Society is becoming ever more reliant on digital solutions – even delivering anesthesia.  This is certainly evident in project management; although Microsoft Project leads the top 20, there are literally hundreds of others available.

PSI trainers often hear of enterprises looking for the “silver bullet” software solution, but our mantra is “Software doesn’t lead projects, people do.”  The human element is what drives project success; even the most powerful and sophisticated software will fail if:

• Project managers can’t strike the right balance of project oversight and either micromanage or under-manage.
• Project managers lack soft skills in people management, consensus building and communication.
• The people who will actually do the work have insufficient input into planning.
• The project charter and schedule are not updated, monitored or committed to by the teams and the project leader regularly (preferably every two weeks or less).

A company with the same problems no matter what software it uses may need a more comprehensive solution that goes beneath the surface.   But no matter what software option you choose, people will still be a decisive factor in the success of your project…at least until Skynet takes over.

Andy Rubin, the creator of Android, is launching an incubator for innovators…and it reminds me of a familiar mindset.

His Playground Global LLC will provide support and advice to tech startups making devices for consumers or businesses. This “studio” lets inventors do the fun stuff (creating new products). Playground handles the operations – the scut work, so to speak.

I think “scut work” needs an image overhaul. It’s how Things Get Done. Improving how Things Get Done is a worthwhile investment – but you wouldn’t know from some responses project managers tell me they get when pitching Project Success Method training to senior management:

“It’s just more overhead”

“We bought software to handle that”

“How much can anyone learn in just two days?”

“It’s micromanagement”

It’s like the joke about making politics and making sausage – but it’s the “scut work” that takes a new product from a blank screen to a sales floor. Improving that process is a worthwhile investment that’s paid off for our clients in time and money again and again – and saved weeks of panic-driven overtime by team members caught in a time crunch.

“Paralysis by Analysis,” “Information Overload,” “TMI.”

If the key to a successful project is controlling time, one timewaster to eliminate is over-reporting. Some managers spend too much time tracking too many activities at too low a level of detail.

Luckily, reporting doesn’t have to be like doing your taxes, if you have some guidelines on how much detail is enough:

Each activity should produce a deliverable or change in product status with just enough information to indicate a change in status.

• Subdivide long-term activities into tasks of about a month, so you can track and monitor progress reliably.
• As a rule of thumb, a good level of detail is between three and fifteen working days.

Of course, some large, complex projects – just like large, complex tax returns – need some outside help. Our hands-on course in Control Methods & Practices with Microsoft Project streamlines controlling the performance of projects characterized by complexity and dynamic change.

A concise reporting strategy lets everyone spend their time on the project and not on reporting. Whoever said “the Devil is in the details” was likely a project manager.