Blog - Project Plan 365

Avoid Project Crashes: File a Flight Plan First!

Posted on November 3, 2022November 3, 2022 by daniela

Avoid Project Crashes:

File a Flight Plan First!

By Jigs Gaton, PM / Pilot

First, let's step back 30,000 feet

We all know the drill as we start projects: pick or subserve to some PM methodology, gather your resources, erect lines of communication, etc. Agile, Waterfall, Bootcamp, Basecamp, whatever, we always begin there. But what if we are starting our projects on a wayward waypoint in the first place?

So, let's step back and look at this hypothesis; perhaps some of our projects might be crashing because our planning always starts in the wrong place. Think of this through a pilot's eyes, who instinctively knows you don't start a mission in the middle of the air... no, you always begin working far earlier than that, on the ground, even with a pre-plan for any take-off.

Continuing this analogy, in a pilot's pre-plan for the mission (think of every project as a mission), the pilot has a checklist shared between the pilot and co-pilot, and then portions are shared with the entire crew.

This project planning metaphor should be familiar if you are a PM with any experience; you are starting a new project, collecting a team, and strategizing what to do in the days (or flights) ahead.

(If not, see this article that compares pilots to project managers.)

So, let's dive into the idea of Flight Planning and compare that with what we all do when planning projects.

Where does Mission Project begin?

Sure, you might think a project begins with setting objectives, defining scopes, and clarifying goals. But in reality, these are just words to help us off the literal project runway, and truth be told, any Mission Project starts well ahead of all these fine activities.

Think of the pilot and crew the afternoon before a long-haul flight, none may have met, but all come together with one thing in mind: mission success.

Note: if a pilot or the crew feels compromised to endanger the mission's safe success, there is no penalty for declining the job (mandated by law in many countries).

In addition to this mental analogy of [pilots & crews] with [PM planners & teams], we should look at the physical tools the aviation industry deploys, but most PMs do not. The first one that comes to mind is a flight plan.

The flight plan.

All commercial aviation missions begin with a flight plan; consider starting your project with one. In this way, you are taking off from a cleared runway and not starting your project from mid-air, destined for trouble.

To a layperson, a flight plan may look like a form required by the FAA or other local authorities, but it's much more in a pilot's eyes. A flight plan for any pilot is a philosophy and a set of tools. The philosophy of the flight plan is to follow a set of actions that includes preflight, inflight, and landing checklists, as well as checklists for any emergency that modern aviation can envision.

The toolset behind a flight plan is extensive. Based on the aircraft flown (think project types), requirements, resources, and tailored checklists must be completed before any engine is switched on. These tools are modeled and taken from real-life experiences, simulators, manufacturers' specifications, and various other sources like the weather, weight on board, and fuel capacity.

The pilot and co-pilot complete and double-check the flight plan together, sometimes entering separate plans into a flight computer that double-checks the two human inputs and reports any conflicts. All of these calculations and checks lead to one question: Can mission success be safely achieved or not based on the destination? And remember, this is well before a single engine is fired up.

To complete the picture, here is a rough comparison between a flight plan and PM practices today:

Flight Plan vs. PM Plan
All variables are modeled and checked for compliance against specifications before starting.	Variables are considered ongoing risks and handled loosely.
Any change in plan is modeled in real-time (by a flight computer), and potential problems are immediately flagged with alerts sent to the pilot and co-pilot.	Changes may not be tested/modeled nor communicated to the PM or co-PM (or even with a flight control tower, or in PM terms, the PMO).
The flight continues along established waypoints, and cannot proceed unless all safety parameters are met.	Projects try to achieve arbitrary milestones and often proceed recklessly without meeting any.
Historical data is factored into the plan from the get-go.	Historical data on like projects is often unknown or not factored.
This type of plan is double-checked by a copilot with equal say in making changes and is also always communicated with flight controllers.	Plans often come down from "on high" and are developed without an independent double-check.

Inflight services...

Once in flight, or once Mission Project is safely off the ground, PMs have activities lumped into phases, sprints, and closings instead of a pilot's routine take-off, inflight, and landing procedures, yet these divisions serve the same purpose; to chunk the workload into manageable parts.

Yet more critical during these mission stages (even more than the lights displayed on the flight deck) is something called CRM, or Crew Resource Management, which often changes crew parameters and practices inflight, besides dictating normal behavior and communications. Every pilot or crew member has an HR department – inside their head!

One example of a CRM practice is the required sterile cockpit during takeoff and landings. This is when the pilot, co-pilot, and crew follow a strict protocol of keeping all chatter to a bare minimum, thus reducing the stress level during these critical moments and helping the crew execute the flight plan flawlessly. This is a feature developers of chat-based PM tools should take note of if they can.

Another example (also audible) is called a call-out within the Aviation industry. Ever wonder why pilots over radios repeat each change in the flight plan when communicating with air traffic controllers and even themselves? Because these call-outs have proven to save lives and planes from disaster! For example, you may have heard something like this in the movies when a tower is communicating with a jumbo jet: "Climb and maintain one two thousand" (climb up to and level off at 12,000 feet) with the pilot of the plane responding to the tower with the exact phrasing, "Roger that, climbing to one two thousand and maintaining."

This keeps planes from colliding on take-offs; in other words, there is confirmation and agreement between all parties on the line at the moment of decision. It is important to note that in the case of aviation call-outs, they are public so that other planes around the tower and ascending aircraft can also listen to the communication; but are respectful and keep it one way unless they have something urgent to contribute. Imagine your PMO is the control tower, you are the pilot, and your project is your mission - now you get the picture! Also, here's a shout-out to include call-outs in all PM software.

