PST Newsletter

  1. ManagePro 8.3 interim version (beta) is available

    2. The release of ManagePro 8.3 has taken longer than expected, partly because we decided to add the development of the ManagePro Outlook Add-in to this summer's schedule.  Partly it's because we kept coming up with features and fixes we wanted to add to 8.3.  What was a certain release in August has gotten pushed back to late September, and the release (when it arrives) will be a full 8.5 version. 

    That being said, we've decided to release an interim version this week to anyone who wants to take advantage of all the new features we have put in this summer.  It installs directly over the top of your existing 8.2 version.  It has so many advances, we suggest you use it... and give us some feedback.  If you would like to get a link to download 8.3, just call Jona at our front desk (707) 487-3000 or click here to send her an email requesting the download link.

    Now let me cover just a few things that have changed.  There are a lot of improvements, but here's some of the top new features you'll want to know about:

    New Features:

    1. The ability to add/attach documents from the Ribbon control at the top of the program and right click menus has been added.

    Add Document

    2. Added button to Timeline control to turn off/on display of parent durations.  This declutters the gantt chart view significantly, making it much easier to see relationships between durations of successive tasks.

    Timeline Duration Display

    3. Added ability to set both company wide holidays and personal holidays or time off, and set the duration of a work day in hours for each individual, via the "Program Button/Set Working Time" option.  Resource allocation now adjusts for both company wide or corporate holidays, as well as individual time off and individual schedules (e.g. 4 day vs 5 day work week).

    4. Completely rewrote the Resource Allocation code and now provide resource allocation planning with the ability to assign people by either # of hours or % of time to a task, plus the ability to see availability across direct reports in a graphical format.

    Resource Allocation Planning

    5. Built an all new resource allocation capacity planning graph, based upon the user or business group selected in the user drop down menu.  Available via the Capacity Planning button.

    Resource Allocation Capacity Graph

     

    Fixes:

    1. Customizing Timelines in Project timeline View causes crash (timeline layers)
    2. Deleted Strategic Linked Records were displayed as if active in the Map and Strategic Scorecard Views
    3. Save was not Active in Notes Editor
    4. Remove Function in Multi-edit Who Dialog  not working correctly
    5. Crash occurs after importing email w/ attachment in Smart Client
    6. Deleting the last view in any area renders database unusable
    7. Display problem with Goal Related Data and Details View Window Docking and/or recognizing close
    8. ManagePro Crash when Document checkbox is included in search
    9. Crash occurs when attempting to configure the Program and Performance Due Views
    10. Crash occurs when Progress Date Range is set to ALL after sync.
    11. Goals with no progress updates were inheriting the previous goals last progress updates
    12. Custom Report Design Options for Related Data are Broken
    13. MProSmart not saving documents attached to emails
    14. Crash when dragging due goals in the Calendar - SC
    15. Status Field displays Done in MP Plus  but displays Behind in SC 
    16. Score Field was editable and should not be for viewers with Read-Only access
    17. Timeline Project and Resource Allocation views were not displaying the score field when configured
    18. Timeline views did not display list color globes or risk rollup flags
    19. Dates did not carry over with copy and paste of records
    20. Mask password in the People and Meeting Resource Allocation view
    21. Prevent Password Security Loophole so passwords are not visible in export
    22.  Fix loopholes in display and access to passwords
    23. Fix loopholes in the management of records marked private
    24. Crash occured when email address was incorrect - when emailing out from ManagePro
    25. Fixed problems with the embedded image displayed after drag and drop
    26. Adjusted time card display such that Hours this week and Hours this month picks up the total from past year 
    27. Fixed Problems synching Recurring Appointments from Outlook
    28. Fixed error based upon dragging a goal displayed in the calendar based upon its due date
    29. Disabled Delete on the Ribbon control when records in the Calendar and User Data Window/Tabs have focus
    30. Crash encountered when moving inserted images in Editor  - Requirements Field

     

    Again, to download the 8.3 interim release contact Jona by phone at (707) 487-3000 or email her to request the download link by clicking here.


  2. Ready, Aim, Fire and the Important Missing 4th Step

    3. It's common to define working or managing strategically as a Ready, Aim, Fire sequence.  Perhaps it's even more common to define not being strategic as operating with the last two steps reversed, e.g. in a Ready, Fire, Aim sequence.  But there's a 4th step.

    Both series miss an important 4th step that your Mom probably tried to teach you as a kid, and is still critical today if you want to work in a consistently strategic manner (e.g. avoiding getting ruled by the demands of email and the next urgent request and deadline).  The fourth step can be different activities in different situations, but it comes back to this core concept that there’s always something fundamental to do after you complete the 3rd action step of “Fire” in the sequence.

    So what are you supposed to do after you complete the action step referred to as “Fire”?  Or put another way, if you wanted your organization to use technology and manage information more strategically…  What are the simple, daily steps?

