PST Newsletter

1. ManagePro 9.5 is coming out in June... You've Got to See What's Included

One of our primary goals is to deliver ManagePro as a central hub for all of your management needs.  As we work with all of you out there, across the world, it's very apparent that most of us use Outlook for email as another central hub of activity.  Which, in large part, is why we've spent so much effort to support synchronization with Outlook and the handy drag and drop of Outlook email into ManagePro. 

Well along the way towards the goal of being a central hub, what has also been obvious is how much we all use Excel for a variety of purposes, especially when it comes to managing numbers.  So what we've done in ManagePro 9.5 is to build in the capability to pull data from any Excel "cell".  You can pull the data in to update a field in ManagePro, such as an Actual field number, or you can pull the value in as a new progress update and stuff the value into the Results field so that it automatically builds your scorecard history.  Pretty cool!

We think you'll be impressed.  But it gets better.  We're also finishing building the same kind of linkage to MS Project, for those of you who have that application running as well.  And we anticipate having the capability to pull data from other databases supporting OBDC connection by the time we release. 

Setting up the connections is done via a handy form found under the synchronization tab.  Pulling the data is accomplished by simply clicking the Sync button and then either pulling from all connected sources or pulling from just the sources you selectively identify.

It is all part of our effort to supply you with a solution that has all the critical information within a couple of clicks.  Our goal is to have ManagePro be your central management tool, sitting on top of any of the common applications you use.  It should be your one-stop application for coordinating your entire organization, your entire work effort - pulling what's critical out of your other commonly used applications when you need it.

Think of it as ManagePro Central, and be looking for an announcement of the release in the June newsletter, with our current estimate of releasing the week of June 15th.  Our hope is that it will make managing all the information around projects, people, tasks, time and money just a little bit easier.

 

 


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2. Miracles, Magical Thinking and What We're Offering to Build Your Success

We would like to make a change in the business. 

In our business and in your business.  And it has to do with the reality that sits uncomfortably close to magical thinking.

If you followed me around to different client sites, one thing you would notice is how many people really like ManagePro.  I mean we have wonderfully supportive users that date back to before we bought ManagePro from Avantos.  It's terrific.  

One thing that's not so terrific, despite liking the tool, and the philosophy around which it is built, is that many users are also terribly under-equipped to use it.   If this is you, using the buttons in the ribbon control is still mostly uncharted territory.  You probably aren't sure what tabs are available in the details area, and you might even be a little bit unsure about how to get to the details area.   

Now not knowing how to use all the features of a program is common for all of us, across pretty much any software.  Usually I find myself looking to understand how to use the 20% that will give me 80% of the value. I don't have time or the interest to learn 100% of what most programs can do.   But with ManagePro users, we're often finding that they are struggling along with a working knowledge of less than 5% of the program.  Yikes.  Why?

It seems that part of the reason has to do with the nature of the ManagePro solution.  The intent of ManagePro is to provide a structure with which you can organize, track, plan and coordinate all the ins and outs (sometime the chaos) of everyday business.  The problem, or reality, is that this doesn't suddenly happen upon acquiring ManagePro.  Let me share this cartoon I borrowed from one our user consultants, Imad Alsadeq, Consulting Director at www.thiqah.com.

So with ManagePro you have this very capable tool, let's say to basically plan, and then track the progress other people make towards reaching shared objectives.    But it may be that you don't usually take the time to build a plan.  Or if you do, you don't keep it updated, so it doesn't reflect today's reality.  Or maybe you have a team full of people who work hard, but rarely document anything, with information being managed by conversations and email.  Or maybe you struggle to come up with a system to organize the important stuff at work.  Or maybe you keep changing where you put stuff in ManagePro, so it gets hard to find stuff and you give up after awhile and just use ManagePro as a simple todo list.  Whatever your situation, I'm betting that your experience does not match the graphic above.

Miracles are usually in short supply; however you can find Magical thinking everywhere.  Here's an example of magical thinking - "If I buy ManagePro, I'll be changed, I'll get organized and everything will be different."   Reality is usually something quite different.

So what should we do with the reality of applying ManagePro to most of our business environments?  Remember at the top, I said I am going to change the business... and in the process hopefully help you change yours as well.

