Category Archives: guest blogger

guest blogger, Project Management Scheduling, Project Management Software

Project Management vs. Task Management Software: What to Choose?

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Increase productivity. Save time. Get organized.

Both task and project management software share these three goals. To make that happen, they both offer features for collaboration, coordination, status-tracking and planning. On the surface, they often look similar, but despite these similarities, there are certain differences in the company’s needs that they address.

So how do you decide which one is best for you? Just check out our short comparison below and pick the type of tool that suits you best!

Task Management Software

Task management tools, by and large, are about organizing, assigning and prioritizing ongoing activities. These tasks may or may not have deadlines, and they don’t involve complex scheduling. For example, a journalist handling multiple articles can see each of them as a task and then cross them off as they are completed.

Task management software can help to keep employees focused on priority tasks and make juggling multiple responsibilities less overwhelming, as they can more easily decide what to work on next. All the workers need to do is work down the prioritized task list.

Task management software may be a good match if:

  • Your goal is to better prioritize your tasks and your team’s tasks.
  • You need a place to track an individual’s or group’s “to do” list.
  • Your tasks are not dependent on each other.

Schedule

Project Management Software

Project management tools are more about scheduling, setting deadlines and tracking progress on a bigger scale. Sure, you still have individual tasks, but when those tasks are part of a larger project, you need to complete them in a particular sequence. This sequence of tasks is heading toward defined milestones, marking the completion of the project’s major stages or the whole project.

So while an individual journalist might go with task management to make sure he turns his articles in on time, the managing editor needs to think about how the deadlines for those articles affect the deadlines for the department editor to proof the article, the photographer to shoot images to accompany the piece, the layout editor to plan where the article will fit and the printer to produce the final magazine. And the sequence of all their actions eventually leads to the big milestone, i.e., the publication of the monthly issue.

Some of these tasks may be worked on concurrently (the photographer and layout editor can do their jobs before the department editor delivers the final draft), but others are dependent on the previous task’s completion to move ahead (the printer can’t do his job until everything else is complete).

Project management software helps you to see these dependencies more clearly and set milestones that a project (or its phase) is heading toward. By monitoring the progress every step of the way, you can plan ahead more accurately and carefully manage your team’s resources.

Project management software may be the best way to organize work for your company if:

  • Your goal is to better schedule and monitor the overall progress of projects with defined due dates.
  • You’re managing the workload of multiple people performing different tasks for the same project.
  • Your tasks are dependent on each other.

What’s Right for Your Company?

If you’re just working on a few tasks, you might think that task management software is all you’ll ever need, but you never know what the future will bring. Maybe those tasks will evolve into a connected project. And while those who use project management software may be more concerned with the bigger picture, they still need to keep an eye on the details and progress of separate tasks.

That’s why choosing an all-in-one tool that incorporates the best of task and project management features can be the most efficient (and scalable!) solution for a company that wants to manage its work more efficiently and, therefore, achieve more!

guest blogger, Job Hunting, LinkedIn, Networking

7 Tips on Using LinkedIn to Land Your Dream Job

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As a professional social network, LinkedIn has transformed the way business professionals communicate, interact and network. It has also completely changed the recruitment and employment process, shifting the practice online with virtual connections taking the place of networking events.

With graduate employment prospects at an all-time low and an oversaturated and a hugely competitive job market, workers are looking at other means for boosting their job prospects. LinkedIn has become a highly valuable tool for both employers and potential employees.

Here are some simple tips on how to harness the unique power of LinkedIn to get you the best chance of landing your dream job.

Grow Your Network

They say when it comes to the marketplace it’s about who you know not what you know and whilst that may still be true, LinkedIn has made networking and getting to know people easier than it ever has been before. Your entire professional contact book can be managed and controlled online via LinkedIn. Maximise your reach across the business world by building up as large a network as possible. Link up with all your co-workers and friends and then join in discussions through groups, answer questions and generally interact with as many as people as possible. Mine the contacts of every new connection you make to further extend your contact list.

Optimise your Profile

Your profile is your virtual first impression and acts as your online business card. It needs to be as slick and professional as possible. There is no point having hundreds of connections to an outdated or misinformed profile. Optimise your profile to make yourself easy to find using keywords in your job title and bio. Provide clear points of contact and be clear about who you are, what you do and what you are looking for out of LinkedIn.

networking online

Boost Visibility

Now you have a perfectly optimised and highly attractive profile as well as a sizable bank of connections; you need to boost your visibility across the network. Stay front of mind with all your contacts by posting regular status updates, participating in conversations across LinkedIn groups and utilising the question and answer tool. Seek opportunities where you can show off your detailed knowledge and expertise in relevant fields.

Be Clear About What You Want

LinkedIn can be used in a variety of ways by a range of people seeking different results. Be clear from the beginning about what you wish to use LinkedIn for. In this case if you are looking for job opportunities, make sure you are connecting with people in your fields of interest. Follow companies that are in your area and connect with people already doing your dream job. How did they get to where they are now? What route did they have to take? Is this something you can follow?

