These goals are generic to all industries and all types of projects. Regardless of your level of experience in project management, set these 5 goals for every project you manage.

Goal 1: To finish on time

This is the oldest but trickiest goal in the book. It’s the most difficult because the requirements often change during the project and the schedule was probably optimistic in the first place.

To succeed, you need to manage your scope very carefully. Implement a change control process so that any changes to the scope are properly managed.

Always keep your plan up to date, recording actual vs. planned progress. Identify any deviations from plan and fix them quickly.

Goal 2: To finish under budget

To make sure that your project costs don’t spiral, you need to set a project budget at the start to compare against. Include in this budget, all of the types of project costs that will accrue, whether they are to do with people, equipment, suppliers or materials. Then work out how much each task in your plan is going to cost to complete and track any deviations from this plan.

Make sure that if you over-spend on some tasks, that you under-spend on others. In this way, you can control your spend and deliver under  budget.

Goal 3: To meet the requirements

The goal here is to meet the requirements that were set for the project  at the start. Whether the requirements were to install a new IT system, build a bridge or implement new processes, your project needs to produce solutions which meet these requirements 100%.

The trick here is to make sure that you have a detailed enough set of requirements at the beginning. If they are ambiguous in any way, then what was initially seen as a small piece of work could become huge, taking up valuable time and resources to complete.

Goal 4: To keep customers happy

You could finish your project on time, under budget and have met 100% of the requirements—but still have unhappy customers. This is usually because their expectations have changed since the project started and have not been properly managed.

To ensure that your project sponsor, customer and other stakeholders are happy at the end of your project, you need to manage their expectations carefully. Make sure you always keep them properly informed of progress. “Keep it real” by giving them a crystal clear view of progress to date. Let them voice their concerns or ideas regularly. Tell them upfront when you can’t deliver on time, or when a change needs to be made. Openness and honesty are always the best tools for setting customer expectations.

Goal 5: To ensure a happy team

If you can do all of this with a happy team, then you’ll be more than willing to do it all again for the next project. And that’s how your staff will feel also. Staff satisfaction is critical to your project’s success.

So keep your team happy by rewarding and recognizing them for their successes. Assign them work that complements their strengths and conduct team building exercises to boost morale. With a happy motivated team, you can achieve anything!

And there you have it. The 5 goals you need to set yourself for every project.

Of course, you should always work smart to achieve these goals more easily.
Jason Westland has 15 years experience in the project management industry. From his experience he has created software to help speed up the management process. If you would like to find out more information about Jason’s online project management software visit ProjectManager.com.

Take these top tips to improve your writing skills:

Keep it simple
Great writers can cover whole topics in just a few short paragraphs. To do this, you need to remove any surplus content, clutter and jargon and write in simple, plain terms that everyone understands. That way, your documents will be quick and easy to read.

Make it focused
To create a powerful project document, you need to focus purely on the topic. This will make your document more persuasive and inspiring to read. So think carefully about the content that your readers expect you to cover. Then list your topics and stick to them. Never write off the topic. If you need to go off topic, then put the content in an Appendix at the end and refer to it.

Have a clear structure
You also need to think carefully about your Table of Contents. Your readers need to be able to scan the Table of Contents to get a quick feel for what your document contains. The Table of Contents should be simple and easy to understand. In your document, you should also:

• Use tables to make it easier to read
• Insert diagrams to explain difficult topics
• Use short paragraphs to accentuate points
• Make use of bolding, italics and underlining
• Use bullets, as they are easily scanned.

Always tell a story
Everyone loves a good story. So write each document as though it was the best story in town. Start with the beginning by introducing your topic and telling them what they are going to learn by reading your document. Then write the main body of the document and end with a conclusion.

Make it flow
Write your document so that each of the sections flow from one topic to the next. This way, the user never has to pause to work out where they are. So before you finish each section, introduce the next section. This helps keep the reader motivated.

Just the right amount
Give your readers “just the right amount of information” needed to make a decision or take an action. Keep it short, but informative and helpful.

Be inspiring

Great writers are passionate about what they are writing. If you are positive and inspirational about your documents, then your reader will catch the excitement and your document will be enjoyable to read.

Jason Westland has worked as a project manger for 15 years. He has a great enthusiasm for project management and which is shown by the books he has published and the value of which his information contains. You can get more information on Jason or his project management templates at method123.

Step 1: Research the Business Drivers
In most cases, your project is being driven by a problem in the business. These problems are called “business drivers” and you need to have a clear understanding of what they are, as part of your Feasibility Study.

For instance, the business driver might be that an IT system is outdated and is causing customer complaints, or that two businesses need to merge because of an acquisition. Regardless of the business driver, you need to get to the bottom of it so you fully understand the reasons why the project has been kicked off.

Find out why the business driver is important to the business, and why it’s critical that the project delivers a solution to it within a specified timeframe. Then find out what the impact will be to the business, if the project slips.

Step 2: Confirm the Alternative Solutions
Now you have a clear understanding of the business problem that the project addresses, you need to understand the alternative solutions available.

If it’s an IT system that is outdated, then your alternative solutions might include redeveloping the existing system, replacing it or merging it with another system.

Only with a clear understanding of the alternative solutions to the business problem, can you progress with the Feasibility Study.

Step 3: Determine the Feasibility
You now need to identify the feasibility of each solution. The question to ask of each alternative solution is “can we deliver it on time and under budget?”