And while on the topic of tools and services, here is where the Aviation Industry flies far above what we have at our disposal as land-based PMs. They have a flight computer. And the flight computers on modern aircraft are remarkable, as they use the flight plan and constantly check progress against the plan, alerting pilots before anything goes off track. And as with any device, you can plug in new numbers and get updated results in milliseconds.

Yet here is where this metaphor becomes stretched. The variables involved in programming an Airbus or Boeing flight computer are finite compared to the number of variables in today's most complex projects. Yet, with that wide range of projects planned and executed over time, we could derive them, and predictive analysis is possible (with some margin of error). If only we had more of that, maybe our projects would not spin out of control as often as they do.

Note: Ever wonder why the airline industry has such an excellent record of success (as compared to our projects)? Then see this series of PM vs. Aviation articles.

Landing, not crashing

But even if you disagree that flying an Airbus is like landing a project on time, within budget, and with all goals achieved, you have to admit that the Airline industry has a much better record than ours, and with much less disastrous results in lost resources, wasted time and actual damage inflicted.

So perhaps even the thought of using a flight plan before project takeoff can’t hurt and possibly will prevent projects from becoming lost over some ocean, never to be heard from again. For those willing to try, here is a summary of thoughts for your next project flight plan:

Always make sure you start your project from the ground, and not mid-air, by stepping back 30,000 feet and examining exactly where you are – first!
Develop checklists based on past project performance and histories, and categorize and implement them by type of project.
Try to model a project’s results based on inputting historical/industrial-standard values for as many variables as possible – before taking off!
Use your plan to fly from one waypoint to another, ensuring all safety concerns are met before proceeding to the next.
Employ the latest model “flight computer” possible, to check your plan’s operating parameters in-flight and to alert you before problems arise.
Before taking off, always double-check your plan with a co-planner (call it a sanity check) and also share that planning with your PMO.
Even before assembling your team, consider the mental state of all involved. And during the mission, also be aware of cognitive problems such as bias, workload stress and other human-factor problems that arise within all hard-working teams.

Final (destination) thought…

So, in light of the above list of recommendations and other considerations within our theoretical Mission Project, here's wishing you the best in keeping the shiny side up whenever piloting a project to success.

For more info on the latest PM “flight computer” available, see the Project Plan 365 product page to learn how advanced planning software can improve your chances of safely landing your next project!

Is It Worth the Effort?

Posted on June 17, 2020October 25, 2022 by Captain

Is It Worth the Effort?

In Daniel Defoe’s novel of Robinson Crusoe and his adventures at sea, a notable quote stands out:

“[N]ow I [see], though too late, the folly of beginning a work before we count the cost, and before we judge rightly of our own strength to go through with it.”

Judging from the quote, there appears to be a point of no return in everything we do- our project endeavors included. As the S-Curve of “Cost” as it relates to “Time” ramps up the steep incline during project execution, we must ask ourselves: will it be worth the Effort?

Take an analogous jungle survival story:

Should a 300lbs lion burn 500 calories chasing a small rabbit that will give him only 100 calories in return? Of course, the answer is no. This reward is clearly not worth the Effort. Why is it then that you will never turn on Animal Planet and see such a lion act in this way, but you often hear of small businesses (90%) that fail in the first year and projects (80%) failing overall?

Common in the field of project management are the phases of project initiation and project planning which involve a Go/No Go decision template. It is one thing to make decisions before things begin to pick up, but what happens after we decide to Go and realize along the way it is not worth the Effort? Well, this when jungle-like survival skills must kick in.

Before anything else, you as a project manager must recognize and admit things are not going as planned. Then, you must act fast before is too late. If you find yourself in this position, begin by returning to your baseline assumption cost. What was it? You can easily name this “Day One Initial Estimate” and, you can usually assign a number (for example, $1 million).

Next, let’s consider your initial consideration of Total Estimated Effort for the work. What did you think the project would look like when finished based on the Effort? Here, my friends, is the tricky part... you didn’t consider this and that is why you are facing a problem. Had you known the Total Estimated Effort, you wouldn’t be reading this article and would be doing more enjoyable things with your time right now.

What I suggest at this point is you deal with Hope. Hope is your best friend and worst enemy. That is to say, you know there is a problem, but you Hope everything will be okay, right? Here, an additional lesson can be applied from Robinson Crusoe’s adventures- A lesson that I find to be magic put into practice:

“Today we love what tomorrow we hate.”

We tend to Hope for more happy days in our planning and wish that tomorrow too there will be a good day, but it doesn't always happen. Therefore, Hope should be a set for an exact period of time where you expect to see some specific positive results.

For example, if I take a pill for 5 days I Hope to see my fever decrease from 102 to 98 in about 5 days. Hope may prove positive or… maybe I die. Who knows?

Unlike a pill, we sometimes know there is barely any Hope, but we still try for that 1% chance. This is part of our innate decision making process that we cannot help but do (at least until AI takes over).

So, let’s define our Hope Period and Hope Target to try and determine if Hope assumptions will come true or prove to be false. You’ve got your project started, you are excited, everybody is on fire, budgets are approved, there are successful kick off meetings… now is exactly the time to be worried. Pay attention to the first 20% Effort period- it is the most critical part of your project. Add an extra 5% for the Hope Period where you can determine how much Hope you can hold onto; only then will you be in a good position to make some thorough Go/No Go decisions. And if you’re already deep into your project and all you have left is Hope, determine when Hope should be lost for the sake of your budget and team.

Don’t believe me about the importance of Hope? Google these big project failures that extended the Hope period just a little too far: The Canfranc Titanic of the Mountains project and The New South China Mall, Pearl River Delta.

