Productive By Design

PM Toolbox : How to be sure that you stick to your budget ?

Geoffrey — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 20:40:00 +0000

Finally I arrived at the last post of the PM Toolbox series. This one is about how to be sure to stick to the budget in term of time and cost and the tool we will use for this purpose is the S-curves method.

The method of S-curves is a graphical tool for monitoring the progress of a project highlighting its economic situation. It was developed by the Department of Defense of the United States. This method can show the evolution of cumulative actual expenditure or “real cost” during the progress of the project and estimate at a time T discrepancies in project cost estimates and schedules.

This method relies on the achievement of three curves : one curve called Budgeted Cost of Work Scheduled representing the budget for the project (cost + time), second (Actual Cost of Work Performed) which represents the actual progress of the project at a date T. And a third curve “virtual” (Budgeted Cost of Work Performed) which symbolizes the physical progress of the project.

Here is a graph sample :

Making Chart

Before the project begins you have to define a first curve predictive of achievement (BCWS) to launch the project. Then at an instant T, the project manager can define a second curve, which represents the actual curve of achievement. He can finally define a third curve which will give the value of work performed in fiscal value or the cost in time and costs actually made during the period.

The difference between BCWP curve and ACWP curve on the horizontal axis shows the delay between the work in progress and work as planned. Expressed in cost, this difference is called “variance within”. The difference between these two curves on the vertical axis represents the difference in cost between the budgeted cost and actual cost, a gap called “cost variance”.

So at any time, the project manager can estimate the difference between what was planned and the real work done in term of cost estimates and schedules.

That’s it, the toolbox is now completed. And you, are you using other tools and methods in your projects management process ?

No related posts.

PM Toolbox : How to manage risk ?

Geoffrey — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 10:26:52 +0000

Different methods exist to manage risks. You can use an Iskikawa diagrams and root cause analysis in a prospective way, as well as PERT chart.

But I will talk about another way to manage risks based on a graph, inspired by Mintzberg, that prioritizes tasks by order of importance and urgency. This way, you get a cartography of risks based on their probability and their criticality.

Draw the graph

After having listed all the problem that can happen, during a brainstorming session for example, you have to order them in a table that has probability in the X axis (weak, medium and strong) and criticality in the Y axis (weak, medium and high).

According to their position in the table, the project manager has to implement actions : risk to handle, risk to follow, insignificant risk. This tool allows to prioritize actions in the field of risk management. Later on, you have to define an action plan including preventive actions you can take to lower the probability that something wrong will happen. Finally, you should also add curative actions to you plan in case something goes wrong.

And you, how do you handle risk in the software development aera ? Feel free to share your experience in the comment section.

–Geoffrey

PM Toolbox : How to follow the evolution of a project ?

PM Toolbox : How to follow the evolution of a project ?

Geoffrey — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 18:47:23 +0000

Gantt Chart, that inherit its name from its inventor Henry Laurence Gantt, an American mechanical engineer, is a very good tool to follow the evolution of a project.

Gantt Charts are useful tools for analyzing and planning complex projects. They:

Help you to plan out the tasks that need to be completed
Give you a basis for scheduling when these tasks will be carried out
Allow you to plan the allocation of resources needed to complete the project, and
Help you to work out the critical path for a project where you must complete it by a particular date.

When a project is under way, Gantt Charts help you to monitor whether the project is on schedule. If it is not, it allows you to pinpoint the remedial action necessary to put it back on schedule.

Sequential and parallel activities

An essential concept behind project planning (and Critical Path Analysis) is that some activities are dependent on other activities being completed first. As a shallow example, it is not a good idea to start building a bridge before you have designed it!

These dependent activities need to be completed in a sequence, with each stage being more-or-less completed before the next activity can begin. We can call dependent activities ‘sequential’ or ‘linear’.

Other activities are not dependent on completion of any other tasks. These may be done at any time before or after a particular stage is reached. These are nondependent or ‘parallel’ tasks.

Drawing a Gantt Chart

To draw up a Gantt diagram (Gant diagram), follow these steps:

Step 1. List all activities in the plan
For each task, show the earliest start date, estimated length of time it will take, and whether it is parallel or sequential. If tasks are sequential, show which stages they depend on.

