To Think About . . .

Success is the product of daily habits, not once-in-a-lifetime transformations. James Clear

 

 

 

My Latest Book

Product Details

Also available on Amazon.com, Amazon.fr, and other Amazons and bookshops worldwide! 

Search This Site
Log-in
Latest Comments
My Other Books

Product Details

Product Details

Product Details

The Pathway to Awesomeness

Click to order other recommended books.

Find Us on Facebook Badge

Discussion Forum > Project management tools

Hi, it seems as though a desired feature of a time management system is a way to stay on top of multiple projects and see them through to conclusion. By "project" I mean any activity you set out to do, large or small, that requires one or more action in the future.

Project management on the company level seems to be a fairly robust discipline, with lots of large textbooks, certifications and whatnot. Many universities offer programs in project management. It strikes me that these systems could also be applied to personal time and project management.

Wondering if anyone has been involved with project management in the workplace, and whether it is applicable at all to managing a set of personal projects? Is it total overkill? Can it just be boiled down to making a simple Gantt chart in Excel?

If so, any software you would recommend? I got an email the other day for Microsoft Project, and it got me wondering whether it would be worth taking the time to master this software (or something similar).
May 15, 2015 at 1:33 | Unregistered CommenterSimon
For simple personal projects, I love how CAF4 worked for me,

http://markforster.squarespace.com/forum/post/2446303

There was the problem of outpacing the "Backlog" that I noted but aside from that I still highly recommend trying it if you want to incorporate project handling to an AF-like time management scheme.

An improvement to it would be to use a two-week dismissal system like what I am using now. I might just call it Date Enforced Context Autofocus, or DECAF.
May 15, 2015 at 2:04 | Registered Commenternuntym
Thanks -- my local bookstore has an entire shelf devoted to project management (eg http://www.amazon.com/Guide-Project-Management-Body-Knowledge/dp/1935589679). There is a Project Management Institute. The Wikipedia page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_management) is packed with different approaches.

This seems to be a well-developed discipline, but it also seems to have a lot in common with what we talk about here. Yet it never seems to find its way into the personal time/project management discussion. Is that because it is more suited to the business environment?

Can anything concepts/techniques be borrowed from the discipline of project management and applied to one's personal life?
May 15, 2015 at 14:15 | Unregistered CommenterSimon
Hi Simon,

I was a PM for a long time and I've also played around a lot with personal productivity. I've made a few attempts to translate what I would do at work into plans at home, mostly just for practice, but they've never stuck. The most successful were simplified versions of scrum and kanban.

I think most of the overhead and process of project management at work is aimed at communication, consensus, co-ordination, direction and accountability and they are all handled face to face and informally in the much smaller realm of my personal life.

I do from time to time plan out elements of my personal life using whatever tool is at hand, from pen and paper to electronic planning. I rarely rigidly follow up though, its more that planning seems to be a good clarification exercise from time to time. The results then usually end up on my AF list, or in the bin.

The closest I've seen to a useful personal PM process is David Allen's Five Phases of Project Planning. This is simply enough to hold in my head and I sometimes use it mentally to help flesh out a plan.

Hope that's useful...

Matt
May 15, 2015 at 14:31 | Unregistered CommenterMatt Gregory
Simon: In response to your specific mention of MS Project, my recommendation is NO if you'd have to pay for the software yourself AND you don't hope/plan to pursue a career in project management. I don't know if Project is really the best, but I do know that it will look very good on your resume if that's where you want to go. (I'm sure it will look even better if you have other tools on your resume too, but most places I've been in the last 10 years have used Project or something very similar.)

As for whether or not it's overkill for managing personal projects, it probably is. If your personal projects involve other people who may be involved in other projects that you are also managing and tracking in Project, and you're allocating percentages of their time and so on, it could be helpful. Or if you love to get wrapped up in overly elaborate scheduling as a way to get out of doing the actual work, Project would certainly fit the bill. ;-)

But if you do a little Googling you'll find Excel templates that can draw Gantt charts for you, if that's what you like. If your personal projects aren't quite so schedule-oriented, there are some mindmapping tools that can lay things out in a two-dimensional format with an emphasis on relationships and dependencies. (Project can also do a relationship map of sorts, but I don't know anyone who uses it. I don't know if that means it's useless, or just not useful to anyone I know.)

