Posts Tagged ‘Business’

Last year, I interviewed Phil Simon, a recognized technology expert, about his book, “The Next Wave of Technologies." However rapid technology development is, Phil does a great job in keeping up with its pace and considering all the latest trends in his works. In his third book, which was published a couple of months ago, Phil took a look at the emerging technologies from the small business perspective. The title speaks for itself: “The New Small: How a New Breed of Small Businesses Is Harnessing the Power of Emerging Technologies.” What are “the new small businesses” and how do they leverage the opportunities brought by new technologies? Phil shared his point of view on these questions when we met to discuss his new book. Read our conversation to learn more.
Phil, congratulations on the release of “The New Small”! According to the subheading, the book is focused on “the new breed” of small businesses that successfully leverage the new technologies. What exactly is this “new breed”?

This new breed of small businesses is open, experimental and curious. They are constantly pushing the envelope and refuse to manage by routine. You’ll never hear “that’s not the way we do things here.” They’re a dynamic bunch of companies that, as you see in the book, are doing some amazing things. The owners of these companies inspired me a great deal. They weren’t afraid to break away from old tools and techniques that have worked for them and taken them to a certain point.

In the first chapter of the book, which is available for free preview at your Web site, you call the present situation “the era of constant technological change.” In your opinion, is there a difference between the way large enterprises and smaller companies respond to it? If so, what are the main challenges that small businesses face?

For political, legal and financial reasons, big companies often cannot get away from technologies that no longer work for them. Small companies don’t have that problem. The world is their oyster. Yet that very freedom can easily become chaos. Fortunately, the New Small is able to strike a balance, getting the benefits of amazing new technologies in the process.

What about globalization – is it a threat or an opportunity for the New Small?

Both. If you think that you’re safe as “the local provider of X” services, unless you’re a plumber, you’re in for a rude awakening.

Why do you think the emerging technologies, such as social media or cloud computing, are a perfect match for the needs of small businesses? Can you share a specific example of successfully harnessed new technologies?

For one, the advantage of new technologies is that they scale quite easily. No longer does a business need to predict “just how much” technology it will need. Second, success begets success. You can dip your toe in the pool before you jump in. Finally, with the freemium model, you can test-drive technologies before making the jump.

There are many case studies that prove all this. For instance, I can think of Skjold-Barthel, the law firm that threw all of its data and apps into the cloud, reducing its IT costs by 75 percent. That’s just one example, but the book is rife with them.

I can’t agree more with you regarding the significance of scalability. In my opinion, it is one of the key things that decide whether a solution is efficient for a company or not. Teams grow, and they have more and more data to organize. The system they use should be able to accommodate as much data as needed and still remain productive and comfortable to use, kind of like the social networks that we use daily. What advice would you give to entrepreneurs who have just started or are planning to start their own business?

The impact of new technologies isn’t necessarily the same across the board. Different companies still have different needs; one size certainly doesn’t fit all. So don’t be afraid to experiment or fail. Einstein said something along the lines of, “If you want to increase your success rate, fail more often.” This couldn’t be truer today, particularly with respect to small businesses. Also, get away from technologies that no longer meet your needs. Whether it’s ERP, CRM, a content management system (CMS) or whatever, see if there’s something better out there. Then try it out!

Do you have any tips for managing projects in the New Small?

Yes, and the main one is – go agile. The companies that inspired me do not use Waterfall-based methods. They can’t wait a year to see if something is conceptually sound. Throw something against the wall and see what you like and what you don’t. Also, don’t reinvent the wheel. See what open source and off-the-shelf tools exist. Use existing APIs and modules to extend functionality.

Thank you, Phil. It was really nice talking to you. Some good news for my readers – if you have enjoyed this interview just as much as I did and wish to know more about “the new breed” of small businesses, you have a chance to get Phil’s book for free! Share your point of view in the comments to this post. The author of the most interesting comment will win a copy of “The New Small.”
 
Project Management 2.0

Business is of any type but they all want proper management. Project management software is necessary for maintaining records. It includes many things like collaboration software, resource allocation, cost control, team prioritize, chatting with clients and many more. It defines your company’s goals and makes projects plans. It gives you the idea of overall expensive and helps you to control and rectify them whenever necessary. It provides updated information to all your team members and your clients regarding all the level of the project.

