Despite that all people are different, people can be split into two cognitive groups – those that predominantly process information with either the right side of their brains or the left.  But imagine how effective you might be if you were to channel both sides and become an ambidextrous thinker.

Creative vs logical

Managers that rely more on their brains’ right side tend to be curious about ideas, and display bold and spontaneous behaviours. They might be more willing to jump into situations without thinking and can be highly creative in the work they produce or the ideas they develop.

Left-siders are usually more logical. Details tend to be thought through with an intended outcome in place from the beginning. They often have a plan B and even C in place. And they are more likely than right-siders to break down complex scenarios in their mind.

Look at two of the world’s most successful project managers – Apple pioneer Steve Jobs and Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

Jobs vs Gates

Jobs’ creative insight, risk-taking attitude and often contrarian vision for the future are all classic traits of a right-sided thinker. When rivals were busy adding buttons and functions to devices, he was devising ways of keeping them clean, attractive and easy to use.  Jobs’ ability to see beyond physical limitations has changed the way we live, work and play.

Bill Gates is another legendary project manager – but with a far more left-sided approach. For every moment of genius from Jobs, Gates had a methodical, well-thought-out approach to rival it. He is renowned for detail – making possible the creative visions of those around him.

Tools are there to help

Right-siders or left-siders have traditionally needed foils to work alongside. But the tools are now out there for managers who want to use a more ambidextrous approach. We’re not talking about completely changing the way you approach everyday tasks at work. We’re suggesting more along the useful online tools that fill in the gaps. Perhaps you digest data better visually, need your team to collaborate more effectively, want a central communication hub for your team rather than fallible email chains, or you prefer to use a Kanban board  to represent workflows. Go ahead and try. Or find out which side of the brain that you use.

C-level executives have the unenviable task of identifying areas where costs can be cut while ensuring that operational effectiveness or customer satisfaction won’t suffer as a result. Almost often, a pretty tough challenge.

Tobias Andersson, the Projectplace COO, talks in the premier post of this new interview series about how the right online collaboration platform can become a strategic tool for a business, bringing the C-level better visibility across the organization and increasing efficiencies of key projects and initiatives – having a positive impact on the bottom line.

Staff productivity is a major concern for many organizations. What can CEOs do to streamline processes and communications without sacrificing visibility?

Management in large organizations often look for new ways to streamline processes and open the channels of communication. It is easy for companies with thousands of employees to, over time, adopt inefficient ways of doing things, and implementing changes in processes and ways of working can seem like an insurmountable task. It’s important to take a step back and wipe the slate clean if needed. By harnessing the latest technologies, CEOs can often boost the productivity of the organization and eliminate old bad habits that are likely to be holding the business back. Discuss with your trusted experts, what tools would they start to use? The returns can be immediate. As an example, Carlsberg saved a full man-year by implementing the right technology when they decided to work together from ten businesses across Europe on a project for a new solution for one of their largest factories.

What do CEOs look for when considering the company-wide roll-out of a technology such as an online collaboration tool?

Any new solution has to be cost-effective to implement and use. Most CEOs opt for cloud-based technologies because of the low total cost of ownership and because they want to be able to reap the mobility and agility benefits of cloud.  You need to be able to show ROI quickly – which is simply impossible with large scale software implementations. Whatever the solution, it needs to be possible to be implemented without disruption to the business, customers or partners. It’s important that minimal training is needed for staff to use the new tool. It needs to be easy to use because there are going to be different skill levels across the company, and a solution is only as effective as the level of buy-in from those using it. From a functionality point of view, CEOs want a tool that makes it obvious which tasks are sapping resources so that strategy can be adjusted accordingly. Get a proper overview with methods ranging from easy-to-use Kanban boards to powerful portfolio and resource management tools.

You mentioned mobility, how important is this for CEOs nowadays?

For today’s executives mobility is non-negotiable. CEOs are likely to opt for technologies that they can use anywhere, anytime, on any device. In the geographically dispersed digital economy, it’s crucial that any new tool can be used by employees globally and by partners, to streamline processes and maximise cost savings in day-to-day operations. Everyone expects to be able to check up on projects, share information and communicate seamlessly, regardless of location.

Beyond ROI and improved efficiencies, what type of benefits can CEOs expect to see from the right collaboration tool?  

The right tool encourages and empowers staff to engage more with the business. It stimulates creativity and boosts velocity, without adding undue pressure on employees. Also as a result, the transparency that a collaboration platform brings to the table makes it easy to reward good work or spot potential failings before they become crises.

Want to explore what online tools can do for your business? Try Projectplace.

