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Place Your Bet: Project Management Experience vs. Project Management Certification

Project Management CertificationWhile people relatively new to project management understand the advantage of getting a formal certification such as PMP or PRINCE2, especially when looking for a job, many experienced project managers are outraged that organizations place so much emphasis on certifications when screening résumés. They claim that experience is the one that counts, that no formal certification guarantees that a project manager can successfully lead a project, and that it is frustrating to see that organizations care for certifications more than they care about experience.

Experience vs. Certification

How important is to get a project management certification when you have years of experience and have led numerous successful projects for an organization? Which one counts more, experience or formal certification?

Whether you should get formally certified depends on your status. If you are a job-seeker with project management experience, the answer is definitely yes. If ten or 20 years ago acronyms such as PMP or PMI-ACP were mostly irrelevant for employers, an increasing number of organizations use these and other certifications as a selection criterion for candidates to a project manager position. And where the certification is not a requirement, it is definitely an advantage. In such harsh times for job seekers, no advantage is to be neglected.

Certification Gets You the Interview, Experience Gets You the Job

The frustrated experienced project managers are right when they say that experience should count more than any certification. What many of them seem to miss is that experience and certification are not mutually exclusive. It is not the certification that gets an experienced project manager the coveted position, it is his or her skills, training, experience, and so on. But while the certification may not get a candidate the job, it is likely to get him or her to be shortlisted. (more…)

By |2022-11-18T10:20:09+00:00March 12th, 2013|Project Management Certification, Project Management Training|Comments Off on Place Your Bet: Project Management Experience vs. Project Management Certification

RationalPlan 4.3 – Project Management Software On Premise Or In The Cloud

RationalPlan Project Management Software version 4.3 is ready for the public. Current version offers easier printing capabilities, more reports, better integrations with Microsoft Project and last but not least automatic email notifications within the Server system.

RationalPlan is a project management solution that puts the accent on productivity, ease of use and fast learning. It was created to serve many types of users starting from novice project managers, users that need an environment to handle multiple projects and up to companies that need a distributed solution with concurrent access. For the latter case RationalPlan Server can be used as an on-premise solution or in the cloud aka SAAS offering.

The On Premise solution requires the customer to download, install and manage upgrades on his own hardware. The price for the system is a one time payment that will vary depending on the number and type of users. Running it in the Cloud has the advantage of not bothering with all the above maintenance problems. There are several tiers available depending on the users needs: Beginner, Master and Production. This type of solution is offered as a monthly payment.

Important changes for this version:

  • More reports: added resource costs distribution report, added resource work distribution report
  • Easier printing capabilities
  • Better MS Project files loading
  • Automatic email notifications on Server

(more…)

By |2022-11-18T10:20:09+00:00March 1st, 2013|News, RationalPlan|Comments Off on RationalPlan 4.3 – Project Management Software On Premise Or In The Cloud

What to Do when the Customer is Delaying Your Project

customers delaying projectsContrary to the popular belief, the customer is not always right. In fact, sometimes the customer may be the one delaying the project by not giving the approval of a completed phase when required, by not communicating effectively, by missing deadlines for the review of the deliverables – shortly, by being aloof to the project.

Customer’s delay translates into delay of the project, monetary loss, and decrease of the motivation and morale of the project team. Sometimes the customer may be too busy, especially if he or she represents a large organization and yours is just a side project for them. Other times, the customer may not see the implications of his or her attitude or may be just relying on the project manager’s decisions. Regardless of the motivation, customer’s delaying the project is a problem that you, as the project manager, must solve.

Ideally, this situation could have been avoided by accurate project planning. A communication plan, including deadlines to be respected by both sides, and monetary penalties for project delays should have been approved by the customer. More important, since customer’s performance is actually a major project risk, mitigation plans for it should have been included in the risk management plan. However, in small projects, sometimes this documentation or part of it has been overlooked. (more…)

By |2022-11-18T10:20:09+00:00February 25th, 2013|Business Management, Project Management Software, Risk Management|1 Comment

Project Management Glossary Of Terms

On this page you will find a glossary of project management terms and acronyms that are being used by project managers and not only in the project management domain.

The list was created using various sources including the PMBOK specifications from PMI. A good understanding of these concepts and definitions will increase the chances for project managers to succeed in managing their projects.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

This page is a work in progress so any feedback or suggestions are welcomed.

By |2022-11-18T10:20:09+00:00February 7th, 2013|Project Management Glossary|Comments Off on Project Management Glossary Of Terms

How To Convince People To Start Using Project Management Software

scheduleEducated management can start from childhood or at older ages. Earlier is the best. And management can apply to many things: money, work, time etc. Certain kids might have been forced by circumstances to start managing their allowance. This can be a big advantage for them as grown-ups when it comes to finance management.

But what about project management? Many users tend to think that everything can be done using spreadsheets because this is what they used since ever. OK you can do a lot of things with them but not all. When it comes to planning and scheduling projects there are some special requirements that must be addressed with more specific tools. But how to determine people to start adopting such tools?

Work must be done fast and easy

For many people, productivity software does not increase their productivity but rather reduces work effectiveness. Instead of spending the time in solving the problems users spend it with using the software. This is an important point to keep in mind and to make sure the right software is selected. The users need the work to be done fast and easy.