Some companies offer "boot camp" training events.  Get away for several days and get immersed into the product.  We've not seen that have a great long-term effect.  We've offered training and consulting for years, but we find most people see that as an extra expense they can minimize.   It's easy to tell yourself you can do just fine on your own - so they, you, I, under-resource the continued effort it takes to be highly successful. 

Let me ask you a question.  Have you ever tried to learn something that involves skill or complexity on your own?  Maybe it was skiing, or acquiring a foreign language.  Maybe it was learning to play tennis, golf or perhaps the piano.  If you look around, most people who don't invest in lessons in such endeavors... show it. 

Generally, if we don't invest in having someone else keep working with us to advance, we get stuck in bad habits, get stuck in our skill progression, get stuck and usually rationalize that it's good enough.  Wonderful.  You see, buying the software isn't the "thing".  The software is good, but it's not magical, and acquiring it isn't the goal... working smarter is.

Here's the deal.  The reality is, if you want to do something well, really well (for 95% or more of us), it requires working with someone who will teach you, challenge you, encourage you, push you, hold you accountable to your own goals.  You may call that person a trainer, a coach, your instructor, (perhaps your worst nightmare), but the reality is we need someone like that to excel.  The truth is most of us need a coach to learn to use ManagePro really well in our business.  Most of us need assistance to use ManagePro to raise the level of our game at work, to work smarter.

So.... drum roll.  In June we are starting a basic coaching service that we are offering to every new buyer of ManagePro.  A weekly web and phone based Work Smart with ManagePro coaching session for 25 minutes.  We are making it very affordable ($25 for 25 minutes) and we're taking the risk out of it.  The first month is free.  If you don't like it or find it of no value, don't continue.  No problem.

Note,  we are offering the Work Smart with ManagePro coaching service to our existing customers as well, however for existing customers we are offering just the first session at no charge, instead of the first month of session (4 weekly sessions) at no charge. You'll figure out very quickly if you will put in the effort to make it work for you.

If you're wondering what we focus on to "raise your game", take a look at the graphic below.  You'll immediately get what the steps and the outcome looks like.  And you'll add to that what's important for you in your business.  The point is that we stay with you through all six steps, to help you build a Work Smart system and culture that pays off over and over again.

Bottom Line:  Call to get scheduled and started today - do it before you file this away for some other day.  Call us, if it is during west coast business hours, you'll get a real person, not a message center, and we'll get you on the schedule and on the way.  Call or email Jona (pst@managepro.com or ph. (707) 487-3000) at our front office.

 

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3.  Overwhelmed by Too Much Data? Use the View Buttons & View Configuration option to "Declutter"

Before we wrap up this May newsletter, let me point out three approaches to reducing clutter within the ManagePro screen that are available to you.

1. Some people find the four windows an overwhelming level of data to look at.  You can remove the Calendar, the User List (todos, events and progress updates) and the Related Data Windows from your view to focus solely on the Main Workspace in one of two ways:

1. You can un-dock the three windows by clicking the upper right corner pin in each once (which will cause it to switch to a horizontal position), then move your cursor back to the Main Workspace view, and you'll find that the three windows will each move off to the side of the screen and remain available but displayed as a tab.  To make them reappear, simply hover your cursor over their respective tab.  To relocate the window within your fixed workspace, click the pin again to position it vertically.

2. Or you can simply unclick the Ribbon Control / View area buttons representing each view.  Click the buttons once again to make the windows available again. 

2.  For some, the number of columns in the views in the Main Workspace area is too much.   For others, the number of fields within the Details View is too much.  You can reduce the number of columns/fields displayed (or change them) in either view if you are the database administrator.  Use the right click View Configuration option within the Main Workspace area to remove  columns from display, or the right click Customize Layout options remove the number of fields displayed or re-configure the field layout within the Detail View to suit your needs.

3.  Finally, anyone can determine the number of alternate views available in the Main Workspace by right clicking in that view, choosing the Customize Layout and un-clicking (or clicking) available views for display.  These are views that the database administrator has created, or came with the database as default views.

Hope May closes well, and that you get lots of benefit from our new coaching service and upcoming new release in June.

 

 
Rodney Brim,  Ph.D.
CEO Performance Solutions Technology
www.ManagePro.com/Blog

PS.   Look forward to hearing about your sucess with our new Work Smart with ManagePro coaching system.  Let's all get much better at working smarter and creating a culture around us that requires and inspires co-workers to raise the level of their game as well.