Product Review: Microsoft Planner
I’m not a spokesperson for Microsoft Planner, but I should be. It’s no exaggeration to say that this tool transformed the way I work and helped me recover from a place of burnout. Let me give the context for why I find Planner to be such an effective tool.
Product Review: OKRs.app
My readers know I’m obsessed with goal setting (see here and here.) In an effort to do this bigger and better than before, I’ve been working to transition from setting annual goals to quarterly OKRs, or objectives and key results. For those who are not familiar with this concept, OKRs are a goal setting framework popular in the tech world.
Product Review: Evernote
Now that many of us, myself included, are undergoing a period of forced solitude and reflection, it seems like a good opportunity to test out some productivity products that I have been meaning to explore. I’ll start this series by brushing the dust off a product that I had experimented with many years ago—Evernote.
Piling On
What happens when you’ve pruned the list but those pesky weeds just won’t seem to go away? Sometimes, there are situations where you’ve done all you think you can do. And, somehow, still, inexplicably, you find yourself with new tasks added to what was supposed to be your slimming to do list.
Pruning the List
We can try every possible hack to become more productive. We can use a Kanban board to visually document the backlog. We can batch similar tasks to knock them out more quickly. But ultimately what we need to do is prune. If we haven’t pruned, we’ll forever be rough around the edges—overcommitted and overextended.
Writing an Email for Your Task Lead
It may seem rudimentary, pointless, or like it’s beneath you. But, crafting a message for your task lead that accompanies the kickass deliverable you recently completed benefits both you and your PM.
Delivering Projects without Organizational Support
Even if you present a flawless pitch at inception, assemble the perfect team, and prepare high-quality deliverables, if the organizational appetite is not there, your project ultimately won’t cross the finish line. How do you combat a situation in which your project lacks organizational support? Here are some techniques to consider.
Solutioning and Project Management
When a colleague asked me to write about the difference between solutioning and project management, I knew that solutioning had transcended from a passing fad to a full-blown trend. Solutioning seeks to structure the problem solving process so that it is consistent, repeatable, and generates optimal results.
How to Issue a Data Call
One of the first tasks that junior project managers get assigned is to issue a data call to project stakeholders. Most find the task unimportant or unexciting, so they carelessly cut corners. Suddenly, the task has turned into a time suck that slows down the pace of the project. Here are some suggestions for issuing a high-quality data call.
Storyboarding for Report Writing
On the last few deliverables I’ve worked, we were having difficulty synthesizing the information in a coherent manner, incorporating perspectives from multiple authors, and organizing the content in a logical sequence for the reader to process. So, I’m trying a new approach. Here is our plan to storyboard as part of the report writing process.
How to Break Bad News
It’s not easy to share unpleasant news, but it’s a critical job function for project managers. If we don’t learn how to communicate risk effectively, we’ll never be skilled at what we do. So, how can we get better at breaking bad news?
How to Negotiate Salary
Despite the growing list of things we can and should talk about at work, money still remains a dirty word in many an American office. While our institutions struggle to mature to the point that we have salary transparency, here are some things you can do to support your quest to get paid.