{"id":16500,"date":"2018-07-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-03T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/project-managers-vs-powerpoint-4-tough-battles-1-winning-solution\/"},"modified":"2018-07-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-07-03T05:00:00","slug":"project-managers-vs-powerpoint-4-tough-battles-1-winning-solution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/project-managers-vs-powerpoint-4-tough-battles-1-winning-solution\/","title":{"rendered":"Project Managers vs. PowerPoint: 4 Tough Battles, 1 Winning Solution"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Project managers face some epic clashes on the enterprise landscape. For example, keeping line managers from recruiting (or just as often, re-recruiting) essential project staff can involve tactical genius that would have impressed Napoleon. And telling some customers that their “simple” change request is out of scope may involve a series of conversations that make tense geopolitical summits seem like birthday parties.<\/span><\/p>\n

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However, there is one enduring skirmish that causes even the most experienced and hardened project managers to brace for impact. No, we’re not talking about <\/span>spreadsheets<\/span><\/a>; although they certainly qualify. We’re talking about PowerPoint.  <\/span><\/p>\n

Specifically, there are four battles that project managers must fight and win each time PowerPoint is part of their project management communication toolkit:<\/span><\/p>\n

The Battle for Standardization<\/b><\/p>\n

In enterprise environments where hundreds or thousands of projects are running at the same time, it’s virtually impossible to establish — let alone enforce — PowerPoint standards. <\/span><\/p>\n

As a result, different project managers (and other employees) end up using various branding elements and corporate style guides. It’s also common for some people to be using templates that were out-of-date and retired several years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Battle for Centralization<\/b><\/p>\n

To avoid the above-noted Battle for Standardization, some enterprises try to centralize their latest (and greatest) PowerPoint templates in a single repository, such as in a folder on a shared server. That’s the good news. <\/span><\/p>\n

The bad news, though, is that not everyone has access to the repository, or access to the repository is excessively s-l-o-w. As a result, individuals and groups create their own ad hoc template storage solution, which means that it’s no longer centralized. See? We warned you these battles were tough!<\/span><\/p>\n

The Battle for Efficiency<\/b><\/p>\n

When it comes to status reporting or any other important project management function, inaccurate PowerPoint slides are not just problematic: they can be ruinous! <\/span><\/p>\n

However, this is the needless risk that project managers face when they must waste hours and hours of time (which they don’t have) to collect data from disparate sources. What’s more, instead of earning a medal or at least getting a pat on the back, project managers are “rewarded” for their data collection efforts by having to spend even more time manually copying and pasting information into a presentation. We all know that “to whom more is given more is expected,” but this is a ridiculous! <\/span><\/p>\n

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The Battle for Consistency<\/b><\/p>\n

The Art of War advises that a battle is won or lost before it is fought. Unfortunately, for decades project managers have come out on the losing end of this forecast when they try to achieve consistency between their project management software and PowerPoint. Things don’t look the way they’re supposed to, bullet lists disobedient minds of their own, and we won’t even bring up tables because nobody wants to see a grown project manager start crying. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/b>Achieve a Lasting Peace<\/b><\/p>\n

However, after decades of struggle and strife, project managers can FINALLY achieve a lasting peace with PowerPoint. Not by eliminating it from the project management communication toolkit, but by calling in the cavalry known as Planview AdaptiveWork’s Slide Publisher.<\/span><\/p>\n

Clarizen’s Slide Publisher is a powerful, yet easy-to-use wizard-driven app that lives in PowerPoint, and enables project managers — and all other authorized users such as account managers and success teams — to:<\/span><\/b><\/b><\/b><\/p>\n