Computers and technology are becoming much more integrated and crucial in today’s workforce. Businesses have operations across the globe; causing face-to-face interaction is becoming less of an option and virtual teams more of a reality. Without the physical interaction, communication must become much more efficient.
Here are four ways to improve communication when working on a virtual project:
1.Choose the right communication style
Depending on the information that is being discussed, there are many platforms that can be used.
2.Email can be used for quick interactions and delivering concise material.
3.Chat programs like Skype or Google Hangouts are great for quick instant messages and for creating a positive team chat environment.
4.Phone calls or video chat are necessary for discussing sensitive information. Any kind of emotional issue such as performance problems should be handled over the phone. Video chat would be even better as it gives you more visual cues of what is going on with the other person.
5.Use communication that is effective
Email is a great tool to convey messaged and information, but it can easily become very complicated. Hours that are spent on deciphering “chain” emails could be quickly resolved with a 30-minute phone call. When writing an email, keep the message clear and in the subject line so the subject of the email can be quickly understood. Another important note of emailing is to only attach those who would be involved in the email. If some team members are not necessary in the topic, spare them with one less email.
Sometimes, sending emails or talking over the phone isn’t enough and meeting up isn’t an option. There are various screen sharing programs that can be used for two or more team members can use to view each others computer screens.
6.Use tools that make document and spreadsheet collaboration easy
You must find project management tools that are capable of providing you with file sharing and collaboration features. When you aren’t constantly in the same room as your team members it’s extremely important that everyone can stay on task and organized. That’s why incorporating PPM solutions such as ITM Platform will allow you to finish work on time and manage all projects virtually.
7.Use your project management system
This can be a difficult step for some companies who may not have been reliant on technology in the past. However, the truth is that in this fast paced world, without systems your business is bound to fall apart. Project management softwares like ITM Platformare amazing for virtual communication amongst teams because it makes it easy to share conversations, documents and files as well as store and locate them later on. Without great PPM solutions your business can easily become disorganized and unmanageable.
Numbers are rising. A study done by Intuit found that by the year of 2020, 43% of the American workforce will consist of remote workers.
What are remote teams?
The best way to understand remote teams is to think of them as small groups of people who are committed to achieving specific company objectives. They often work for the same company and answer to the same boss but live in different cities or even countries. You can also think of remote teams as being similar to virtual ones. The reason for this is because both deal with very similar opportunities and challenges. However the difference is that virtual team members answer to different managers while working together on the same project.
Why they are the future?
The increased interest of implementing remote teams to new and old businesses comes from the numerous advantages they provide. Companies are particularly drawn by the following benefits:
It is much easier to attract and retain top talent worldwide
There is increased productivity and satisfied employees
The flexible working hours appeal to employees
Project collaboration and file sharing is made easy
Improves quality of life for staff overall
Along with this, remote teams provide companies with financial benefits as well. In fact, a study done by Forbes in 2013 found that large companies save millions of dollars on office spaces and supplies by allowing people to do remote work.
Embracing the disadvantages
There are two sides to every story and just like everything else, remote teams too have their disadvantages. However, with a good perspective and an optimistic attitude they can quickly become advantages in disguise.
The big concern companies have with remote teams is that they take a lot of time and effort to get started because all team members must learn to effectively communicate and get to know one another. Although, this shouldn’t be seen as “lost time”. In fact, this is far more beneficial to the company than it is anything else. Remote teams are capable of forming much stronger bonds with one another because they learn to connect with one another on deeper levels. There don’t exist mandatory staff meetings or board rooms to superficially unite everyone. Instead people communicate and develop relationships based on shared values and interests.
Another common fear managers have when using remote teams is that team members aren’t synchronized due to their different time zones and work schedules. What many don’t realize is that this is actually a positive factor. Since consistent communication is difficult to maintain, it puts pressure on workers to complete work on time in order for the next to begin. This will prevent future delays or confusion.
Furthermore, since communication amongst remote teams is often dispersed across longer periods of time, team members learn to communicate deliberately. The result is employees with better communication skills and stronger unity.
Making remote work a success
Setting up a remote team is the first step but once you have it up-and-running you’ve got to know how to make it successful. There are a few things you need to keep in mind during the start-up phase and all throughout the rest of its development:
You need to make sure that all co-workers get to know one another
Since the majority of employees will be scattered geographically and incapable of coming into physical contact with one another you must ensure everyone becomes familiar with their teammates. For instance, video-calling to talk about non-work related topics.