You will end up with a task list like the one in figure 1. This example shows the task list for a custom-written computer project. We will use this same example for both this section and the section on Critical Path Analysis and PERT. This will allow you to compare the results of the two approaches.

Step 2. Head up graph paper with the days or weeks through to task completion

Step 3. Plot the tasks onto the graph paper
Next draw up a rough draft of the Gantt Chart. Plot each task on the graph paper, showing it starting on the earliest possible date. Draw it as a bar, with the length of the bar being the length of the task. Above the task bars, mark the time taken to complete them.

Schedule them in such a way that sequential actions are carried out in the required sequence. Ensure that dependent activities do not start until the activities they depend on have been completed.

This will produce an untidy diagram like the one below:

Step 4. Presenting the analysis
The last stage in this process is to prepare a final version of the Gantt Chart. This shows how the sets sequential activities link together, and the identifies critical path activities. At this stage you also need to check the resourcing of the various activities. While scheduling, ensure that you make best use of the resources you have available, and do not over-commit resource.

You can also use color to represent the different resource types that you need to use such as programmers, or analysts.

A redrawn version of the example project is shown below:

By drawing this example Gantt Chart, you can see that:

If all goes well, the project can be completed in 10 weeks.

If you want to complete the task as rapidly as possible, you need:

1 analyst for the first 5 weeks.
1 programmer for 5 weeks starting week 4.
1 programmer/QA expert for 3 weeks starting week 6. Note: Activities L and M have been moved back a week. This does not affect the critical path, but it does mean that a single programming/QA resource can carry out all three of activities K, L and M.
Analysis, development and testing of supporting modules are essential activities that must be completed on time.
Hardware installation and commissioning is not time-critical as long as it is completed before the Core Module Training starts.

While this section describes how to draw a Gantt Chart manually, in practice project managers use software tools like Microsoft Project to create Gantt Charts. Not only do these ease the drawing of Gantt Charts, they also make modification of plans easier and provide facilities for monitoring progress against plans, as well as generating resource histograms.

Key points

Gantt charts are useful tools for planning and scheduling projects. They allow you to assess how long a project should take, determine the resources needed, and lay out the order in which tasks need to be carried out. They are useful in managing the dependencies between tasks.

When a project is under way, Gantt charts are useful for monitoring its progress. You can immediately see what should have been achieved at a point in time, and can therefore take remedial action to bring the project back on course. This can be essential for the successful and profitable implementation of the project.

I hope that you find this post useful, feel free to add any information and to ask any question in the comments section.

– Geoffrey

PM Toolbox : How to optimize tasks organization ?

Geoffrey — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 20:21:19 +0000

Complex projects require a series of activities, some of which must be performed sequentially and others that can be performed in parallel with other activities. This collection of series and parallel tasks can be modeled as a network.

In 1957 the Critical Path Method (CPM) was developed as a network model for project management. CPM is a deterministic method that uses a fixed time estimate for each activity. While CPM is easy to understand and use, it does not consider the time variations that can have a great impact on the completion time of a complex project.

The Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) is a network model that allows for randomness in activity completion times. PERT was developed in the late 1950′s for the U.S. Navy’s Polaris project having thousands of contractors. It has the potential to reduce both the time and cost required to complete a project.

The Network Diagram

In a project, an activity is a task that must be performed and an event is a milestone marking the completion of one or more activities. Before an activity can begin, all of its predecessor activities must be completed. Project network models represent activities and milestones by arcs and nodes. PERT originally was an activity on arc network, in which the activities are represented on the lines and milestones on the nodes. Over time, some people began to use PERT as an activity on node network. For this discussion, we will use the original form of activity on arc.

The PERT chart may have multiple pages with many sub-tasks. The following is a very simple example of a PERT diagram:

The milestones generally are numbered so that the ending node of an activity has a higher number than the beginning node. Incrementing the numbers by 10 allows for new ones to be inserted without modifying the numbering of the entire diagram. The activities in the above diagram are labeled with letters along with the expected time required to complete the activity.

Steps in the PERT Planning Process
PERT planning involves the following steps:

Identify the specific activities and milestones.

Determine the proper sequence of the activities.

Construct a network diagram.

Estimate the time required for each activity.

Determine the critical path.

Update the PERT chart as the project progresses.

1. Identify Activities and Milestones

The activities are the tasks required to complete the project. The milestones are the events marking the beginning and end of one or more activities. It is helpful to list the tasks in a table that in later steps can be expanded to include information on sequence and duration.

