Small & Medium Business, Employee Management, Project Development, Project Management, Employee Onboarding | 2 min read
Project management dates back to the early 1950s in its contemporary form, although its roots date back to the latter years of the 19th century. A defined method of project management emerged as companies realized the advantages of organizing job around projects-recognizing the critical need to communicate and coordinate work across departments and professions.
Project management relies mainly on planning, handling and arranging the funds accessible. Some of the components of project management are to direct the project team effectively through all stages and effectively implement the project. Other operations include the identification and efficient management of the life cycle of the project and its implementation in the user-centric development method.
Project Management Institute (PMI) defined Project Management as "the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques to a broad range of activities in order to meet the requirements of a particular project."
An easy project management definition involves a few main premises:
Often, a triangle is used to summarize project management, frequently referred to as the "triple constraint." Time, price and range are the three most significant variables. These shape the vertices as the main feature of value.
Generally, there are four key elements in the “triple constraint”:
A project runs through six stages during its lifecycle:
Accountability of the entire project is the role of the project manager. The task of the project manager is to guide, monitor and regulate the project from start to finish. Project managers should not perform the tasks within the project - it is sufficient to manage the project. Here are some of the operations undertaken by a project manager:
A project manager must have a range of competencies:
Projects and project management procedures differ with each project due to their size and complexity. Project managers should gather a thorough knowledge of project demands and implement all stages of project management to perform the project efficiently.
Project management is all about establishing an atmosphere and circumstances for achieving a specific goal or objective with a group of individuals in a monitored way.
If you are acquainted with what project management entails, from the phase to mitigating everything that might (and often does) go right, you will influence the end outcome-whether you are first involved in a project methodology or a trained professional.
Are you a project manager and want to join Exceeders' ever growing team?
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit
Originally published Sep 4, 2019 3:54:00 PM, updated August 29, 2019
3 min read
Over the years, we noticed that businesses initially choose solutions that tick all the technical boxes or ones that are least costly. However, emphasis should always be placed on tools that are simple to use, efficient, & that provide a good user experience. We urge our customers to pay close attention to the user experience, especially when it comes to having a return on their investment in remote working.
Not doing so will put your business at a risk of increased support costs as employees become less productive while trying to figure out how to utilise the business’s technology.
On the operational side, there are 3 categories of platforms that we believe are essential:
Foundations of remote working
Systems of record
Systems of engagement
Laptops
Internet Access
VPN: A Virtual Private Network is imperative to remote working as it creates a secure, reliable, & safe connection between the employee & the organization’s resources.
Storage Platform: Every organization needs a cloud storage platform such as TechnAdopt to enable file sharing and easy access for all employees.
Productivity apps: Teamwork is the number 1 pillar of business in which it involves using shared assets like documents, reports, infographics, & structured & unstructured data. These assets can be created with the likes of the popular office suites like Microsoft Office365 in addition to document management systems, corporate intranet, HR Systems, CRM, & ERP to name a few.
Simple Strata: With this shift in work norms, companies might not have the instant visibility on the efforts taken by an employee to complete a certain job, & consequently might not know what to improve first. Our systems will detect causality and based on that, will analyze and provide reports to identify the employees who are facing difficulties in performing their jobs in comparison to others. With this visibility, the company will be able to adjust its new processes or provide support for employees who are facing challenges in the most suitable way.
ESP: The Enterprise Submission Platform is a linear workflow that enables function owners to automate their business processes without reliance on IT personnel. This platform will allow users to create requests and approvers to approve them from any location with the use of the web or the app. It is necessary especially in remote working situations as operations need to keep moving regardless of the whereabouts of users.
Engagement Pro: Engagement Pro is an application that helps you plan, organize, & track projects - all in one visual, collaborative space - to increase visibility & alignment within team members. This tool facilitates remote collaboration on projects.
Opportunity Pro: Every company with a sales department surely should use a CRM platform. Opportunity Pro enables the sales team to improve their winning rates by having accurate forecasts, details about customers & their needs, & keeping track of all actions taken & planned in order to close a deal. Rather than managing each sales team member individually, managers will be able to have top view visibility on all the pipeline remotely and will be able to review team members accordingly.
Mobile Apps:
As we live in the age of a “smart phone take-over”, it is essential that our work is accessible from the number one tool we use constantly. Whether at home or outside, employees should have the option to interact with team members via their phone.
Similarly, employers should expect their employees to have access to their work from anywhere, especially given the remote working situation. For that reason, all of our recommended products are available as mobile apps in addition to web as we have anticipated that a time will come where reliance will be solely on smart phones. We like to think we are pioneers in this field. 😉
Emails
Idenedi: A communication tool that provides an enjoyable user experience is one that sticks. Idenedi is a tool that has proven to be one of the most requested platforms as it combines ease of access with ability to deliver critical information. While emails remain the number one tool for exchanging work-related documents, they are lacking in the push notification department.
With Idenedi, managers will be able to pass important announcements regarding changes in the work environment with absolute assurance that employees will be notified. This is crucial especially in remote working as managers can track to check if important messages have reached everyone. They can even create a space for team members to interact in the comments section, and soon via chat.
As we have provided our recommendations for the infrastructure on the operational side, we also believe that there are steps to be taken to prepare teams mentally for this sudden shift in our work space.
Check out here our tips on how to adapt in the time of a global pandemic.
1 min read
Why Invest In Project Management Software?
When a project is executed, every single team member - from the stakeholders to the client and project managers to solution experts - base their decisions on only one single goal – project success. While the parameters of project success may vary greatly from one engagement to another, the generic measures remain the same – a quality emphatic timely delivery, within budget and with a joyful experience.