Work hard to show interest in team members
Don’t make distance a problem; take the time to mail over a birthday card or contact a bakery to have a desert delivered to their home. Keep things personal, show you care.
Avoid messy digital communication
E-mailing is becoming a thing of the past. With different time zones and locations, continuous e-mail chains become difficult to manage. Maintain productivity by taking advantage of amazing project management softwares such as ITM Platform.
Supply your employees
As mentioned, time zones have an enormous impact on the way you’ll run your business. For this reason you must provide each team member with all of the information and supplies they will need, conveniently and constantly. Once again, ITM Platform makes this possible because they operate on a cloud-based solution, making it accessible wherever and whenever.
Strengthen the bond
Lastly, you should think about ways to reach out and strengthen staff relationships without the use of work. Remote teams can often use a get-away trip or even a meet up location between those who live nearby. If these aren’t possibilities then think about creating fun social media groups via twitter or tumblr. This allows co-workers to share funny jokes or videos; all simple ideas to help strengthen the bond amongst remote teams.
If you’re interested in creating your own remote team or successfully managing the one you currently have, sign up for a free trial with ITM Platform. Our team is here to support you every step of the way.
When implementing a project portfolio management (PPM) model in an organisation, acquiring a project management software is not enough; usually the organization needs to adapt to the new way of working.
One of the first aspects to keep in mind when adopting a project-oriented management style, is to decide what to merge and what to centralize.
Those are some of the most frequent aspects:
Terminology: To accurately communicate internally in a company (or externally with suppliers or clients), you must be able to convey precise feedbacks such as the state of the projects. Vague or ambiguous descriptions like “going well” do not help, because they don’t indicate the real state of a project and do not provide information that the sender or the receiver can truly understand.
Monitoring criteria: projects should be frequently monitored and quantitively measured. It is important to have everyone’s agreement on which criteria to use when measuring the project’s development.
Resources management: Depending on the nature of the project, centralizing the management of resources can be necessary. This decision will affect the organizational structure, the project manager’s work and the way day-to-day work is planned and executed.
These elements are the key to information and quantification. It is advisable for every department of the company to use a common reporting system to be able to rely on the necessary information to make decisions.
Other elements that should be consolidated are the processes (when a project is approved, when a project changes status, who must take those decisions…), standard costs or document formats to be used.
To sum up, you first have to think about what to centralize and afterward decide on how to do it.
2. Agile, predictive or both methodologies
Another critical decision that needs to be taken before starting a project is to decide which management methodology to apply. Each methodology has its advantages and disadvantages and, depending on the nature of the project, you should select the most appropriate.
Agile methodologies: The agile methodology is very good to manage uncertainties. It is ideal for those projects in which the results are not certain, or when you have an idea about the objective, but you do not clearly know how to reach it. It is frequently the case for IT projects, Start-ups and projects with high levels of uncertainty.
Predictive methodologies: Predictive methodologies are good to manage projects with low levels of uncertainty, for example projects in which processes are well known as well as the expected results. An example could be a project to produce a component that was already produced in the past. In this case, given that the processes are known, the objective is to maximize the productivity.
Both methodologies share some common points: tight monitoring, quantifications and measurements.
To fully take advantage of each methodology you should employ project managers that have expertise in both methodologies and who know how to adapt to one or the other depending on circumstances.
If you decide to use both methodologies, these will need to coexist in the same portfolio. Check out this webinar on how to make the 2 methodologies coexist.
3. Responsibilities of a project manager
It is fundamental to clarify the responsibilities of the project manager before the start of a project. That will empower him to properly do his work, focus on the most important tasks and properly report the results of his work.
Here are some of the most common decisions a project manager has to take:
Monitor the project progress
Canalize and encourage communication
Assign resources
Manage risks
Control Purchases and Revenues of the project
4. The Project Management Office (PMO)
Another relevant aspect is to decide whether a project management office is necessary or not. There are companies with high amounts of projects that do not rely on a project management office, while there are cases of less project intensive companies that actually need one.
This difference is motivated by the specific conditions of each business and by other factors. The most relevant are:
The level of maturity of the organization as well as their specific situation. Some companies are in a stable period with little variations in the business while others are in a phase of transition with high level of uncertainty and variability.
The complexity of the organization.
The nature of the business. For example, there are sectors where projects management offices are common because of the intrinsic nature of the business model.
The existence of interdependencies between projects. When such dependencies exist, the project management office is particularly important as it allows to coordinate the projects to take advantage of the interdependencies.