Bottom line is that these corporate-level methodologies and tools are meant to track the time and cost of multiple complex projects involving many overlapping tasks, people, equipment, facilities, dependencies, etc. to make sure that they are on budget. And very often there is a Project Manager whose entire job is to manage the project so that other people can perform their own tasks without having to worry about the bean-counting.

Most likely, very little of this applies to your personal projects. So again, unless you are interested in PM as a career, this stuff may not help you much. On the other hand, you can certainly study it as a hobby if you find it interesting, and decide for yourself how much time and expense you want to devote to it (keeping in mind that this would be a project in its own right, taking time away from your other projects).
May 15, 2015 at 16:20 | Unregistered CommenterJulieBulie
The answer is: you don't want Project Management for personal projects. MS Project is overkill and over complex for any project less than 10 people.

What you really need is a notebook or a folder. Log what you're doing if you want. Brainstorm on a piece of paper. Make an outline of parts to address. Collect materials. Occasionally add something to your general todos. That is everything.
May 15, 2015 at 16:29 | Registered CommenterAlan Baljeu
MS project is way too complex for me. I have used Merlin on another Mac - also quite sophisticated but fun to use, too, and I don't have to mortgage my house to buy it. But not really needed for me. I do keep an app called "SG project" in case I have a very complicated event, it's also a lot of fun to use, and very simple. One book I really liked on project management was the One Page Project Manager - I forget who wrote it. But in all these things, David Allan's approach is the simplest - I look at it as a process which can be as complicated or as simple as I need it to be to get it done.
May 15, 2015 at 16:55 | Unregistered CommenterPaul MacNeil
Great, thanks. It does sound as though MS Project is a bit too complex for day to day life, unless you are planning a wedding while trying to run a business.

I thought MS Project (or a similar but simpler program) might be good for corralling a small group of core projects and imposing a bit of structure to ensure they are completed by a certain date. But, I suppose pen and paper works just as well as complicated software.
May 16, 2015 at 18:36 | Unregistered CommenterSimon
I have already shared that I found AgendaGuru (www.agendaguru.com) and it is perfect rescheduling tasks in my agenda!!
I had a major issue with my deadlines and, as a consequence, I had to work all night long to compensate...
I thought it would be good to have a software that would automatically reschedule my tasks in the calendar, until I finished the one I was working on and I found one that does precisely that: AgendaGuru and it seems to be extraordinarily simple!
It is still a beta version and only available online for computers... Has anyone tested it?
July 2, 2016 at 4:31 | Unregistered CommenterJosé Miguel
Hii..... you can also have at this category of tools - Project Management. There are lots of tools available that can be used to manage your project or your website. You can try this link below and get the reviews of best project management tools;
http://www.toolsinsight.com/category/project-management/uszNgYk=
March 31, 2017 at 10:30 | Unregistered CommenterAlice jolly
After chatting with Seraphim, I've found the Theory of Constraints thinking processes very useful as a flexible tool for project management above the simplicity of a task list and less than that needed for a traditional engineering project.

I'd say the most important one is the prerequisite tree for project management.
April 1, 2017 at 15:59 | Unregistered CommenterRyan Freckleton
Some common project management tools are given below,
• Basecamp
• Teamwork Projects
• ActiveCollab
• Zoho Projects
• Trello
• Jira

Source: http://bestonlinetoolsreview.weebly.com
June 15, 2017 at 7:53 | Unregistered Commenterjack
Hello,

There are many project management software available in the market. So choosing right one from them, is quite difficult for business owners. For them found a list of best project management software for business with reviews, free demo, pricing and many more. One will get free expert help to select right software for their business. One can view them at http://www.softwaresuggest.com/project-management-software
July 11, 2017 at 10:44 | Unregistered CommenterSanjay Darji
HI. I am working on a easy to manage project management tool. I am looking for a co-founder to work with me on the product. Interested people can contact me on my email shoaib.ad@gmail.com
August 23, 2017 at 7:09 | Unregistered CommenterAhmad
Hello All,

Today, I would like you to introduce with one project management tool, i.e. FindNerd Project Management Tool which is one of the best Free Project Management Tools and gives you a no. of unique features like task tracking, screenshots, collaborate with teams, collaborate across company, analyze productivity, efficiency, availability, ROI, & properly handle teams, Invoices and many more which makes it different from others . Browse -Findnerd Project Management Tool to know more in Detail. http://projects.findnerd.com/
August 31, 2017 at 13:08 | Unregistered CommenterKyle Flores
I agree with Alan Baljeu - notebook and pen. I manage a few relatively big projects and am using Real Autofocus in a bullet journal - the two work very well together.