So with the highly skilled and qualified resources, diligently groomed product backlog and carefully determined tasks, the project should go off like clockwork, right?
WRONG!
Even with the best minds and healthy work ethics on a project, without the right tools, you will end up wasting valuable time, money and energy on repetitive tasks and manual data collection.
Problem
Meet Owen.
He runs a growing business with mobile employees and resources scattered remotely across multiple projects across the planet. Business is booming but Owen is struggling to manage the growth. His overhead is rising just as fast as the revenue his projects are bringing in. The mobile resources are spending more and more time pushing paper and spending less time getting work done.
Management has files of inaccurate timesheets. Costs are rising for manpower and productivity, while the timing of the projects is severely impacted. Reports are coming in from the on-the-ground resources with information that is sometimes unreliable, unrealistic and sometimes even unreadable. Poor Finance team members are left to track down contractors, consultants, project managers and service providers to validate the correct information.
Every day Owen and his team are forced to make business decisions based on inaccurate information. They only find out after the fact how much the guesswork is actually costing the company.
They need a better way to manage and measure mobile projects to track costs, budgets, revenues, resources and more.
Solution
Engagement Pro is an application to help you to Plan. Organise. Track. projects - all in one visual, collaborative space - to increase visibility and alignment within team members. It is simple to use and powerful in the office. It gives you the visibility to act in real-time in order to reduce operating costs and increase profit margins for projects.
It accurately tracks resources and productivity as it happens, so you get more reliable information, quicker. It’s that simple. The data is transferred from all users of the system to the servers in real-time helping all the team members accurately track progress and make critical decisions right away.
The visual dashboard and reports make project management a breeze. The project visibility in the office and on the field is at your fingertips. Immediate answers, right when you need them.
We’ve only scratched the surface of what this tool is capable of! Hundreds of users have already joined the Engagement Pro network – What are you waiting for?
Sign up for the most efficient project management tool - today!
Watch this quick tour of the features of Engagement Pro!
3 min read
When speaking of performance management, many think of the annual performance review process. But the annual performance review or appraisal is only a small component of employee performance management.
Employee performance management goes much further than the traditional annual review. It involves regular purposeful interaction between management and employees that is focused on job performance as well as direction and support for the employees.
According to Gallup, organisations that successfully engage their customers and their employees, experience a 240% boost in performance-related business outcomes compared to an organisation without engaged employees or engaged customers.
Performance management defines your interaction with an employee at every step of the way in between these major life cycle occurrences.
According to the definition provided by Michael Armstrong in his Handbook of Performance Management,
“Performance management is the continuous process of improving performance by setting individual and team goals which are aligned to the strategic goals of the organisation, planning performance to achieve the goals, reviewing and assessing progress, and developing the knowledge, skills and abilities of people.”
Note how he mentions that performance management is a continuous process — not an annual event.
A performance manager should, therefore, bring together different, integrated activities to form an ongoing”performance management cycle”. Ideal performance management should make every interaction opportunity with an employee into a learning opportunity.
We have put together some tips for optimising your employee performance management system.
As you develop a performance management program, you need to understand what you want to accomplish from it. Ask the following questions to define your goals:
If you know what you want your program to do, it will be easier to build it to accomplish that goal.
Now that you have set your goals, develop a performance plan to go alongside. Develop short term goals. As long term goals can overwhelm the employees even before they start.
Review employee performance regularly. Use metrics and analytics to track how goals are progressing. This will keep the process transparent and allow you to support your employees, whenever necessary.
During the feedback sessions, tensions can arise if the feedback is not constructive and actionable. It is not very helpful for employee morale to blame and point fingers. Instead performance manager should guide employees towards future success.
Managers should make sure to keep feedback professional and remember to focus on behaviour, rather than characteristics.
Ask employees to provide feedback for each other. This will give the performance manager a more holistic view of employee performance. It will also help them understand the challenges that teams are facing, and be able to better offer feedback.
Related: How to Manage Results vs. Efforts and the Communications Gap - FREE Ebook!
Regular coaching can help identify and solve problems before they get out of hand. Monthly or quarterly meetings should be held to help keep employees on the right track. It also helps to organise cross-functional coaching sessions. This helps employees - and managers - understand what other departments do and operate.
It is easy to assume for the management that problems are always caused by employees, but that simply is not the case. Problems can come from various external factors such as availability of supplies, internal processes that are causing issues, or organisational policies. Seek out the other source of problems as precisely as you can in order to fix them.
You cannot expect employees to stay motivated if their achievements are never rewarded. Yet, many organisations overlook this key element. Make sure that employees are not only compensated but also recognised for their hard work. You can rest in peace that they will continue performing for your organisation.
Make sure that your organisation has shared values and cultural alignment. A sense of shared goals, beliefs and expectations among employees creates a pleasant workplace. And a harmonious workplace is good for productivity, positivity and eventually better performances.
In conclusion...
We can all agree that performance management has a significant benefits for employees and managers, as well as for the company as a whole.
For any Human Resources department, performance management is an important system for onboarding, developing and retaining employees, as well as reviewing their performance.
If you are a performance manager or human resource manager it may seem overwhelming to keep up with the entire process. But there are tools to make your life easier at work.
Simple Strata can help you align your entire employee performance management strategy.
Why Invest In Project Management Software?
Sharing economy movement has been a fast rising business model over the past few years.
In an earlier article we discussed how a great invoicing tool can take away your accounting headaches and make your life easier! It is great to see that you took our advice and decided to learn more about invoicing software for small businesses.