reports and dashboards. Start off by reviewing your options, and evaluating the best engine. I have found that the majority of people will be most satisfied with custom reporting modules, that are tied in for real time reporting. While others are okay looking at yesterday’s data. Again, you need to start off by evaluating what type of reports have been created in the past, and what you are trying to achieve with your dashboard. Some of the more common business dashboards are written within the existing applications report writer, such as SQL, and Crystal Reports. The biggest time sink in reporting, is spending time calculating and pulling data that is not needed. Some of these “nice to have’s” will eat up precious time, and lead to a report that does not tell you anything that you did not already know. You can spend a lot of time building a report to tell you that you are losing money, but unless you can identify where you are losing money, the report is useless. The most valuable dashboards are clickable, allowing an endless number of drill downs. This detail is what creates the business value, so before you begin, find out what the director wants to know. Most of the time they are looking to make changes within their corporation or business model, and need to evaluate where to make the changes.

Workflow Automation
Workflow automation doesn’t come up too often, as many companies have already become very efficient. I think that most decision makers already realize that their most costly asset is labor and have already made steps to relieve some of this burden. Though, there are still many things that can be made to run more smoothly. Most automation has to do with moving data, whether in paper form, or digital form. Many companies still pay someone to push data around. Before an automation project is started, a clear definition of what is trying to be achieved, needs to be outlined. A company could invest many hours or months with large sums of money being dumped into automating a simple task, later to find out that it will take them 2 years to recoup the cost they spent on the projects versus what they would have paid a laborer. Where will the company be 2 years from now? Before investing this money, the goals and the return need to be clearly defined, so that everyone knows what they are getting into and everyone knows what the results will be.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
I’ve been getting a lot more requests for Search Engine Optimization. Not always in these words… well actually the request is more like “can you make it so that I show up at the top of Google?”. I think that most people believe that I can just wave a magic wand, and they will appear at the top. I wish this was the case, or even if I could fill out one form, click submit, and magic… Unfortunately, this is not the case. Before starting down the road of SEO, be sure to outline all of the steps that you are going to take. Be sure to advise them that this is not a quick process, and that it will be an ongoing process. It is easier, and much faster to move down in rank than up. Once the work has been completed, it needs to be maintained just to stay on the first page. While some projects can begin without having the complete project outline, this is not one of them. You will lose a lot of time if you do not first outline EVERY step of the process. You need to be sure to clearly define your goals.

Online Marketing
Social networking has become a huge piece of online marketing. This is the most recent craze, and has shown to be very successful. Included in this area is Pay Per Click, Newsletters, Banner Ads, Press Releases, etc. You will need to utilize a combination of these marketing strategies to be successful. In order to take full advantage of these resources you need to be sure to outline and set your goals before selecting your arsenal of marketing strategies. Each one of these strategies has its own strengths and weaknesses, so before you end up losing time in building a campaign that isn’t going to make fiscal sense, you need to build a game plan and outline your goals. Keep in mind that you aren’t just doing a projects for the sake of doing it, but that the company has real goals that it wants to achieve.

Updates
Be sure to get regular updates from your team, whether your using a project management application, regular SCRUM updates, or even just simple emails. Be sure to stay in constant contact with your team. Just as important, you need to give updates to your requesting party, whether an outside client, or internal manager or director.

Main Concept
Hopefully you caught on that the running theme is being goal oriented. It is important that the goals are outlined from the beginning – and reassessed as needed. Not just the technical goals or the deliverables of the projects, but the business goals. Most IT departments, or even companies, lack this key initiative. They merely build what the client asks for, without understanding the business model or corporate goal. While this is what some clients want, these are not the type of people to work with. If the other departments are asking for things to be done, without explaining the goals, the company will never reach their goals, and everything will always be someone else’s fault.

Goal Oriented
Expediting IT projects is all about goals. When asked to start a project – ask what the end goal is. Most projects are killed or take too long because the project goes in the wrong direction and work has to be redone, or time is delayed trying to steer the project in a different direction. The key is all about defining and measuring your goals for success.

What are some of the techniques that you use to expedite projects? Please leave comments below.

Originally Posted on Successful Thinkers Meetup By Josh Shackelford

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