Higgy posted:

Not sure on those integrations but my teams do use confluence to track requirements. The nutshell of it is that we generate software feature pages that have a table of requirements broken down into enough detail and acceptance test language that our devs can work and test them.

Confluence then has a feature that lets you covert a table of detailed requirements into a series of Jira tasks that we can then track or decompose further into sub tasks if needed. This includes a nice two-way thing that shows that task status on the confluence page and gives me an easy status report to run my stand ups with.

I’m not sure if that answers you questions but that’s roughly how I manage my software projects.

Murgos posted:

It really depends on the person.

Being technically savvy doesn't make you a good PM. It also doesn't make you a bad PM. I've seen it go both ways as well as vice-versa that being technically clueless doesn't stop people from being good managers of technical programs.

Generally though, being able to talk intelligently about the technical challenges is a useful skill, it generally ads credibility to your schedule and cost estimates.

Dik Hz posted:

If you're given sufficient instruction, information, and exposure, are you even a project manager any more?

Kidding aside, if a sponsor has the time and understanding to provide those 3 things, they can just assign a matrix employee to it.

ilkhan posted:

So much like the guy above, I've got experience in IT, just finished by degree in business which included a class on project management, completed the CAPM, and have no clue where to go from here for a career that includes "project" in the title. So... where do I go from here? I've got some influencing people type books on the way, but looking for some good directional advice beyond that.

High Lord Elbow posted:

Every duration estimate you've ever heard is hugely padded, and people's only incentive is to keep you from finding that out. If you lock them in a room and make an intern watch them work, that two-week task will be done before lunch.

Everyone knows that multitasking is hugely counterproductive, but our organizations are typically set up to encourage it.

Heners_UK posted:

I know what I'm about to say is part of PMing... but loving hell, vendors, appreciate that I occasionally want a straight loving answer without having to spend half an hour describing my project and all the use cases. I get it that you need to know the background but it's possible to take that to far and I know when I'm being fished for Professional Services hours. Did it really have to take that long to organise some relevant staff training for me and my team?

Also, appreciate this thread is here because I moved into this role about 8 months ago and it can feel a bit lonely.

TheLawinator posted:

So I've walked into the family business, HVAC contracting, with no experience in PM. We have no software besides quickbooks, meaning physical contract management, paper timecards, paper service tickets that aren't digitized, all that trash. I need to build a system that works for both the new construction side and the service side of the business. Thing is, I don't know where to start other than to ask those of you who are in construction or close enough for any suggestions.

I can't really tell the difference between the wheat and the chaff other than Procore seems nice but costs 550 bucks a month which is a bit rich.

savesthedayrocks posted:

Sweet, a PM thread.

I was promoted to a “Sr Program Manager” (whatever the hell that is) almost a year ago. I still have no idea what I’m doing. Definitely feeling the imposter syndrome, mostly because my background is in people management and operations where there are clearly defined metrics to hit.

Topping it off, my managers haven’t been PM’s, and even though I work at a bank you’ve heard of I don’t have project software. Other groups use JIRA, so I’ll have to see if I can get access and learn about it.

If there’s a mentor pool out there of people connecting I’m all ears since I can’t put to much out there online.

Heners_UK posted:

MS Planner folks... It's the MS Paint of Project Planning. Occasionally great for purpose but want to do anything advance and you'd better be an utter master at it.

Actually, considering some of the MS Paint art out there, I think this really is the analogy for MS Planner.

Heners_UK posted:

Nope. I mean Planner

Dik Hz posted:

My work just instituted a policy of paying for up to $3k a year in graduate school credits, plus unlimited spend on test prep and test fees for professional certifications. They also are hosting a 5 PDU class on PM fundamentals that I'm signed up for. Looks like I'm getting a free PMP.

Dik Hz posted:

1 year to qualify and a 12 month prorated clawback period afterwards. Not bad, imho.

Dori posted:

This is a little outside the regular PM scope but I have a project portfolio management problem that I was hoping someone might have a good idea for.