Our new, free collaboration tool

Since the launch in April, ToDo by Projectplace, makes seamless team communication easy by bringing the highly visual Kanban boards from Projectplace to everyone’s fingertips. It empowers people to self-organize and work towards a common goal on the same easy-to-use platform.

“What I like about ToDo is its ease-of-use,” says Daniel Zutavern, Director at Digital Leadership and devoted ToDo user. “It provides a great user experience, with the ability to drag and drop cards containing activities on the board as the project progresses. There are many Kanban Tools out there – but this one is simple, great and flexible – and I know most of them. ToDo has a lot of potential.”

The user response and growth rate shows that ToDo has been embraced by people all across all industries, on every continent.  True to its main mission, new user groups and not only experienced project managers are now able to practice seamless cloud collaboration. Start for free and grown as your needs grow.

Rickard Kristoffersson, COO of Brightvision, is another ToDo user:

“Managing the production at a growing company like ours means constantly shifting focus, both on a daily and hourly basis. Everything from finding the right people to hire, helping to start a new big campaign, to developing new software to improve our business. In the past I’ve struggled with post-its, different notebooks and all too many flags in my inbox. With everything organized in ToDo I finally feel relief knowing exactly what to do, and when to do it.”

Some time ago, we asked 100 users a couple of simple question about their experience when  using ToDo. Here is the result.

Plenty of actions to get through on your project and not quite sure how you’ll manage it? There’s no denying that projects are becoming more complex – with the workload creeping up and resources either remaining stagnant or shrinking – you’re not alone if you sometimes find yourself struggling to manage.

In today’s complex business world, project teams can often feel bombarded with information from hundreds of sources at once. Not to mention the masses of emails going back and forth about any one project at a time. The result is information overload, and pretty much everyone will have experienced it at some point in their job. It’s not beneficial and can leave teams confused, as well as result in missed deadlines and inefficient use of resources.

Finding clarity

Despite the worries over the complexity of projects, there is an old approach which can help. It’s nothing new as it’s actually a 60-year-old method that dates back to post-war Japan. The Kanban, which is Japanese for ‘card wall’, is an approach used by the country in the late 1940s to revive the industry through production efficiency.

The system features a board on which cards can be placed in different columns to represent workflows of projects. As the tasks progress, the cards move through the columns until they are complete. Think of it like a traffic light system, where the simplest boards have three columns:

• To do – red light
• In progress – orange light
• Done – green light

Today, the Kanban approach has become hugely popular in the business world and is used by the likes of Toyota in the automotive industry. The car manufacturer has since become a role model for productivity and efficiency in the sector. Toyota builds a car every 66 seconds in its factory in Burnaston, Derbyshire, with every item or box of items used in production carrying its own Kanban card as it moves through the workflow.

Kanban in the workplace

We can’t use the traditional physical Kanban board in today’s workplace as it wouldn’t work as a central hub with geographically dispersed teams. Luckily, we at Projectplace have taken the Kanban board ‘digital’, allowing teams across the globe to work on one platform to manage their projects.  Sharing the board online means that teams can easily visualize work and absorb large amounts of information quickly – all in one place, on any device and from anywhere in the world!

Did you know that the brain can process images far more easily than text? Group physiology and behavioural sciences have found that visualising information can neutralize cognitive overload and dispel uncertainty. The digital Kanban board is laid out in an intuitive fashion with this concept in mind. Offering teams a visual picture of a whole project, with each action belonging to one of three columns, can help to keep the team on track and focused on however many activities need to be completed.

Beyond the visual benefits of the Kanban board, is how much timeit can save teams on a reporting level. Having all the projects in one digital location eliminates the need for endless meetings and the constant influx of emails about project progress. The board facilitates an open work culture with full transparency, allowing managers and team members to see exactly who is working on what and delegate activities where necessary.

Projectplace’s Kanban board is underpinned by social features to keep users engaged, with conversation chains, feedback features and activity steams. Bringing social features into the board means that teams and project managers can work together to ensure projects flow smoothly, encouraging self-organization and independent decision-making.

So what are you waiting for? If you want to consolidate your projects, get your team working better together and experience a moment of serenity. Try online collaboration, here you can start a free trial of Projectplace today.

Released

• Public documents folder in Documents
• Export plan to excel
• U.S. date format

What’s up next?

• Two-step verification
• New document management app
• Support for iOS 8
• Updated Android app that includes boards

Public documents folder in Documents – released

It is now easier to make certain documents available to your stakeholders. Simply upload them to the new Public documents folder in Documents and turn on the Project site. The documents will then be available to anyone with a link to the Project site. For your protection you may want to add a password for accessing the Project site. This replaces the previous document upload to the Project description and any documents that were there have been moved to the new folder.