Remember this: most of the project Effort understandings happen in the initial execution period, so pay close attention and the next time you begin to build your Microsoft Project, Primavera, Smartsheets, Project Plan 365 or any other project plan, add a Robinson Crusoe Milestones along the way and be prepared to answer his question:

Is it worth the Effort?

Happy Planning!

Putting Face-to-Face Meetings on Pause

Posted on March 23, 2020March 25, 2020 by Jigs Gaton

Putting Face-to-Face Meetings on Pause: A How-to for Project Managers

Tips for Running a Successful Remote Project Meeting

One of the biggest advantages of a face-to-face project meeting is that you and your team are collaborating in real-time, full-frontal, leaving little room for misunderstandings or misinterpretations. For example, in a traditional meeting, you and you team work to add, change, or delete tasks, assess risks, discuss dates, assign resources, etc. etc. Afterwards, everyone leaves the meeting with an updated and accurate plan. Easy.

However, during a remote project meeting (either by audio link, video link or both), certain challenges arise that you may not be comfortable with, or you might not have ever experienced. So here is quick head's up on how to get the most out of your next remote project meeting...

How to read body language, without a body...

When in person, and you ask a team player about a milestone or deadline, you can read the person's face to collect the "meta" information on the response. You know, that pained expression or the glint of joy in their eye; but when on the phone, you don't get any of that. As a PM, you now use your built-in sonar. Listen for silence. Either engage the silent one, or have a quick follow up after the meet is over.

When having a voice-only meeting, or a mixed video and phone meeting, make sure every attendee is engaged. One tip from native culture is the idea of passing a talking stick, where each attendee is given the stick, and a certain amount of time to "hold" the stick and talk uninterrupted. Try playing with an idea like this to ensure that everyone on the other end is alive, well and contributing.

The fashion trend of "Dress for Success" just changed...

Don't be surprised if your co-workers have shed Gucci for Nike, now that most of your team is working from home - you can even revel in the fact that your team is probally even more comfortable than ever! Being comfortable within a virtual meeting is absolutely important, but as your new role as moderator of a remote project meeting, realize that even in tees and shorts, that your team may be feeling anxious or uncomfortable within an online format.

When first starting a remote project meeting, allow time for everyone to just share what's going on in their lives, and to let loose about working from home. Again, make sure everyone gets a turn, and gently encourage those shy online to participate.

...Meeting strangers online is now ok...

Acting as a PM moderator, make sure everyone on the line (or on the feed) is properly introduced. You can prepare a few words on each person attending, and also allow each attendee a chance to introduce themselves. For folks new to the team, make sure there is a mechanism in place to share the "distribution" list to all, and that all know how to contact each attendee of the meeting.

Whiteboard it!

It's really surprising the amount of new tech involved with remote meeting apps and software! Interactive Whiteboards are great for brain-storming during your project meeting, and look for the feature that just captures the entire conversation - automatic meeting notes! In addition, tools like Project Plan 365, Microsoft Project or Microsoft Excel can be used in rTc mode (real-time collaboration) to update a project plan in real-time.

Do whatever you can to reduce any "new tech" anxiety or stress amongst your team. You may even have to have a training session first, on any new tools, before you start having official remote project meetings.

What to do when difficulties arise...

A myriad of difficulties can come up before, during and after a remote project meeting, but your most important action as moderator is to stay calm and carry on. Issues, technical or otherwise, can still be resolved on another call, either with a single team member or a smaller group. Be upfront with your team, as this may be all be new to all of you - honesty and patience goes a long way online.

Many obstacles can be mitigated ahead of time, using the tried and true approach of proper preparation. For remote meetings, this may mean a bit more time spent preparing for the meeting than you normally would (no longer can you dash from your desk to the meeting room carrying everything that you need).

Humor is highly encouraged... don't worry too much about "wasting" time, as a bit of light-hearted play might be just what a tense situation needs.

In conclusion...

Project meetings once held face-to-face, can now be just as successful when held remotely, but certain challenges will arise; for example:

Communicating remotely, where you may only be able to hear your team speaking, might take some adjustment. But have faith, back in the '50s this was the way everything was done.
As a PM conducting remote project meetings, you have, in a sense, become an online moderator. Any google resources on becoming better at that, is well worth your time.
Remote Meeting Technology is a blessing, but can be challenging to those new to the environment. Patience and prior training is key. Make sure you put those tasks in the plan!
Making team members comfortable and keeping the meeting relaxed is the perfect recipe for success.
Above all, keep calm and carry on!

To learn more...

Keeping Track with Agile

Posted on December 7, 2019May 6, 2022 by Jigs Gaton

Keeping Track with Agile... Using Project Plan 365!

Why Agile?

Agile project management is an iterative and incremental approach to delivering requirements throughout the project life cycle. Mainly used in software development, it has gained momentum in many other industries due to its emphasis on collaboration, flexibility, continuous improvement, and high-quality results. It uses popular project management frameworks such as Scrum (which uses Sprints that are time-boxed iterations, typically two weeks long and used to organize tasks and for quick goal shifting) and Kanban (which uses Backlog and Board status to manage work in progress).

Agile is great for teams who are looking for adaptiveness, clear and measurable deliverables, and a flexible approach to project delivery.

Why Project Plan 365?

Project Plan 365 supports both the Agile and Waterfall PM methodologies, all within the same app. That means you don’t have to choose one over the other - you get the best of all worlds - all in one place. With Project Plan 365, you can easily switch between Scrum and Kanban boards - with no disruption to data.

