A new podcast from Peter Taylor (The Lazy Project Manager)
Unscripted musings on business life, leadership, creativity, transformation and all the myriad of other work-life events that get in the way of a good nights sleep.
The Squid of Despair is a conceptual summation of what can go wrong, and often does, with mind-mapping or other creative techniques.
Born out of an idea for a book back in 2010, David and Peter have now made this mythical beast rise once again, phoenix like (from under the ocean waves, so a bit soggy probably), to explore all matters relating to ‘business life, leadership, creativity, transformation and all the myriad of other work-life events that get in the way of a good night’s sleep’ in the form of an unusual podcast.
How the Rise of Artificial Intelligence Will Change Your World
A new book from the author of #1 best-selling book ‘The Lazy Project Manager’
Enabling project managers to adapt to the new technology of artificial intelligence, this first comprehensive book on the topic discusses how AI will reinvent the project world and allow project managers to focus on people.
Studies show that by 2030, 80 percent of project management tasks, such as data collection, reporting, and predictive analysis, will be carried out by AI in a consistent and efficient manner. This book sets out to explore what this will mean for project managers around the world and equips them to embrace this technological advantage for greater project success.
Filled with insights and examples from tech providers and project experts, this book is an invaluable resource for PMO leaders, change executives, project managers, programme managers, and portfolio managers. Anyone who is part of the global community of change and project leadership needs to accept and understand the fast- approaching AI technology, and this book shows how to use it to their advantage.
I am working on my latest book ‘Team Analytics: How to run high performance teams and accelerate project success’, in conjunction with Bentzy Goldman of Perflo, and as part of this we are undertaking a survey to understand your team/project experiences
If you could do two things for me that would be amazing
Send the survey link to all of your colleagues and your social network
Thank you – and if you have any specific stories of challenges, and how you overcame them, then send them to me for possible inclusion in the book (out early 2022)
Peter Taylor: Speaker, Consultant, Trainer and Coach, Peter is the author of the number 1 bestselling project management book ‘The Lazy Project Manager’. He has built and led some of the largest PMOs in the world with organisations such as Siemens, IBM, and Kronos. In 2020 he was awarded the PMO Global Alliance ‘PMO Influencer of the Year Award’. www.thelazyprojectmanager.com
About Office Timeline:
Office Timeline is attempting to cut in half the amount of time teams spend on reporting, while doubling the attention VPs and executives give to their projects. We are committed to make projects, programs and planning more successful through highly visual, uncomplicated, easy-to-use, productivity software. Built for PMP® holders, the Office Timeline Pro PowerPoint add-in turns complex project data into simple slides that clients, VPs, and steering committees will easily understand. www.officetimeline.com
Special Live Webinar with Peter Taylor – The Lazy Project Manager – and Planview
Modernizing PPM: A Practical Four-Step Roadmap to Accelerate Agility
PM Today is delighted announce that our associate editor, Amy Hatton, will be hosting a very special live Planview webinar, featuring Author, Speaker, Coach, Consultant and Trainer, Peter Taylor – AKA The Lazy Project Manager.
Delegates are invited to join the webinar to find out how the PMO can lead the way in embedding speed and agility into strategy execution.
Peter will be joined by Planview’s Director of Solutions Marketing, Linda Roach. Together, they will explore:
Planview’s findings about why rapidly adapting strategy execution wins out, key barriers to change, and how Strategy Execution Leaders are leaving obstacles in the rear-view mirror.
Why right now is the time to claim the PMO’s seat at the executive table.
Four steps your PMO can take to accelerate PPM agility, outpacing the competition.
Practical tips, tricks, and toolkits for working smarter – not harder – to empower teams, get the right work done at the right time, and deliver the portfolio with visibility and clarity.
This will be a lively, thought provoking session packed with debate, challenge, and practical advice.
Amy will also host a live panel Q&A with these distinguished speakers, giving PMO and PPM professionals the chance to quiz Peter and Linda on the issues that are really on their minds!
Spaces are limited and interest is expected to be very high – so delegates are encouraged to register now secure their seat the the table!
