Method123

Method123 announces the release of their new Project Office Checklist The new Project Office Checklist from Method123 will help you define an efficient project office for your organization. If your company needs a Project Management Office (PMO) but doesn’t know where to start, look no further than Method123’s Project Management Kit and the new Project Office Checklist that is part of its offering. “The Project Office Checklist is designed for the organization that is ready to take the next step in its online project management methodology life cycle,” says Method123 CEO Jason Westland.  “Our checklist will guide you through the process of structuring and running a Project Management Office at your company.” The PMO is the central organization within a company that projects are run through.  They are the keeper of the project management methodology, the clearinghouse for all processes and Project Management Templates that are to be utilized.  All project planning and tracking should...

Provide the Promote Standards Service for Project Management Methodology This section explains three aspects of the Promote Standards Service - Promotion Process. This process ensures that all who use standards have up-to-date standards to work with and sufficient education in those standards to perform their duties to standard. It also increases their motivation to use the Project Management Templates standards. - The Standards. There are three outputs of the Promote Standards Service: - The List of Standards, which identified relevant standards and current versions of those standards. - The actual written standards themselves, whether external or internal. - Compliance with the standards in <a href=/>Online Project Management</a> and project work. - Relationship to other services. Promote Standards is closely linked to Implement Project Management Methodology, and is also related to other services.

A Project Manager may have 15 years of experience and have led successful projects around the globe in nearly every industry imaginable.  And to some degree, you can rest on those laurels.  But not really – and certainly not for very long.  In the project management game it’s all about what you’ve done lately and in terms of customer satisfaction , it’s all about who you’ve satisfied lately.  In reality, you’re only as good as your last customer thinks that you are. So what does that mean?  Well, it means the project manager can never become complacent.  If you just finished a project that had some issues or failed for some reason, you must meet with your team and your customer and understand what went wrong.  If you just finished a successful project, then meet with your team and your customer and figure out what went so right.  Fully understand the customer’s satisfaction level, your executive management’s satisfaction level and understand what those determining factors for satisfact...

By maintaining up-to-date lists of the customers who need to comply with these standards, and receive information and training about them, the PMO helps ensure compliance to these project management methodology standards. Typical Other Stakeholders Other stakeholders for the Promote Standards Service who are not customers include: - Standards experts who the PMO relies on for information and training. These experts may be inside or outside the company. - Senior HR, quality, and engineering managers or executives, who determine which standards the company should comply with, and how suing the right Project Management Templates - Project reviewers and auditors who evaluate projects to see if they comply with standards - All those who benefit from improved project success - All those who benefit from the simplification or organizational processes due to the standardization of Project Plan methods

The company that brought you the Project Management Kit stocked with over 50 key Project Management Templates has just announced the release of its new Project Review Form for the initiation phase of a project. Method123’s latest offering will allow the user create this critical document directed at the project sponsor to let them know what objectives have been met as the project moves toward the planning phase. As part of an overall Project Management Methodology, when the project team has completed a specific phase of the project, a project review is conducted.  The general concept of the project review is to review the phase just completed – in this case the initiation phase – and check project progress.  The objectives of the specific phase are reviewed to see if they have been met as part of the project team’s effort and progress on the phase. This type of review and oversight allows the project sponsor a level of control over the progress of the project.  It can help those makin...

Complying with of these three types of standards is the responsibility of a different member of the project team, as follows: - Project Management Template standards are the responsibility of project managers, making them the customers of the promotion of these standards. - General management standards are the responsibility of the project managers, and also possibly other managers or team leads as well, and so they are the customers of promotion of these standards. - Technical standards are the responsibility of the technical project management methodology and workers on a Project plan, so that the technical staff is the customer in relation to the promotion of these standards. The following sample list of customers for the Promote Standards Service illustrates these three examples as they might apply at a plant manufacturing innovative electrical equipment, automotive, or airline parts:

What Your Team Doesn’t Know About the Project Budget Can Hurt You On time and on budget project delivery is the goal of every project manager.  In fact, probably just about everything the experienced project manager does on their projects is geared toward that end goal.  And budget management is a crucial part of any company’s overall project management template tool kit. Let’s look at reality.  Some companies have us fill out our timesheets by late Friday afternoon or worse yet. Monday morning for the entire week.  We’re supposed to keep track daily of the work we do and allocate our hours accordingly, but few of us do that.  Now, consider as project managers we’re managing maybe 5-6 projects at a time as part of our company’s project management portfolio.  And our resources on our teams are probably working on 3-4 different projects for 3-4 different project managers and may have some non-project work they’re doing for their direct manager, too. As the week closes down and these ver...

Which PMOs should provide the Promote Standards Service? All PMO's will promote standards because all PMO's seek to standardize project management template methods. The service usually launches at the beginning of the PMO Execution Phase. It is coordinated to launch at the same time as, or shortly after, the Implement Project Management Methodologies Service. Activity Matrix for the Promote Standards Service Using an activity matrix ensures that all the work necessary to provide the service is completed, that all work is properly checked and approved to ensure quality, and that there is no duplication of effort Identify Stakeholders of the Promote Standards Service The customers of the Promote Standards service are those who need to understand and use standards so as to follow them while managing or working on projects. Other stakeholders are those who review and audit projects, and any stakeholders who benefit from Online Project Management being performed to standard. Typica...