    I refer to it as the “Clean-Up” step.  The fourth step can comprise activities such as: follow-up, check back, write an inquiry, document what happened, measure or verify results, confirm if it worked, check on the historical trends, compare to previous month or year, etc.   It varies widely based upon the work being done, and some times it’s just as the term describes, “clean up and put everything away to be ready for next”… but it always exists, and in most of our worlds it means you need to do some form of documentation... in ManagePro. 

    Click here to read the entire article Working and Managing Strategially - Clean-Up, the Missing 4th Step on my blog.


  3. Interview with a ManagePro Consultant - Julian Mendoza

Where have you been working lately and with what type of organizations?

Lately I've been working in the US, Egypt and South Africa with commercial and governmental organizations in pharmacology, energy generation/distribution and petroleum exploration sectors, as well as assisting private non-profit agencies.  I am also on the faculty for Xavier University’s executive development program. 

What kind of solutions are customers asking you to help them create in ManagePro?

On the surface, they ask for help with developing the outline structure and, of course, max’ing their technical proficiency with the tool.  They want Managepro to organize the daily chaos of emails, meetings and reports.   What the more senior exec really wants is something to sift out what truly matters.  How to manage the information and email flood into a flow that’s aligned, clear and is supported by metrics when needed.

Bill McDonald-Kerr in the last newsletter (June) gave terrific tips and insights worth rereading. He noted that people organize their day in different ways, which is consistent with my experience. Most people think of calendars or time-based plans, since eventually any plan has to fold into a timeline queue . Bill emphasizes contact-management. A third group of people might list tasks as the starting point to organizing their day. And Bill made a great point that ManagePro can work with all three – and integrate them for a more strategic execution.


If you could take a moment to give all of our users some free consulting, what 3 tips should they know to help maximize their value in using ManagePro? –

Simplicity, Managed Expectations and the D word – Discipline.  Let’s talk honestly here.

 1.  Start simple: But start at the top - yourself and your core managers, narrowly focused on specific projects or a solution to a prioritized set of problems that are causing pain.  That might mean Deployment Phase 1 can be simply learning how to find things around the outline; when and how to attach Updates, To-Do’s, Documents; using the most basic fields.  (This first phase helps solidly evolve two important documents: the Usage Rules, and the Prescribed Daily Routine.) 

2.   Expectations:  Phase your expectations for the implementation.  Initially, have the tool configured to the simplest set of views and columns.  Learn just enough of the tool to understand and use its basic purpose, and to feel comfortable that it can work for you.  Have a phased curriculum as the basis for developing the deployment schedule – it’s a tool that’s like a six-speed Porsche that takes some actual driving, not a tell-me-all-about-it-in-one-sitting experience. 

3.  Discipline in use:  This starts with the leader.  Too often emperors never see their nakedness, which is so obvious to everyone else – ex. demanding compliance from everyone, but not using the tool competently himself.  That one is a sure predictor of a ManagePro deployment failing. 

Discipline in the thought process:   Don’t flood me with all the steps or a long list of every possible contingency – synthesize it down, outline the five or seven core things that we’d better be getting done.  Scientific types and engineers are particularly prone to giving long analyses, before a conclusion.  Start with the desired results first, and then build an outline that represents a plan for getting there.


Before you leave, what's the biggest blindspot that ManagePro users' would do well to know and avoid?

No tool can give more bang for the buck in matching management reality, certainly.  But in the end, its about people, inertia and momentum.

Just get up and get going already. Using Managepro is not about having a perfect and complete plan, the way the PMI with its emphasis on planning might mislead people. The search for perfection or completion is often an enabler of inertia.  ManagePro enables you to have a live, organic, flexing plan based on the assumption that things change, including real life and plans.   Get started with a "good enough" outline of your business in the database and build power and momentum by using it regularly

Borrowing from physics, I need the most senior manager/executive to feed momentum by practicing being actively and emotionally committed to managing via ManagePro.  A knife works because it’s a highly focused lever: all the pressure is applied to a very thin point.  Nothing else cuts it.  


What’s the biggest thing you see that people need to “get” about ManagePro? -

Simply put, think of it as an electronic bulletin board that gives us a structured framework for the unstructured flow of information and decisions.  It's a 24 hour, seven day a week, real-time, clarity and sanity resource – for both the higher and lower levels of the organization.  A bulletin board that's focused on "What needs to get done?"  That is counterintuitive to how we were trained.   Start with the end, work your way back - amazing what that does for elegant clarity.

You can reach Julian by email with your comments at JMendoza@Matrixed.net

 

    Have a great August and Labor Day weekend... and lots of success putting Julian's tips into practice. 

    Remember to be looking for the new version of ManagePro in late September.

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

    PS. At $20/month per person the first year and $10/month per person thereafter, you should be be getting your key direct reports and vendors on MProLite this summer.  Call us at (877) 487-3001 - it really is a tremendous advantage if you're responsible for succeeding with ManagePro.

Call toll free (877) 487-3001

August 2008 Newsletter content:

  1. ManagePro - There's an interim/beta version of ManagePro 8.3 available!
  2. Ready, Aim, Fire and the important missing 4th Step
  3. Interview with a ManagePro Consultant - A focus on Julian Mendoza