Project Plan 365 is especially data-flexible, meaning your data files can also be opened using Microsoft Project apps - as well as others - and Project Plan 365 actually extends the functionality of Agile planning over using Microsoft Project alone.

This tutorial will show you how to create your first Agile plan, and will also show you how to convert your Scrum to Kanban, in just one click. A practice file is available online, in case you want to follow along. If unfamiliar with Scrum & Kanban (and the difference between the two), see this cheat sheet from Development That Pays. Ok, let’s get started…

To start tracking your first Scrum...

1 Click on File/New, and choose Scrum Project.

2 The Sprint Planning Board displays, allowing you to add project tasks (as board items - just like sticky notes). Once added, you can move tasks into different Sprint cycles; just drag and drop to suit.

3 To create a new board item, click on New Task, and then fill in the task description, then click Add. Repeat for any sprint task you would like to create.

As you create the list of tasks, you sort them into Sprints (by default, three are included; Sprint 1, Sprint 2 and Sprint 3). In Agile methodology, a Sprint is a fixed time frame for work to be completed. By default, Project Plan 365 includes three sprints, with each sprint lasting 2 weeks (you can always add more; that's explained soon). As a result, the default Agile project duration is 6 weeks (3 sprints x 2 weeks):

Behind the scenes, as you add tasks to Sprint boards, they are also added to the Project Schedule. From these planning boards and sheets, you can always switch to any other view to see your data within different contexts. Go ahead, try it!

With the Manage Sprints sheet, you can set your Sprint durations (which can vary) and specify the start date of your first Sprint. All the other Sprints will be automatically calculated based on this first Sprint date. By default, Project Plan 365 generates Sprints through to the project’s finish date. But you can also specify a custom date:

At this point, the task dates are not updated within the Gantt Chart View to reflect the sprint dates – but we know the dates of each sprint by looking at the Manage Sprints sheet.

4 To move tasks between sprints, you can drag and drop them within the Sprint Planning Board:

And you can also sequence tasks using the Current Sprint Board:

5 You can complete task details for Sprint board items by using either the Current Sprint Sheet or the Sprint Planning Sheet; there you can add resources, deadlines, work estimates, as well as reassigning Sprint numbers or changing the board status for each task:

Both sheets are similar, with the major difference being that the Sprint Planning Sheet does not show completed tasks, and does show the Agile column by default.

You can add or hide columns to any view in Project Plan 365, for example you can hide the Task Summary column or add the Agile column anywhere you’d like. Also, setting Agile=No will remove that task from all Agile views.

6 You can further customize your sheets by, say, adding the % Complete column, and then tracking progress here:Both sheets are similar, with the major difference being that the Sprint Planning Sheet does not show completed tasks, and does show the Agile column by default.

7 You can also customize your boards by, say, adding/deleting/re-naming/moving board columns, or by deleting tasks, assigning resources, marking 100% completes, etc.

Switching between the two Agile flavors...

If you want to switch between the two flavors of Agile (Scrum or Kanban), you can do this from the Scrum ribbon/Agile, from the Project ribbon/Agile, or from the Kanban ribbon/Agile.

When switching to Kanban, you will see very similar features to Scrum. Kanban is all about visualizing your work, limiting work in progress, and maximizing efficiency (or flow). In contrast, Scrum has a Sprint Planning Board that allows you to select which tasks belong to each Sprint. You will not find this when switching to Kanban. Here you use the Backlog Board and Backlog Sheet instead (which is the similar to the Current Planning Board within Scrum).

In conclusion...

To sum up, in this tutorial we learned how to:

Start a Scrum from scratch.
Add tasks to the Sprint Planning Board.
Sequence tasks using the Current Sprint Board.
Add details to tasks and manipulate columns in both the Current Sprint Sheet and in the Sprint Planning Sheet.
Switch between Scrum and Kanban displays of the project plan.

For help with this - or anything else PM-related at all - please complete a support ticket and we’ll get right back to you.

To learn more...

Introducing Erix – Your Virtual PM Assistant

Posted on November 14, 2019June 17, 2020 by Jigs Gaton

Introducing Erix - Your New PM Assistant!

HELLO WORLD, and welcome to the 4th wave of the Industrial Revolution. This latest iteration of tech is marked by voice-activated AI, expanded robotics, IoT, autonomous vehicles and more... including software that solves tough problems - as well as performing menial or repetitive tasks best offloaded to a virtual assistant in the first place.

With that said, we would like to introduce you to Erix, the world's first Project Management (PM) Assistant built into your app. To introduce yourself to Erix, just open up Project Plan 365 and look to the upper-right corner.

Introducing Erix 1.0...

Erix 1.0 is currently an in-app chatbot that interacts with with you via the keyboard. You type in PM-related questions, such as:

What is a WBS?
What is Critical Path?
What is a Milestone?

Then Erix provides answers to these kinds of basic PM questions, and can also handle "How do I..." and "What is..." type queries.

In short, Erix 1.0 can help newer project managers with PM terms and methodolgies, without ever taking their eyes off the screen.

However, Erix is not stopping there...

Next Up, Erix 2.0...

The next iteration of Erix will do more, as this assistant becomes more intelligent over time and more familiar with the data sitting in your plans.

In Erix 2.0, you will be able to interact with your .MPP-formatted project files, and essentially help you improve your plans, just as any human team member can. For example, Erix will be able to answer questions about your plan-in-progress such as:

Show me the Critical Path.
When is the next Milestone due?
What tasks are running late?

Erix will give project managers a capable & smart assistant, without an added resource cost! In addition, any Microsoft Project user will be able to interact with Erix, by simply opening up the .MPP file in Project Plan 365.