2. Determine Activity Sequence

This step may be combined with the activity identification step since the activity sequence is evident for some tasks. Other tasks may require more analysis to determine the exact order in which they must be performed.

3. Construct the Network Diagram

Using the activity sequence information, a network diagram can be drawn showing the sequence of the serial and parallel activities. For the original activity-on-arc model, the activities are depicted by arrowed lines and milestones are depicted by circles or “bubbles”.

If done manually, several drafts may be required to correctly portray the relationships among activities. Software packages simplify this step by automatically converting tabular activity information into a network diagram.

4. Estimate Activity Times

Weeks are a commonly used unit of time for activity completion, but any consistent unit of time can be used.
A distinguishing feature of PERT is its ability to deal with uncertainty in activity completion times. For each activity, the model usually includes three time estimates:

Optimistic time – generally the shortest time in which the activity can be completed. It is common practice to specify optimistic times to be three standard deviations from the mean so that there is approximately a 1% chance that the activity will be completed within the optimistic time.
Most likely time – the completion time having the highest probability. Note that this time is different from the expected time.
Pessimistic time – the longest time that an activity might require. Three standard deviations from the mean is commonly used for the pessimistic time.

PERT assumes a beta probability distribution for the time estimates. For a beta distribution, the expected time for each activity can be approximated using the following weighted average:
Expected time = ( Optimistic + 4 x Most likely + Pessimistic ) / 6

This expected time may be displayed on the network diagram.
To calculate the variance for each activity completion time, if three standard deviation times were selected for the optimistic and pessimistic times, then there are six standard deviations between them, so the variance is given by:
[ ( Pessimistic - Optimistic ) / 6 ]2

5. Determine the Critical Path

The critical path is determined byadding the times for the activities in each sequence and determining the longest path in the project. The critical path determines the total calendar time required for the project. If activities outside the critical path speed up or slow down (within limits), the total project time does not change. The amount of time that a non-critical path activity can be delayed without delaying the project is referred to as slack time.

If the critical path is not immediately obvious, it may be helpful to determine the following four quantities for each activity:

ES – Earliest Start time
EF – Earliest Finish time
LS – Latest Start time
LF – Latest Finish time

These times are calculated using the expected time for the relevant activities. The earliest start and finish times of each activity are determined by working forward through the network and determining the earliest time at which an activity can start and finish considering its predecessor activities. The latest start and finish times are the latest times that an activity can start and finish without delaying the project. LS and LF are found by working backward through the network. The difference in the latest and earliest finish of each activity is that activity’s slack. The critical path then is the path through the network in which none of the activities have slack.

The variance in the project completion time can be calculated by summing the variances in the completion times of the activities in the critical path. Given this variance, one can calculate the probability that the project will be completed by a certain date assuming a normal probability distribution for the critical path. The normal distribution assumption holds if the number of activities in the path is large enough for the central limit theorem to be applied.

Since the critical path determines the completion date of the project, the project can be accelerated by adding the resources required to decrease the time for the activities in the critical path. Such a shortening of the project sometimes is referred to as project crashing.

6. Update as Project Progresses

Make adjustments in the PERT chart as the project progresses. As the project unfolds, the estimated times can be replaced with actual times. In cases where there are delays, additional resources may be needed to stay on schedule and the PERT chart may be modified to reflect the new situation.

Benefits of PERT

PERT is useful because it provides the following information:

Expected project completion time.

Probability of completion before a specified date.

The critical path activities that directly impact the completion time.

The activities that have slack time and that can lend resources to critical path activities.

Activity start and end dates.

Limitations

The following are some of PERT’s weaknesses:

The activity time estimates are somewhat subjective and depend on judgement. In cases where there is little experience in performing an activity, the numbers may be only a guess. In other cases, if the person or group performing the activity estimates the time there may be bias in the estimate.

Even if the activity times are well-estimated, PERT assumes a beta distribution for these time estimates, but the actual distribution may be different.

Even if the beta distribution assumption holds, PERT assumes that the probability distribution of the project completion time is the same as the that of the critical path. Because other paths can become the critical path if their associated activities are delayed, PERT consistently underestimates the expected project completion time.