Method123 has added another powerful Project Management Template to their Project Management Kit offering by releasing their latest template – the Resource Plan. Designed to walk the user through the steps of planning all necessary resources for the project, this tool will become a critical piece of your company’s Project Management Methodology and practice. “The upfront project planning process is key to project success,” states Jason Westland, CEO of Online Project Management leader Method123.  “No project manager wants to start an engagement short on resources.  By completing the key information in this template, the project manager can easily identify and document his needs for all types of resources that will be required on the project.” Method123 is fast becoming a leader in the online project management marketplace.  With sales worldwide of over 1 million Project Management Kits, Method123’s place as a leader in this niche is set.  As with its other template offerings, this Re...

Identify Stakeholders of the Promote Standards Service The customers of the Promote Standards service are those who need to understand and use standards so as to follow them while managing or working on projects. Other project management methodology stakeholders are those who review and audit projects, and any stakeholders who benefit from projects being performed to standard. Typical Customers The precise list of customer for the Promote Standards Service will depend on which standards the PMO chooses to promote. To determine who the customers are, divide standards into these three groups: - Project Management Templates Standards: Standards such as the PMBOK and PRINCE2, that specifically govern project management - General Management Standards: Other standards regarding Online Project Management, such as worker safety, workplace fairness, or reporting requirements - Technical Standards: Standards regarding technical process or results, such as electrical and engineering requirement...

Let’s assume that you are a hiring manager, you have a Project Management Methodology in place in your organization, and you’re looking to hire one or more project managers to staff the PMO.  What characteristics do you look for?  What criteria do you have for success in a project manager? Is it PMP certification?  That’s a start, but it’s really only a measurement of success on a test and documentation of some experience and training.  It’s not a measurement of how someone has really performed managing a team, a customer, and a project.  So what do you look for?  There’s really no crystal ball, so you have to go with a few characteristics – none of which can really be verified in a normal job interview. Let’s look at what I consider to be a few characteristics of a successful project manager: - Effective communicator.  Communication may be the single most effective tool that the project manager has at his disposal.  Depending on the organization’s project management practices, there ...

Which PMOs should provide the Promote Standards Service? All PMO's will promote standards because all PMO's seek to standardize project management methodology methods. The service usually launches at the beginning of the PMO Execution Phase. It is coordinated to launch at the same time as, or shortly after, the Implement <a href=/>Project Management Software</a> Service. Define Stakeholders, Processes, and Outputs When the Key Service Features and Benefits and Activity Matrix sections of the Service Plan are complete, the team that will provide this service is ready to complete preparations for launching the service. To complete preparations, the team: - Identifies customers and other stakeholders for the Promote Standards Service and puts the information into section two of the Service Plan. - Defines the specific processes and outputs of the Promote Standards Service using the schedules, checklists, and templates provided for this service. These documents can eith...

Method123 announces the release of their new Financial Planning template Industry leader Method123 announced the release of another powerful template in their Project Management Template Kit – the Financial Plan template. In terms of Project Management Templates, the Financial Plan is a tool used to identify everything that is expected to be expended in terms of dollars on a project.  According to Method123, it’s basically your spending forecast for the project.  The Financial Plan is used to layout every type of expense that is expected to be incurred on the project like labor hours, materials, equipment, rentals, leases, and any other overhead and administrative costs.  Once everything is rolled up together, this final total becomes the budget for the entire project. “The financial plan is a very critical piece to the overall project planning puzzle,” states Jason Westland, CEO of Method123 Ltd.  “Without the financial plan, there would be no detailed budget for the project manage...

Define the Promote Standards Service Follow the four steps shown in this diagram using your Project Management Templates to define the key features of the Promote Standards Service: 1.    Decide to Offer 2.    Define Key Features 3.    Prepare Activity Matrix 4.    Define Stakeholders, Processes, and Outputs - Decide to offer. All PMOs offer this service, and it should be launched at the beginning of the PMO Execution Phase. - Define key features in Project Management Methodology. Define the administrative information, key features, purpose, and benefits of the Promote Standards Service. - Prepare activity matrix. Define the activities that each Project Manager team member will perform and assign the work. - Define stakeholders, processes, and outputs. After key features are defined, continue to develop the service by completing the remaining sections of the Service Plan and additional templates.

If all of our projects just smoothly followed our project schedule we’d have it made.  No issues, no budget overruns, no cranky customers, no scope changes.  But that’s not the case.  There are always going be some issues, the budget never manages itself, the customer always has a few demands, and scope is usually a challenge to manage and keep in check. What I haven’t touched on yet is project risk.  What is risk in terms of Online Project Management?  One definition goes like this… “A possible event that could endanger the planned course or goals of the project.” Do we need to manage for these risks, these ‘possible’ events that may or may not happen?  Or can we just leave things to chance and worry about them if and when they happen?  You can, but the impact may be so great and blindside you so badly that the project can get knocked way off course or could come to a complete halt. As part of a sound and solid Project Management Template process, it is far better to plan for risk an...

The Project Management Methodology Document Here are solutions to the most common weaknesses in the methodology document: - Clarification. By responding to feedback, the PMO Project Management Template Methodology Expert should make the methodology clear and unambiguous. - Simplification. Many methodologies are overly complex. - Increased flexibility. Creating decision rules that require a core of the project management methodology, but give the project manager options for using other tools as needed makes compliance easier. - High quality. All items that can be repaired through proper proofreading and testing of links and forms should be performed promptly using Project Management Software.