Project Management

It seems most software has a lot of features, that we don’t know about or don’t use. Some of these features can actually prove themselves highly valuable in the every usage of a given program, and one of the small but powerful tips is how to color code your mail. I used to have an inbox with more than a thousand messages lying around. Through some heavy vetting and through cleaning it’s rarely below a hundred messages. While a 100 messages isn’t too uncommon its still too many to conquer in a single glance and there are an easy way to break it down further.

I’ve been reading a lo ton the GTD philosophy the past six months, and while I haven’t fully adopted the preaching’s, some things are working better for me, than in the past in terms of time and project management. This is how I try to work towards less stressful days and more actual work.

Inbox management

I used to have well over 1.000 mails in the inbox. Through focused and efficient cleaning, it’s now down to around a hundred on an average day. Short mails are read and killed. Important issues are managed. FYIs and reference materials are either killed or filed in archive folders upon arrival.

It seems most people are capable of launching an email application and do understand most of the technical skills required to use the application. It does however also seem that a fairly large part of the same people lack the social intelligence and skills required to make efficient use of their email capabilities. Scanning through my inbox I saw a fair and typical number of examples in the ”bad email usage” category. These include:

Why is it that lawyers and project managers keep information to themselves until the very last minute, and the present the non-negotiable deadline to developers when the point of ”reasonable notice” is long past? – Today marked yet another occasion. … and even more strange – why is it, that we developers do magic every time and actually make the impossible happen? – I’m seriously questioning if that’s a bright strategy, if we ever want to get something in due time – and not burn the midnight oil while the project managers a sleeping.

It’s almost funny in a tragic sort of way how many project managers seems to think a project plan is a one-time event in the project. It isn’t. It is a continious task through out the project. As the project progresses, a bright project manager ajusts the plan so it fits the actual project progress. If the project plan isn’t updated, there might be selveral reasons. Updating the plan maybe causing a headace and take hours and hours. Keeping the plan up to date must be worth the effort, and if your project planning tool is easy to use and manage, then you just don’t do it.