The underestimation of the project completion time due to alternate paths becoming critical is perhaps the most serious of these issues. To overcome this limitation, Monte Carlo simulations can be performed on the network to eliminate this optimistic bias in the expected project completion time.

– Geoffrey

Related posts:
PM Toolbox : How to follow the evolution of a project ?

PM Toolbox : How to find out what features are critical ?

Geoffrey — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 08:02:12 +0000

With constant growth in customers expectation in term of quality, cost and delivery, you can’t focus on all areas of a project. You have to choose what is critical and what is trivial.

In 1906, Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto created a mathematical formula to describe the unequal distribution of wealth in his country, observing that twenty percent of the people owned eighty percent of the wealth.

Pareto’s Law

Further empirical studies for other time periods, for other countries, produced the stunning result that they all followed the same pattern. Later analysis of distributions in industry and nature has demonstrated that 80/20 Pareto distributions were very common in various fields and not exclusive to income distribution.

Application

Because Pareto’s initial discovery involved a distribution of 80% of wealth to 20% of families and it’s inverse, the Pareto Principle is often called “The 80/20 rule”. The 80/20 Rule means that in nearly all cases, a few (20 percent) are vital and many (80 percent) are trivial.

Other ways this law could be rephrased :

80 percent of results come from 20 percent of efforts
80% of activity will require 20% of resources
80% of the difficulty in achieving something lies in 20% of the challenge
80% of revenue comes from 20% of customers
80% of problems come from 20% of causes
80% of profit comes from 20% of the product range
80% of complaints come from 20% of customers

While misnamed, and however paraphrased, the Pareto Principle, Pareto’s Law, the 80/20 rule, or the 80/20 principle, is a simple and effective management tool with wide business application. Applying this phenomenon when analyzing raw data by creating a Pareto Chart, or Pareto Diagram, generates valuable information that can easily guide management decisions. Ultimately, this allows us to focus on the vital few, rather than the trivial many, and focus effort where it will have the most impact or value.

How-to

1. Decide what categories you will use to group items.
2. Decide what measurement is appropriate. Common measurements are frequency, quantity, cost and time.
3. Decide what period of time the Pareto chart will cover: One work cycle? One full day? A week?
4. Collect the data, recording the category each time. (Or assemble data that already exist.)
5. Subtotal the measurements for each category.
6. Determine the appropriate scale for the measurements you have collected. The maximum value will be the largest subtotal from step 5. (If you will do optional steps 8 and 9 below, the maximum value will be the sum of all subtotals from step 5.) Mark the scale on the left side of the chart.
7. Construct and label bars for each category. Place the tallest at the far left, then the next tallest to its right and so on. If there are many categories with small measurements, they can be grouped as “other.”

Steps 8 and 9 are optional but are useful for analysis and communication.

8. Calculate the percentage for each category: the subtotal for that category divided by the total for all categories. Draw a right vertical axis and label it with percentages. Be sure the two scales match: For example, the left measurement that corresponds to one-half should be exactly opposite 50% on the right scale.
9. Calculate and draw cumulative sums: Add the subtotals for the first and second categories, and place a dot above the second bar indicating that sum. To that sum add the subtotal for the third category, and place a dot above the third bar for that new sum. Continue the process for all the bars. Connect the dots, starting at the top of the first bar. The last dot should reach 100 percent on the right scale.

Example

Imagine that you followed the previous step and get the following tables of datas :

Now you can draw the following Pareto’s chart.

According to this chart, if you handle D, 68% of the problems will be treated. By also doing B, you’ll solve 83% of the problems.

On your side, are you using Pareto’s Principle to find out what features are critical ? If not, what else are you using ? Feel free to share your thought in the comments section.

– Geoffrey

No related posts.

PM Toolbox : How to diagnose causes of a problem ?

Geoffrey — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:00:53 +0000

Things go wrong… that’s just a fact of life. To paraphrase the infamous bumper sticker, “Stuff” happens. In the world of software projects, that stuff consists of bugs (software defects), bad/unclear requirements, missed delivery dates, inappropriate expectations and so forth. And when those things go wrong, all too frequently, the symptoms end up getting treated, only to return in the future when the real problem manifests itself again.

Root Cause Analysis helps you to think through causes of a problem thoroughly. Their major benefit is that they push you to consider all possible causes of the problem, rather than just the ones that are most obvious. So you treat the real problem, not only symptoms.