To answer this question, you need to use a variety of methods to assess the feasibility of each solution. Here are some examples of ways you can assess feasibility:

• Research: Perform online research to see if other companies have implemented the same solutions and how they got on.
• Prototyping: Identify the part of the solution that has the highest risk, and then build a sample of it to see if it’s possible to create.
• Time-boxing: Complete some of the tasks in your project plan and measure how long it took vs. planned. If you delivered it on time, then you know that your planning is quite accurate.

Step 4: Choose a Preferred Solution
With the feasibility of each alternative solution known, the next step is to select a preferred solution to be delivered by your project. Choose the solution that; is most feasible to implement, has the lowest risk, and you have the highest confidence of delivering.

You’ve now chosen a solution to a known business problem, and you have a high degree of confidence that you can deliver that solution on time and under budget, as part of the project.

Step 5:
It’s now time to take your chosen solution and reassess its feasibility at a lower level. List all of the tasks that are needed to complete the solution. Then run those tasks by your team to see how long they think it will take to complete them. Add all of the tasks and timeframes to a project plan to see if you can do it all within the project deadline. Then ask your team to identify the highest risk tasks and get them to investigate them further to check that they are achievable. Use the techniques in Step 3 to give you a very high degree of confidence that it’s practically achievable. Then document all of the results in a Feasibility Study report.

After completing these 5 steps, get your Feasibility Study approved by your manager so that everyone in the project team has a high degree of confidence that the project can deliver successfully.

Jason Westland has been in the project management industry for the past 16 years managing projects of up to 2 billion dollars. If you would like to find out more about Jason or about his new online project management software visit projectmanager.com.

Grabbed from Orange Juice Blog:

The Elite / MVP (Most Valuable Programmer) – They are the best. The last line of defense when the critical-dead line of a project must be done. They are the untouchable. If you are 10 on the group, he done almost 70% of the job. He is much better than your team leader, best than the seniors. The right man for the job. Even though in personal life, he got the style.

The Copy-Paste Programmer – These individual proves that the google serves us well especially on our careers. He can give you solution in less than a minute with a variety of more than 20 selections. We called it “The Search Engine Professionals.” They are the experts in browsing the web. Copy the code, paste the code, edit the code, and compile the code.

Undercover Programmer – Free MP3(s), music video, hentai access codes, etc… name it! They got it all! Spending more time in their cubicles searching for free downloadable music for his MP3 player. Half of his working time setting up a bot on Ragnarok Online. Inviting friends on friendster or perhaps, muting the speaker so that the sound of the “Bang Bus” wouldn’t be heard.  Spend more time seeking for the light than coding. But take note, these guys can surely give you anything you need when the demon inside you whispers.

The “Lord Of Codes” – These multi-talented developers are inhabited on the so-called “crisis” here in the Philippines. They are also experts in software marketing. From selling codes to client trading. They earned the unimaginable. They are the big time.  They don’t need plaques or awards. They are well armed and aiming for the gold!

The Remora – In ecology subject way back on our high school days… the remora is the fish that stays and eats the leftover of the shark. These programmers are very similar to the remora, they are earning as much as you do. But believe it or not, they spent almost a year on the company without enough knowledge on programming aspect. In a team, he is the worst in coding. He lets the other do the job. He is visible to the eye and yet invisible when it comes to presence of team developing.

The Unleashed – This person is not a programmer or a developer. These people are not working on an IT-related job neither. But they have the talent. They are the undiscovered. The forbidden. They are one of the victims of misfortune events. They are not qualified technically but when it comes to skill and talent… they are one that morpheus and trinity is looking for.

The Sons of Blaise Pascal – They are good as the The Elite. They are also the best. They are the geeks. Spending more time in front of the computer screen than sleeping. They are workaholics. They are active in forums and online communities. They take their job at home. They see their job as an Obra Maestra where computer programming is their art. They are the nerds.

The Back Street Boys – These guys are the one who is taking advantage of their looks and achieved education. They are partially good. These are the people you can see at the café near the office. They have the good interpersonal skill rather than coding skills. They have the quickest promotion due to their “pa-cuteness” and boss-to-employee relations. They are friendly. They are the ones to be seen most by our bosses. Where the competition at the company is not on programming performance anymore.

The Oldies But Goodies Programmer – These veterans are well known for the witnesses of the computer evolution. From 3.1 to Vista, lotus to excel, VB1 to VBNET, monkey to human. They are the “Kuya” among the group. They work hard for their family. They are very supportive. They separate boys from men. They earn respect due to their ancient knowledge.

What kind of programmer are you?

Who says that you can’t treat your friends in the wee hours of the morning. Well good thing there are open food stores and restos along Emerald in Ortigas at 1 AM.

In album is my LWS Team. I have new hires to start next week.  Our team is growing  and business is doing good :)

Some of the photos we took during Typhoon Ondoy. These photos are taken at the Floodway area in Pasig City.The flood in the street where I went was neck deep. Thank goodness there are SUVs nearby  and elevated sidewalks.

The family of my girlfriend was trapped and stayed during that time on another house that has a second floor. The water in their area was more than 6 feet. Water has subsided now. All that is left is mud all over the place.

The only lacking member of the gang now is Chrome. I’m wondering how I can use this for my site.

If you want to get a high resolution version of the illustration, you can get it from Flickr.