(I say relatively big because they're personal projects with lots of tasks/notes/dates/etc, but don't require Gantt charts or the like.)
August 31, 2017 at 20:03 | Unregistered CommenterZane
Microsoft Project is a great tool to master. I would recommend using this free tool available at Fluxes.com. You can create multiple project boards, add unlimited number of tasks with deadline and assign them to a team member. There is also option for having live chat if you are working with a team in the same time zone.
November 19, 2017 at 19:39 | Unregistered CommenterRoy Moore
A nice alternative for MS Project is HeySpace - a tool that TimeCamp team has recently launched. It's a combination of Slack and Trello features - Kanban boards and chat with group//1-1 messages. It's a nice alternative for those who are tired of jumping between two tools to collaborate efficiently. You can find out more about this tool on their website: https://hey.space
September 13, 2018 at 13:07 | Unregistered CommenterOla
We are a team of six, and Z-Stream (https://zazmic.io/) works perfectly well for a small team like ours. Both mobile and web versions are very well designed. Exactly the functionality I need without unnecessary complexity. It is an all-in-one tool that keeps everything in place. The tool is very easy to operate.
December 11, 2018 at 9:51 | Unregistered CommenterL.Rica
Hi All,
I have read this Discussion forum and find it very catchy. in Addition, I am also willing to contribute Some knowledge Here.
Very good project management talk is being processed here.will surely work and implement it in my project.
Thanks.
Find your best software Solution here:<a href="https://www.softwaresuggest.com/project-management-software">Project Management Software</a>
December 14, 2018 at 6:32 | Unregistered CommenterJonathan Clerk
Today, I would like you to introduce with one project management tool, i.e. FindNerd Project Management Tool which is one of the best Free Project Management Tools and gives you a no. of unique features like task tracking, screenshots, collaborate with teams, collaborate across company, analyze productivity, efficiency, availability, ROI, & properly handle teams, Invoices and many more which makes it different from others . Browse -Findnerd Project Management Tool to know more in Detail.https://www.softwaresuggest.com/project-management-software
December 14, 2018 at 6:38 | Unregistered CommenterJonathan Clerk
You don't need Microsoft Project....Microsoft already addressed all your concerns with MS Planner, the KanBan app that works like Trello, and.....as it turns out, integrates with MS Project (if you have it)

https://products.office.com/en-ca/business/task-management-software
March 13, 2019 at 1:21 | Unregistered CommenterFred
If you're working with multiple projects you need to think ahead in terms of resource scheduling. Tools like MS Project or Jira are not too good for multi-project environment so you might need some additional plugins or a completely different solution.

Here's a good explanation about challenges in multi-project environment

https://www.epicflow.com/blog/how-to-overcome-3-major-challenges-in-managing-multiple-projects/
June 5, 2019 at 11:05 | Unregistered CommenterIgor
An interestingly different approach for non-technology projects aimed at business change more than product delivery is the "logic model" : http://www.gov.uk/government/publications/evaluation-in-health-and-well-being-overview/introduction-to-logic-models
June 18, 2019 at 18:08 | Unregistered Commentermichael
Z-Stream https://zazmic.io/ might be a good solution for you. To me this is the kind of software that suits any team, especially if you struggle with time management or getting through daily responsibilities
June 18, 2019 at 18:22 | Unregistered CommenterAlice
hey all for project management i would like to recommend zentao https://www.zentao.pm/ This is a great platform to keep an account of task progress in a company. zentao provides efficient way of keeping your tasks on track and is great for discovering the overall productivity of the team.It has great features and incredible User interface.It's a total game changer because it easier to understand and has more features with cheaper price. ZenTao offers open source version. All the team members can be on the same page once the project is on zentao.
January 13, 2020 at 4:43 | Unregistered CommenterDanyal
Try Restyboard or ZenTao

Both open source and codes on GitHub

Easy for customization and integration
February 5, 2021 at 6:26 | Unregistered CommenterMax
I'd recommend Trello, Slack and Workzone. These tools are perfect for personal or team projects.
May 4, 2021 at 0:58 | Registered CommenterStephanie Sy
Kanbanflow is great .And also works nicely with Craft
May 5, 2021 at 20:10 | Registered CommenterGed
I was a project manager for a number of years, and incorporated some of the principles into managing aspects of my personal life.

