IPM Blog

Last week I came across a really interesting blog entry from Adeline Teoh, the editor of projectmanger.com.au. Looking back at project management as a profession over the last 30 years, the article talks about how there has been a paradigm shift in project management, whereby the profession is no longer confined to just construction and defence anymore. As companies are realising the importance of structured organisation and management of people and processes, the field of project management has stretched its influence to other disciplines such as IT, health and community development.

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Since March, I’ve been keeping this blog updated from my new home for the next few months in Northern China. The internet and my laptop have been a godsend here, with the ability to remotely connect to my email and Microsoft Dynamics CRM in our offices in Australia, and also by using Skype to connect with family, friends and colleagues. But last week I had a very unfortunate mishap that involved a bowl of soup and my laptop keyboard. Fortunately, I was able to get the keyboard fixed relatively cheaply here, but it did mean I was without a laptop, and hence very little communication with Australia, for just over a week.

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First off, I have to admit that I actually came across the idea for this blog whilst I was catching up on the hype surrounding the royal wedding. I know you either love it or you hate it, but I admit that I tuned into BBC World News on Friday afternoon along with 3 billion or so others. But as I was watching, something else caught my eye. Scrolling across the bottom of the screen were the other news stories of the day, and at once the word Microsoft jumped out.

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We often encounter problems on a project, and sometimes even the best of project management practices isn’t able to avoid them. But we know there are also those other problems on a project that should never have arisen in the first place. Sometimes it comes down to the way the project is managed, and the skills and experience of the project manager, as to the kinds of problems you encounter, and whether they are the avoidable or non-avoidable type. But there are other times when problems can be avoided by simply using the right kind of project management tools for the job. So I thought I would illustrate 4 common project problems that are avoidable, or at least mitigated with the right project management software.

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I recently came across an interesting survey from Cognitive Technologies Inc that looked to investigate the correlation between project success and the type and ‘maturity’ of project management toolsemployed by organisations.

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Good communication between a project manager and his or her project team, clients and subcontractors has always been an important aspect of successful project management. There are tons of blogs out there on how to improve project communication, and many project failures can often be attributed to poor communication between the project team. Project management is as much about good communication as it is about good management.

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Have you worked in an organisation where there has been no central database for everyone to manage a project from? Not having a central database has many implications for the way the project is managed, but one seemingly simple one that can drive employees nuts is that project managers often need to create their own report templates for each aspect of the project. And we know not everyone thinks the same way when it comes to templates.

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Since childhood I’m sure most of us have been continually told about the benefits of team work and how success is often achieved when people work together. Motivational speakers feast on team work and collaboration and sometimes the meaning can get lost in mushy motivational stories about working together.

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As the days of managing projects with pencils, foolscap and good old brain power morphed into days of spreadsheets and shoeboxes, people began to realise that spreadsheets could actually provide them with a better way of doing things. Now we are experiencing a similar transition from spreadsheets and shoeboxes to an even better way of doing things with dedicated, specialised project management software. However, human nature shows that we are often resistant to change, and this is completely understandable with a decision to invest in project management software, as it is often a considerable investment.

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There has been a lot of buzz around the concept of ‘cloud computing’ lately, and you may have seen Microsoft’s ‘to the cloud’ global advertising campaign. But even after all this buzz, I still find the concept hasn’t been fully explained for the average ‘non techie’. Starting out at IPM Global as a ‘non techie’ myself, I will do my best to explain it as I have come to understand it, and in completely ‘non techie’ terms.

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