Planview has one focus: enabling the transformation journey as organizations rewire strategy to delivery in today’s fast-paced, highly disruptive markets. Our solutions enable organizations to navigate this journey and accelerate on-strategy delivery at enterprise scale. Planview’s full spectrum of Portfolio Management and Work Management solutions create organizational focus on the strategic outcomes that matter and empower teams to deliver their best work, no matter how they work. The comprehensive Planview platform and enterprise success model enable customers to deliver innovative, competitive products, services, and customer experiences. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Planview has more than 1,000 employees supporting 4,500 customers and 1.3 million users worldwide. For more information, visit: www.planview.com.
Project resource management by PMO has changed significantly in the last 20 years. It is no more a mere spreadsheet for allocating resources to the projects and plug the holes. It has evolved into a highly value-driven resource management solution.
A value-driven resource management is designed to help a business reduce project resource cost, increase billable/strategic utilization, beat market volatility and more. It can potentially become a key component of business profitability and sustainability.
This article would help you understand how a value-driven resource management can become a major game-changer for the PMO and become a profit centre for the business.
2. How Value-Driven Resource Management can be a Game Changer for the PMO?
Traditionally a PMO is seen as an administrative group setting up the project management standards and generating management reports. But in the last few years, a PMO has started evolving into a value centre. In this journey, modern resource management has become a key player. It can potentially deliver these values to the business.
Minimize under/over skilled resources on projects: Both over and under-skilled resources increase the cost of the project. A modern resource management solution can help in identifying and allocating the right person with the right level of skill and experience.
Utilize cost-efficient global and local resources: An enterprise-level resource management solution can help you in allocating the right mix of local and global resources to the project. It can reduce resource cost significantly.
Minimize last-minute hiring cost and compromises: With proper resource capacity planning, one can forecast the future resource requirements and be proactive in acquiring the right resources at the right cost ahead of time.
Minimize hiring/firing wastage: Resource forecasting can help in identifying resource shortage ahead of time so that the internal staffs can be retrained or hire consultant or freelancer resources for short durations. It reduces unnecessary wastage due to hiring and firing.
Minimize Project Onboarding and Offboarding Time: An efficient and accurate resource planning and forecasting can help a PMO minimize onboarding and offboarding time.
#2 Increase Billable and Strategic Utilization by 10-20%
Maximizing billable utilization of resources in a professional service business is the key to profitability and sustainability. Similarly, maximizing strategic utilization of the resources is key to achieve the strategic goal of the business.
Improving billable and strategic resource utilization requires deep foresight into the overall utilization of resources. It is challenging work, especially in a matrix organization with a continually changing resource demand. But a modern resource management solution can help you get a real-time foresight into future resource utilization. So that corrective actions can be taken ahead of time.
#3 Futureproof Your Workforce Against Market Volatility
Market volatility in the last few years is continuously impacting the viability of every business. A smart resource capacity planning process can help you forecast a shortage or excesses of the resources and help you take proactive action.
Bridge Resource Shortage Proactively
Retraining existing employees
Smoothening the project workload
Hiring contingent resources ahead of time
Forward Plan and Utilize Excess Resources
Bringing forward future projects
Selling resource time aggressively
Restructuring capacity in different areas
#4 Leverage the Skills of Resources Across Matrix Org. Structure
In a matrix organization structure, it may be challenging to acquire a particular skilled resource in one location compared to others. With an enterprise resource management solution, a PMO can easily identify the person with the right competencies and utilize him/her in any part of the world. At the same time, a high skilled person also can be used to provide training and to a person on the bench.
#5 Improve Employee Communication and Productivity
A value-driven resource management solution provides end-to-end work management along with collaboration to ensure that employees are working productively onsite and remotely. This solution can help a business:
Track status and time spent on both planned and unplanned work
3. Best Practices of Enterprise Resource Management Software
Resource management has evolved a lot during the last few years. Matured businesses have adopted well-developed and defined practices to get the best value out of their enterprise resources. Following are the best practices adopted across the industries.
Enterprise Resource Scheduling: Replace Silos with a Single Plan Replace silos of spreadsheets or home-grown tools with a single real-time resource plan across the whole enterprise. Establish a single source of truth about resource allocations to the projects or non-project work such as BAU, Support, admin, operation, and more.