While MS Project is very useful, and gives you a lot of control in how you view a project, the robust mechanics are probably overkill for any personal project, unless you are doing something like building your own house or a project with a similarly complex scope. But, a simple gantt chart can be useful at times to analyze dependencies, especially if visuals help you grasp processes.

I have used GTD methodologies pretty robustly for about 15 years in both business and personal work, and have integrated some aspects of Scrum into that as well.

WorkFlowy has been the most useful app by far for me across all disciplines...it simple, but flexible and allows you to build systems inside of it using a few simple mechanics.

I also use Trello for simple team interactions such as customer communication, or short-term projects involving multiple people, especially of they not going to be working in physical proximity as a team.

A book called "Critical Chain" had the largest impact on my project management career and also on my personal life in its explanation of the importance of understanding margin in a system...can't recommend that book enough to anyone considering a career in project management. The principles are missed in much of the body of knowledge around PM, but are so useful that I believe they should be central to anyone's understanding of the principles of project management.
May 11, 2021 at 23:49 | Unregistered CommenterDavid Clark
David,

Do you have a link to the Critical Chain book? I see a number with similar names and want to make sure I choose the right one. Thanks.
May 12, 2021 at 21:13 | Unregistered CommenterDavid Coyer
Sure thing...here it is.

http://www.amazon.com/Critical-Chain-Eliyahu-M-Goldratt/dp/0884271536/ref=sr_1_2?crid=RP3V45UY5945&dchild=1&keywords=critical+chain+goldratt&qid=1620858955&sprefix=critical+chain%2Caps%2C161&sr=8-2

Also, "The Goal" by the same author is GOLD! Changed my life at multiple levels. I would read that first, then Critical Chain...radically revised my understanding of how things works, and I have embedded the concepts of throughput, bottlenecks, constraints in the system, and especially margin in the system into every aspect of my life...but it is pure money in the bank when it comes to comprehending project development and management.
May 13, 2021 at 3:40 | Unregistered CommenterDavid Clark
David Clark - Very glad to find another fan of Theory of Constraints! Great books and concepts.

I've posted a few times on the applicability of TOC concepts to time management, and specifically have tried to combine it with some of Mark's systems. Here are some examples:
http://markforster.squarespace.com/fv-forum/post/2638237
http://markforster.squarespace.com/forum/post/2663767#post2663767
http://markforster.squarespace.com/forum/post/2715439#post2715485

I'd welcome your thoughts / criticisms / feedback!
May 13, 2021 at 7:05 | Registered CommenterSeraphim
Reading through your posts and the conversations was pretty energizing. Sounds like a rowdy bunch on here! :)

It looks like you have been exploring TOC in some different arenas than me, which is exciting to see how much there is still to explore.

A friend of mine and I, both in the same industry, spent 2 1/2 years doing a deep dive into bottlenecks and margin in systems (which I believe is the answer to your question on bottlenecks in project management you mentioned in one of your posts). Understanding and exploiting the nature and location of margin in systems has become one of my main areas of focus and development. Looking forward to continuing the conversation.

It is also a little overwhelming to read the blog posts and comments and see how much valuable information is on this site! I have to add that to (what is currently an open) backlog so I can focus on my closable loops now!
May 14, 2021 at 19:58 | Unregistered CommenterDavid Clark
Seraphim,

When I was looking through some stuff in response to our conversation about TOC, I ran across this gem on Amazon, and ordered it...should come today.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0884272079/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It is a graphic novel version of The Goal!
May 15, 2021 at 19:04 | Unregistered CommenterDavid Clark
Saw this in the comments/reviews section for this book on Amazon in a review by John Pearson:

