5 Free Apps That Make Project Management Easier

By Howard Wen - from CIO

See here the whole post

Tue, June 30, 2009 — Computerworld — Putting together a project plan can sometimes seem more daunting than completing the project itself. When you need to track each step of a project, along with your costs, staff, and other factors, you probably need a project management application.

Conclusions

Gantter.com is a great way to start teaching yourself the basics of project planning. This Webware application provides a simplified take on project management, so be aware that you shouldn't lean on it to manage more complex projects. But this is essentially a personal tech project of its creator, Volodymyr Mazepa -- so that if he decided not to continue it for any reason, it could quickly go away.

GanttProject may be a good choice if you need flexibility in how you want to display your task bars in your charts. Still, it's best to keep in mind that you shouldn't go overboard with the colors, lest you create confusion over your project's plan.

jxProject is focused on precision and the minute details of your plan, although the charts it generates can look cluttered, and that ad banner does get distracting. But if you're already comfortable with project management and need to create a plan that shows as much detail as possible, jxProject is worth considering.

OpenProj impressed me with its ability to load most project plan files saved in Microsoft Office Project format. So it's a great alternative if you need to work with someone who's using Office Project, and you don't want to pay for Microsoft's program. OpenProj also stands out for generating the most kinds of charts to represent your project plan.

Open Workbench's split-screen window, which tries to show you as much of your project plan's relevant information at once, lessens the back-and-forth clicking that you have to endure when using other project management software. But jxProject and OpenProj each offer much more in terms of features, like OpenProj's multitude of charts and jxProject's resource optimizer.

So if you're a beginner to project management, break yourself in over at Gantter.com. Then graduate to OpenProj, particularly if you have to work with Microsoft Office Project files. And if you find you need more advanced features (such as extreme precision in allotting tasks to part-time resources, or resources located in different time zones), take on jxProject and consider paying the $20 to kill the banner ads.

Key Capabilities of Next-Generation Project Managers

Key Capabilities of Next-Generation Project Managers



By Meridith Levinson
October 21, 2009 07:15 PM ET

CIO - Project managers might just have the toughest job in IT, responsible as they are for ensuring that high-stakes IT projects are completed on time and on budget. According to a new report from Forrester Research, the project manager's role is getting even more demanding and difficult to fill.

It's no longer enough for project managers to possess good people skills and to be fluent in project management best practices, tools and methodologies. To succeed--and get hired--today, project managers need enhanced leadership skills; they need to be flexible and focused on business value; and they increasingly need to be familiar with Agile software development methodologies, writes Forrester Analyst Mary Gerush in Define, Hire and Develop Your Next Generation Project Managers. A former IT project manager herself, Gerush and colleagues interviewed IT professionals and project management experts from a variety of organizations, including Chevron, Microsoft and LiquidPlanner, for the report.

Career Changing

That's not the first time I change the ways of my career. Couple years ago, I gave up my career in financial companies (retail banking services) to start from scratch in the IT world. Studied networking computers and got CCNA certification but didn't caught a job due the lack of experiemce in IT. So I had an opportunity to start working on development. First Java and then VB.NET. After about two years, I'm changing my carrer again, now using the acquired experience in IT with my wide knowledge in banking services, working like a Solutions Architect for banking & back-office. To do that, I'll have to get the PMP certification. from the beginning of 2010 will be focused on that. For now, I'm managed to finish my post grad in Software Engineering SOA-based. I intend to prepare the way for the PMP cert, doing my course conclusion work related to SOA Project Management, and also, to use my ITIL v2 knowledge.
This way, from today, Bala's Blog will present blog posts related to Project Management (but not only).

And if I can give an advice to someone else, I say:

Don't be afraid. Go ahead! Believing yourself is the first and main step to do.

Profissão em alta: project manager

O aumento da procura por esse tipo de gestor cresce na medida em que boa parte dos projetos de TI (75%) não alcançam o sucesso esperado, segundo estudo da The Standish Group.