The Fishbone Diagram is a neat little visual tool. It helps with the brainstorming process of determining causes and root causes. It also provides a quick visual representation of cause density. It’s called the fishbone diagram, because when you’re starting out, it has a sideway tree look to it which resembles a fish skeleton. Sometimes it’s called a cause and effect diagram or Ishikawa diagram because of what it depicts and who came up with the thing, respectively.

How to draw a fishbone diagram ?

1. Identify the problem

Write down the exact problem you face in detail. Where appropriate identify who is involved, what the problem is, and when and where it occurs. Write the problem in a box on the right hand side of a large sheet of paper. Draw a line across the paper horizontally from the box. This gives you space to develop ideas.

2. Work out the major factors involved

Next identify the factors that may contribute to the problem. Draw lines off the spine for each factor, and label it. Here are some commonly used cause branches when performing Fishbone Analysis :

The 8 P’s : Procedures, People, Price, Promotion, Processes, Plant, Product, and Policies.
The 6 M’s : Machinery, Materials, Maintenance, Methods, Mother Nature, and Man.
The 4 S’s : Skills, Surroundings, Systems, and Suppliers.

Try to draw out as many possible factors as possible. If you are trying to solve the problem as part of a group, then this may be a good time for some brainstorming. This is when the cause and effect diagram starts to look like a Fishbone diagram.

3. Identify possible causes

For each of the factors you considered in stage 2, brainstorm possible causes of the problem that may be related to the factor. Show these as smaller lines coming off the ‘bones’ of the fish. Where a cause is large or complex, then it may be best to break the it down into sub-causes. Show these as lines coming off each cause line.

After this point, the diagram stops resembling a fishbone pretty quickly. I suppose that’s when it evolves into a full‐fledged Ishikawa diagram.

4. Analyze your diagram

By this stage you should have a diagram showing all the possible causes of your problem. Try to figure out which of the causes, at the deepest level, is associated with the largest volume of events. Sometimes, it’s obvious from all of the results where the problem lies, and sometimes you’ll have to prune out the silly or distracting ones. And bear in mind that there can be more than one “root cause”.

Depending on the complexity and importance of the problem, you can now investigate the most likely causes further. This may involve setting up investigations, carrying out surveys, etc. These will be designed to test whether your assessments are correct.

Software to draw Fishbone diagrams

The best software is… brain(s) with paper and pen. But I also recommend these two software, if you need to include your diagram in a document for example :

xMind : open-source mind-mapping software. xMind is easy-of-use and lets you create really good looking Fishbone diagrams very easily.
Creately : free online diagramming software. Creately offers multiple Fishbone diagrams template to start from.

If you haven’t use Fishbone diagram, you should consider using it. And if you are using Root Cause Analysis and Fishbone Diagram to help you solve problems, have you some tips to share or other tools to recommend ? Your feedback is welcome in the comment section.

– Geoffrey

No related posts.

The Project Manager Toolbox

Geoffrey — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:23:38 +0000

Diagnose origin of a problem, organize tasks, define priorities… That’s all the missions a project manager has to assume. To simplify daily life, methods exist : Ishikawa’s diagram, PERT, Pareto’s law…

I’ll write a set of post to show you the toolbox of a project manager. Posts will be about :

For each question, I’ll introduce a method or a tool.

Stay tuned !

– Geoffrey

The blog has migrated

Geoffrey — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:29:21 +0000

During the month of january, I’ve migrated the blog to a new hosting service, because I was facing to much problem with the previous one (free but far from perfect).

Now I can focus on writing new and inspiring article about productivity, iphone and other great stuff.

Stay tuned !

– Geoffrey

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Geoffrey — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:44:50 +0000

I’m taking some vacations and spend time with my family. Thus I won’t post until January 2010.

So I wish a happy, healthy new year to everyone. Please be safe, enjoy yourselves, and remember the best parts in people you know and help make 2010 better than 2009 in your part of the world.

– Geoffrey

No related posts.

Must have productivity Apps for jailbroken iPhone – Part 2

Geoffrey — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 08:00:20 +0000

Last week I introduce you some of the best productivity apps for jailbroken iPhones. This week, I’ll show you more of them.

Note that all the apps of this list are 3.0 compatible.

