Let’s use the Deming Cycle: PDCA method that I shared in an earlier post to manage holiday shopping.

Phase 1: Plan-establish your objectives

• Buy presents for all those on my shopping list; most economically

Phase 2: Do - take action to implement your processes

• Compile list of presents that need to be purchased along with who will receive them
• Research to determine the most economical way to purchase each present (whether it is online or offline)
• Purchase presents

Phase 3: Check - monitor or watch how your plan progresses against your objectives and generate a report about the results

• Generate list of purchased presents according to original list to ensure completion

Phase 4: Act - Assess and make improvements if necessary in weak areas of your processes

• Make note of any issues that were experienced during the buying process
• Note which stores had excellent customer service and speedy delivery for future reference

Hopefully, this has help you to see how easy it is to integrate project management into your holiday shopping and also your daily life. Do you have other example of how you integrate project management into your daily life? Please feel free to share your comments or your examples.

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ClockingIT is a free project management software program that has many features which will appeal to the masses. They offer quick sign-up, easy start-up tutorial and their support desk is quick to respond. In testing the product, I found that it was easy to manage multiple projects, assign tasks and view the overall picture of my projects. One weakness is that it is still working on getting the iCal feature working as of the writing of this post (iCal would allow you to integrate with your calendar). Overall it has been a very positive experience.

Below is a short list of their features:

Links to information on their website

• Screenshots
• Sign-up (simple & quick process)
• Wiki (how-to information)

Features:

• Cost: Free
• Special Features:
  • no restrictions or limits
  • one-click time tracking
  • clean and out of the way interface
  • interactive gantt chart & scheduling
  • flexible reporting
  • multiple ways to communicate
  • tracks and indexes all changes
  • notifications via email & rss
  • ajax, comet & drag and drop
  • translated to 14 languages

Do you have additional project management software programs that you have used to manage projects? Please feel free to share them by leaving a comment.

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• Mind Meister - online (my prefer choice)
• Freemind - desktop (can be imported by MindMeister)
• MindJet - online
• iMindMap - online (created by the inventor of mind mapping, Tony Buzan)

Although other mind mapping software exist, these are the ones which have be considered as part of this article series. As a project manager, you can use mind mapping software to help your clients or team develop a map of how your project interconnects.

Do you have additional mind mapping software programs that you have used to manage projects? Please feel free to share them by leaving a comment.

Image credit: Kim Beasley (creator) using an icon created by Pablo Fabregat

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In reviewing the software, I will share screenshots, interview details from a company representative and my person feedback regarding the software. If you are interested in having your project management software reviewed, please feel free to contact me by leaving a comment on this post.

Image credit: Kim Beasley (creator) using an icon created by Pablo Fabregat

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Scenario 1: Business owner needs to develop process for handling client support request

Phase 1: Plan-establish your objectives

• Analyze what steps you need to put in place to handle client support request in a timely manner.
• Ask yourself questions that will help you determine your objectives.
  • What am I trying to accomplish with my support request system?
  • How will I determine if the system is an improvement?
  • What changes do I need to make in my current status for the system?

Phase 2: Do - take action to implement your processes

• Determine the key factors that would affect the process. Such as, is the request time sensitive and if so is there a process in place to escalate it.
• Create a step-through process plan for handling regular client request from the beginning (when a request is received) to the end (once a request is completed).
• Analyze your process and determine what your support request tools will be (phone-only, website-only or a combination of the two.
• Determine if parts of your support request system need to be outsource to ensure smooth handling of your client requests. Or do you need to staff someone to handle your support request.

Phase 3: Check - monitor or watch how your plan progresses against your objectives and generate a report about the results

• Make sure to keep an ongoing tracking system in place to monitor the success/failure of your progress.

Phase 4: Act - Assess and make improves if necessary in weak areas of your processes

• Generate tracking reports that shows the progress of your client support system.
• Determine weak areas where you might need improvement and take action.
• Repeat the process for PDCA as an ongoing plan to ensure quality control (that it is flowing smoothly) of your client support system.

So as a small business owner, project management processes such as Deming’s PDCA can be very useful when determining how to run your business. Do you have other scenarios that you would like to see analyzed? Please feel free to post your ideas or comments. Would love to hear them!

Image credit: Kim Beasley (creator) borrowed from Deming

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One of the blogging topics is Project Management which is the focus of this website. In the coming posts, you will be able to learn about project management through interviews, articles and books. I am Kim Beasley, the blogger for Project Management411 and I look forward to sharing my knowledge with you along with information from a variety of resources.

I look forward to hearing your comments and feedback regarding the upcoming posts. If you have an idea for a blog post series, please feel free to contact me to discuss.

Image credit: Brian Layman

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Case in point, as a small business owner, one of the processes that I have chosen to use the Deming cycle. The Deming cycle has four-parts:

The Deming cycle is an four-part problem-solving process that project managers use to monitor the continued progress of a project. It is considered a simple way of conducting quality control for your projects while at the same time increasing your awareness of perfecting your processes. The four simple steps for Deming’s cycle are:

• Plan: Identify the focus for you project improvement plan. Create the objectives and goals that you want to accomplish as part of your project plan.
• Do: Put into action the project plan that you have created.
• Check: Make sure to track and evaluate how things are going and compare the compiled results against your objectives and goals. Then develop a report about the outcome.
• Act: Activate any changes that you deem necessary for improving the outcome. What you do in this step is review everything that you have done so far and then make changes according to what will help you improve the project plan so that you have a better outcome the next time around.

Integrating the Deming cycle into your small business, is a straight-forward process that will be discussed in the next installment in this series.

Image credit: Kim Beasley (creator)

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The continual improvement connection comes through understanding that people who do the work, at the ground level, often come up with the best ideas, improvements, and innovations. In business, all that is needed is a manager that knows how to elicit the innovation and then implement it; in the case of Culture Creators a creative eye that can communicate with pictures and the written word captures the innovations in fashion and style of ordinary people thereby sharing them with future fashionistas.

THIS is the essence of change and innovation.

Here is one example from www.laculturecreators.com:

“Sea green pomegranate. Such an intriguing look. I assumed the camera worked but it read more as a decorative piece, which I loved! A high waisted jean skirt is a definite must have, it’s extremely smart and versatile.”

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Check out the best practice governance model in my flagship series on Choosing the Right PMO Vision. This Theory of Constraints based approach is guaranteed to ramp up your innovation and strategy execution.

Image Source: stockxchng.com

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