What should I do first?

How do you decide what is a priority? 

These questions are essential to managing time and being effective on projects.  Its important to learn how to separate to-do’s and define what are priority tasks.

There are two methods that are worth looking at when trying to answer those questions:

P.O.S.E.C. Method
The POSEC method is an acronym that stands for Prioritize by Organizing, Streamlining, Economizing and Contributing. This method states that if you pay attention to your everyday, personal responsibilities first, then you are in a better position to handle other things that may come your way.

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Have you ever wondered where your time goes each day? Why is it that you never seem to have enough time to do the things you want to do? Where is your time going? Are you wasting it or using it wisely?

These are questions that you should ask yourself if you want to manage your time more effectively. We have all said to ourselves “if I just had another hour, I could get so much accomplished”. The fact is, there are 24 hours in a day. How you use them is up to you. 

Activity logs are an effective tool for time management and can help you make the most of each day.  An activity log is place where you record what you did during the day, when you did it and for how long.  Activity logs can take on numerous forms: paper notebooks, electronic organizers, software on your computer, the internet or on your phone. No matter which tool you choose, the idea is to track every event so you can see the larger picture of where your time is going.  

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The role of project manager or project leader is vital to any project. Not having a designated project manager can mean disaster. A project manager oversees all aspects of a project from start up to completion. That person doesn’t have to be a certified, trained project manager. But they do have to have some important skills.

So, what makes a good project manager?

A good project manager needs to have exceptional time management skills. They have to remain detail oriented and highly organized to maintain all aspects of a project. Meeting deadlines is vital to any project. The project manager’s main task is to complete the project on time and within budget.

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Part of good time management is setting goals for yourself.  But your goals need to be S.M.A.R.T. What does that mean? Well, let’s look a little closer. S.M.A.R.T stands for:

Specific: Detail “exactly” what you want to achieve. You have to be specific when setting your goals. The clearer you are the better direction you will have in how to get there.

When you say “I want to raise money for diabetes” is that specific? Some would say yes but the answer is no. Yes, you want to raise money for diabetes but is that it? Again, the answer is no. Clarify, be specific! Being specific would be: “I want to raise $5000 dollars to support diabetes research by December 31st”. Can you see the difference? The first goal was not clear about exactly what you wanted to do whereas the second example specifically lists what you want to do. It becomes a goal you can actually work towards with clearly defined steps.

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Do you know that your stress levels are greatly affected by how you manage your time?  The way you manage your time can influence the type of day that you will have.

Poor Time Management = Stress

It is estimated that most people waste at least 2 hours a day. Now that doesn’t sound like a lot when you’re considering a 24 hour time frame but you can get a lot accomplished within 2 hours. Some signs of poor time management skills are:

• Messy office. This can include a cluttered desk. You know …files everywhere!
• You can’t seem to find anything. You know it’s in there somewhere but the question is…where?
• You miss appointments. This is embarrassing enough but then you have to turn around and reschedule them.
• You are late for meetings or you arrive unprepared.
• You can’t seem to focus or concentrate on what needs to be done.

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Question: How can government be made more efficient with project management software or by using project management in public administration?

Answer: Project management software provides a clear structure in which all steps of a public works project can be spelled out.

A basic break-down of the steps in a project can provide an effective operational overview of municipal or Federal government projects. This gives executives or public sector employees a clear way to track progress, identify bottlenecks and learn from past projects -because the tasks involved and people or departments associated with those tasks are clearly identified. This level of visibility in public administration can breed increased efficiency and transparency in the use of government resources.

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A project schedule in tools like MS Project or Vertabase is different than in project collaboration tools like Basecamp.

The main idea behind a schedule in project management software like Vertabase is to create a detailed workflow for a project.  The schedule is the roadmap of the project and its successful completion.  It creates visibility and gives people the tools to do their work.

For example, documents and discussions that people need to work on on the project can all be connected directly to project schedules or even to specific tasks.

Also, project budgets and time estimates can all be connected to the project schedule (though access to this information can be easily controlled).  In fact, actual time can be posted directly to tasks on a schedule.

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Question: How can I reduce shipping costs when sending products, parts or components to customers?

Answer: Knowing what the customer will need ahead of time, accurate forecasting,  is the key to reducing shipping costs.

Now, mind reading is tough. But when shipping is part of the projects and services you are providing customers, you can control your shipping costs by controling the scheduling of those projects or services.  By knowing the schedule, you can know when items will need to be shipped.

Data Systems of Texas implemented Vertabase Pro and was able to better group projects and resources -scheduling them up to six months ahead of time.  As a result, they were able to cut shipping costs by 50%.   

“We used to ship everything overnight express at full costs. Now, our time management is much more efficient and we know who needs what in advance. Consequently, we save a significant amount of money by using standard shipping services,” says Tom Davis, Support Manager.

Vertabase Pro offers scheduling tools for people of all levels of technical experience. 

Question: What is the most useful methodology for managing projects? Is the PMBOK the best approach on all projects?

Answer:  Success is the basic metric against which to compare the value of any particular project management methodology. If the project is a success then the methodology used to manage that project must have been successful. Since every organization deals with different variables, different people, different circumstances and different goals, every organization needs to find the methodology that works best for it. 

The strict application of any particular methodology will likely do more harm than good. Its like asking the world to fit a text book, rather than using the knowledge in the textbook to accomplish something in the real world.

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Project management software can significantly simplify time management in an enterprise.

To get this benefit, make sure to look for a project management tool that centralizes timesheet data by project along with percent complete status of individual projects.  This can provide a seemless picture of effort and labor costs on a project compared against where the project actually is. 

This same feature set facilitates financial forecasting by giving managers up-to-date information to best estimate how many more resource hours will be needed to be complete a deliverable -and therefore, often time, send an invoice to a client.

Message Makers, a multimedia communications firm in Lansing, Michigan recently experienced these benefits with Vertabase Pro. 

“Prior to implementing Vertabase Pro, it was difficult for us to effectively manage resource allocation,” said Chiung Cheng, PhD, Controller and Research Director. “We selected Vertabase Pro because it addressed our most essential need - the merging of project status reporting and timesheet management into a single function. Now, with Vertabase Pro, we are able to evaluate overall status instantly.”

To read more about their experiences, heres a case study on improving resource allocation with project management software.