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Four Essential Tools for a Good Project Manager

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Artists have their brush and paint. Journalists have a pen and paper. Carpenter’s have their hammer and nails. What do all of these have in common? The tools associated with the profession are the golden standards for their practice. Although they are not required, (i.e an artist using a pencil or a carpenter using a drill) they are often used because of their effectiveness and reliability. When applying this methodology to the role of a project manager, how does it apply?

The role of the project manager boils down to keeping your project and everyone working on it organized. A good project manager knows what is going on with their project at all times and should always be connected with their employees. You have to keep your team motivated to continue working until the project is completed. Using this explanation, we can induce the four essential tools for a project manager.

1. Project Management Software

In our technological age and the accessibility of the internet, thousands of great resources can be found online for keeping your project organized. There is great project management software (PMS) that provides great tools to help manage your employees. The dashboard gives a visual for you and your employees to see the layout of tasks needed to be complete. Additionally, a scheduling system is incorporated so that employees know their timelines for deadlines. The dashboard and schedules are constantly updated to stay connected with your team so they always know what needs to be done.

Benefits:
  • keeps a visual representation of task completion
  • optimizing scheduling for maximum efficiency
  • staying connected with employees

2. Project Milestones

Setting project milestones is another important aspect of being a project manager. Keeping your employees on track is one of your main responsibilities. Don’t just put project milestone haphazardly, it is important to properly spread them out {hyperlink to Importance of Properly Setting Project Milestones}. Each project milestone should be meaningful to the project and to the employees. Take into account the timing, visibility, accountability, and fallibility of the project milestone to ensure the milestone is hard-fought when achieved.

Benefits:
  • gives you a timeline of task completion
  • sets a scope for a complete project
  • motivates employees by seeing each goal as reachable

3. Analytic Reports

Analytic reports are a great way to numerically measure the progression of your project. Using the data collected from your scheduling time and work efficiency, you are able to see the effectiveness of your employees, when their efficiency or effectiveness drops and try to find a solution that you as the PM can do. When making decisions about the project such as scope or direction, consult the analytics because the truth is often found in the numbers.

Benefits:
  • provides a numerical report of the progress
  • project manager can make more informed decisions about the scope and direction of the project

4. Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is a great way to keep employees enjoying their work. More employee engagement means more positivity, productivity, and creativity. Employees are less likely to quit boosting company productivity ultimately saving you money. Overall employee engagement – whether it’s through team retreats or casual Fridays, is important to the environment of your project.

Benefits:
  • employees work better when they are engaged at work
  • keeps employees happy and healthy

These essential tools are some of the project manager’s greatest assets when working on a project. Each of these tools plays a role in helping the PM do his job to his fullest. Like the brush and paint for an artist, a PM’s tools are essential to his work.

See project management in action

Going With the Flow: Using Flowcharts in Your Business

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A flow chart is a visual representation of a plan or a process. They show steps, represented through boxes about a process that should be taken. Whether we realize it or not, flowcharts are used all around us, most commonly in the form of an algorithm. An algorithm is the more complicated version of a flowchart where it uses calculations or other problem-solving operations in order to carry out tasks. These operations usually take place in the form of computer software. However, in the world of resource management simple, standard, flowcharts are most commonly used.

The reason flow charts are commonly used by companies is because they are simple ways to understand what needs to get done, effectively. For example, when looking for a new job position a flow chart can be created in order to understand the process.

Clear and Concise

A flowchart shows every step of a process in clear fashion, that is easy for anyone to understand. Even the most complex procedures are made easier to follow with visual representations. The direction of the arrows leads to steps on the chart with a natural order making it easy to follow. This helps you make a process known to those unfamiliar with it and your business. For example, new employees and outside members are able to clearly understand what needs to be done while reducing the time needed to learn the details of your business processes.

Workflow Management

Workflow management is another reason to use flowcharts. Documenting a process that needs to get done, not only lays out the process clearly while getting your work done in a timely manner. The benefit of this is that you are in charge of the workflow; having a say in what needs to be done, for whom it’s done for and how long it is going to take. All of this can be represented in a flowchart. In order to meet the needs of your customers and clients, you need to take control of the processes your business should be following. With an organizational flowchart, you can also clearly recognize areas for improvement and create new charts that strive to meet your new goals.

You’re In Charge

Imagine this: you are in a business meeting, where ideas are being thrown at you left, right and center debating on how to improve your resource management. The ideas given are ones that you would like to incorporate into your business. However, all of these comments and ideas are just being thrown at you disorderly, with no given procedure or action.