Give an example to users by starting using it

One solution to get the team adopt project management tools is for the manager to start using it. He can delegate tasks and include the coworkers in conversations about those activities. This way they will receive email notifications with assignments sent automatically from the PM system. Over time, maybe some of them will also begin to feel more comfortable in working directly on the assigned tasks instead of replying to incoming emails.

Identify benefits in using project management tools

Another idea is for the manager to identify and point benefits for them of using the tool. More exactly the users must find some benefits for their own and not just for the organization. It has to be a “win-win” situation: both for the person and for the business. “How will this tool make your work easier, your outcome better, your day to day tasks more smooth, save time, be on time, but not in these generic terms but very down to earth and specific to their goals, tasks, responsibilities and duties.” says Carlos Miranda Levy, a Social Entrepreneur. (more…)

By |2022-11-18T10:20:09+00:00February 6th, 2013|Business Management, Project Management Software, Time Management|Comments Off on How To Convince People To Start Using Project Management Software

Project Management, Resource Leveling And Pregnancy

The other days I read a funny project management joke: It takes one woman nine months to have a baby. It cannot be done in one month by nine women.

Managing projects is not an easy job. It takes some experience and knowledge if you want to do it well. There are many things to be taken into consideration during the entire process of managing a project but the important thing is to get the job done well, on time and within budget.

A critical factor is the time constraint. Sometimes you are forced to do a work faster and here enter into the stage the so called resource leveling mechanisms. Anyone understands that more people do a work faster than fewer… The same principle is used to finish a task sooner. Hire more personnel and problem solved!

But wait…what if that task just can not be done faster? Well… you can not build the roof for a house until the walls are not finished. And you can not raise the walls until foundation is not ready. But foundation must dry first to be solid and this can not be done faster no matter how many resources you are planning to use.

What all these mean? Simple: make sure you are doing a good, realistic project plan before signing a contract and starting the work. Some tasks just can not be done faster…

By |2022-11-18T10:20:09+00:00January 31st, 2013|PM Jokes, Resource Management, Time Management|Comments Off on Project Management, Resource Leveling And Pregnancy

How To Increase Productivity – Choosing The Right Project Management Software

Every person at some point in his life starts to feel the need to get more organized for a better productivity. Some have this revelation sooner, others later and a few of them will never have such needs… Depending on each individual a better organized work style may be reflected in the use of different productivity tools: pencil and paper, To Do lists, task management software and even project management software.

In what follows we shall exclude the classic tools like agendas, pencil, paper, white boards etc. and focus only on the software products. When it comes to organizing their lives things are simpler since the needs are not that big. There are many good solutions on the market to manage your personal list of daily activities and many are even free. All it needs is to be able to create simple items with a start date, completion status, a duration and maybe a priority.

Things get more complicated when someone needs to handle more details for his activities… And now we are talking about issue tracking systems or task management tools, tools that go beyond personal life and intersecting with the daily work from the job.

And at the top there are complex solutions that range from project management software to enterprise resource planning systems. This category of products only apply to business management and are used mainly by companies.

General recommendations when choosing productivity software

No matter what type of productivity tools one needs there is a set of general recommendations that should be taken into consideration. For start it is best to find a user friendly software. The easier it is to learn how to use it the faster you get more productive. Plus there is no need for trainings hence no additional costs. And if still the case, when in need for help a rich user community with active forums or social networks might do the trick for you. (more…)

By |2022-11-18T10:20:09+00:00January 16th, 2013|Project Management, Project Management Software|Comments Off on How To Increase Productivity – Choosing The Right Project Management Software

RationalPlan Project Management Software 4.2 – Increased Productivity And Ubuntu Adoption

Project management software provider RationalPlan just released their latest version 4.2. Current version offers increased productivity for managers by reducing the time needed to handle resource allocations. At the same time the company decided it is the right moment to expand on Ubuntu market. Hence the application now offers native integration with Ubuntu operating system.

RationalPlan is a fast growing project management solution that recently received the third place at the Project Management Election organized by Capterra. It was created to serve many types of users starting from novice project managers, users that need an environment to handle multiple projects and up to companies that need a server solution with concurrent access.

Important changes added to this version:

  • Timesheet view displays only the resources working in the current project
  • in Leveling panel the resources are displayed according to applied task filters
  • added a percentage work load chart for resources
  • Ubuntu operating system integration
  • added the notion of special working days for tasks
  • added a new report for task cost distribution
  • improved printing
  • added the notion of responsible user
  • improved Mac OS X integration

(more…)

By |2022-11-18T10:20:09+00:00December 20th, 2012|News, RationalPlan, Resource Management|Comments Off on RationalPlan Project Management Software 4.2 – Increased Productivity And Ubuntu Adoption

The Monkey Manager

One day a man enters a pet shop. And while looking for a pet for his son he notices a young monkey for sale at $10.000. Intrigued by the price he asks the seller:

– Why do you have such a big price for this monkey?

– Well… He knows how to work with a Windows computer, he can work with office documents and writes HTML.

A little bit further another monkey with a $15.000 price.

– And what can this monkey do for this amount of money?

– He can work on Linux, knows how to do programming in Java and code in PHP.

In the end the man also finds a monkey valued at $20.000:

– Incredible! Can you tell me now what can this monkey do? That is a lot of money…

– Hmm… I do not know exactly what he does but the other two monkeys call him “Project Manager“.

By |2022-11-18T10:20:09+00:00December 17th, 2012|PM Jokes|Comments Off on The Monkey Manager
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