Some background
I am the operations manager of a 90-100 staff professional services company.

We have grown rapidly over the least three years (from 15 to 100) and as a result a lot of new systems, process and projects are underway or have been partially implemented to make us more efficient in how we operate (haha…).

We don’t have a PMO as our consulting work isn’t really “project based” in that way. It’s very much “specialist meets clients, agrees needs, talks to them heaps over 3month to 5 years, we get paid, done”. We have excellent resource management processes for all this and it’s no issue. Where more than one consultant supports a client they us their own project management processes and a range of tools/software to manage that. We don’t mess with that. It’s working fine.

We do however have a ton of internal ‘projects’ underway to change the way we do things and we have a mountain of new business processes that have either been designed on the fly or only run for one FY cycle so need a ton of ironing out. Because most of our staff are consultants out in the field, they have no time to support these projects. So almost all of it is done by a small number of managers and internal business support roles (think 6-10 people). We need a way to better plan, prioritise and track:

• What internal projects we have on the go, who’s leading them and when the big milestones/deliverables/activities are due
  
• When new business processes create big chunks of work for key teams/leaders (e.g. annual budget cycles, board reporting cycles, quality assessment cycles for client work, professional development days/weeks for consultants etc)
  
• How these various activities do (or don’t) align to our strategic objectives
  

what I’m wanting to find
Ideally, I’d like a fairly simple tool where I can enter what is happening (projects/processes), who is in charge (by person or team/business group), what the key milestones are and what strategic goals it relates to.

I’d then like to be able to map the key milestones across the year so I can adjust deadlines/milestones, understand issues around conflicting work/workload and actually cull some of the stuff we really don’t need be doing. The biggest issue really is understanding what key activities/milestones currently happen when (i.e. which month) and whether this makes sense in the grand-scheme of things.

I do not need a project management tool. I don’t need resource management on a person by person basis. I don’t need any financial, budget etc info. But it’s not as simple as just having a board of “in progress” and “backlog” because we don’t run on an agile basis and operational business activity doesn’t happen in sprints.

Tons of the big PPM tools available have what I need but they are WAY WAY too big given they do a million other things as well. Plus that comes with a jolly big price-tag and we are looking for something which the CEO, CFO and I can use not something we want to roll out to the whole business. Project management tools on the other hand require way too much detail to give me a wrap up/high level view when I don’t care about HOW this works gets done. I only care about IF and When (usually what month not what day) it gets done.

Any ideas/suggestions would be much appreciated.


PS: here’s a picture of what this planning process looks like on paper on a whiteboard. I.e. one post-it per milestone with project name on top and in swim lanes by lead team/group. This was taken when we got about 10% of the way through and got sick of writing the same post-it’s out over and over but it does work well for visualising everything that is on the go. I would be very happy with this in digital format with the ability hide/show post-it’s based on project/team/individual/strategic link etc for future tracking purposes.

Higgy posted:

It’s extremely common to be an individual contributor in addition to PM.

angry armadillo posted:

Its thin ice because I am not my colleagues boss and I have to tell our boss if stuff needs attention,

Ultimately my aim is to move into the wider business as a PM,

Knight2m posted:

I am 1.5 classes away from getting my Master's degree (paid through my company). Did I just waste my time?

PCjr sidecar posted:

Dik Hz posted:

You use the same poo poo for estimating your effort for qualifying for a PMP as you would when planning resource estimates for a project.

Crazyweasel posted:

I’ve always been a fan of if your risk probability is >50% then you make it a reality and file the opportunity.

“We are going to lose the contract for being overweight, but we have an opportunity to keep it by actually solving the problem!”

Dik Hz posted:

If you’re making up your own definitions then sure you can label it whatever you want.

Also lol at using a PM’s initial risk assessment matrix in litigation.

E: also I will add that getting a project team to dicker on whether something is a 4 or 5 and then coming in with “well actually because of the definition I made up in my head, it’s really a 7” is so perfectly apropos to real life project management than I’m honestly impressed.