I need your Project Management help
I need help coming up with a tight project management setup and I am counting on you readers to help me out. 
I have recently started work for a new client who already has me managing 10 projects on their behalf. I have a great system using Outlook and OneNote 2007 for capturing pertinent information in one place but it is rapidly becoming clear that I also need a way to track many projects and also have the ability to see them all in an overview mode. Nothing has fallen through the cracks yet but it surely will if I don’t tighten up my tracking system.
What I am thinking might work best is to use MindManager for the project tracking. I have used MM for brainstorming and writing project creation but I have not used it for actual project tracking. I am thinking that if I create a MM map for each project I can then use ResultsManager to produce the appropriate Daily, Weekly, and perhaps Monthly reviews that will gather all the action items from each individual project and put them in a Dashboard for easy reference and updating. My main problem at this point is determining what the optimum structure for the project maps would be, along with the MM project directory structure that will make it easier to collect for the ResultsManager views.
The projects that will be tracked are complex and can easily require 50+ steps to completion. All of the actual steps are executed by someone(s) else and my job is to make sure they do the step when appropriate, that it completes on time with the schedule, and to perform technical supervision of their work. This means I need to be able to see at a glance what areas I need to focus on, especially at the beginning of the week, and to plan my schedule of meetings and tasks around what needs to be done.
I am open to any ideas you might have so shoot them into the comments and lets see what we can get done together. Thanks!
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I’m also using the MM/Resultsmanager combination for projects and my main question for you is whether your projects have a high level of interdependent tasks?
I use one map per project, but I don’t have a consistent format for each; I simply build the map organically so that it ‘looks’ right for that project and gives me a good view of what needs to be done. For me one of the main advantages of MM/Resultmanager is that the structure is flexible and an Activity will be picked up wherever I put it providing I tag it and set the dates properly. I use Resultsmanager lists for subprojects that require multiple ordered steps.
Where a project has lots of interdependent tasks I do take some more time to structure it but, in practice, this often means moving things around until the relationships are clearly shown (no spagetti) I find that doing this usually makes the whole project fairly clear.
Cheers
Dave
James:
You really should spend some time in the RM documentation. They have some excellent guidelines for how to construct project maps to yield the best dashboard map results. It’s a bit counterintuitive compared to the kind of organic mapping Dave is describing and that I know you use for your writing projects but it really does make a big difference in what RM pumps out.
This oage in their online help is agood place to start:
http://gyronix.com/grm/grm.html?2.0
HTH,
Marc
James, Microsoft makes a software called MS Project. Since you use OneNote, IE and Office. It would intergrate better with the software you already have. Multiple projects, various time lines. That is what it is designed to do. Take care of projects.
James, Microsoft makes a software called MS Project. Since you use OneNote, IE and Office. It would intergrate better with the software you already have. Multiple projects, various time lines. That is what it is designed to do. Take care of projects.
Every company I’ve worked for has used MS Project and/or Rational. I try to stay away from that stuff though. ;)
James:
I’d go with Basecamp from 37 Signals-http://www.basecamphq.com/
It will allow you to do everything you mentioned above, plus it can be done remotely, you can assign permissions based on projects, etc.
Plus once you don’t need it anymore you just cancel your subscription.
Good luck!
Dave
I have always use MS Project. In this case, I suggest you consider each of your projects as an activity of your Main Project. this way you can plan and manage them under one file. Good luck
Marc,
Are you referring to the Tunnel Timeline idea? I find that that happens naturally as I build my maps. I don’t organise them left to right though, I just let RM sort it out.
Dave
I have spent the past few hours going through the Gyronix docs and have a handle now on how they expect maps to be organized for optimal dashboard creation.
I use MS Project for timelines on a lot of projects but don’t like it for frequent reviews. I need the ability to frequently see all the projects together to visually see trouble spots.
James,
You might want to check out the series of Results Manager blogs by Walter Terry at http://resultsmanagerpro.blogspot.com/ for insight into the practical application.