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PPM 101: Project Management Made Easy

By Alf Abuhajleh posted Feb 05, 2019 01:36 PM

  

Multiple project tools, manual tasks and a never-ending demand for status reports are but a few of the many pains and aches of a project manager. Talking to Clarity PPM product manager, Brian Nathanson (PMP), we'll try to remedy some of these issues.

 

Brian learned project management principles during several years at KPMG then actively applied those concepts for several more years as a PMI-certified Project Manager in software development at a boutique consulting firm in Reston, VA.

 

He has a Master’s in Technology Management through a program co-sponsored by the Wharton School, where he focused on advanced portfolio modeling and simulation techniques with special consideration for how such techniques can assist in the management of high-risk technology projects.

 

Brian has worked with dozens of customers to apply financial portfolio principles and technology to the management of business portfolios. He has also conducted training in project management fundamentals at various conferences and spoken on a variety of topics at PMI chapter meetings.

 

We started our discussion by asking Brian to complete the sentence: Clarity PPM improves the capability of project managers by…?

 

"Providing a common set of tools and as a result, a common set of practices that project managers can use so that regardless of where they are they know they can do the same thing," said Brian. "It also allows them to have a common language in the organization whether they are project managers who come with experience, new project managers, or maybe a subject matter expert who got thrown in to being a PM."

 

"This consistent approach and language is critical, it creates a common framework that ensures PMs can focus on the challenges of their projects, not how they do the basics of the work."

 

We explored this further with Brian by asking him what the key benefits were for PMs using Clarity PPM.

 

"The main thing that is in it for them is the saving of time and what I would call busy work," said Brian. "Previously they'd spend an enormous amount of time preparing a status report used in a three-minute update. Now, they share with a few clicks. They also get more resource visibility – understanding that a team can’t finish a task because they are being called off to do other things for example."

 

We don’t know any project manager who won’t take less administrative overhead and better insight into their projects, as Brian sums up “a PM can focus more on things that are more strategically important about the particular project they are working on right now.”

 

This ability to focus on what is more strategically important also speaks to why this better environment for project managers matters to organizations, and that was our final question for Brian.

 

He explains the organizational benefit. "Businesses are very much focused on the ability to change more quickly – being agile. A large part of what you gain by making project managers more efficient in delivering the administrative aspect of their job is that they can spend more time on the critical parts of their job, which is making those decisions that are unique to the project they’re working on. This makes people more responsive and the organization is better able to respond – to be more agile."

 

That’s perhaps the ultimate gain here. Organizations want to become better able to respond to their environment, to pivot more quickly and even to become proactive, recognizing when opportunities are being created. Giving project managers the right tools not only make it easier for them to execute their work, it also benefits the entire organization – improving that responsiveness and enabling proactivity.

 

We understand that, which is why Clarity PPM should be your catalyst for business agility.

 

Want to know more? Flip through our eBook: Your Project Managers Are the Engine that Drives Success

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