The most effective way to organize your thoughts is through a flow chart. Take a minute, write down all your ideas and then organize them through prioritization. After, continue working on your plan with”if” statements. This advances ideas by thinking, what needs to be done IF something works out or IF something does not. For example, when an item is broken the steps that should be taken are: “If the item can be fixed with minimal cost, do the following…” or “If the item cannot be fixed with minimal cost or is damaged beyond repair, do the following”…

Saving Money

Flow charts are a great solution if you need help cutting costs and budgeting money. It will allow you to visually see what you are spending too much on and the plans required to effectively cut those expenses, saving money. For example: “If the company income is less than $5000 per month, avoid making unnecessary purchases” or “If company income is more than $5000 per month, but less than $6000, spend money wisely.” Using a flowchart, and having the rules laid out can allow you to make wiser decisions about your companies spending habits.

In the end, flow charts are not only great for visual learners but are also extremely useful to anyone else who is unfamiliar with certain business practices and protocols. Make the most out of your workday and take advantage of the numerous benefits of flowcharts.

Mac vs. PC: Which is Best for Productivity?

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Since the turn of the century, there has been a divide between computer users through commercials, internet arguments, and office place debates: Mac or PC. Everybody has their own personal preference, and in the end, both platforms are more than sufficient for everyday use and productivity. However, there are a few objective differences between the the different operating systems that can appeal more to office workers. Here is a guide to help you choose which ecosystem will make your office the most productive:

Price

Let’s get this out of the way first: as everyone knows, Apple’s computers are more expensive than a similarly-specced Windows PC. The base-level iMac, with 2.3 GHz of processing power, 8Gb of memory, and 1Tb of storage space has a starting price of $1399 CAD. A desktop from HP with more memory, a higher processing speed, and the same amount of storage costs $599 and frequently goes on sale. At less than half the cost, the Windows-powered computer is a much better deal than the iMac. For this reason, a PC would best suit an office with a tight budget, or one that uses their computers mostly for web browsing and simple tasks. However, the Apple’s premium price is not just due to higher margins. Macs are known to have excellent build quality and reliability in comparison to their PC counterparts and can take a higher workload for a longer period of time. For offices with demanding needs from their computers, it might be important to look past the price and analyze some of the further benefits of Apple products.

Software

Microsoft’s Windows operating system and Apple’s OS X both come with a host of software, either stock or as an add-on with the purchase of the computer. The most famous and beneficial on the Windows side is included Microsoft Office, which includes the latest document-writing software including Word, Excel, Publisher, and more. These programs are world-famous for a reason; they are one of, if not the best at their respective functions. Windows computers also include Edge, an internet browser designed to work with the operating system. Edge features significant features and improvements over the previous web browser, Internet Explorer, and offers a clean layout with fast performance. To add onto this, there are a number of third-party applications that are available only for PC such as the Sony Creative Softwares (Sony Vegas, Sony Catalyst, Sony Acid), FL Studio, Fences, and more.

However, Windows faces solid competition from Apple on the software front as well. A suite of documentation software similar to Microsoft Office is free with every Mac product purchased. iTunes, the App Store, and iMessages all come with OS X, allowing seamless integration with iPhones and other Macs connected with the same apple ID. You’ve probably heard before that Apple products are preferred by creators and artists, and a big part of that is from some of the optional apple software. Final Cut Pro is one of the leading video editing software, exclusively available to Mac users. Other programs such as CSSedit, Coda, Espresso, Textmate, Quicksilver, Alfred, Things, OmniFocus are also preferred by coders, designers, and creators. Learn more about Apple’s free programs on their website. Finally, Apple’s web-browsing app that competes with Microsoft Edge is Safari. With an equally appealing interface and decent performance, Safari is more than sufficient. Safari and Edge go head to head, and both work absolutely fine for normal use.

Each office should look into what software they can benefit from, including the many different options offered. Keep in mind, however, that much of the software is cross-compatible.

Cloud Features

Creating and storing files, sharing across devices, and accessing documents from anywhere, are all useful features for many workplaces around the world. These features are offered for free to a certain extent with both operating systems in this comparison, extra features can be added for a small price. Apple’s iCloud and Microsoft OneDrive each offer 5 GB of cross-device storage with their computers. To upgrade to 50GB per month, it will cost only $0.99 per month on iCloud and $1.99 per month on OneDrive. A 1TB option is also available from Apple for $9.99 monthly. While iCloud’s prices are more appealing at first, OneDrive offers some features that may be more useful for productivity and sharing among co-workers. For example, a bundle including Microsoft’s full Office 365 Suite and OneDrive storage is $9.99 a month for five users, each of whom gets 1 TB. This means a small business can share files among up to 5 employees with virtually unlimited storage space. OneDrive expands further to offer custom cloud storage options for any sized business. Overall, the importance of cloud storage depends on how each business can use it, and both competitors offer similar products at nearly identical preference. Be sure to research iCloud, OneDrive, and other third-party options thoroughly before making a final decision.

