It's time businesses move beyond spreadsheets and connect the islands within their organizations. The islands exist in all organizations where different processes and tasks are performed in separate and disconnected systems, lacking connectivity and context. Connecting these islands can improve business visibility dramatically, get operations running effectively and help managers make better decisions quicker, thus, be sharper and much more efficient. When running our operations we should ask ourselves: Do we know who is responsible? What has been promised by whom? Where are the relevant documents? When will results be delivered? What changes were made and when? We use Excel for almost everything, planning, budgeting, execution and control. We schedule with Outlook, communicate with email, report into different systems.

We are working on islands. Read more.....

Running a SaaS business is a profession in and by itself. In this post I want to share my views on the key elements of running a SaaS company. I would first state that the most important part is understanding the limitations of your own organization and knowledge. You need to understand that the main question you should be asking yourself is: how do you know that you are making progress? Read more.....

Even if the entire project team is in the same building, it's quite the challenge to manage the project. You can imagine how much more challenging it would be if the project team is scattered. The challenges of collaborating and sharing information is growing in magnitude as teams become more and more geographically and inter-company dispersed. For example, a Marketing project that involves external web site designers and PR teams, or a Professional Services project that includes dispersed teams and customer representatives, or an Engineering project that includes outsourced developers. All these projects require management of distributed project teams.

There is no doubt that businesses are dependent on their ability to deliver. However, it looks as if being able to meet deadlines is a matter of hit or miss. Most global companies are looking for ways to increase accountability. Without transparency and real time visibility there is no way to take decisions and being right or wrong is a matter of pure luck.

Every company is doing project management, however, the majority of companies are not using a PM tool to manage projects.

So, why are PM tools not working? I think there is one main reason- lack of team adoption.
The tools are designed for the individuals - not the team. However, teamwork is critical for projects to succeed. Clarizen's Project Team Automation solution is helping businesses be successful in managing their projects via team adoption.

If I had to define in one sentence what is a good company I would say that a good company is one that can sense and respond whereas a bad company is one that does not respond well to changes. Advances in technology have made it easier for more people than ever from different corners of the world to collaborate and compete in a way that was not possible before. Our business environment has become much more dynamic and demanding.

Let me illustrate this with an example:

When we are driving a car on a highway and drive 55 miles per hour we feel comfortable and safe. However, if we are in a hurry and drive 95 miles per hour we find ourselves much more alert and responsive to the road conditions and traffic around us. Taking this to the extreme, if we want to participate in a Formula 1 or NASCAR race, for most of us this would be impossible as we do not have the skills or the knowledge to drive so fast. Now, imagine your business is like in a Formula 1 car race and you do not have any choice but win this race. You need to have the right car, skills and knowledge in order to win. An enterprise 2.0 company is one that can win this race by gearing up on advanced technologies and methodologies. Hence, Clarizen. Clarizen helps companies execute their projects online with real time visibility and therefore allows them to respond better to changes.

Well, of course the project manager! But, in fact, we are all managing; we are managing our team, our activities, our budget and our time. We are all managing projects without even realizing it!

Simple business processes, such as hiring a new employee or updating a computer application, may not be perceived as 'projects' by definition but are indeed projects that entail team participation and coordination to reach the successful completion of the tasks at hand.

Project management tools today are designed to help the project manager do his job and not to support us in managing our activities. This is why there is major dissatisfaction with current project management software. People like us cannot use it efficiently or do not have access to it to begin with. Yet, we have to.

Think about our ability to know exactly where we are verses where we wanted to be. Think about having a common understanding with our team on what needs to be done. Think about having a global view on what is important at any given time. Think about being accountable. I think that a management system that is targeted ONLY at the project manager will fail to serve us in managing our activities as it will be too complex, cumbersome and of very limited value.

This is where Clarizen is unique. Clarizen is helping you manage. It is helping you, your team and the people that depend on you - regardless of whether they are from your company or from another organization - to manage your shared activities and projects. The Clarizen approach will change the way people think about projects and project management tools. Ask our customers!

So what’s the problem with project management solutions? Why do people start working with them and soon after abandon them?  Read more.....

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