Be Professional

Possibly the most important tip to using LinkedIn, particularly when job hunting, is to remain strictly professional at all times. LinkedIn is not Facebook or Twitter but a business network for professionals. Maintain a professional decorum in your communications. Personalise messages and adhere to the general practices and etiquette of the site. If you get an invitation to connect from someone you don’t know don’t just ignore them, start up a conversation and take their details, as you would at any networking event or conference in the past.

Seek out the best opportunities

Don’t just sit back and assume that job opportunities will appear now you have a strong connection list and an optimised profile. Take the initiative and find what you want first. Search for opportunities at companies and within sectors which interest you. Reach out to HR managers at companies which are advertising or you are keen to work with. You might find you have much in common (including some mutual connections).

Get Recommendations

There is nothing more credible to your job search than professionally endorsed skills and experience from relevant experts. Endorsements and recommendations from co-workers, managers or clients instantly boosts the credibility of your profile and shows potential employers clear evidence of the qualities you have and can offer.

Now go and land that dream job you’ve always wanted!

Ross Moffat is a freelance writer for Education Consultancy Beattie Communications, who has been writing professionally for over 2 years.

guest blogger, Interviews, Project Management Interviews

How to Assemble an Effective Interview

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There’s no “one size fits all” mold for conducting job interviews. Every industry and every job within those industries has its own qualifications and requirements. Still, there are a few ways to ensure your interview process contains the elements needed to separate strong and weak candidates.

Trust the interviewer

One often overlooked aspect of an interview is whether or not the person conducting it is qualified. This isn’t to say that you need to start interviewing you interviewers. Rather, assembling a panel of workers who offer diverse perspectives can lead to a broader understanding of whether or not a candidate is right for the opening.

For example, a wholesale makeup distributor is looking for a new warehouse manager because the old manager is transferring. The problem is the person in charge of hiring decisions deals much more with the product and customer side of the business than the behind-the-scenes dirty work. Therefore, this person might ask the previous warehouse manager as well as someone in HR to sit in on the interview and perhaps participate.

Each person on the panel can then judge each interviewee based on their own knowledge and experience with the company, making for a more informed decision. The HR manager may love a candidate’s people skills, but the previous warehouse manager thinks a lack of forklift experience could lead to problems. Second and even third opinions can offer insight that might not be apparent with a one-on-one interview.

Throw out some curveballs

If nailing the interview is the most important part of landing a job, then you shouldn’t make it too easy for candidates to supply formulaic and often rehearsed answers. That’s why it’s important to include a few questions aimed at taking the interviewee out of his or her comfort zone. Asking an out of place question allows the interviewer to see how a candidate is able to improvise, which is often an important part of any job.

If you’d prefer not to ask a random question to keep candidates on their toes, putting through a creative test or exercise might help you reach the candid response you are looking for. For instance, the makeup company looking for someone to work in sales might put candidates through an improvisation selling exercise. But because job seekers will be prepared to talk about the key product, in this case makeup, it would be wise to choose something out of the ordinary.

Give your interviewee a child’s toy or a bag of trail mix and then ask for their pitch. These kinds of tests, which have no “right” answers, put candidates on the spot and display the candidate’s problem solving skills.

Offer interview training

Just as there are strategies to impressing your interviewer, there are also ways to improve the way you interview. You might find it advantageous to require those making hiring decisions to read interview books in preparation or attend training sessions led by HR professionals or consultants.

guest blogger, IT Project Management, Software, Technology

The Importance Of Release Managers In Software Development

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How do you know when your software is ready to be released to the public?

Your release manager says so.

What is release management?

Release management is a relatively new, highly specialised job that involves testing new software and software upgrades until they are ready to go into mass production. Release managers oversee the granular processes involved in software development, such as planning, work flow, scheduling and technical support.

According to The Release Guy, release managers identify and devise processes directly related to the release of software. They are in charge of quality control, and they facilitate communication between the different departments involved in software development, testing and deployment.

According to Project Connections, the responsibilities go a little deeper than that. They also need to align software development with customer needs, as well as with the needs of the company, especially in terms of time and cost.

Release Management

Skills

As release managers are involved in every process of software development, they need to have advanced coding skills. They also need project management skills and need to be able to work well with people. This is not a skill traditionally associated with IT specialists, but it is essential to ensure cordial relationships between teams and between teams and upper management.

Release managers might also have to go in to bat for their teams and explain or defend progress to upper management, which means they need to be supportive, tactful and thick-skinned. The thick skin is necessary because they might have to bear the brunt of upper management’s displeasure – and then not take it out on their staff.

Communication skills are a given.

Benefits of release management

  • Proper planning and management ensures that each team is prepared for the changes to come.
  • Teams understand exactly what is required to maintain and even enhance the quality of the product.
  • Proper planning and management reduces the risk of errors and increases the chances of cross-compatibility.
  • Cost savings, which is a natural by-product of reduced errors, teams co-ordination, and time saved.

Software development companies have a lot riding on the successful deployment of their products – reputation and profit-wise. This is why they have a host of professionals working round the clock to ensure that their software packages are compatible with a range of devices and operating systems, not to mention free of bugs and errors. Release managers ensure that those professionals keep their eye on the target and work to the best of their ability to provide the (almost perfect) product on time.

Written by Sandy Cosser on behalf of SAP Careers, which advertises a range of SAP-related jobs in Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.