Erix 3.0 and beyond...

Once Erix has graduated and is a certified PMP (from PMI), Erix will be able to:

Help you pass your own PMI certification exams.
Solicit real-world experiences from the PM the community (to help Erix better solve PM problems) using big data.
Support voice conversations between Siri and Google Assistant, allowing voice conversations between users of the app and Erix itself.

What You Can Do Now...

AFFILIATE MARKETING: What You Need to Know

Posted on November 13, 2019November 14, 2019 by Jigs Gaton

Affiliate Marketing: what you need to know...

Affiliates. Partners. Affiliate-Partners. Influencers. Marketeers, Brand Ambassadors, Bloggers, Vloggers, and in the olden days, Evangelists. All words similar in meaning and application, but what do they all mean, and why should you care?

Well, to begin, folks selling a product, service or promoting an idea (other than their own) and who are engaging with the public in some way to market someone else's stuff, are probally using one of the job titles from the bucket above.

As a project manager, you may already have laid out some effort in your plan to market your product, service or idea. But who are these marketing gurus, and what do they do with the task-time allocated?

Let's get the confusing bunch out of the way first, affiliates are a type of partner, but the titles are interchangeable these days. So an affiliate-partner is just someone who generates a sale (or raises awareness) and then gets paid on commission for that service. Affiliate marketing is now a billion dollar industry, and has become the key source of online income in the digital age.

Professional influencers, brand ambassadors, bloggers and vloggers are all people whom you can partner with to boost your sales or press your idea into the public's heart.

Some stats...

Consider these recent statistics:

A Forrester Consulting report projects that affiliate marketing is expected to surpass $6.8 billion in 2020.
At least 80% or more of Brands (think Apple, Nike) have affiliate marketing programs that help generate revenue.
For online orders, 16% are generated through affiliates.
Studies show companies who employ affiliate programs are most often Fashion-related (19%), while companies like ours (Housatonic) that sell software as a service, generally less so at only (2%).
Commissions for affiliates range wildly, but as an example, Amazon pays between 1% and 10% depending on the product type.

How Affiliate Partners do what they do...

Affiliate partners do their magic in a variety of ways, and very few affiliate programs are the same. Platforms like Youtube and Facebook have become very successful in supporting creatives endeavoring to boost sales. Vloggers using social media platforms offer reviews, demos and tutorials - all in an effort to influence customers.

However, traditional sales & marketing partnerships exist and thrive today; take for example Louis Vuitton & BMW, Apple & Hermes, Hewlett & Packard, or Red Bull & Go-Pro. Then of course many companies do both, traditional and new age affiliations. For example, Microsoft has both, traditional partners (over 64,000) and an affiliate program with even more evangelists than partners helping to sell their wares.

Want to join OUR partner-affiliate program?

Housatonic is currently in the process of starting up our own global partnership program, to both boost our reach and to work with others in the field of project management software implementation. We have a complete write-up here, but basically we are open to ideas from project managers and marketeers alike.

As noticed in the statistics above, becoming a traditional partner or affiliate for a company selling software-as-service offers a lot of growth opportunity... the best way to do this has yet to be defined. So why not help us do just that?

The Project Plan 365 Global Partnership Program (GPP) is on....

Our Global Partnership Program (GPP) is on, and we are currently seeking others to help us expand our reach into the world of project management, and even more specifically, we are seeking others who can help us leverage our Microsoft Project connection into something even more powerful, where the whole becomes greater than the sum of its two parts. Contact us today to get rolling...

Build a Team and Get More Work Done!

Posted on November 12, 2019December 7, 2019 by Jigs Gaton

Build a Team, and Get More Work Done!

We know that teamwork is important, whatever the project. We've learned to work with others, communicate better and in general, work collectively. But does your software help you facilitate team-building? Well, Project Plan 365 does just that, right out of the box.

Watch the video and/or read on to find out how to build a team in just a few minutes, no matter where you are within Project Plan 365.

This short tutorial will help you gather your team within the app, and then lets you use what you do know about team work to the best of your team's abilities. In other words, we have added a bit of team-building automation in our latest update...

Gathering the Troops...

First off, all you need to build a team within Project Plan 365, are the email addresses that your team members use. Easy! Here's an example:

If you want to follow along and you are brand new to Project Plan 365, then go here to download a 30-day Free Trial. Here’s how the 7North.Asia team did just that:

1) The Lead PM downloads and installs the Free 30-day Trial for whatever platform the PM is using (in this case, Apple’s MacOS).

2) Now the Lead PM opens the app and then signs up using the new integrated Sign In screen, choosing any of the credential options offered. Apple, Google, Microsoft and LinkedIn accounts can be used – whatever is the most convenient!

3) Once signed in, the Lead PM is prompted to create a new team, as well as identify the business. At this point, one could cancel (X) the team-building workflow and get right to work on the project plan; however, since the Lead PM of 7North.Asia already has a team assembled in the wings, this is the perfect time to get everyone on board.

Note: we do not sell your personal information – or any other information – to third parties; everything entered on our system is considered confidential and kept that way!

Adding Team Members to your Workspace...

4) To identify your team within Project Plan 365, you simply create a list of human resources that can be called upon when needed – just follow the prompts on the “Add Individual Team Member pop-up.”

Here you assign a Project Plan 365 “role” to each team member. In this case, the co-PM for this project is assigned the role of Editor, meaning this PM has more functionality within the app, and more often than not, becomes a paid subscriber when the 30-day Trail expires.

When the role of “Read Only” is assigned, that just means that the team member is not expected to make editorial changes to the plan, and will become a free subscriber when the 30-day Trial expires.