Export plan to excel – released

Since the release of the Plan tool this has been a top request from our users and this is now implemented. Use the export function to take a snapshot of the plan or for backups to see changes over time. It can be a great communication starting point for your stakeholders also.

• http://ideas.projectplace.com/feedbacks/129952-export-print-timeline
• http://ideas.projectplace.com/feedbacks/133249-backup-plan
• http://ideas.projectplace.com/feedbacks/46692-i-would-like-to-be-able-to-save-the-project-plan-to-microsoft-excel

U.S. date format – released

For users with English, it is possible to toggle between date formats so that you can have a format that you are comfortable with. This is a personal setting and does not affect other users. You find this setting in your personal settings under the section for User account.

Two-step verification – coming soon

Soon introducing two-step verification on a user level. This means that you can decide to turn on extra security by using both your user name and password as well as a security code sent to your mobile phone to access Projectplace. Read more about this in Projectpedia https://help.projectplace.com/wiki/index.php/About_two-step_verification

This feature is currently being tested through an internal beta.

New document management app – coming soon

We want it to be super easy to work with documents in Projectplace. The new document management app  is planned to replace both current apps (Projectplace plug-in and Powertab for Internet Explorer as well as Document Manager) but will initially be available for Mac only.

This app is currently being tested through an internal beta.

Support for iOS 8

Our iOS app has problems displaying images and documents in iOS 8. The plan is to release an updated version for iOS 8 as soon as possible. We will let you know when it is available for download.

Updated Android app that includes boards

This is one of the most requested features from our users. Work is in progress to release a limited beta soon.

Forrester Research describes Planview’s acquisition of Projectplace in a new report as a differentiator which opens new opportunities. Ventana Research appoints the new company as a business and social collaboration category winner in the Technology Innovation Awards 2014.

Since the launch of the new Planview and Projectplace venture last month, the acquisition has attracted a lot of attention from users and industry stakeholders.  The implication of a unified approach for users and organizations to project collaboration, portfolio and resource management is regarded as an innovation and a natural next step.

US-based Ventana Research appoints Planview and Projectplace as the winner in the Technology Innovation Award 2014, in the category Business and Social Collaboration.

Forrester Research’s Margo Visitacion with Phil Murphy and Abigail Komlenic, states in a newly published report:

“Planview’s project portfolio management (PPM) software fits hand-in-glove with Projectplace’s software-as-a-service (SaaS)-based project collaboration offering and opens new opportunities […] Planview [differentiates] from the competition by connecting strategic planning and work execution — providing PMOs and executives with truly integrated demand and portfolio management and robust analytics, which enable team members to collaborate effortlessly.”

These are our top three trends for 2015 so far. Take a moment to think how they will affect your organization.

1) 2015 will be the year of mobile working.

According to the latest figures from Gartner, global tablet sales will surpass PC sales for the first time next year. More and more businesses are adopting a mobile-first strategy, including BYOD and flexible working policies. This gives teams the flexibility they crave. The implications of this are huge when it comes to application compatibility across devices and securing sensitive data. Collaboration tools that are not mobile-ready will be left on the shelf, figuratively or literally.

2) Security will take center stage.

Not a week goes by that a business isn’t brought down to its knees by a cyber-attack. These incidents used to keep the IT department up at night – but now senior decision makers too are realizing the crippling effect that cyber-security breaches can have on an organization.

In 2015, the European Commission is set to introduce a set of new, stronger data protection rules, meaning that every business operating in the EU has to ensure that it is able to protect the integrity of the data it holds, or face hefty fines. The new legislation will impact on how businesses share and store sensitive documents and customer data, putting the security credentials of many cloud-based collaboration platforms under the microscope. (If you’re wondering about Projectplace’s security credentials, you can find more information here.)

3) Teams will demand democracy.

While the project manager won’t have to relinquish control, we do expect collaborative working practices to infiltrate more and more organizations. The hype around the so-called social enterprise is gone, but the principles of knowledge sharing, accountability and transparency are set to win more fans in 2015.

Businesses are starting to see that if they adopt more collaborative working practices – whereby everyone’s voice is heard and true, self-organizing collaboration takes place – their teams will be more productive. The old command-and-control management method is giving way to a flatter structure where individuals are more motivated because they feel like that they are participating and making an important contribution to a common cause and reaching a common goal. As everyone is more committed to getting the job done, everyone is more productive – making a real, measurable difference to the bottom line.

It might seem a bit too early to talk about what next year will bring, but 2015 IT budgeting is set to get underway in a month or two, so now is the time to start exploring your options. Stay ahead and think about what implications the future trends will have on your organization.

