by Yehuda Cagen
19. October 2010 06:09
In a recent post, we offered a few tips and shortcuts to improve office productivity. Many of you may also be aware of the workday productivity training provided by our local Houston computer service experts. You can also improve productivity by improving the tracking and management of your projects.
5 tips to help improve time tracking and project management skills
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Track your time immediately, not after the fact. At the end of the day you might not be able to remember how much time you allocated to each task.
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When you deal with uncertainty, while estimating projects and activities sometimes it might be useful to use a technique called "Planning Poker", taken right from the Agile methodology of the software development industry. As per this method all team members give their estimation at the same time, therefore eliminating "Anchoring" phenomena. More details available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planning_poker
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If any project management software is used, make sure that employee feedback is hardwired into the workflow process. Make sure that who is responsible for a certain task confirms any estimation or deadline associated with that task, accepting the responsibility and control over it. Early involvement between the customer and the integrator is key to the successful adoption and deployment of a collaboration environment. This involvement helps decrease internal resistance to the new system and ensures that the product is properly utilized by the customer from the start.
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Every company has its own approach project management and collaboration. With more people exposed to the technology on an everyday basis, these processes become social, more transparent. Technology has played a large role in evolving project management and collaboration by introducing web-based tools and applications quickly replacing the traditional desktop project management software. Web-based systems are very flexible in allowing users to efficiently work together in virtual teams, based anywhere around the world. Technology has shifted project management into a collaborative process. It is important for these tools to be secure in-order to avoid sensitive information leaks. When selecting web-based software, one must review and evaluate such features as user access permissions as well as private and public internet sharing options in order to ensure that data can remain classified within the system environment. The ability to create and set user access permissions, allow your project management and collaboration data to be shared among participating project members while remaining safe.
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When purchasing software it is important to remember that you’re purchasing a tool. A tool, which will simplify and support the day-to-day work environment, where people always come first. In order for the software to become successful in the organization, it is important to show its direct benefits to the end-user. Simply put, as long as you can show people what’s in it for them and how it can make their life easier, you can expect them to use this new tool. When a user sees how online collaboration can save time and increase productivity, they will begin using it. Of course, the biggest change needs to happen at the top, because adoption flows downhill. When the employees see management and team leaders using the software, they will be motivated to follow suit.
These five productivity tips have been contributed by Vadim Katcherovski, CEO, Logic Software. For more tips, check out http://blogs.logicsoftware.net/
We hope you have found this information helpful. If you would like to learn more about this subject, please feel free to contact us:
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