The degree of maturity of the project’s directors. Experienced project managers sometimes can cover the full scope of the project portfolio, thus becoming a one-man project management office. Unfortunately, this is not common, and it will be often necessary to create a dedicated team to constitute the project management office.
Strategic alignment. A project management office is particularly important when projects are not properly aligned with the overall strategy of the company.
To sum up, a project management office provides a strategic focus and allows the organization to reach levels of coordination that would not be possible otherwise.
5. Methodologies and structures in PPM
Another aspect that should be considered is the methodological framework. The guidelines provided by PMI or Prince2, for example, are very helpful. However, our advice is to adopt these guidelines with common sense and without applying them too rigidly. It is advisable to adopt only the aspects that best match with the organization and its needs.
Some key aspects that should be considered:
Process standardization: processes should to be standardized, be as simple as possible and be close to reality.
Inspiration from existing models: There are international associations that facilitate models of standardized project management. You can take inspiration from them, keeping in mind that it is best to adopt the best of each one.
We have explained how to design the organization to make the change possible, but we are still missing a very important part: How to do the transition? ¿Which method should be chosen to be successful?
Change management
To make a successful transition, the organization should fulfil several requirements and follow a series of steps.
1. Definition of the driving force
The initiative of a transition towards project-based management should come from the company’s top management. Directors should promote the use of project management systems and be the ones to lead the change.
It is important also to have the support of the management of the departments most affected by the change.
2. Implementation of change management
The transition can be done using 2 approaches, that we call the “pincer approach “.
On one hand we have a top down approach, where the use of new systems and methodologies is presented as a duty or obligation.
When adopting this approach, control models and reporting systems are key. They permit to verify that the new project management model is being applied correctly while, at the same time, monitoring the added value for the company.
For example, you can decide to use only the data previously registered in the system during follow up meetings.
On the other hand, you can adopt a bottom-up approach, with training and active listening. Employees know the reality of work circumstances and how to translate those into the new way of working.
Furthermore, team members should be persuaded that the change to their way of working adds value to the entire company, from which they are going to beneficiate in the medium and long-term.
Enthusiast employees motivated to adopt the new methods may greatly influence others. This can be an even more effective implementation strategy than having managers or directors forcing the adoption.
To guarantee the final success, it is necessary to start with relatively easy projects where the results should be quantified and compared with the ones pre-adoption. Make sure to successfully achieve the first steps and you will favour success in the next ones.
To sum up, it is advisable to progressively evolve, with clear and feasible objectives, reaching perfection step by step.
Why does ISO have two sets of standards on project management?
These two sets of standards are complementary, not interchangeable. There is one set for project management (21500) and another for quality management systems in the field of projects (10006). Neither of them is subject to certification. ISO 9001/2008 provides certification on issues corresponding to these standards.
Now we are going to explain the difference between both:
ISO 10006/2003: is not a set of standards on project management. It is a set of standards on quality management systems in projects. The purpose of these standards is to offer additional guidelines - not requirements - to companies that clarify issues related to technical management. ISO 10006/2003 focuses on the management system used to manage quality in projects and is very useful for strong parent companies that wish to adopt ISO 9001/2008 standards and obtain certification.
ISO 21500/2012: is a specific set of standards for project management. It offers a guide - not a series of requirements - and is therefore not subject to certification. ISO 21500/2012 focuses on project management, processes and management areas, and coincides with such bodies of knowledge as PMBOK. It is useful for companies that wish to standardize and improve their project management. It is interesting to note that the two sets of standards do indeed overlap at certain points - hence their complementary nature - regarding the manner in which a project should be managed (‘best practices’ under 21500 and ‘quality management system’ under 10006). By applying and putting these standards into practice, all project-related work undertaken by an organization can be significantly improved.
The most immediate effect of ISO in project management is an emergence of global standards in this market due to an international agreement on project management principles and guidelines; in other words, organizations and professionals that manage and run projects are now able to use the same concepts and structures in their contractual and working relationships with clients, partners, suppliers and other stakeholders. This is facilitating the expansion of project-based businesses worldwide. Hence, ISO-based project management provides companies with a strategic advantage.
Another very important effect can be found in employment-related issues, because project management teams can be created or assembled under a contract that will comprise the definition of a scope or certain requirements, a set deadline, a forecast cost, a geographic area and the stakeholders involved. This implies the involvement of professionals from numerous specialized field and nationalities, requiring swift and temporary collaborations between groups. The flexibility, effectiveness and efficiency of these groups will depend on knowing and applying the management processes agreed upon globally under the ISO international standards on project management. In this regard, the education and training of professionals in project management skills gains additional importance as this might now refer to such professional certificates as the PMP® from the PMI® based on knowledge of the PMBOK Guide (Chapter 3 of which coincides with ISO 21500 by over 90%). ISO-based project management is an executive advantage for professionals who manage projects.