Workforce Optimization: Allocate Right Resource to the Right Project Identify cost-effective competent resources with a click of a button across a matrixed organization structure so that the right resource can be allocated to the right project at the right time at the right cost.
Resource Utilization Forecasting: Maximize Billable and Strategic Utilisation Get foresight into the future utilization of resources with real-time forecasting and analyze how effective they are. Accordingly, move employees from non-billable work to billable or strategic work. Improvement in effective utilization has a direct impact on the profitability of the business,
Resource Capacity Planning: Minimize Shortfall or Excesses of Resources Forecast shortfall and excesses of resources ahead of time by identifying the gap between resource capacity against demand. Accordingly build strategies to bridge this capacity gap by juggling around project timelines, retrain current employees or hire a contingent workforce.
Pipeline Project Management: Forecast Proactively for Future Projects Forward plan resource requirements for future or pipeline projects. Start identifying and acquiring cost-efficient competent resources ahead of time. Avoid last-minute hiring and reduces the overall cost of the project.
End-to-End Project Forecasting: Gain Real-Time Foresight into the Future Resource supply and demand scenario change fast in almost every business. So, it is critical to have a real-time forecasting capability and get an early warning at every stage of the project life cycle. It helps in early decision making and take corrective actions proactively.
Team Collaboration: Streamline Communication and Reduce Chaos Enable team collaboration with the modern-day solution. It can seamlessly bring remotely distributed team on a single platform. Minimize waiting period and complete task efficiently in a lesser period.
Resource Modelling: Simulate and Improve Decision Making Use what-if analysis to get the best possible project resourcing outcome within the existing constraints. It helps you in moving around the project’s timelines based on priorities and put low-priority projects on hold.
Business Intelligence: Real-Time Multi-Dimensional Data Analysis Get real-time business intelligence for dynamically changing business scenarios. Do multi-dimensional analysis as per the specific requirements of stakeholders and get a granular view of data with configurable filters.
4. How to Select a Resource Management Software
Even though the fundamental principles of resource management may be the same, but every business has a set of unique requirements for the software. It depends upon the industry and type of business. So, selecting the right resource management tool is a complex process that requires a number of careful considerations.
User Interface and User Experience An essential part of software selection is that the end-user of the product likes user interface and can navigate through the system effortlessly without going thru too many clicks.
Manages Complexity of Matrix Organization Structure Matrixed organization structure has multiple reporting lines making resource identification, allocation, utilization very hard. So, the software should be capable of overcoming challenges of such complexities and manage resource efficiently and take care of the needs of different stakeholders.
Needs to be Configurable, Expandability and Scalable The software should be highly configurable to meet the specific needs of the business without compromise so that the business would have a competitive edge against the rivals. The software should also be expandable and scalable as per the growing needs of the business.
Capability to Reduce Resource Cost Resource management software should help your business to do multi-dimensional forecasting so that the business can get real-time business intelligence to improve business performance, profitability, and productivity.
Provides Real-Time Business Intelligence Resource demand changes every minute in real life. So, it is crucial to have real-time business intelligence, i.e. reports, analytics, and dashboards. It enables the management taking decisions based on the latest information
Integrates with Other Legacy Systems Most businesses have already invested in enterprise-level systems. They hold quite a bit of data required by a resource management solution, i.e., resource profile, competencies, project detail, etc. So, the resource management system must integrate seamlessly with existing applications.
Provides High Return on Investment Select a tool that provides a high return on investment in a short time. It should be possible to have a small phase of implementation without lots of investment so that the risk of investment and change management can be minimized.
5. The SAVIOM Solution
SAVIOM provides state of the art tool for supporting value-driven PMO. It has more than 20 years of experience working with high valued global companies around the world. SAVIOM also provides tools for enterprise resource management, professional service automation, and workforce planning software. So, SAVIOM can help your business to establish an efficient system geared towards your specific business challenges.
It was (and I still can’t quite believe this) one year ago that I last stepped off a plane after a visit to Geneva and Zurich to deliver a series of presentations and workshops for CERN and PMI Switzerland.