With today’s technology, it’s difficult to find a bad option for workplace computers. For 90% of tasks, any modern computer is well equiped for productivity. However, workplaces that rely more heavily on technology may need to intensively weigh their options to determine whether Mac or PC is best for them. Overall, a company with a low budget that doesn’t use computers for functions, that are more advanced than documents and video, fit the profile to use Windows computers. Windows is also beneficial when sharing and editing documents among employees that are essential to their operations. It may be worth the upgrade to Mac for workplaces that have demanding needs from their computers, do to extensive editing on videos and pictures, and need reliability from all their technology.

TeamHeadquarters runs on Chrome, Edge, and Firefox on both PC and MAC.

Benefits of Connecting Through One Software App

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The amount of responsibility a business owners job holds can generate a significant amount of stress from the countless tasks they deal with on a daily basis. The to-do list is almost never-ending and consists of keeping clients happy, tracking your employees, payments to make, sales to close and many, many more. Having software from different providers, to try and manage certain jobs can become difficult to keep track of. Although, this can be eliminated when connecting through one software app.

A typical business uses multiple software applications in order to keep everything up and running such as one for clients accounts, one for ordering supplies, one for transactions and the list continues on. Software depending on the provider and service can be extremely expensive; companies try making you think it’s worth it to buy one software for a certain task. However, at times this can get confusing to have multiple different software serving many different functions. Although there’s nothing wrong with this, it may end up hurting your wallet in the long run and keeps you disorganized. The solution is a one-stop-shop software application that manages all of your documents, payments, accounts and many more, all in just one software.

As a developing business, your money can be easily spent. One day you may have a great steady income, your business is thriving and the next, you’re scrambling to make money, struggling to pay employees and making budget cuts. In the world of business management, any of these situations can happen. If you’re tight on money and looking to make budget cuts that won’t be detrimental to you and your company, you could start by asking yourself “How many of different software apps am I using?” If you’re using multiple costly software apps that are breaking your bank account, your business could benefit from replacing all of these different software apps for an all-in-one software.

Do you find both you and your employees are getting confused about where documents are located, and which software to use for a certain task? If so, you’ll benefit from having all your information in one place with peace of mind that your documents, tasks, support tickets, client information or payment information aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. Not only will this lead to better organization and also lead to less stress about where items are stored. This also helps you save time, so you can prioritize more important tasks rather than taking precious time out of your day to find that one document you’ve been looking for.

In the end, having an all-in-one software can not only be beneficial for your wallet, but also for your stress levels because all of your resources can be easily accessed at the click of a button.

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Find Out What Customers Think About Your Business

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Businesses, successful or not, can always find ways to improve and better their success. The best way this can be done is by identifying how well you are doing by hearing what your customers have to say. Customers are a huge impact and part of a business, service or product base, since they are the people companies target, to buy and support your products. Although, how can a manager or owner find out how well their company is doing? Simply taking the time to send out an online survey, acknowledge and read review sites, or send out feedback forms.

Online Survey

With a large increase in technology over the years, it has evolved our world to be very technologically advanced. Why not take advantage of this, and turn to technology to reach out to customers. Creating an online survey, focused specifically, on how well you are doing, is a great way to keep in touch with your customers. This can give your company information that could be the answer to how you can improve for the future.

Not a lot of people are filling out your survey? This can be a common issue since some customers do not want to waste their time on a survey. A quick fix can be to reward your customers for their time, maybe with a special promotion or 10% off their next purchase or a gift card. By doing this your customer has incentive to fill out the survey, and your business gets reviews that can better their success, without breaking the bank too much.

Review Sites

Another way to reach out to your customers online can be through review sites. Review sites are a huge factor in shaping a business online reputation, regarding if it’s good or bad. It would be a waste for companies not to focus on these sites since it is a great way to collect valuable feedback. Customer review sites that are not initially set up by the business itself, also entices customers to be more honest with their reviews. Why? Asking for customers to review a company on a different, trusted review site is more authentic and is less “screened.” Negative feedback can be hard to digest, however, the businesses that acknowledge criticism and can strategize how to improve, will be the most successful.

Feedback Forms

Moving away from technology, another great form to get reviews from your customers are sending out anonymous feedback forms. Handing these forms out to your customers, if you’re a company that interacts with customers face to face, gets quick and valuable information. This can be done by assigning your employees to hand out these forms to customers as they enter the store, designating a spot to hand them in when they are done. As previously mentioned, rewarding your customers when they fill out the forms will entice them to complete the form, making it a win-win situation for both parties. Later, managers can spend time reviewing the information and determine any correlations with repeating issues that may arise. This can then be analyzed by a team, determining how to resolve these solutions.

