Cigarettes have a way of bonding people together. In offices, in schools, in public places smokers hang-out together. They form connections bumming cigarettes, getting a light and sharing stories of being an outsider, a smoker, with fellow travelers.
As there are smokers and non-smokers, smoking sections and the rest of the world, it seems that cell phone users are becoming the new smokers and cell phones the new cigarettes. Not to be too Carrie Bradshaw but recent stories report authorities in offices, schools and public places are restricting the use of cell phones. They are designating the times, places and how cell phones can be used.
Take this story from The Current (a news show on CBC Radio One) where school boards are taking steps to control cell phone use in public schools. Will there soon be groups of ‘phoners congregating behind bleachers or darkened corners to sneak a call or quick txt msg between class?
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Few things can create more tension in a project than pushing back a deadline.
It can create instant anger between a project sponsor and the project manager. It can even filter down to the people working on a project. Resources end-up choosing a bad-guy: the project sponsor (”she doesn’t get it”) or the project manager (”doesn’t know what he’s doing”) -while all the while risking being cast as lazy or incompetent because the deadline is being blown.
Often, the source of the anger can be traced to differing expectations on how the project should unfold over time.
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Came across this post bemoaning the state of collaboration features available in enterprise content management solutions.
Our approach in Vertabase Pro is to offer collaboration and content management within the framework of doing projects (and using project management tools to accomplish and manage the projects).
What do you think of this approach?
After taking a look at the software, what recommendations or suggestions would you have for the content management component of the software?
Note: you can check out the software by clicking here. The content management features are in the Document section of Projects.
Here’s a review of MS Project 2007 project management software from one of our Vertabase Pro users. The review focuses on the interface of the software.
To attempt to contain complexity, MS Project 2007 introduced Ribbons — a pane that contains controls (such as buttons and icons) that are organized into a set of tabs, each one containing a grouping of relevant commands. This type of interface replaces traditional menus and toolbars.
The Ribbon is “all about making the software do what you want to do,” as they state in their literature. This Ribbon will also be incorporated into Microsoft Office 2007 as a main new feature “Replacing the menus and toolbars that have been the cornerstone of Office since its inception.”
While Ribbons consolidate related functionality in one place and can improve usability, they do not solve the problem of complexity. Microsoft Project will still be very complex and time consuming to learn.
It comes down to design. They are not working from a clean apriori design. It is not targeted to a manager using a system with a team requiring a robust solution that is scalable to multiple projects and tasks but without the complexity and nuance that a professional project manager would require (and feel comfortable with).
No matter what, how the controls of a jumbo jet get automated or are easy to access it is not the right vehicle to travel from the suburbs to downtown. You will still need advanced project management expertise to create, manage and communicate projects plans in Microsoft project – even with Ribbons.
Project management built for an enterprise is generally more robust than mass market project management software. Almost by definition, enterprise project management software includes two aspects that separate it from general project management software.
- The first is the robustness of feature set.
- The second is the number of users that touch the system.
Features that you’ll generally find in enterprise project management software include resource allocation, project portfolio view, cross project gantt charts, budgeting and potentially a host of advance project management performance metrics.
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Happy 2007 from Vertabase Pro, project management software. Thank you for a great 2006! Looking forward to a wonderful 2007.