"“Jeff Bezos has made “The Goal” required reading for his top executives at Amazon, where it has been called ‘a bible’ for the team behind the company’s fulfillment network.” And “Fortune Magazine” compared “The Goal’s” leading character to “Obi-Wan Kenobi instructing Luke Skywalker on the use of the force.”
May 15, 2021 at 19:08 | Unregistered CommenterDavid Clark
David Clark:

The graphic version of the novel is kind of fun. They also did a movie version! It's surprisingly difficult and expensive to find -- here is a preview -- http://www.toc.tv/player/the-goal-movie-excerpt

You can also get access to the movie by becoming a member of TOCICO -- I've been a member for a couple of years, and it has been well worth the cost. They have ongoing free webinars on a variety of topics -- manufacturing, supply chain, project management, healthcare, IT, etc. -- as well as access to all the videos and presentations from past conferences going back several years. Very valuable resource. http://www.tocico.org/general/custom.asp?page=TheGoalMovieClip

Some other great resources on TOC are :
-- TOC.tv -- many free videos, and a paid membership gives access to much more -- http://toc.tv/
-- Kelvyn Youngman's fantastic and detailed site "A Guide to Implementing the Theory of Constraints (TOC)" -- http://www.dbrmfg.co.nz/
-- Kristen Cox -- TOC in government -- http://www.google.com/search?q=kristen+cox+toc
-- Clarke Ching "The Bottleneck Guy" -- http://www.clarkeching.com/
-- Alan Barnard -- http://dralanbarnard.com/resources/videos/


<< “Jeff Bezos has made “The Goal” required reading for his top executives at Amazon >>

I am convinced this has been instrumental to Amazon's success. One of Goldratt's last novels was on distribution and supply chain -- http://www.amazon.com/Isnt-Obvious-Revised-Eliyahu-Goldratt/dp/0884271943 -- it's very good. Clarke Ching has an interview with Dr Goldratt discussing this book here: http://www.clarkeching.com/eli-goldratt-interview Many others have continued to develop Goldratt's supply chain ideas -- I think DDMRP is especially helpful -- http://www.demanddriveninstitute.com/

Many of these things are directly or indirectly relevant to time management and personal organization. Things from The Goal, such as the five focusing steps, reducing batch sizes, etc., are directly transferrable to time management. Other concepts such as the Cloud conflict diagram from Goldratt's "It's Not Luck" novel, and many ideas from the Critical Chain novel on project management, also translate directly to time management and personal workflow.
May 15, 2021 at 23:59 | Registered CommenterSeraphim
David and Seraphim:

I remember reading "The Goal" quite a few years back - I think on Seraphim's recommendation, and I certainly enjoyed it and there were some interesting points.

However I seem to remember that i was left with the impression that the resulting systems were very fragile. I kept asking myself the question "What happens if there's a strike or a natural disaster?"

Like I say, it was a long time ago that i read it and perhaps my memory is faulty. And no doubt you will tell me the answer to my question!
May 16, 2021 at 1:19 | Registered CommenterMark Forster
Mark Forster:

My answer would be that TOC is specifically designed to handle variation and uncertainty -- this is the explicit purpose of the use of buffers to protect the constraints.

This kind of thing is discussed in The Goal, but I think it is illustrated more clearly in Goldratt's short business novel on retail distribution, Isn't It Obvious?, where the issue takes center stage. http://www.amazon.com/Isnt-Obvious-Revised-Eliyahu-Goldratt/dp/0884271943

In manufacturing, the buffers take the form of WIP product in front of the constrained resource, waiting to be processed by the constraint -- protecting the constraint by ensuring it is never idle. The size of the buffer depends on the typical variation you would find in the factory. A bigger buffer offers more protection but comes at higher cost -- greater lead teams, greater carrying costs, more difficulty in managing and prioritizing the buffer, etc. So it becomes an economic decision -- you choose a buffer size that will cover whatever level of variation you decide to protect against, for the given cost.

In project management, the buffer is a time buffer that protects the whole critical path, rather than having safety time embedded in each task. You basically move all the safety out of each task, and aggregate it into one large buffer. Managing a project's schedule then becomes a matter of managing that buffer. And essentially that buffer is your primary tool for managing all the uncertainty and risk in the project. If you are in a very volatile or uncertain environment, you might choose to use a larger buffer.