To make sure you’re ready for the trends that will shape your business in 2015,  try our new free collaboration tool ToDo, and give your seamless cloud-based teamwork a flying start.

Teamwork and project management have changed forever. Gone are the days when the whole team was based in the same office, working nine to five, five days a week. Today’s team is often made up of a mix of remote employees, freelancers, contractors and project managers, working from different locations or even different time zones.

Often these teams’ customers and partners are not in the same country either, as the digital economy continues to break down geographical boundaries.

Use diversity to your advantage

This evolution has enabled businesses to capitalize on team members’ diverse set of creative strengths, and created teams where best practices are shared across offices and cultures.

Project management has been impacted by this evolution too. More and more team members are working on a matrix structure, contributing to more than one project at a time, often with different team members, across different locations, organizations and deadlines.

Adopt a new way

To continue to manage projects effectively and meet deliverables in this new world order, project managers need to adopt a new way of working, with the management of each individual team member’s tasks, time or other resources firmly on their radar. That is why people and resource management is now beginning to enter the project managers’ remit.

By extending their view from single projects to all the outside factors that impact on their team’s ability to get things done, and ultimately the success of their own projects, project managers are able to regain control. No more guesswork. They are able to make better informed decisions based on individuals’ overall capacity and develop clearer and more realistic timelines, preventing delays and ensuring that deliverables are met according to key stakeholders’ expectations.

Keep track of how people work

More and more project managers are tapping into cloud-based collaboration tools such as Projectplace to stay in control. Projectplace helps project managers to enhance their visibility over individual tasks across different projects, empowers team members working across multiple projects to self-organize, and enables businesses with a matrix structure to reach their goals more efficiently.

As the way people work continues to evolve, the way projects are managed can’t get left behind.

More on how to manage a modern workforce in this free whitepaper: 7 project management tips.

Summary of release 28 August 2014

• Calendar feed
• Recently changed documents
• Changes in folder access rights

 Calendar feed

Sometimes it can feel overwhelming as the deadlines line up from a multitude of sources and the calendar starts to fill up.

One way to keep up with deadlines and help prioritise your work is to consolidate the streams into one calendar. In this release we introduce the possibility to subscribe to a feed of dates from your projects. Welcome Calendar Feed!

Get the link for the feed to import to your calendar of choice in your personal settings. You can also do some customisation of which projects and events should be included.

Find out more and get a set-by-step guide to setting this up.

Keep on top of what’s happening in the project

There’s a new view in Documents that will let you see all recent changes, you can select to see changes in the last week or in the last two weeks. This is a replacement of the old “red flags” functionality that was removed a while back.

Changes in access rights

After careful consideration and feedback from our users we have decided to change the way we do access rights to folders.

We will not allow read or write access for a folder if the folder above it has no access for the same group. This will make the setting up of access rights easier and prevent mistakes.

Note that any currently set-up access rights will not be affected by the change. This change only applies to new folders or when you decide to change the current access.

Read more about setting up  access rights to folders

What’s up next?

• The possibility to export your Plan to excel (a list of activities, project steps, wbs, dates, and dependencies). This is a highly requested feature.
• Access rights to the Plan
• A new Android app

As always we welcome feedback, cheers and wishes over at Projectplace Ideas. 23% of your ideas are implemented.

Next release is scheduled for 24 September 2014

The acquisition enables an industry pioneering match for business cloud users everywhere. Projectplace complements its leading agile project collaboration tools with a state-of-the-art solution for portfolio and resource management. Similarly, market-leading Planview can provide its users with tools optimized for project execution.

Projectplace and Planview Enterprise become business lines in the new Planview company, and the two product brands will co-exist. All users can continue to use the tools just as before, and expect the same fast-paced development.

Greg Gilmore, CEO of Planview, comments:

“With the acquisition of Projectplace we continue to define a broader vision of portfolio and resource management. By bringing these two solutions together, we can help customers, spanning large enterprises to small teams, move their businesses forward by making better use of their limited resources through portfolio, resource, and work management.”

Together, Projectplace and Planview will provide a unique possibility to grow alongside the user’s needs, from small ventures to large enterprises.

 “We can now present work teams, project managers and decision makers a powerful joint offering, which is very exciting. Both Projectplace and Planview are pioneers in their respective fields, which makes this a natural and exciting venture,” says Johan Zetterström, CEO of Projectplace.

Projectplace was previously owned by venture capital firms InnovationsKapital and Via Venture Partners.

For more information and latest news on this joint venture, check out this blog or visit Projectplace or Planview.