With the help of project management software you can talk to your team member as well as your clients on a single platform without any difficulty which saves your valuable time. Through this you can manage your meetings, initiate fast communication and take important decisions. Scheduling is also one of the tasks of project management software where it can create deadlines, scheduling people to work on various task and provide information what resources are required by people to accomplish the tasks. This will indirectly increase the performance of your team members and business.

Time tracking is also an important part of business. It provides you information regarding how much time you spend on one project so that you can use your rest of time on other projects which results maximum increase in your productivity. It can manage all the records of employee’s which include their attendance, how much time an employee can spend on one project etc. Time tracking is basically used to analyze your team member as well as performance of your business. It ca easily track and manage your entire team time. All your business depends upon planning and proper management.

Project Management Blog – Connecting Developers, Building Worlds

Project Management Consultants can Help You Regain Control of Your Business

If you have projects that are disorganized, out of line with the budget, and past the deadline, you may need the services of a professional project manager. The best move is to obtain an experienced and well organized project manager in the type of work that you are doing. This will make certain that your projects get back on track.

If your company has out of control projects, you can lose money as well as clients. You must complete your projects by the deadline and under budget. Good project managers know how to address these two problems. When your projects spiral out of control, so does your business. A project manager’s fees are a good investment.

The proper completion of the job is the focus of project management. If you are in a rush to get good results from your projects, you may want to look into hiring a project management consulting firm. Your business could be saved and your project will be back on track, when using this type of firm.

In the tough economic climate today, it is even more important to remain competitive and keep your projects under control. Owning a business that is disorganized simply cannot be risked. Project management consultants come into a business, look over your projects, and get them back on track. They can instruct you on staying organized and on top of your projects, or can assume leadership of the project in question. This kind of firm has experience at handling project management and can help you to get control of your projects once again.

Your project can spin out of control for a variety of reasons. This dilemma can be caused by a change in personnel, downsizing, or an overworked staff. No business which wants to be successful can continue without doing something to remedy this problem. Lost projects, missing money, and wasted time are no way to conduct business.

The best thing you can do is to hire a qualified and experienced project manager for assistance when your projects are out of control. When you hire a good project management consulting firm, you know you will have experts working for you who can rescue your strayed projects and maybe even save your business.

Project Management Is Not Business Management

One of the most prominent characteristic of a project as a concept, is its sharp delimitation in time. It has clear start and end dates and is designed to achieve a unique scope, unlike the ongoing operations specific for business management. Sometimes, the end date of a project is the most important characteristic of the project. It is the starting point when designing the project deployment, any other characteristic being subordinated to this. In fact using a project management software allows a project manager to add a higher level of transparency regarding the interaction between various factors that interact when developing a project. Keeping some of this variables constant (like the end date of a project), allows to the project managers to determine and control the others (like cost or scope of the project).

Because of it’s very limited nature, a project duration can be clearly divided into five main phases. In the following observations we will presume that the client has clear expectations regarding the project and knows decently well what results he needs. The five main phases of a project are the following:

- defining
- planning
- execution
- controlling
- closure

In the defining stage an important aspect is to speak with the people who are affected or exert influence over the project evolution. These people are referred to as the stakeholders. Getting their feedback will help you outline the project activities. This is commonly known as the scope (the work that should be done). It is equally important to write down both what will and will not be achieved. You want to make sure you know what the stakeholders are expecting. In this phase the aims and objectives are set, including the development of project deliverables and the desired outcomes of a specific set of activities.

The planning stage presumes breaking the deliverables into subdeliverables down to a level where activities can be outlined. Subsequently can be defined  the relations between tasks and their timeline for completion. An important aspect of this stage is defining the requirements for completion of the project, stipulating the needed resources as well as any other requirements deemed necessary. The risks and project constraints are identified and contingency plans originated to address any of these potential issues.

The execution phase takes the major part of the project. Here is most likely that surprises and conflicts to occur and sometimes corrective actions should be taken in order to bring the expected performance in accordance with the project plan. Project manager is responsible for coordinating individuals and make them acting like members of the same team.

As the work begins, the next stage of controlling the project defines the success or failure of a project manager, as the constant surveillance and adaption of project plan are required to reflect the progression of  involved activities. A project manager should take advantage of the methodologies and software available on the market.