Customers are a great way to see how well your company is doing since they are the people who are using your service and or product. Although having a solution such as a help desk, can manage customer satisfaction, in an easy and organized way, keeping your business on top of its game. Help desks are a great solution for businesses, to visually see how well they are doing and identify the areas that are maybe lacking. Evaluating and resolving the information gathered from online surveys, review sites, as well as feedback forms, is a great way to identify how well your business is doing, leading to better success down the road.

Businesses Should Use SMART Goals Too

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SMART goals are one of the best way to set, organize and achieve personal goals. Since the concept was first introduced in the early 1980s, it’s been imprinted into the brains of North Americans through schools, books and workshops. For those that need a refresher, SMART is an acronym for the qualities that goals should have. They should be: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely. Using each category as criteria and as a guideline, broad goals can be outlined with detail and smaller targets can be set to reach the endpoint. SMART goals have proven very effective for educational, personal, and financial planning when used properly. Anyone with targets to reach should try the method, however, its use isn’t limited to individuals and small groups. Businesses and organizations can also benefit from the outstanding power and structure that SMART goals provide. Sales targets, projects, productivity, and quotas can be empowered using the 5-step outline. SMART can be used by all levels of employees and managers and offers a great way to maximize, track, manage, and review the targets that businesses set for their employees or for the overall company. Here’s how SMART goals can apply to the workplace and improve productivity.

S is for Specific

Without a specific desired outcome, it becomes difficult for businesses to set a goal and actively work towards it. The point of setting goals is to reach something at the end, not just to work for the sake of work. To set specific goals, organizations should agree on what is desired of a task, or what can be gained by having a continuous objective. Goals that seem general or broad to some of the workforce will limit their motivation to achieve, and therefore will be less effective.

For example, ABC Inc. realizes that employee retention and job satisfaction rates are dropping, and decide to make an effort to improve quality of their employment experience. Instead of aiming for “higher workplace morale”, a specific target would be to “grant employees more freedom to choose what they do in the workplace”. This allows ideas to come more quickly and will improve the speed at which goals are achieved.

M is for Measurable

Objective goals are the best way to measure, track, and analyze an overall goal. Using smaller “stepping stones” along the way, it can be simple and less intimidating to reach the overall milestone. Targets that can be measured on a monthly, weekly and even daily basis will provide a precise guideline for all stakeholders involved in reaching the big goal.

Measurable goals have small targets for growth that are reached in short fragments of time, ABC Inc. could make their goal measurable with short-term steps like: “in the first month, employees should be allowed to choose what times to come into work” with more stepping stones that increase each month.

A is for Achievable

Once the quantitative aspects of a goal have been laid out, it should be considered whether or not a business can use their resources efficiently enough to achieve the desired rate of success. It is important not to overestimate in this area because too much effort into an unachievable goal can be bad for productivity.

ABC Inc. could make their goal achievable by acknowledging the restrictions on employee freedom. Certain boring or repetitive, but necessary tasks may be left out in favour of more “morale-boosting” projects, but neglecting the tedious work can falter an organization’s success. To measure how achievable a target is, organizations should take into account how achieving this goal could affect other parts of operations in a negative way.

R is for Reasonable

The fourth stage of the SMART process is another where it is essential to accurately judge the capability of a business or department. Big, broad goals are great for marketing and for huge risk-taking companies, but the majority of businesses should be logical about the size of their goals relative to the timeframe given. A big, seemingly impossible target renders the concept of SMART ineffective. Improvement is the idea of goal-setting, not necessarily perfection.

ABC in. could make it their goal to pay every employee a 6-figure salary with unlimited vacation time and full coverage benefits, allow complete control over how much work is done, and leave the company’s fate in the hands of all employees. It would certainly increase morale, however,0 their efforts must be reasonable. such a tactic would likely mean the company wouldn’t be around much longer. Something like “the ability to come to work with a smile each day, have room for creativity and control over what they do, and have strong relationships with co-workers and clients” is a much more reasonable goal.

T is for Timely

It’s nearly impossible to spark motivation across an entire organization without setting some sort of timeframe or deadline. Each goal must have a broad timeframe, broken up into smaller stepping stones along the way. If the goal is ongoing, then certain deadlines for small aspects of achievement should still be set.

ABC inc.’s low morality is an immediate issue that shouldn’t have a deadline far in the future. To make the issue timely, they should make a measurable target in the next 6 months to increase employee retention by 50%, with a monthly increase of 7% to track their progress.