Thank you to the kind people at Handshaw. They put on a successful conference on e-learning, learning management systems and general instructional design. I was fortunate enough to attend and meet some of the impressive people behind their Lumenix product and the creative people who use it.
For those not familiar with e-learning, its more than moving content and tests onto a computer. It encompasses an understanding of how adults learn, a mastery of technical tools, project management to get e-learning projects produced and organizational politics to secure budgets and manage expectations.
An oft discussed topic was how instructional designers and e-learning technologists work with subject matter experts. There is a delicate balance between keeping the SME involved in a project while the ID or e-learning technologist maintain their role as the trained professional in e-learning.
Interestingly, its something I hear all the time from designers and developers with respect to clients. It seems that in both worlds, there is a management art to building a process where everyone recognizes and respects the value each person brings to a project.
Thank you, as well to an informative presentation from Bryan Chapman on Rapid Content Development for e-learning.
Its a week past due but thank you to the Charlotte Adobe Users Group. Had a great time with great people and lots of good conversation (both during and after the meeting).
We talked about everything from software design, user adoption and project management to where is Adobe and ColdFusion going, and what technologies will stand the test of time.
Thank you to Sutton for putting it all together, to Lodestone Digital to hosting and to everyone who attended.
I’ll have the pleasure of speaking at the Charlotte, North Carolina Adobe Users’ Group (Adobe Charlotte) on Thursday, September 20th.
The topic will be on how design, technology and feature choices affect usability -using examples and feedback from Vertabase project management.
The meeting will take place at 6PM at Lodestone Digital, 5605 Seventy-Seven Center Dr., Suite 285, Charlotte, NC. For more information, please visit http://www.adobecharlotte.com.
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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The current space shuttle mission STS-116 is a great window on project management in action. On NASA TV you can hear the live management of an ongoing process –managing in real-time, on the fly, a complex operation that’s rife with opportunities to deviate from a sophisticated project plan.
While the scale might be different, it parallels, in a lot of ways, the activities that go on in any creative, engineering or scientific project. It provides a view on the types of information, visibility and project communication that make any project a success.
Here are some of the random clips we heard on NASA TV:
“Thanks for the great big picture words.”
“1:51 Central Time power down expected.”
“Good insight into the system.”
“I have the steps here.”
“Trouble shooting task procedures.”
“Blocks of activity.”
“Ready to proceed to step three – it is good to talk to you.”
“OK I’ll stand by, appreciate the help.”
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Educational institutions, e-learning companies and providers of educational curriculum face specialized challenges in project management. A coherent project management strategy can increase the efficiency of developing educational product and educational programs. Project management software can be the foundation for this strategy.
Product development groups in these companies can work on upwards of 120 new projects at any given time. These projects are generally the development of new educational programs that will be offered to hundreds of thousands of students overtime –programs that are crucial in those students’ academic or professional development. The programs can range from vocational or technical programs to graduate and undergraduate courses.
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Project planning and project scheduling can be valuable tools in business intelligence (BI) or business performance management (BPM).
On the solutions side, project management software, particularly easier to use online project management software tools can generate powerful business intelligence and process optimization conclusions.
A previous post discussed the three key variables used to set a realistic due-date.
1) A defined process
2) Defined task durations
3) Resource availability/performance
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Jeff Peters has a nice article in ColdFusion Developer’s Journal giving an overview on some of the basics that can be accomplished when using an organized project management process for development using project management software available from www.GrokFusebox.com.
There are an additional set of project management software tools that can surround the software development process as a whole, providing a framework in which the development work takes place. Functionality in this framework includes tracking tasks, priorities, resource allocation across projects or a department and budgetary tracking and reporting.
These features create a more positive environment for software development or for a software development project.
Essentially, with minimal data input from a developer, management can get all the data they need to monitor the project or portfolio of projects (which they’re going to do anyway), without having to interrupt the developers or waste people’s time in meetings.
Vertabase Pro is a ColdFusion based project management software tool that does just this. You can get a look at it by checking out a screenshot tour or requesting a test drive.
Nothing is going to be easier than just being left alone to do your work. But these kind of project management tools can make a big impact on the overall long-term success of a software development project or IT department within a company or in a client/developer relationship.
Major sporting events can get in the way of even the best managed projects, particularly a best of 7 type event like the World Series of Major League Baseball that can go on for a week.
Take this year’s series between the Cinderella story Detroit Tigers and the St. Louis Cardinals. It can definitely take its toll on the productivity (measured in sleep deprivation) and morale of fans involved in the whole event.
For those inclined, coffee or Diet Coke can make-up for the sleep.
The morale component, though, is harder.
There is no magic pill. It is not something easily assuaged by project managers, project management software or a therapeutic cursing-out and finger point on play by error-filled painful play by the water-cooler or coffee machine.
While the kind of visibility and replay that project management software or reports offer can sometimes be valuable to a project (and certainly to know who to hold accountable -like a young pitcher or two, perhaps) when your team is down -and there’s no reason it should be, it doesn’t seem to help.
Sometimes, it just takes time and the commitment to keep putting one foot in front of the other, moving along the path to get the project or deliverable done.
Communication is one of the biggest challenges in project management.
Its bad enough when a project manager has trouble communicating with the team that will be doing the project. But it can be down-right dangerous for a manager when there is a lack of clear communication with the project sponsor the person who navigated corporate politics to get the project approved.
The problem stems from not understanding what each person is looking for or unrealistically expecting the other party to speak your language. This can be aggravated by the project manager’s insistence on using only the project management tools which suite their needs, regardless of whether the project management solutions generate the kind of information the political sponsors of the project are looking for.
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