The Role of Spreadsheets in a Long-Range Planning Process—Part 2

Part one of this series notes that 1) there are appropriate uses for spreadsheets in the planning process, 2) there is a key point at which spreadsheets fall short (alignment), and 3) an appropriate planning tool is one that makes the most of the strengths of spreadsheets in the data gathering process. In this blog,...

Managing Project-Based Businesses in Turbulent Times

No one will argue that the economy is creating many business challenges for project based businesses. Thinner margins, slowing revenue growth, fewer projects, lower bill rates, changing customer and employee expectations, and new technology trends including the consumerization of IT are daily topics for many executives. In these rough waters, how does the successful executive...

iPad Tools for Project Mangers

The iPad has been a revolutionary device, bringing tablet computers from relative obscurity into the mainstream. What makes the iPad so compelling “its easily portable size and weight, fast booting, and diverse selection of applications” also makes it a great tool for project managers. Most of us are rarely chained to a desk, and fast,...

The Role of Spreadsheets in a Long-Range Planning Process—Part 1

On a recent Webcast, a finance professional asked me about the use of spreadsheets in the planning process. Because this is such a common theme, (over 70% of respondents said they use spreadsheets for their planning process) I decided to add my observations to the conversation. Telling a finance person that they should not use...

Blindsided: Why Service-Driven Organizations are Unprepared for Swings in Demand

In my last blog post, SRP and PSA — There IS a Difference, I discussed the major differences between Services Resource Planning (SRP) and Professional Services Automation (PSA). In short, SRP addresses the capacity and demand issues that drive resource decisions and revenue forecasting, whereas PSA focuses more on the mechanics that drive the quote...

To Fund or Not to Fund: Helping Executives Get to “No” – Enrich Consulting

Another striking—and often underappreciated—aspect of [Steve] Jobs’ success was his ability to say no. At a company like Apple, thousands of ideas bubble up each year for new products and services that it could launch. The hardest thing for its leader is to decide which ones merit attention. Mr Jobs had an uncanny knack of...

Resource Management 101, Part 3: Optimization, Alignment, and Efficiency

And, we’re back with the exciting conclusion to our 3 part resource management blog series. We’ve already taken a look at laying a foundation and capturing our current workload. In this post, we will explore how we achieve optimization and alignment of our portfolio of projects to squeeze the most efficiency out of our people....

Pawel Brodzinski: Portfolio Management with Kanban

Introduction by Planview AgilePlace COO Jon Terry As many of you know, we’ve been working for a while to develop a new version of Planview AgilePlace that, among other things, will allow our customers to manage their enterprise projects and portfolio with a hierarchy of multiple levels of kanban boards. Some of you might have seen...