Top 10 Project Management Tips by Smartdraw.com

Here's an article I got from SmartDraw.com. It essentially revolves around project management. It includes categories like planning and research, documentation, training as well as implementation. I think they know their stuff. It shows with SmartDraw's helpful list, created by project management specialists, is designed to help business professionals get their projects off to a quick and successful start.

1. Planning List. When beginning a new project, make a list of all departments within your organization and what you may need from them. This will give you a step-by-step checklist of how to begin nailing down the specifics of your project plan.
2. Know Your Enemies. Prepare a list of the possible risks to the successful completion of the project plan. Have a meeting and get input from others on what potential risks might be. Risks are the enemy, so know them and keep them close.
3. Documentation. Document all aspects of a requested change to a project plan (no matter how small), including who is requesting the change and where it falls as a priority. If it changes other priorities, write a detailed explanation of the change itself, and note who is authorizing the change. This not only gives you a clear picture of what you will need to do next, it serves as personal protection in the case of any miscommunication among others in the organization.
4. Priorities Change. This is a fact and a course of life. Yes, it makes project planning more difficult, but an effective project manager will let changes roll off their back and re-prioritize.
5. In the Loop. Project managers need to make themselves known to all of the departments involved in their project. If a department loses an employee, this may affect the project timeline, so it's important to be in the loop for any changes. Request that you be added to relevant departmental e-mail groups—the sooner you get information, the sooner you can revise your plan.
6. Urgency & Momentum. Convey a sense of urgency during the course of a project in order to keep the momentum going. Once you let your guard down, those around you who you need to help you meet your milestones, may start to feel relaxed too. As the PM, communicating an impending deadline in a productive manner is your key to keeping staff motivated.
7. Give Away the Keys. Delegate, delegate, delegate. Giving ownership to others on the team keeps them close and involved in the project, and they realize that the success or failure of the project is tied directly to them.
8. Training. Keep in mind any training that may be necessary for people on your team. This training time will need to be included in any timetable you create, as training can happen before and during a project life cycle.
9. Revisions. Your project plan will most likely go through many revisions. When communicating with others, make sure you are all referring to and working from the most current revision.
10. Audience. When communicating your project progress, keep in mind which audience you are addressing. Your supervisor may have different priorities than the client, so try and stay specific. Spending too much time talking about an area not directly related to your audience may give the impression that their aspect of the project is not being given the proper attention.

Cohen And Pratt's 7 Laws of Good Leadership

Here's a really nice article from Cohen & Pratt. This article is about leadership and the laws that you should keep if you want to be a good leader.

You’re not a leader unless others follow, and in order to get people to follow you must exhibit qualities that inspire confidence and trust – confidence that you know what you’re doing and trust that you’ll do what you say you’ll do. Following are seven attributes that any good leader must have to keep their team following them.

1. Clearly outline your vision. You need to inspire people by giving them purpose and direction. If you can’t articulate your vision, don’t expect to get the best out of your team. People want to be part of a success story. Show them how you can lead them there.

2. Develop a plan to accomplish your vision. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, but you need to demonstrate how you’re going to lead your team from point A to point B. Break your plan down into simple, clear steps and assign a deadline to each step. Make sure everyone is on board, and then start rowing in the same direction.

3. Be decisive. No one wants to follow someone who can’t make up their own mind. Do your homework, get wise counsel and then make a decision that you can stick with.

4. Adapt. When things change in the marketplace you need to make adjustments. Take out your plan, get your team together, brainstorm ways to adapt to changes and then implement the necessary changes. Remember, your plans are living, breathing documents; not static, dogmatic doctrines.

5. Keep your word. If you tell an employee you’re going to do something, then do it. Nothing destroys trust and confidence in a team member like breaking your word. And forgetfulness isn’t an excuse.

6. Praise your staff whenever it’s warranted. This is important to keep moral high, but avoid false praise because all it does is to diminish genuine praise.

7. Be honest and fair-minded. Employees will notice even the most subtle displays of dishonesty or biased behavior over a period of time. And playing favorites is a one sure-fire way to destroy the moral of your team. So, don’t do it.

Evaluate Your Holiday Online Marketing Campaigns

A recent article on Search Engine Land called for online retailers to perform post mortem analyses on their holiday marketing campaigns. I couldn't agree more. The article goes on to say that, marketer's shouldn't assume that people are done shopping on December 22nd. Sure, most retailers experience a sharp decline in activity post holiday, but the 2006 drop-off wasn’t nearly as significant as in years past, and we do not expect it to be that dramatic in 2007 either. The reason? Maybe it’s the increasing effect of gift cards, or that most shoppers realize that the real deals happen after the holidays. Either way, savvy marketers should be prepared to capture post-holiday activity.



And in order to make the most of this post mortem analysis, here are a list of questions that have been recommended to accurately define how the online campaigns worked or didn't work:

• Did messaging target your customer base, data should reveal the information you need to tweak your messaging so it is more closely aligned with the language of your customers
• What were the best moving or most profitable items?
• Can you identify compatible product combinations?
• Have you aligned website promotions and product availability to influence overall merchandising strategy?
• Research competitor performance in comparison with your own history

Search engine land recommends you perform post mortem reports on your holiday campaigns. And with good reason - the holidays bring in more than 50% of the average monthly sales for most retailers. This is painstaking and probably time consuming for most companies that do their own analytics, especially during the holidays. But the results from this study will provide you with elements and capacities to improve your campaigns and set it on a competitive position as you once more launch campaigns in the first quarter of 2008.