In this Edition

Letter From the Editor
Feature Article: A Better Way to Get Work Done
Events: @task New York City Event
Second Annual @task User Conference – Save $200 Dollars
On-demand Webinar
Blog Posts: Nurturing Project Leaders: Rewarding Change can be Rewarding
Sharing Work Management Best Practices: Why "Community" is Important
Successful Project-Based Work Depends More on People than Technology

Letter From the Editor

Hello @task Connection readers,

This is the second of four editions of the @task Connection you'll receive over the next few weeks, and I hope you continue to enjoy the content. We heard from a number of you after the first edition went out, and want to thank you all for your ideas and positive feedback.

Remember to click the subscribe button or go to www.attask.com/newsletter to ensure you receive every issue of the newsletter. And please feel free to email us with comments and suggestions.

Feature Article

A Better Way to Get Work Done

The traditional IT department definition of "projects" is no longer complete. As a result, project management tools are evolving into feature-rich solutions that are finding application outside of IT and across the enterprise.

Marketing, product development, R&D, finance, operations, and other disciplines across the enterprise are turning to project management methodologies and business project management software to structure how they tackle project-based work and improve efficiency. Although they may not call their work "projects," work management methodologies, which have their genesis in IT project management, are being embraced by every discipline.

Regardless of whether your job title is project manager, creative director, or account manager, the ability to juggle traditional projects, ad hoc requests, and operational work simultaneously has become a critical skill. This ability requires real-time visibility, feedback and collaboration across every level of the organization -- from the executive level down, and from the workforce level up.

@task believes project management solutions will prove to be critical for organizations seeking a better way to get work done. Forward-looking project management solutions will need to be flexible, facilitate collaboration, and accommodate a variety of project types including anything from traditional projects to unplanned initiatives.

Achieving a better way to get work done will require organizations to strengthen internal processes and methodologies while applying the right project management solution for their cross-discipline requirements.

Events

@task New York City Event

@task will be hosting an event on Thursday, March 25, 2010 from 4:00 - 6:30 p.m. at The Ritz-Carlton New York, Central Park. Scott Johnson, @task Founder and CEO, will be discussing "Getting the Right Work Done in the New Decade." This event will provide a unique opportunity for @task users to network and share best practices.
Read more and Register

Second Annual @task User Conference – Save $200 Dollars

This highly interactive event will include 24 breakout sessions, an Olympic Gold Medalist, and a PMI Project of the Year Recipient. @task users from around the world will gather in Salt Lake City, May 11-13, 2010, to address key issues confronting organizations looking to align strategic objectives with project processes and increase efficiencies and ROI in their organizations.
Read more and register

On-demand Webinar: Resource Management Best Practices: 6 ways to Effectively Manage Demand, Capacity, and Time

Because budgets are still tight and resources are still thin, learning how to effectively manage existing resources is more critical than ever. Knowing how to prioritize demands and understand capacity ensures getting the most important things done within the time frame expected.

With Margo Visitacion of Forrester Research and Amy Dowis of Allconnect
Watch it now.

Blog Posts

Nurturing Project Leaders

"How do you hold onto your best change leaders? Promote them," says Robert W. Gunn at the Harvard Business Review. "That's a key finding of my consultancy's study of 84 major, multiyear change initiatives completed between 1995 and 2005 at 36 Fortune 500 companies. The programs—such as restructuring, reducing costs, globalizing supply chains, creating shared services, and implementing Six Sigma—were among those that figure prominently in companies' annual reports."

Gunn awarded high scores to those organizations that embraced change and consciously developed change leaders. About one-third of the companies studied received the high marks. "Perhaps not surprisingly," writes Gunn, "all of the change events at these high-scoring companies met or exceeded leadership's expectations, and 62% of the executives who led these initiatives were promoted." According to Gunn, about 11% of the change leaders left these companies once the projects ended. Read the complete blog post here

Work Management Best Practices: Why “Community” is Important

Learning project management best practice doesn't just happen. Because there is so much project-based work accomplished by managers who have had little or no formal project management education, and the trend of organizations turning to projects for increasing productivity and profitability continues to grow, the need for education is important. Unfortunately, those responsible for managing projects are often "accidental" project managers—and are left to figure out for themselves the best way to manage projects, motivate teams, and get work done. Read the complete blog post here

Successful Project-Based Work Depends More on People than Technology

As the technology incorporated within business project management software continues to improve and automate many of the tasks project managers once had to perform manually, the role of project managers is changing. The ability to "roll up the sleeves" and interact with individual team members is making some project managers very effective at facilitating collaboration and eliminating the impediments faced by project teams. The more project managers are able to spend time leading project teams rather than collecting data and building reports, the more likely we are to see a drop in the project failure rate and a more positive bottom-line in our organizations. Read the complete blog post here