Repeat this step for each team member you wish to initially add...

Note: Roles can be changed at any time using the updated Project Plan 365 Management Portal (see below), and there you can also Add and Delete team members as well.

As new team members are added, they are notified (by email) that they are now part of this team, and each is provided instructions on how to proceed.

5) At this point, the project team is defined, and the Lead PM is sitting in front of a blank project. We recommended immediately saving this blank project to the included My Projects - Drive 365 (a cloud-based drive used for teamwork).

6) With the team project plan saved to Drive 365, the Lead PM can now easily assign team members to tasks (as the plan is being developed) using the Resource Names dropdown list:

Note to Microsoft Project / Project Plan users: existing project plans (with resources defined) that are saved on Drive 365 will enable you to add these resources to the global resource list, and all your projects will then display any added global resources in any resource-related drop-down list.

7) Once your project plan is drafted and ready to be shared with others, you can easily share the plan with your project team by going to TEAM on the ribbon, and then selecting Share:

That's it, your done! But read on for more even more team-building help...

A Note on One-Click Upgrades...

With the Project Plan 365 October 2019 Update, it is now possible to upgrade your subscription plan, on the fly, and just when you need an upgrade feature - such as Real Time Collaboration, Portfolio Dashboards and more. In the following example, our Lead PM @ 7North.Asia has decided to collaborate (in real-time) with other members of the project team, and needs to upgrade to the Business Plan to set that up:

The 30-day Free Trial is automatically upgraded to the Business Plan, so you can check out all the features of Project Plan 365 during your first month.

Note: you will find several more advanced features such as this within the app, and you don't need to upgrade until you do 🙂

In Case You Need More Team...

The new portal can be accessed from within the app (see upper right corner) or on the web; just point your browser here to sign in!

Now that the 7North.Asia team is up and running and working on project plans, let’s take a look at a new portal that will help the Lead PM manage the system as project work continues...

To manage subscriptions and to change the administrative password, use the My Account panel:

To manage team members (add, subtract or change roles), use the Team Members panel:

Likewise, to manage projects created by you and your team, flip to the Projects panel to download, delete or otherwise view any project in your portfolio – without ever leaving your browser:

In Union there is Strength....

The Ancient Greek philosopher and storyteller Aesop once said, "In union there is strength" and thousands of years later, we know he was right. That's why the latest version of Project Plan 365 endeavors to strengthen your team-building abilities as best it can. So why not try it out?

What’s New in the October 2019 Update

Posted on October 22, 2019November 14, 2019 by Jigs Gaton

What's New in the October 2019 Update...

Hello World!

In 1978, programmer Brian Kernighan coined the now famous digital characters ‘Hello, World’ in his landmark book on how to better code software. Since then, developers have learned to incessantly look for better ways to write code, and to provide better software - version after version – improving over time.

The Project Plan 365 October 2019 Update represents just such an iteration, a “Hello World” moment, so to speak. We’ve packed our free & paid viewer, free trial editor & paid editor, and everything else in between into this update - redefining the user workflow, making it easier to upgrade to new features, providing improved management tools – all to help customers get from the free 30-day trial to a fully-resourced & working project plan as soon as possible. This is great news for any budding PMO, regardless of team size.

Now it’s easier to setup a project team and to all begin planning together, all on the same sheet, no matter what device or platform everyone is using. In addition, new team members can be added on the fly, allowing a project manager to increase team resources without any fuss; resource management is essentially built in - from day one! The following walk-through follows a newly created team from the 7North Corporation, who has just opened up a project office in Nepal, and is wanting to have the team begin work on a new project using Project Plan 365…

Streamlined Free Trial Flow

It is now easier than ever to go from the 30-day Free Trial to a fully working project plan, in a matter of minutes. Here’s how the 7North.Asia team did just that:

1) The Lead PM downloads and installs the Free 30-day Trial for whatever platform the PM is using (in this case, Apple’s MacOS).

Note: we do not sell your personal information – or any other information – to third parties; everything entered on our system is considered confidential and kept that way!

Easier Team Building, from the Get Go

During the sign-up process is a great time to build your project team – all you need are the email addresses of your team members.

Repeat this step for each team member you wish to initially add...

Note: Roles can be changed at any time using the updated Project Plan 365 Management Portal (see below), and there you can also Add and Delete team members as well.

As new team members are added, they are notified (by email) that they are now part of this team, and each is provided instructions on how to proceed.

6) With the team project plan saved to Drive 365, the Lead PM can now easily assign team members to tasks (as the plan is being developed) using the Resource Names dropdown list:

7) Once your project plan is drafted and ready to be shared with others, you can easily share the plan with your project team by going to TEAM on the ribbon, and then selecting Share:

One-click Upgrades, in-app!

The 30-day Free Trial is automatically upgraded to the Business Plan, so you can check out all the features of Project Plan 365 during your first month.

All New Management Portal

The new portal can be accessed from within the app (see upper right corner) or on the web; just point your browser here to sign in!

Now that the 7North.Asia team is up and running and working on project plans, let’s take a look at a new portal that will help the Lead PM manage the system as project work continues...

To manage subscriptions and to change the administrative password, use the My Account panel:

To manage team members (add, subtract or change roles), use the Team Members panel:

Likewise, to manage projects created by you and your team, flip to the Projects panel to download, delete or otherwise view any project in your portfolio – without ever leaving your browser:

Need Assistance with Anything? Ask Erix!

Also included in the Project Plan 365 October 2019 Update, is a first for PM applications – a built-in AI Project Management Assistant that answers basic project planning questions. Erix is currently being trained to answer any question you may have, in regards to our app, or project management in general. Just open up a chat box to say “hello” (or anything else). For more info on Erix, see this page.

