The von Restorff Effect – Why Project Managers Should Care

Several years ago I presented 3 options for a plan of attack on a large systems integration initiative using OnePager.  My presentation looked something like the below project view. Guess which option was chosen?

Systems Integration Options

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When to use Microsoft Project instead of Excel

Should you keep managing your projects in Excel, or make the switch to Microsoft Project?

Should you keep managing your projects in Excel, or make the switch to Microsoft Project?

As a company that helps people build project reports no matter what the data source, our users often come to us with questions about which tools they should use to actually manage their projects to begin with. The most common flavor of this question is:

“Should I use Microsoft Project to manage projects, or just stick with Excel”?

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Keep it Simple, Stupid (3/3): Project Progress

In our third and final installment of our KISS series on project reporting, we’ll turn our attention to progress. Whether you call it percent complete, status, or progress, it’s something that’s top-of-mind for every project manager.

Progress reporting on a project works well at a high-level, but often will go too far into the weeds when PMs try to communicate the status of every single item to every single stakeholder. The answer lies in finding the right balance.

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