ISO Standards 10006 and 21500 relate to international knowledge, such as PMBOK, PRINCE2 and ICB3.0 on project management. They are not subject to certification but have also been included in knowledge standards that are subject to certification, such as ISO 9001/2008 and the PMP® from the PMI®.
Time is gold. This phrase has even more meaning in the field of project management.
Technology should provide tools capable of making projects more efficient. Nowadays, collaborative platforms should not only allow task status information to be shared between team members and clients or offer instant messaging and videoconferencing services.
They should go a step further and seek more functional and time-monitoring roles.
Those companies that switch from a more classical system to a more modern and functional system notice the difference; even if they were already leading companies in their sector. This is the case of an Australian company that uses cloud-based IT systems. In 2013, this company had developed approximately 600 websites and created approximately 100 applications for companies. If there was one word to define the development of this company, it would be “success”.
In 2012, with 12 years of experience, its client portfolio included major companies in all sectors - both national and international - and it had become a benchmark in its industry. However, economically-speaking, the situation was not so wonderful. When the CEO checked the company budgets, he realized that profits did not match the number of projects or the quality of the clients in the company’s portfolio.
While trying to analyze the reasons for this, he discovered certain periods of “dead time”. In other words, despite time being clearly distributed on tasks, there were many time periods that were apparently not allocated to any work and there was no way of knowing what had been done during those periods.
Besides this wasted time, there was time supposedly used for tasks that proved useless. It could therefore be considered that this time had also been wasted. In other words, many employees - while thinking they were doing their job right - were actually wasting time on paperwork or “fighting” with the software instead of applying their skills to genuinely productive tasks.
In the case of the company in question, most of its work plans were being created in Excel spreadsheets while ignoring the possible use of more advanced and specialized project management software.
To begin with, considering that the company was small and only had a few clients, it was able to complete all its projects in spite of the fact that the tools being used were unproductive. Nonetheless, as time passed and the workload increased, the company realized it was often unable to deliver projects on time. When completing a project behind schedule, payments also arrived late. This began to create budgeting problems and complicated the employee remuneration policy. Furthermore, the accumulation of delays prevented more orders from being accepted that could have been carried out if the previous projects had been delivered on time.
Faced with this situation, company executives decided to seek new IT solutions that would enable more streamlined development of the company and began to gradually implement their discoveries.
The first few months were tough. Not only did employees have to get the work done but they also had to learn how to use the new tools. However, following an initial period of adaptation, everyone was satisfied with the results. Productivity had increased, projects were being delivered on time, employees felt more fulfilled and wasted less time on useless tasks, and the company was obtaining much larger profits.
According to the CEO of the company, the result was a reduction in total project cycle duration from approximately 60 days before the two systems were implemented to approximately 18 days.
One of the main challenges faced by the company was monitoring the time spent on each task, which was unusual at the time for the sector in which the company operated. Time monitoring provided information on which tasks were inefficient and also allowed the holes through which time was “leaking” to be plugged.
Prior to implementing the new software tools, company executives could only monitor 36% of the time worked. Only one year later, with the tools partially in place, they were capable of monitoring 62% of the hours worked.
Returning to that phrase at the start of this article, time is golden. The executives produced an estimate of the economic impact caused by the loss of these hours. The result was between 30,000 and 50,000 dollars in one month.
The Australian company is now a staunch proponent of new technologies. It uses them every day for everything it does: it works in the cloud, it monitors its projects and its employees stay in touch via IT platforms.
This new management method is not only supported by inferred results but by the statistics and actual results obtained in recent years.
AtITM Platform, we offer you a cloud-based system for managing your projects. We include features that allow collaborative work and instant communication between the various members of a project. At the same time, we are a flexible platform that can be run from multiple devices. This means we can accompany you at any time and in any location.
If you seek the best for your company, go right ahead and commit to technology. Commit to ITM Platform.
Article written by: Juan Delgado, Blogger at ITM Platform
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Computers and technology are becoming much more integrated and crucial in today’s workforce. Businesses have operations across the globe; causing face-to-face interaction is becoming less of an option and virtual teams more of a reality. Without the physical interaction, communication must become much more efficient.
Why does ISO have two sets of standards on project management?