Utilities

SBSettings (free)

What is SBSettings? Its a HUD interface that’s available from any screen thus almost all applications. To activate the HUD you simple swipe your finger across the status bar, left or right, or even down from it. The HUD will then smoothly slide from the top of the screen to give you lots of information and toggles.

SBSettings is all about providing quick and easy control so you can maximize efficiency.

As well as giving basic information about your phone (IP addresses, memory usage, free space), you can configure which toggles you want to display, and other developers can write their own toggles that interface with it.

To my opinion, more convenient toggles are : 3G (to save your battery), Wifi, autolock and SSH. And there are also : calculator, fast note, brightness, auto-correction and more.

There are many nice-looking SBSettings themes available.

Orbit ($1,99)

On Macs, you can use Exposé and Spaces, which give you a visual overview of open apps and virtual desktops, respectively. Orbit gives you something very similar. By tapping the icon, it shows a small preview of each of the home screens. Tapping on a screen preview will take you to that home screen.

And that’s it. It’s a simple idea, and well executed. There is the occasional tiny lag in drawing the preview, but we’re talking a split-second delay rather than anything grating.

Orbit does takes some getting used to, because it’s a new way of interacting with your iPhone. For all the finger-swiping to get to that last screen, I’m very used to it now, and it’s pretty quick.

Orbit is really useful for people having a lots of applications, and even if it’s not perfect, it’s a great app.

Five Icon Dock (free)

Here’s an interesting app. If you ever felt the need for another icon on your iPhone or iPod Touch’s dock then your need has been fulfilled.

Just go to Cydia and search for “Five Icon Dock” and install it. After the program is installed, just drag any icon and drop it to the dock and you’re done. You now have 5 icon on the dock!

This can’t be simpler. And now instead of having to choose the 4 apps that will have the honor to be in your dock, you’ll have to choose 5 of them… It’s still not much

You can even change the look adding a cover flow like style to the dock.

Search (free)

iPhone spotlight is a good tool, but Search is an even better one.

It’s an amazing app for searching everything on your iPhone, including e-mails!

It’s a lot like the Sherlock of old : type a search term, hit enter, and it starts digging through Contacts, SMS, Notes, Events, Safari Bookmarks and Safari History.

Tap any search result, and you go straight to that app.

In addition, the user interface is slick and simple and the app is fast. Inevitably, this app took one of the 5 slots in my dock.

PDANet (free)

PDANet is a great application that turns the iPhone in a Wi-Fi router. It works with Mac and PC.

Using it allows you to escape the expensive cost of iPhone “official” tethering with most TSP (for example, in France it cost 30€ a month to have “unlimited” tethering, in addition to an already expensive rate plan).

It’s really straightforward to use, just create a local Wi-Fi network with your computer and let PDANet handle everything for you.

In addition, there are some neat features like an “insomnia” mode so that you can turn off your iphone and still use the Internet connection. You can also ssh your iphone when it’s connected with PDANet. And PDANet runs in background so that you can still use your iPhone for everything else.

iPhone Delivery (free)

Though Apple has improved it native SMS app by adding features such as SMS forwarding, single SMS deletion and multiple SMS, it still lacks one common feature of getting delivery reports.

iPhone Delivery app fill the gap by adding delivery reports to iPhone SMS application.

Once installed, you have to activated it in the Messages pref pane and from here, you’ll receive delivery reports when your SMS will be read by recipient.

The delivery report is displayed on your lockscreen like a common SMS, and is also displayed in the conversation flow in the SMS app.

iFile (free)

iFile is probably the best file system navigator available for the iPhone.

Those available on the AppStore (Air Sharing, FileAid, …) don’t allow to navigate in the whole iPhone file structure. iFile does.

iFile allows multiple file deletion, it’s a file viewer (for most common file type) and it’s even a media player.

It supports landscape mode and you can share files with your PC or Mac through Wi-Fi.

Finally, iFile even allows you to create archive and to attach files to mails !

StatusNotifier (free)

StatusNotifier is a great iPhone utility that will display Email, Call, SMS or Voicemail notifications in the status bar.

Icons are clean and fit well with the iPhone user interface.

In addition, StatusNotifier can be use to display a few datas on lockscreen, but it’s far form other lockscreen apps.

And you, do you use some other apps for jailbroken iPhone ? Do I miss any of them ?

- Geoffrey