Hello World Forever…

Ever since Brian Kernighan published his seminal work “The C Programming Language,” generations of developers have strived to refine their software iteratively, release after release. The Project Plan 365 October 2019 Update follows this tradition, and introduces a streamlined workflow for teams of planners, analysts, stakeholders, etc. – allowing all of them to collaborate on and share plan data, from day-zero to the final conclusion of the project, all with a minimum of expense and fidgeting from the team. We hope you find this update useful, and as we are user-driven in our updates, feel free to let us know what you like or want to see changed in the future. We are here for you – 24x7!

The PMO, Reimagined

Posted on July 29, 2019July 29, 2019 by Jigs Gaton

The PMO, Reimagined

Historically speaking…

The Project Management Office, or as known in the biz as a PMO, has been evolving within large and medium-size organizations for centuries. However, as with everything else corporate, new technologies are changing the face and features of the typical PMO found within. PMOs are now popping up within small companies, and on an ad-hoc or one-off basis, with small projects being managed by one or two managers in the same fashion as projects tasking hundreds. But before examining this latest trend in the world of project management, let’s take a look at where and why they came to being…

The very first record of a PMO dates back to the 1800s, when the British Parliament established a management group to provide governance over the agricultural industry, with a focus on improving productivity, refining taxation policies and increasing exports. This PMO, like all future ones, cross-cut through multiple departments and management teams, and reported directly to the top. Fast forward to the early 1900s in America, where we find the US Government using the PMO concept to control costs and improve transparency within civil engineering endeavors.

By the 1950s, government administrations had established PMOs within NASA, the Coastguard and the National Science Foundation. Most other gov’t agencies began to follow suit, with American corporations mimicking this model as well. Within these 20th century corporations, PMOs were formed to specifically benefit the org by:

Early PMO Benefits

Established closer relationships with clients and other stakeholders.
Enhanced the org’s ability to deliver projects on time, within budget

Standardized governance processes and facilitating the sharing of resources, methodologies, tools and techniques
Established best-practices, and increasing the capture and sharing of institutional knowledge.

PMO design and structure developed concurrently with the model of project management we find in use today – the “Iron Triangle” of time, cost and quality. As the practitioner community developing this model of project management grew, so did the literature on (and practice of) PMOs expand. For example, by the third edition of the PMBOK Guide (the PM bible compiled by the Project Management Institute), the establishment of a PMO for any project, regardless of size or duration, is recommended by the institute and detailed as a best practice for all organizations doing project work.

The Modern PMO…

With that backdrop, we can better understand the wide variety of PMO structures that provide different services within so many organizations. Sometimes called a Centre of Excellence, Performance Office, or Portfolio or Programme Management Office, the PMO usually consists of lead project managers overseeing the org’s work effort and monitoring output in terms of time, cost and quality. Today’s PMOs work hand in hand with HR, Finance, QA and C-Level departments to provide them with the estimation, monitoring and reporting that they all need. In addition, PMOs support the personnel doing the work (for example, construction, engineering, manufacturing and production professionals). PMOs act as a hub for standards and guidelines, as well as data-driven best-practices and software tools.

However, the modern PMO is not without problems, despite the benefits described above. In most cases of today’s PMOs, they have become part of the political landscape of the organization, and in some cases, a commodity (to be touted or blamed for project performance). Often, a PMO may become just another silo within an organization, hindering its ability to complete a charter of understanding the complex relationships between strategies, projects and organizational structures. (See The Project Management Office: it’s just not what it used to be, International Journal of Managing Projects in Business 9(2):282-308 · April 2016.)

In addition, running a PMO can be expensive and when itemized as overhead, subject to budget cuts and other revenue anomalies. As a political body, a PMO is also subject to C-Level criticism when projects go awry, or do not perform as predicted (deservedly or not).

Partially to blame for PMO woes, is the fact that the very best practices for running a PMO originate from a very loud echo chamber of business books, blogs and professional organizations – all mimicking each other, and producing practices that may not be based in science (where a list of functions is selected by successful traits). In other words, PMOs are often established and run based on dubious and unscientifically collected data. So, its no wonder that some small, light-weight and nimble companies often opt to forgo the formation of a PMO altogether – often to their own detriment.

The PMO, Reimagined for the 21st Century

By 2015, it was estimated that more than 75 percent of all small businesses (<$100 million in revenue) had established a PMO, while 95 percent of large businesses (>$1 billion) lead the way. So there is no doubt that the benefits of having a PMO within your small business would include:

Modern PMO Benefits

Increases your bottom line
Improves customer satisfaction
Enhances stakeholder participation

Helps you better understand portfolio performance
Standardizes what works and rules out what doesn’t

Some ask, “Is a major hiring initiative, a large budget and tons of software really needed to realize these benefits?” One member of the Microsoft Project User Group (MPUG.org) thinks not, and PM Gaton expresses his views on a PMO-in-a-Box design here. Basically, his idea is to smartly use software to automate more of the functionality of a PMO, without all the people and expense of hosting a traditional 20th century one.

The idea of providing a low-cost and tools-based PMO environment, where anyone with task-leading abilities could slot into a virtual PMO is not new however, and today, many leading software developers are trying (and failing) in this regard. Examples of new-age virtual PMO environments pop up on the web almost daily, and include the likes of Basecamp, Monday, Trello, Smartsheets, Wrike and a host of others – all attempting to mimic the PMO environment of yesteryear, yet each adding 21st century innovations. These innovations include social networking and cloud computing.