In supply chain, you are essentially creating buffers for each product, component, and subcomponent in your whole supply chain. The buffers are sized to respond to the changing lead times and uncertainties both upstream in the preceding supply chain and in the downstream demand for each item.

In all these cases, you can also adjust the buffer sizes dynamically based on changing circumstances. Nowadays this is a really big issue with supply chains -- COVID has been very disruptive, lead times have increased, and supplies are less reliable. A TOC-managed supply chain will respond dynamically to this situation by resizing the buffers. You can be proactive about this and simulate different future scenarios -- for example, estimating what buffer size you would need if the lead times for a part suddenly doubled, or demand suddenly changed, etc.. You can then craft a strategy that addresses the changes. For example, if lead times double, and this causes your buffers to get too large (requiring too much cash outlay, or building up inventories that could outlast the life of your product), it gives you enough visibility into the situation to take appropriate action -- finding alternate suppliers, redesigning your product roadmap, etc.
May 16, 2021 at 5:21 | Registered CommenterSeraphim
Seraphim:

Then maybe the fact that buffers weren't central stage in The Goal was what caused me to query the robustness of its methods? I've never read Isn't It Obvious? so wouldn't have had the full teaching about buffers explained to me.

But then haven't buffers been a staple of supply chains since the year dot?
May 16, 2021 at 15:22 | Registered CommenterMark Forster
Mark Forster:

<< Then maybe the fact that buffers weren't central stage in The Goal was what caused me to query the robustness of its methods? >>

Yes that would make sense.


<< But then haven't buffers been a staple of supply chains since the year dot? >>

Yes but TOC's approach is somewhat unique in several respects: the strategy for placing and aggregating the buffers, the specific method for calculating buffer size based on lead times and variability, how buffer levels trigger action, and how buffer sizes change dynamically in response to changing conditions rather than forecasting.

Similarly, project management has used buffers for decades but the TOC method removes all safety buffers from individual tasks and aggregates them in a way that makes it much more effective for protecting the whole project, which is what really counts.
May 16, 2021 at 18:41 | Registered CommenterSeraphim
Mark and Seraphim,

I would disagree that a TOC project is fragile...it is actually the opposite. By placing margin in the correct locations in the system, and managing by watching the margin (you have to create a structure in the system that makes the margin explicit, but once you have done that, your primary job is then to watch the margin.

I have learned to place small batches of margin as each activity enters the main stream, but most of the margin is allocated to the end of the stream, and any unused margin gets aggregated to the end when possible.

Makes for quite a nimble and solid system, at least in my experience, applying the theory to 2 different arenas (personal management and construction management.)

Dave
May 17, 2021 at 22:19 | Unregistered CommenterDavid Clark
David Clark:

<< I would disagree that a TOC project is fragile. >>

I'm only going by my rather hazy recollection of reading The Goal about seven years ago, And I remember my own reactions to it better than I remember what it actually said.

If I remember rightly my reactions to it were:

1. It didn't make enough allowance for things like strikes and natural disasters. Since my first twenty years of work was all about life-and-death emergencies in hostile environments, I am naturally sensitive to this.

2. I'd been working as a consultant, author, coach and seminar giver since 1986 and my own working practices seemed to have naturally conformed to most of what was said in the book, particularly in the handling of a large number of clients and use of resources (i.e. myself) in the most effective way.

3. I started seeing bottlenecks everywhere in road traffic systems and wondered why they never seemed to get sorted out as it was usually painfully obvious what was causing them.
May 18, 2021 at 9:46 | Registered CommenterMark Forster
David Clark:

<< I have learned to place small batches of margin as each activity enters the main stream, but most of the margin is allocated to the end of the stream, and any unused margin gets aggregated to the end when possible. Makes for quite a nimble and solid system, at least in my experience, applying the theory to 2 different arenas (personal management and construction management.) >>

I'd love to hear more about how you are using this for personal management.
May 18, 2021 at 16:33 | Registered CommenterSeraphim
Seraphim,

Here are a couple of links to some youtube videos on my channel that I made for a particular group, discussing margin in a system.