In the project closure stage, the team will be pulled together to analyse project performance and outline the learned lessons.     

source:

Project Management is not Business Management

Related project management video:

This quicklook demonstration focuses on the new Project and Program management option made available to Teamcenter Express users in Version 4. These proven capabilities from the Teamcenter portfolio enable project managers to create new project schedules from templates, link documents that are managed by Teamcenter Express as deliverables for specific tasks, link Teamcenter Express workflows, to project tasks, and view the status of multiple projects and programs. www.plm.automation.siemens.com

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Building Skills For Business Recovery Through Project Management Training

Often when a recession strikes training budgets are unfortunately one of the first to be slashed, according to research that looks at previous recessions this is a fatal error! Trends show that companies who carry on investing in training are then in the healthiest position to gain competitive advantage when during recession recovery. Research from the OGC (Office of Government Commerce) also highlights one of the top reasons for project failure is poorly trained Project Managers when businesses often rely on successful projects & programmes to pull them through downturns and business change.

This view on training was recently hailed by an alliance consisting of some of the UK’s most senior business people including Sir Mike Rake, Chairman of BT group and the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. The alliance took the first-time move to issue a joint call via an open letter to employers advising them to invest in training during the downturn and to make it a top priority.
 
The letter stated “the skills of our people are our best guarantee of future prosperity – and the best investment a business can make in challenging times. We must not pay the price of failing to invest in the very talent on which our future will be built.”
 
This view was also supported by a recent report Nurturing Talent by Cranfield University which stated development of internal talent was a cost effective way to boost business performance during any period especially a downturn. The report also found that successful organisations were those that had invested in long-term focus on employee development.
 
A good example of this philosophy was demonstrated by an American based airline that trained its way out of the 2001 recession whilst still managing to make a profit.
 
By now the importance of well run projects should be obvious. It is critical that projects are delivered within time, cost and quality constraints. There is very little tolerance for delays or overruns. Customised project management training that caters for the exact needs of an organisation and its projects provides much better ROI over generic public courses. During the recession is the time to invest in your internal talent to ensure you come through strong.

Related project management video:

The Project Manager Interview – What to Expect in Today’s Business Environment

The traditional project manager role focused on the processes and tools needed to complete a project within a set budget and time frame. It no longer makes best business sense to develop a long-term plan and stick to it at all costs. Factors such as globalization, stricter accountability, employee development, change and risk management and unstable economic conditions all require that companies today have to be able to adapt quickly and to be flexible to succeed in tough economic times.

How does this impact on the project manager interview?

Project managers need to be flexible and adaptable. The change management process is essential to the success of a project.  Project manager interview questions will explore the ability of the candidate to quickly assess a new situation and adapt effectively to it. The project manager needs to fill the role of  coach, communicator and conflict and resistance manager with the team when change is introduced.

They need to be strategic thinkers who can successfully build strategies consistent with organizational beliefs, goals and plans. The project manager is required to consider not only the success of the project itself but also the success of the project outcome. What is the strategic impact of the project? The new role of the project manager requires a comprehensive knowledge of the strategy that the project is supporting and the ability to place the project in the context of an existing strategic plan.

Project managers need to come up with innovative ways of improving effectiveness and finding solutions to challenges. The project  manager should go beyond accepting and implementing the first solution that comes to mind. Solutions need to be found through the generation of ideas and possible alternatives in a creative manner and thinking out of the box can go a long way in finding workable solutions.  Expect interview questions that determine your willingness to be creative and inventive with both the initiation of a new project as well as the components of an existing project.

The modern project manager must be able to motivate and inspire confidence in the project team regardless of the difficulties and challenges they face. Leadership skills are key to successful project management. An effective project manager needs to lead though setting goals and using the most appropriate methods to guide and influence the project team towards goal attainment. Good leaders make team members feel they have a real stake in the project and encourage them to participate in meeting challenges. Interview questions will explore the ability to effectively structure a team, to implement and maintain good intra-team communication and to enhance team satisfaction. Encouragement and positive reinforcement are key to getting the team to effectively work together.

Project management tools and processes remain important but the emphasis has shifted in the project manager interview to an exploration of whether the candidate has these key project leadership skills.

The Project Manager Interview Guide helps you prepare successfully for your job interview.

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