Taking What Works and Making it Better, Cheaper and more Inclusive

Arguably, the most successful project management software of all time is Microsoft Project, which started out as a DOS character-based system back in 1984. Now, after more than a dozen iterations, Microsoft supplies a very elaborate “PMO-in-a-Box” design, known as Project Server / Project Online. The base tool (Project) allows anyone to develop project schedules, assign resources to tasks, track progress, manage budgets, and analyze workloads in many ways traditionally performed by highly specialized PMO personnel.

In addition, Project Server (in conjunction with SharePoint Server and other requirements), creates a platform that many large-scale PMO deployments use to manage portfolio and project data in a distributed and customizable way. However, because of an astronomically high price-tag and burdensome IT-staff requirements, smaller businesses with limited capital are left in the cold, fending off project dilemmas on their own.

Enter Project Plan 365…

Project Plan 365 Business & Enterprise solutions take what’s best from a MS Project Server-based PMO experience, and delivers a like experience more affordable and better suited for very small- to medium-sized business. In addition, Project Plan 365 apps allow Apple users to contribute to the PMO, just like their Microsoft-based brothers and sisters – a support feature that Microsoft dropped way back in 1991.

This allows the small biz owner to achieve PMO goals just as the titans of industry do today, all using a standardized format for their project data. Project Plan 365 users can communicate directly with Microsoft Project users via a single project management “language” and protocol. Considering that over the decades, that wealth of project data worldwide has grown into the petabytes, this common data format has profound implications for big-data mining and other AI possibilities – making the PMO of the 2020s one of the leading influencers in all future business to come.

For more information on starting your own small-business PMO, see www.projectplan365.com.

Are You Managing Risk? You Should Be.

Posted on July 20, 2019March 17, 2021 by Jigs Gaton

Are You Managing Risk? You Should Be.

Risk management is a fundamental part of any project management regimen, and if you are not following a process for managing any potential risks you may encounter along the way, you are in serious risk yourself; as risk not mitigated during the rollout of a project is a primary cause of project failure today.

But what is “risk” in the first place?

Simply put, risk is any uncertain event, task or condition that impacts at least one of the project’s objectives as it occurs.

Fortunately for planners, there is a well-documented protocol for incorporating risk taking (and risk management) into your daily project-management routine. This article covers a basic risk management protocol, provides templates to follow that protocol, and then describes how you can use Project Plan 365 to help you mitigate risks along the way. While Risk Management is a well-documented discipline in itself, by following a simple procedure and creating a document or two, anyone can successfully prepare for and mitigate risks as they present themselves…

Risk Management Basics

First, the process of risk management for any project goes like this:

Plan for any potential risks you may encounter during the life of your project (create a Risk Management plan, specific to the project on hand). A downloadable template is provided here to get you started.
Layout a process for risk identification, analysis, response, monitoring and reporting within the newly created plan. In addition, any contingency plans for the identified risks should be documented here, along with those responsible for carrying out the prepared mitigations (command & control).
Develop a risk register to identify risks, where you rate the likelihood that the risky situation will occur, the seriousness of each risky situation, and the impact on the project if that risk were to go unchecked. A downloadable template is provided here to help you out.
Maintain a risk log, documenting any interventions and follow-ups as needed.
In your planning software, identify risky tasks and review them periodically as your project is rolled out. Also, update your project plan based on any risk mitigations performed, or new risks encountered.

Now, for those using Project Plan 365, the following tutorial will get you started recording and displaying risk within your plan.

Note to Microsoft Project Users:
If you are a Microsoft Project user, you can use this procedure as well, but you must first use Project Plan 365 to set things up within your .MPP file. Then, when you open up your project file in MS Project, you should see any identified risk as described below (just add a column containing Outline Code7 and rename the column to Risk).

Identifying Risky Tasks within Project Plan 365

Project Plan 365 offers a simple yet effective way of tracking and managing the risks you have identified in your Risk Register (from your Risk Management Plan). Just follow these steps to get started:

1 ) To turn on the Risk Management feature within Project Plan 365; just go to Backstage | Options | Risk Management and click the Enable Risk Management System checkbox, and then tap OK.

2 ) Once the Risk Management System is enabled, switch your plan to the Risk View, where you can identify any risky tasks in your plan by changing values in stored in the Risk column: *

The Risk View is handy, as this view allows you to go through your entire plan to quickly “tag” tasks with a risk value, and then this view will automatically sort all tasks by the value selected (in this case: low, medium, high or No Value).

3 ) You can also add your Risk column to any view you desire, for example, to the Gantt Chart View:

4 ) Using the Risk column (by clicking the twisty), you can filter out the values you don’t want to see. In this example, we are filtering on just the high values. Once filtered, the view will only show tasks with a high-risk value:

In addition to filtering risky tasks to display just what you want, you can also customize the default risk labels to display anything you want, such as labels used in your Risk Management Register, Logs, or Plan. Just edit the Risk Level grid found under Options to suit your requirements:

Risk Reporting Within Project Plan 365

Once Risk values are added to tasks, a Risk Report can be generated by navigating to the Report ribbon and selecting one of the available reports:

Summing Up...

By synchronizing a Risk Management Plan right alongside your project plan, you can track risky tasks within your schedule, and stay on top of any activity that may go wrong during the course of your project rollout. In addition, you can produce Risk Reports or otherwise use your project schedule to control and mitigate risks as they materialize, all according to plan.

To start managing project risk today, subscribe to the Project Plan 365 Business Plan without delay!

Risk Management the easy way - subscribe to Project Plan 365 today!

For more information about Risk Management within Project Plan 365, see this help page.