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Define Project Management Triangle

Did you know there are (at least) three competing demands on your project? And did you know that you can’t have all three? You can only pick two. (video below) Here they are:

Define Project Management Triangle: A triangular graph illustrating the three project constraints of time, cost, and scope.

So those are the three constraints that pull your project all out of shape. Time, cost, and scope. And the crazy thing is, as a project manager or project stakeholder you can only pick two. You have to let the other go where it goes. Are you ready for that.

Scenario #1: Let’s say you want your project right now, and really cheap. Guess what? You’ll get something really junky. In other words, the scope will be small and probably less than what you’re expecting.  You chose time and cost. You got scope handed to you.

Scenario #2: You want your project right now, and you want everything under the sun. Okay, now you’ll find that your project costs you a fortune. You chose time and scope. Cost now depends on those two, and it’s going to cost you big-time.

Scenario #3: You want this thing done cheap and you want a lot. Well, that is going to take some time. Because it’s cheap, you’ll just have to wait for some things. You chose cost and scope, and so time is the one thing you’ll have to live with.

See how these things all inter-depend? Did you know you can see a graph of your own results? Watch the video and try it out.

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Define Timesheet

Do all your employees hate filling out project timesheets? If so, you may have the wrong timesheet. The “hassle factor” may be just too high for comfort. Go down farther on the page for a delightful little video by Zach the project geek. He wants to hear from you.  🙂

Define timesheet: An entry form for period accounting of employee and project hours. Standard Time® is an example of employee timesheets.

Normally, timesheets are weekly. They normally list projects that employees are assigned to. Sometimes those projects can be expanded to show tasks. Often task hours roll up to the project level so employees can see how many hours they spent on each project for each day.

Sometimes timesheets show only the seven days of the week, and sometimes they show all the days of a pay period. Totals are often shown at the bottom of each daily column, and weekly totals are shown below those. Pay period hours may also be displayed, where the expected number of hours are compared with actuals.

Graphical timesheet, as shown in Standard Time, may display time segments in a graphical form, as you might see in a Microsoft Outlook calendar. Drag blocks around to change time or actual work.

Behind the scenes, project timesheets often collect billable amounts based on actual work. Billing rates usually depend on the person performing the work. Invoices collect all those time segments, with their billing rates into one bill. Clients can see details and rates associated with every task and person on the job.

Good timesheets make life simple for both companies and employees. Let’s see what Zach has to say in the video below.

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Define Project Milestone

Dreading your next project milestone? It’s a date you hope nobody remembers so it can slip silently into the night. Watch Kat in the video below.

Define Project Milestone: A date marking a significant event in the lifestyle of a project. Standard Time® has billable milestones.

Project milestones mark dates where you evaluate the state of your project. They could be customer related, like a date you can invoice the client for work performed. Or, they could be go/no go events where you evaluate the status of your work and decide if you can move forward to the next phase. Project milestones could trigger staff meetings to bring everyone onto the same page, and make sure everyone is ready to proceed with the project. Is there anything outstanding? Any reason not to begin the next phase? Finally, project milestones can relate to release dates. You have completed a phase of the project and are ready for public delivery and release.

As stated above, ST has project milestones. You can get email notifications for upcoming milestones, and view a short list of them. Project milestones can be used for client invoicing. Just choose the billing type: date range, percentage of project cost, or fixed amount. The actual invoice amount is based on the project milestone settings.

Watch the video and give project milestones a try.

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Define Project Tracker

Is your project wrecking your company and leaving you destitute? The problem may be your project tracker. Watch the video below for a definition.

Define: Project Tracker. A system for monitoring long-term and cohesive activities, usually in software.  Standard Time® is such a project tracker.

It’s true; projects can go crazy without a project tracker. Employees camp out on favorite tasks, and convince managers that more time is needed. Tasks go over budget, and nobody notices slowdown trends that triple the project duration. Feature creep balloons up the scope until you wake up one morning and realize you’re chasing a moving target… or the moving target is chasing you. You have to get things under control, but you don’t know how.

Those are some of the things a good project tracker can do. You can set “do not exceed” percentages for tasks. That holds tasks to a reasonable duration. It prevents the slow lag from developing. You can monitor new tasks added to the project to prevent feature creep. You can view the health of your project with Project Triangle charts. You can check resource levels to make sure nobody is over or under allocated.

Are you running a project tracker? Why not try Standard Time?

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Start Timer with Mag Card Readers

Manufacturers: Use a mag card reader to start and stop a timer. Consider swiping cards to start and stop a timer for manufacturing purposes. Swipe once to start the timer, and swipe again to stop. The video below describes how.

This technique allows you to associate any employee badge or card to a Standard Time® username. Swipe once to start a timer for the associated user. A selected project and task will start. The timer will run until you swipe again.

