The project management practices and guidelines help in organizing and controlling the tasks. The success of most organization depends on the application of project management through objectives and goals realization (Naylor, 2014). The potential of an organization could be maximised in addressing each element at the right level and time despite the complexity of the work scope. A strong competitive advantage could be achieved in terms of delivery, quality services and cost reduction with effective project management. In fact, measurable and tangible results could be guaranteed based on scope, time and cost also known as the cornerstone of a project’s success (Kerzner, 2017).

Opinion on Management

There are numerous project management best practices that could be adopted by organizations. Unknowingly, organizations have been using some project management practices in executing its daily tasks and work scope. It is important for the organization to track down the best practices that suits and benefits the organization be it its own best practices as well as project management best practices. The key is to adopt and test new practices besides maintaining a knowledge base that lists down the details of the organization’s job scope and further improving the organization’s overall management practices.

Trello

• Organizations mostly use Dropbox and Google Drive in organizing the files and the documents required for cases or disputes globally.
• Work planning in one platform could be achieved with the web-based project management and collaboration tool such as Trello.
• This tool is effective especially in a situation where team members are scattered across different physical locations.
• Thus, the adaptation of Trello would definitely suit each organization’s work scope which deals with clients all over the world.
• This tool is based on the three-tier information system of boards, lists and cards (Francis, 2010).
• This tool would be a new method for the organization as cases and disputes are organized in a different manner.
• This tool would definitely help organizations to work more systematically.

Advantages of Trello

• Trello allows file sharing including photos and videos among team members, keeping track of to-do lists, allowing comments on cards to update team members, setting coloured labels according to task priority and inserting news cards which are limitless (Joey, 2015).
• This tool features would indeed benefit organizations.
• In fact, organizations would not spend much for this project management tool as Trello has less complex pricing structure compared to other project management tools.
• This tool would enable the team not to miss a deadline as due dates could be added to the cards.
• Seamless notifications alerts would be sent through email when tasks are updated, commented or removed enabling the team not to miss out on a task.
• Trello also works on all platforms be it the laptop, tablet or mobile phone as the tool reformats itself to any screen size.
• Besides that, the tool follows the Kanban system which is an efficient tool for workflow management and is known as the “Kanban of the Future” (Davidson, 2017).
• Due to its simplicity and flexibility, Trello has potential positive impacts that would indeed benefit the organization.

Trello

Cause and Effect Diagram

• Furthermore, cause and effect diagram also known as the fish-bone diagram would be a suitable method that could be used by the organization.
• This method is recommended as tasks and work gets delayed sometimes as it takes time to determine the root cause of a problem.
• Since the organization is capable in developing the management with its own practices, this method would be able to further evaluate the causes of various events that lead to one or more impacts (Ken Meissner, 2016).
• In reality, this method would help organizations to focus on the true cause of a problem instead of its symptoms enabling an effective management of cases or disputes with clients.
• The organizations could adopt the fish-bone method with its current practices to compare and see key differences of this approach in contributing towards the progress of the organizations.

Fish-Bone Diagram

Risk Map

• Risk management is not carried out extensively in many organizations and therefore a summary risk profile also known as risk map would be helpful in this situation in terms of visibility of risks.
• The risk register would need to be updated regularly by the top management and the team through graphs to observe the probability and impact of the risks as well as the effects of mitigating the risk actions (Warren, 2015).
• The register should not mislead the reader but instead provides a comprehensive profile on the risks that may be faced by the organizations.
• The advantage of this profile is that the overall level of risk is shown which allows the organizations to anticipate and be prepared to act promptly.
• The prompt action would reflect the attitude of the organizations towards risks in general and also a specific set of risks.
• The monitoring aspect is extremely important in terms of risk management for the organizations which would prove to be effective in future.

Risk Map

Decision Tree Tool

• Moreover, adopting the decision tree tool would be helpful in enabling choices between several courses of action since the work scope of organizations are usually complex.
• Trying a new approach aligned with the current practices whereby options could be explored while the possible outcomes could be weighed and investigated is a highly effective structure for the organization.
• Another important aspect is that this tool provides a medium to project investment opportunities when resources are scarce besides giving a wide range of options in choosing between different strategies (Kathryn, 2015).

Decision Tree Tool

Radar Chart Diagram

• In addition, a radar chart diagram also known as a spider chart could be used to show the number of risks that different work scopes are exposed to.
• This diagram could be used consistently together with the decision tree tool.
• The good part about the radar chart is that the data is subsequently converted into a chart making it easier to study the number of risks that the organizations are exposed to (Graham, 2017).
• Hence, both the decision tree tool and radar chart would enable the organizations to keep track of the risks and to avoid any future risks as far as possible.

Spider Chart

Initiative in implementing project management software and tools in organizations could be a challenge (Partha Purkayanstha, 2018). The employees in each organization would be used to a set of skills and processes and any changes may be difficult to adapt. Although it may take some time to adapt to the new changes, it is undeniable that the software and tools would make work much easier. When a task could be handled efficiently in a simple manner, it will boost the confidence of the employees to work harder. The top management should be able to emphasise the importance and needs of the software as well as tools that would help in the overall work completion through new updates and changes of the performance management.

Lastly, it does not matter if we work in a project management field or not, as most of the things done could be categorized as a project be it our personal life or professional life. Hence, learning strategies and discovering tools that could help an organization achieve its goal effectively is what matters at the end of the day.

References

• Frame, J. Davidson (2017). Building Project Management Competence: Building Key Skills for Individuals, Teams and Organizations. Jossey-Bass Publishers, San Francisco.
• Graham, Robert J. & Englund, Randall, L. (2017). Creating an environment for successful projects. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
• Hartman, Francis; Ashrafi, Rafi A. “Project Management in the Information Systems and Information Technologies Industries. “Project Management Journal. Sep 2010. Vol. 33. Issue 3. Pages 5-15.
• Hoffer, Jeffrey A; George, Joey F; Valacich, Joseph S. “Modern Systems Analysis & Design”. 2015. Pearson Education, Inc. Prentice Hall.
• Kerzner Harold (2017). Project Management, A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Control. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
• Levene Ralph J., & Partha Purkayanstha (2018). Managing the Global Project: Execution via Multi-Locations. 30^th PMI Proceedings.
• Lientz, Bennet & Rea, Kathryn (2015). Project management for the 21st century. San Diego: Academic Press.
• Naylor, H. (2014). Construction project management: Planning and scheduling. Albany, NY: Delmar.
• Shirley & Ken Meissner (2016). Global Program Management Practices. PMI ’01 Proceedings.
• Warren & Snead J. (2015) To do, doing, done! A creative approach to managing projects & effectively finishing what matters most. New York: Fireside.