When managing a project, the project manager would love to work with team members who not only get along but who also meet their goals in a timely manner. It would be great if this would happen but having a dream team like this doesn’t always happen.
To help determine what a dream team looks like, I thought I would share some of the traits for the ideal team member when managing a project. Check out the list below:

Balanced team. Make sure that you create a team that have people who have different strenghts. You don’t want a full team of …read more

Are you looking for a project management tool that will help you manage your projects, teams and technology? Then checkout LiquidPlanner to see how this software can help you get organized.
According to their website, organizing your project with LiquidPlanner means that you will be able to:

Project & Portfolio Views – View high-level overviews or task-level details of your project schedules in one easy-to-manage space.
Multi-level Organization – Create clients, projects, and tasklists so you can view, filter, and zoom in on tasks at any level of detail, no matter how complex the work.
Drag-and-Drop Prioritization – Change the order of scheduled tasks …read more

Project deadlines are important to meet but sometimes project issues can cause delays that are unforeseen. What you have to do is ask yourself, “What can I do to plan for project delays”, then this just might help you manage your project deadlines better.

To help you manage your project deadlines, I thought I would share a few quotes to encourage you.

On the value of Project Management: Trying to manage a project without project management is like trying to play a football game without a game plan. K. Tate (Past Board Member, PMI) 
Tell me and I’ll forget, show me and I …read more

The importance of team building to a business owner could affect the success of their business. Team building is a way for business owners to communicate their vision to their team and encourage connecting between their team members. It is the glue that can keep a team together in the hard time and the easy times.
Case in point, in an “ideal teaming environment”, team member are supportive of each other and each member carries their own weight. This means that the owner has taken on the responsibility to communicate their vision to the team and has made sure that each team …read more

By Guest Blogger Adam Bullied
This is the second installment of a two-part series. Read Project Management for Small Teams – Part 1.
Ongoing Planning
Let’s face it – planning is not a one-time activity. It has to constantly be happening to ensure things stay up-to-date and the entire team is in sync. Ideally, this means the entire team gets together on a regular basis and discusses their parts of the project and where they are at.
I’ve seen this done numerous ways – daily stand-up meetings, weekly team meetings, breaking the team in to pieces and meeting that way, etc…
At the very least …read more

By Guest Blogger Adam Bullied
Projects can be extremely complicated – especially on small teams. There can be a seemingly insurmountable number of tasks to complete, several people (or groups) dealing with a ton of different things on any given day, priorities changing, and of course deadlines, estimates, and a ton more.
The trick is to keep things as simple, and as clear, as possible.
At every turn, you need to look for ways to streamline the planning and management of the project to make sure everything stays above water. I’ve found there are a few key things you can do to ensure …read more

When starting a new business, it is always helpful to have a plan that will help guide the direction of your business. One of the tools that you can use to develop your plan is a mind map. More details about mind mapping can be found on this website.

Project Management Tool: MindMeister acquires MindMaker
Using Mind Mapping for Project Management

Below is a sample mind map that I have created as a way to get started with mind mapping.
click to view larger image
This is a very simple mind map that has three basic branches.

Branding: ways that you can start “advertising” your business …read more

I’ve come to see a schedule as the backbone of every project. Because if you forge ahead without some kind of timeline, isn’t successfully completing your goal just a shot in the dark?

Sunday I talked about utilizing a planner. And for any project that contains more than a step or two, I’ve learned it’s vital to break the big picture down into segments that can be estimated in terms of time, energy, and resources. Without doing that, I suppose it’ll get done eventually. But will it be done on time? And will it be a good product?

In industries such as …read more

Recently, ProjectManagement411.com was incorporated into the Bizzia.com website. The new topics will include business, strategy, project management, and leadership. The new location is on the Bizzia.com website under “Leadership”. Watch the announcement below about the change to ProjectManagement411.com.