Manufacturing and assembly shops can collect information like total product build times, total employee hours, packaging time, and shipping. Find out how much time you spend on each kind of work, and improve each one by a small percentage.

Download Standard Time here, and give this a try with your own magnetic card reader.

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Track Time with Multiple Barcode Scanners on a Single PC

Manufacturing shops can now set up multiple barcode scanners on a single computer to track assembly time, boxing, and shipping. Watch the video below to learn how.

Here’s the deal… you don’t want to dedicate a single computer to every barcode scanner. In other words, one computer for one scanner. You have too many shop floor operators to do that. It’s a waste of resources, and every PC needs care and maintenance. You want to connect as many barcode scanners as you can to each PC on the shop floor. As long as workers can see the screen, you’re good to go.

Turns out, barcode prefixes are the answer. Assign a unique prefix to each barcode scanner on the manufacturing floor. Then you can connect as many as you like. Standard Time® will recognize the prefix and start timers for each scanner.

Not only can you connect multiple scanners, you can set default values that take effect every time you scan. Want to associate a dedicated gun to one single employee only? Easy, just set the default username. Now the employee no longer needs to scan their username to start the timer.

Other default values let you associate a gun to a certain project or task. Every time you scan with that gun, your project and task is already chosen for you. No need to scan them. The timer will start immediately, without the need to tell it which project you’re on.

All these little improvements to barcode scanning make your manufacturing process just a little more efficient. Give it a try!

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Define Consultant, Freelancer, Contractor

What is a consultant? Zach knows. (scroll down for video)

Zach is a consultant, and the head of consultants. So he knows what a consultant is. Zach says, consultants used to be people you brought in for one or two days, maybe a week tops, that would explain a certain issue to you. Once explained, the consultant would leave. You consulted with consultants, and that was it. They were experts, and they explained things. You asked them specific questions, which they knew the answers to. Once you got the answer, you went off and did what they said.

That was before the internet and YouTube.

Now consultants are much like full-time employees. They often sit in the same offices and attend the same meetings. If you don’t ask, you may never know that your coworker is a 1099 freelancer. They still have expertise in a certain area, and apply that expertise like regular employees.

The big advantage to employers is their temporary stay. A months is usually enough. No pesky benefits package, no nurturing, no investment. Just raw performance for a price you can live with.

The thing is, consultants have to learn how to make good money. If they don’t, those short-term contracts turn into vicious cycles of feast and famine. You have to know how to up-sell and extend your stay. Plus, charge enough to tide you over during the down times. Without that, you’ll be out of business in no time.

Plus, consultants have to become very familiar with things like effective billing rates, utilization percentages, and billable hours. Working for a consulting firm removes you from that tedious treachery. You just work like an employee, and everything is okay. But the freelancer definitely has to watch his numbers, or he’ll end of working for two dollars an hour.

Download Standard Time® and let us know if it can help your consulting biz.  🙂

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Define Time Management

What is time management? Easy question and Zach answers it! Your time needs to be managed so you know how much time is spent on each project, how to bill clients, how many hours spent on each task, etc.

Zach is the time tracking and project management geek who answers questions for you. Ask anything about timesheets, time management, or project management. You’ll get an answer.

In this case, time management is watching your project tasks and admin so your project doesn’t bonk. It’s paying attention and keeping your head in the game. It’s making sure your project doesn’t crash.

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Electrical Contractors Track Client Hours

Reward yourself, Sparky! Get an app that tells you your average job length, your effective billing rate, plus invoices clients. Plus has project proposals. Plus has timesheets for every employee.

Don’t let this shock you, but if you’re running an electrical contracting business, you need this information. This is how you trim costs and keep rates competitive. It’s not by watching all the other contractors in the biz; it’s by watching your own biz. How much are jobs costing you? How much are you bringing in? What effective billing rate are you making? What percentage are your electricians utilized, verses being paid?

Watch the video below, and decide if this is something your electrical contracting company can use. Then download the timesheet here.

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Sales and Marketing Management Consulting

The only real way to make sure you’re staying true to sales and marketing priorities is to track the time you spend with clients. Without a time tracker you’re only guessing. Here’s what happens: (scroll down for video)

You take the time to identify sales and marketing priorities. Good. You identify top clients. Excellent. And you set strategic products and services that benefit your organization. Wonderfully done. Great sales and marketing plan!

Now how are you tracking actual results against those priorities and strategies?

That’s where most sales and marketing professionals stop.

Truth is, they just don’t want the hassle of extra admin time to track their hours. So they really never know if their staying true to the plan, or wandering into secondary areas they explicitly hoped to stay out of. Track your client hours, and you’ll have the information to compare against your strategic plans.