At approximately (this is flying after all, and Heathrow) 5:25pm GMT I walked off a plane without a clue as to what was about to happen (and I expect not alone in that either).
Beyond some rise in the Covid-19 news and more than the usual number of passengers and airport staff wearing masks, all was normal.
But it wasn’t normal at all.
We know that now!
This is the longest period in my life that I have not flown, since, well, since I started flying I think. You don’t do my type of work (project management, PMO leadership at a global level, keynote speaking, consultancy and training) without clocking up some pretty impressive airmiles and flight status.
It has, in more than one way, been an astonishing year.
My work dropped off a cliff by April 2020, with my pipeline dropping 75% in the space of two weeks. The demand for keynote speakers, trainers and consultancy seemed to almost magically disappear (and I am talking diabolical magic and not fluffy bunnies out of a top hat type of magic).
But I readjusted my service offerings, became a ‘black-belt’ in Zoom (and other) tools, and slowly rebuilt my business to a point where it looked like the children wouldn’t starve and we would have a roof over our heads.
And then came lockdown 2.0 (and then a little later in the year) lockdown 3.0.
For the second time in 12 months I readjusted my business to meet what market there was and became a PM ‘influencer’ working with companies like Wrike, Clarizen, Microsoft, Sharktower, and more.
And guess what? I am still standing and looking forward to an end to lockdown number three and a gradual return to whatever the new normal will be.
Hell, I am a project manager and I thrive on change right?
It hasn’t all been bad.
So much time spent at home with my partner (although a twice delayed wedding so far…).
So much walking and seeing my local sights (with a hint of getting slightly fitter perhaps).
A new vegetable garden planned and prepared.
Two new books written, including my 21 day challenge book with contributors round the world (The Projectless Manager), and two more on the way (AI and PM, and Project Teams).
An amazing role with Perflo (www.perflo.co) as expert advisor for this unique project people orientated technology.
New keynote topics developed and ready (just call please).
Virtual training courses built from the ground up to be truly effective remotely delivered.
A great partnership with the team at Office Timeline (www.officetimeline.com) a brilliant PowerPoint add in for project reporting.
Won the PMO Influencer of the Year award.
Plus a few more ‘irons in the fire’.
But I do honestly miss the travel, 2019 offered me Rio, Orlando, Rovinj amongst others, so if you are planning a ‘real’ conference in the future please get in touch. After all, how many other keynote speakers have had hundreds of project managers singing ‘Let it go’ from Frozen, or hundreds of PMO people all doing a ‘Mexican’ wave, or hundreds more wearing a red nose because it was cool and funny?
Exactly, The Lazy Project Manager is unique.
Call me.
Stay safe and here’s to a better 2021 for the whole world.
Elizabeth also offers Project Management Rebels, which is a teaching-led group mentoring programme.
You’ll get the foundational knowledge, the skills to deliver, and the community that so many project managers don’t have in their organisations.
You’ll learn through a combination of live teaching, videos, reading, Q&A sessions and our group of engaged and supportive project managers. We’ve also got exclusive templates and webinars to help you make more of a difference, more quickly.
Three great options from myself are also open to you and your teams:
The Lazy Project Manager: Productive Laziness in Project Management hosted by PMO Leader
Learn about the art of productive laziness with The Lazy Project Manager, understanding what is meant by the ‘productive lazy’ approach to projects (and life) and learn how to apply these lessons ‘to be twice as productive and still leave the office early’.
Based on the Amazon #1 Bestselling Project Management Book by Peter Taylor.
And hosted by PMI Budapest, Hungarian Chapter (but open to all)
Social Project Team Management
Attendees will learn about the paradigm shift to ‘Social Project Management’ and what the benefits are, as well as the challenges and opportunities, along with some research insights into the power of project team performance.
The workshop will explore a number of key questions in regard to the use of AI in project management, including:
Will AI be the end of the project manager or the opportunity to become even more successful project managers?
Starting by exploring the four levels of AI: Process Automation, Chatbots, Machine Learning and Autonomous project management, and hearing from two of the project technology market leaders in AI, will form a great foundation of understanding
This is followed by the sharing of research for Peter’s new book ‘AI in Project Management’ about what people feel about AI around the world – practitioners, providers, and thought-leaders.
