According to my industry insider, many companies in today’s project management space originally created a project tracking solution for themselves, based on their internal processes and for their business, and then decided on one fine day that their software could be used by others, and could possibly make them some money to boot. I call these types of software producers it worked for me, so maybe it will work for them.
This is perhaps the lowest level of software producer. They have no aspirations, no true philosophy of software design, and when it comes down to it, they are only in it for the cash. This is in contrast to real software artists that are inspired to create for sake of a great purpose, while the money aspect is secondary.
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Benjamin Franklin took on a lot of projects in his life. Here are five key concepts for effective project management culled from his Autobiography.
1) Deliver: Ideas are great but delivery is what projects are all about.
2) Do People Favors: Favors have a psychological affect on people and can build powerful bonds that go beyond the politics of a project.
3) Ask for Favors: People overestimate the value of things they do for other people and therefore feel superior and kinder towards people they’ve helped.
4) Solve Easy Problems: Great results can happen in changing things that look small and easy.
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Why Project Management Software is Not a Commodity
The person on the other end of the phone line is a new buyer and he keeps saying to me that buying project management software is a confusing and difficult process because all these project management products look the same. I answer saying that I agree on the surface that it looks that way, and that it is frustrating because everything does seem to do the same thing. I continue to explain that I understand their pain and then my real job comes into play.
That is when I pause for a moment, take in a deep breath, take off my sales hat and with a flare toss on my teachers hat. My teachers hat looks just like my sales hat, but I assure you, here too, there are significant differences in intent and approach even if they look similar.
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Good communication is a key factor in successful project management, particularly when it comes to scheduling.
This applies to project managers, team members and business managers.
Sometimes people can be vague or non-committal when asked about their time or scheduling expectations. There are responses phrased to show flexibility or eagerness like “let me know what works for you.” There are polite, deferential answers like “don’t move things just for me.”
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