Re: Tracking projects
From: Catya Belfer (catyapobox.com)
Date: Fri, 17 Apr 2015 08:31:07 -0700 (PDT)
I've been a PM for ~15 years for my dayjob.  It depends a lot on whether
you mean projects or tasks.  For any project with ~20 tasks or fewer, my
vote (both as a pro and at home) is a spreadsheet.  For home, I'd
specifically say google docs.

There are, of course, a bunch of more sophisticated systems out there - the
biggest gate is, as someone said already, getting people ON THEM.

(At work most of the PMOs (project management organizations) I've been part
of use Microsoft Project and JIRA.  The former is ABSOLUTELY NOT the right
system for anything cohousing-related other than building, but JIRA is cool
and useful)

     - cat

Catya Belfer   -  www.catya.org
Technical Director   -   www.cohousing.org
Cohousing in MA - www.mosaic-commons.org

On Thu, Apr 16, 2015 at 11:06 AM, R Philip Dowds <rpdowds [at] comcast.net>
wrote:

>
> I agree with Sharon.  In my world — that of design and construction —
> there are all kinds of sophisticated project management programs, some VERY
> expensive, that integrate, cross-reference, and calculate schedules,
> budgets and actors, while at the same time coding and filing e-mail,
> issuing personal To Do lists, and archiving sequential versions of
> documentation.  These programs are hard to learn, and if left to the
> ministrations of entropy, devolve into uselessness within a matter of
> weeks.  (Used properly, however, they can be great tools.)  But …
>
> One of the best project managers I ever met was a construction field
> supervisor who never graduated from high school, but nonetheless had
> considerable gifts.  In his head he maintained a mental time/space map of
> the entire construction project, and knew “instinctively” when some
> sub-task was slipping in a way that endangered the deadline or budget.
> Most of us, however, are not that good, and need some combination of
> calendar, spreadsheet, and list maker to keep our ducks in a row.
> Filemaker is one kind of all-purpose tool; another one, particularly good
> for managing activity and money over time, is FastTrack Schedule 10.  Both
> of these are acquired tastes.
>
> RPD
>
>
> > On Apr 16, 2015, at 10:34 AM, Sharon Villines <sharon [at] 
> > sharonvillines.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> >> On Apr 16, 2015, at 9:38 AM, Sue STIGLEMAN <sstigleman [at] bellsouth.net>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> Does anyone have systems to share about how you track projects -- the
> plan, the steps, the status?
> >>
> >> We've tried various things --email (blech)spreadsheetstables
> >> Everything has problems, and things still drop through the cracks.
> >
> > I've looked at this for years. A group tracking system doesn't work well
> unless everyone chooses to use it -- AND LIKES TRACKING. We have one person
> who is a detailed detail person. She makes precise lists and actually
> follows them. I make lists too, but then I forget I ever made them. For me
> they are just a process for organizing my thoughts.
> >
> > So the take-away is you first have to have a person or persons who
> actually likes doing the tracking whatever system they use. It's more about
> the people who are doing the job.
> >
> > One of our detail people makes the  lists for workdays. I think she uses
> Word with 4 column tables. (I would use a spreadsheet or a database.) I
> think the columns are:
> >
> > Task description
> > Who can explain what needs to be done and what materials needed
> > Volunteer's name
> > Status of the task at the end of the workday.
> >
> > We have a person who sits at a table in the dining room with the list
> during the workday and talks to people about tasks. If the tasks aren't
> done, they stay on the list. The person who does the list will only do the
> list. She doesn't recruit volunteers to do the tasks later.
> >
> > The Admin Team uses our calendar for reserving rooms in the CH to put
> dates for papers that have to be filed once a year or every 2-3 years.
> >
> > Doing task reminders is irritating all the way around. With the
> umpteenth reminder, it's hard to be Shirley Temple again.
> >
> > When I joined the Facilities Team many years ago there were over 100
> tasks that had piled up. I like Filemaker Pro and did a database to track
> them and designed a printout that gave the status of each and the person
> responsible. I sent reminders for unfinished items to each person every two
> weeks. And sent requests for volunteers for the tasks that had no
> volunteers.
> >
> > They all got done but it took almost a year of consistent attention and
> people groaned when they saw my name on an email again.
> >
> > My suggestion is one person who keeps lists, and other people who do the
> reminding. We are all busy and cohousing isn't the first priority in most
> of our lives so reminders are necessary and even helpful. People to fall
> back on are also necessary.
> >
> > Someone will mention Google Docs -- I'm not a fan but many love them.
> I'm hoping Katie Henry will weigh in on this since she is a professional
> project manager.
> >
> > Sharon
> > ----
> > Sharon Villines
> > Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> > http://www.takomavillage.org
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >
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