On autopsy after the end of a project (gold mining)
The start of many projects receives much attention. It is celebrated, installed, kicked-off, etc. In this article, I want to write a few tips about a stepchild in project management and that is the retrospective after the end of a project. The art & science of reflection is often an unpracticed area of management. That is a real shame because there is often so much gold to be found in terms of lessons for the future.
50% safety margins in project planning can go
According to the Critical Chain Project Management method, fifty percent of the built-in safety margins in project planning can go. It is a waste of time. So by taking this out, we can carry out projects in three-quarters of the time. That is a time saving of 25 percent. To achieve this, the method uses Buffer Management technology.
The art of scheduling a breakdown service
Many organizations that do project-based work offer products that should be available to customers 24 hours a day. This includes web applications, IT infrastructure and production lines. No product or service is perfect and everything can break. So there must be someone who can immediately communicate with the customer in case of a problem and who can provide a solution. To facilitate this, you must start scheduling a breakdown service and schedule employees for that breakdown service. Customers regularly ask us
From accounting for hours to being the boss of your own schedule
In some organizations, such as architecture firms, we find that employees on long-term projects are scheduled for an average number of hours per week for the duration of the project. These independent professionals are then allowed to decide for themselves each week when and how much time they spend on each project. The result is that the hours actually spent rarely correspond to the number of average hours scheduled.
Planning resources based on skills
You don't have to be a huge organization to have a large pool of resources, because a resource is not only a permanent employee, it can also be a freelancer or a subcontractor. From experience, we've seen from our users that when a planner has more than 25 resources at his or her disposal, it becomes a greater challenge to keep track of who is good at what. The problem is that planners who lose track of their available resources
Best practices for approving time sheets
For any project-based service business, the tracking and recording of time spent on projects is crucial. Time tracking is the foundation of providing services to customers, who then pay for those services accordingly. Time tracking is the fuel on which an organisation runs. It literally puts food on the table for both the company and its employees. Understanding the completeness, accuracy and promptness of time tracking is therefore essential.
Planning as a dictator or as a democrat
Good planning is indispensable for a project-oriented organization with several employees. Sound planning allows you to optimize productivity within set hours, which enables your employees to work efficiently and processes to run smoothly within your organization. Nevertheless, many companies fail to find the correct method of planning for themselves.
3 ways to secure your planning
Stolen data, leaked information, or leaving a company laptop in the car. Everyone has read about it, knows of someone who experienced it, or even experienced it themselves. The security of corporate and personal data is a serious issue and is a current issue to everyone. The loss of confidential data can result in major consequences, especially now that the updated European privacy regulations have been imposed on organizations.
Who needs a complete overview of staff leave?
It's April, and the majority of your colleagues are probably busy planning and booking their holidays. Chances are that, as a manager in charge of staff leave, you're already knee-deep in a pile of leave applications, with more streaming in. So, how do you determine who is eligible for leave? Everyone is entitled to a holiday, but how do you ensure that your organization will continue to operate smoothly in their absence? And how do you ensure that you don't
The 80/20 rule in project & resource planning
The 80/20 rule, also known as the "Pareto principle", asserts that 80% of all outcomes are a result of 20% of the effort. Everyone knows about the example where 80% of all sales are a result of 20% of the customer base. Thus, by giving more attention to a small group of customers this leads to disproportionate revenue. In this blog post we'll look at how to use the principle within the 80/20 in regards to project & resource planning.