https://youtu.be/Q1YpaEmXbB8
https://youtu.be/Vm7XQ3MnmO4

Dave
May 23, 2021 at 15:01 | Registered CommenterCafe655
I use Trello for simple projects and Jira for more complicated ones
July 16, 2021 at 15:26 | Registered CommenterMarine Winterstein
Hi everyone, so I have done a lot of research in this area, to the point where I am starting my own company advising smaller businesses on how to be effective in improving their results.
The basic areas to manage (these can be for individuals as well)
- Operations
- Improvement Projects
- Value Delivery
- Goals

My 6 step process is a mash up of a few different methodologies.
- I subscribe to pretty much everything lean, kanban and 4DX. I have come across TOC and I personally see it's place in lean, though some might argue they are different. I see them both as trying to optimise the delviery of value, without being fooled into trying to blindly maximise utilisation at indiviudal steps in a process, which in many cases decreases rather than increases the delivery of value.
- Kanban is all about making things visual.
- 4DX has a four step process that you can see in their book.
and LOTS (I mean LOTS!!!!) more from FVP to GTD to OKRs etc...

The six steps I use are
1 - Know the situation - Make your work visible. Know what you currently do. Use kanban boards and value stream boards.
2 - Know the mission - Make sure you know where your primary goal or objective.
3 - Know the plan - Determine the best strategy to reach your goal. Know the key results that will deterrmine if you are successful.
4 - Know the score - Keep a highly visible scoreboard, which lets you know when you are succeeding in reaching your key results and goals.
5- Build a winning culture - Check in and connect your measurable actions to your victories.
6- Level up - Repeat and improve

BEST TOOLS
- Record Breaker Ops Matrix - you can get a copy at https://recordbreaker.com.au/opsmatrix/
I am making improvements on this matrix as I go, but in keeping with lean and agile principles, I am releasing a beta version :) Would love to get your feedback.
- I also have a simplified version at https://bit.ly/3oWJum7

Best kanban tool (both tools are best value for money) I find kanbanflow better for personal use, but kanbanzone for clients as it looks a bit flashier. Kanban flow also has great time tracking (including pomodoros if you are into that) that kanbanzone can't match at the moment.
- Kanban Zone
https://kanbanzone.com/rb/ This affiliate link gets you slightly longer trial. Really good software, and always making improvements.
- Kanban Flow
https://kanbanflow.com/board/xC3E5To

I just want to add emphasis to how awesome I think the Ops Matrix is, especially combined with a permanent scoreboard. You can get a copy of a google sheets scoreboard at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1AoEAp88LcHUSOVIVrPCbJtCcpTPQldUjF7nGge0GAxo/copy?usp=sharing

You can make the scoreboard full screen on a dedicated scoreboard monitor, and zoom in or out to the right size in chrome holding ctrl + alt + (+ or -)

The Ops Matrix is great because I discovered that my ops matrix scores were effectively a lead measure as well as a lag measure. It is also a great way of managing all the repeating tasks that tend to clog up most GTD and FVP style systems. I love these sytems by the way, I just feel like I have worked out a better solution that can work with FVP as well if you want it to. As usual, most of us are trying bits and pieces of various systems anyway, so I am just suggesting that the ops matrix can work for you too.

I hope this doesn't sound inapproprate or salesy. That is not my intention. In a nut shell, I have made some free spreadsheets that you might find useful, and recommended the two best kanban tools that fit a reasonable budget based on extensive testing.
November 18, 2021 at 9:44 | Unregistered CommenterJohn Wilkinson
The best Project management software depends on your specific needs, team size, budget, and project requirements. Here are some popular project management software options.

I can suggest you the best software called "Aproove"

https://www.aproove.com/
August 12, 2023 at 17:07 | Unregistered CommenterHevinjose
Speaking about construction project tools, With [url=https://einpix.com/en/blog/construction-management-software]Einpix[/url] construction management software, we've experienced streamlined communication, efficient resource allocation, and enhanced cost tracking. It's become an indispensable part of our workflow, ensuring our projects are not only completed on time but also within budget. Highly recommended!

[url=https://einpix.com/en/blog/construction-management-software]Einpix[/url]
September 21, 2023 at 22:28 | Unregistered Commenterben
<a href=“https://web.sites.by/forums+on+project+management/page/3/"alone </
September 21, 2023 at 22:34 | Unregistered Commenterligin