If your project is in need of copy for a newsletter, blog, or social post, your first instinct may be to simply email or direct message someone from your content team with the request. But while content needs may feel like one-off tasks, this approach is a great way to get subpar results and watch things fall through the cracks. So how can project managers assign content writing in the most effective, results-driven way? Read on for our guide to getting your content right.
Selecting Your Topics
First, you need to know your content needs. Sometimes, a project requires content that’s for internal use only. If that’s the case, you’ll still need to help define your assignment and ensure it’s engaging. But if content creation is meant for outside consumption, that’s where a clear strategy will most benefit you in the long-run.
If you’re looking to assign content that will drive users to you, you’ll want to start by deciding on which keywords will bring the right audience. There area few differentkeyword search engines available to help you figure out the best phrases you’ll need your content writer to include in their copy. Incorporating those keywords in the title, meta description, first paragraph of copy and alt text of any images used are some of thebest ways to use key phrases.
Just because keywords are important for optimizing content doesn’t mean they’re the most important when it comes to content marketing assignments. Ultimately, if users are brought to your content via an organic search, but they feel it’s generalized, poorly written, or simply unhelpful, you’ll lose them quickly and possibly permanently. Keyword searches can help you pick overarching topics you will assign to your content writer but take this further by brainstorming unique topics that your writer can go in-depth on. Optimizing the user experience will help keep readers on your page longer, and engage them better with content, which will make your overall efforts much more worthwhile.
Organizing Assignments
Once you have content to assign, you’ll save yourself time and confusion by structuring the way you assign it. Whether you already have acollaborative project management tool, or arelooking to find one that will suit your needs, using this kind of software ensures transparency and clarity when it comes to assignments, team workloads, and deadlines.
Speaking of deadlines, it is critical that you set clear and reasonable deadlines when assigning tasks to content writers. If you are unsure of how long a task might take, you can always work with your writers to better understand how many hours will need to go into research, writing, and editing a piece. You can also look for a project management tool that includes time-tracking so that if you have repeated assignments, you can track how long they take and adjust future deadlines accordingly.
It is also essential that in the assignment phase, you includeall of the necessary context and details a copywriter will need to produce the best content. This includes any keywords you want your writer to use in the piece, the audience the content is meant for, the desired length or word count, and any additional information you know you need the final product to include. The more details you can provide to your writer upfront, the more likely you’ll end up with what you need on the first try.
Optimize for Results
When your copywriter has turned in an assignment, the work isn’t quite over yet. Depending on your organization, either they or you will need toreview the content to ensure it is optimized to the best of your ability. It might help you tocreate a standard checklist for optimization that your team uses to review each piece of content before it is published. This list should include things like confirming keywords are included in the right places within the content, making sure the content is mobile-friendly if that’s a possible platform it will be consumed on, adjusting URL structures, and linking to other relevant internal content where possible. A final review of content for SEO is a great way to make sure that all of the effort that goes into creating a great piece of content has the best chance of being discovered by the right audience.
Planning Ahead
If you’re overseeing a project that needs content produced over a longer period of time, you’ll do yourself many favors by creating a content calendar. Rather than simply addressing and assigning needed content as it comes up in your project timeline, creating a content calendar at the beginning of a project’s lifecycle can help you get ahead, make more strategic decisions about what content you need created, and can allow your writers to be ahead of schedule, making them more flexible if sudden changes are necessary.
Planning ahead also makes it much easier to create a strategy for writing content that links together. Back-linking existing content boosts its credibility and optimization, so building out a content calendar that has continuity while offering unique coverage can really help.
Finally, make sure you are analyzing the success of content as it is published. If you find that certain topics draw in the most readers, look to beef up your content around that topic so you are seen as the expert. Wherever you can learn from your success and duplicate it, you should.
As you find yourself manager content writers across your projects, adopting some of these best practices will help you get the most out of their work, and keep you on schedule, with mindful content choices that play into an overall project strategy.
Bismarie Plasencia is a Digital Marketing Manager at CROOW. CROOW is a project management tool that helps creative teams unite with project managers to get work done faster and more efficiently.
The Lazy Project Manager's Blog 