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Just in case someone has been living under a rock, I'm adding this. I can't tell you how many times people at work email files hundreds of times when we could all just collaborate in Google Docs. We used Google Hangouts to chat in former projects and could actually see when each other was typing something. Love it!

I agree with Jen. While GoogleDocs is a great time saver I wish you could do more with formatting, pasting, etc. The formatting also differs if you download the doc onto a Mac which can be a pain when working with a group. Overall, though I think it is a worthwhile collaborative tool.

Good call. My team spent an entire meeting demonstrating how to use Live Meeting via Outlook, only to later find out that it costs our company each time we initiate a call. I mentioned Hangouts as an alternative, and nobody had any idea what I was talking about, despite the fact that all of my teammates have Gmail. Yikes! Sometimes its scary how much we don't know!

I posted this in our class discussion, but it occurred to me that it is really a great project management resource for those people who might feel daunted by difficult conversations. It it a resource that will help improve your EQ. In short, the book talks about how to identify when a crucial conversation needs to take place, how to plan for it and how to execute it. There is also a two day course that you can attend or maybe even lobby to bring into your office for PMs. The website for that is here: http://www.vitalsmarts.com/products-solutions/crucial-conversations/ You'll also find that Vital Smarts, the company that produces this training, has a lot of other EQ related resources.

We have a couple of copies of this book lying around my office. I hadn't connected it to project management. I will have to check it out.

Many people I worked with at the Colorado Department of health use this approach. The state has invested in offering the course to employees. While I never had a chance to take this course, I've heard really great things about it. One thing that has made a difference for people I know who have done this, they did with a staff team. That way everyone is using a common approach. That seems to really support implementing what they learned.

Sharepoint is a great project management tool, most especially for eLearning. Our online department utilizes it to manages tasks and build online resources for the department. It's a great place to share files and also comment on those files. It has discussion boards and announcement boards. Users can view files and edit them with versioning.

I agree that SharePoint is a great collaboration tool, although it's nice to have someone around who is an expert with using it. Sometimes it can be a little hard to handle. My favorite thing about SharePoint is that you can set up a workflow where a project manager can approve all document updates and new content before it goes live on the site. The manager can even leave comments to help the person revamp their submission. It's a great cloud-based collaboration and information management tool!

I agree, Melissa - it is a great tool but a bit cumbersome. We have a Sharepoint SME in our office who is working on revamping all of our sites. I am hoping it will make our teams use their sites to their fuller potential. If you have a content management plan, it is fantastic - but it can spiral out of control very quickly!

Project managing e-learning. More is worse! This blog outlines some of the pitfalls that developing E-learning shares with traditional project management as well as some challenges unique to these types of projects. Some solutions are also suggested, mostly dealing with keeping your project plan agile and iterative.

Thanks for posting this article, Brook. Because it talks about elearning being software (tech) development and content development at the same time, it applies to my case study...and because it talks about training struggles, it is reflective of my own work environment too.

This article brings up some valid points that I wish I had read a year or so ago. Originally I thought eLearning was simple converting F2F material for an online environment. At its basic concept it is, but the complexity of this process is much more complicated and resource intensive than I imagined. Those considering the jump from F2F should seriously consider the points of this article and the affect on their organization resources. Thanks for the info.

Perhaps this is an obvious post, but I still run across people who don't have a searchable, organized or unorganized online notebook, notepad, or repository of anything and all things you want to remember or keep track of. I've used it for smaller projects, to contain all of the lengthy articulations that are then hyperlinked to more formal Word documents or Excel charts. It's a phenomenally useful tool.

I love Evernote because it's accessible from several mobile devices. I especially like their app (I'm using Android), because it's easy to use and fast. You could add multiple people to the account and share checklists, wiki-like notes pages, and calendar items. I'm not sure it would be ideal for huge projects with many parts, but it would be perfect for organizing a small collaboration or just for organizing your own work.

Michael, Thanks for sharing this app and your experience with it. This tool sounds just like the tool I need to track and remember all my pending tasks.

This site offers a nice succinct, streamlined, one page PM process break down; summarized in a flow chart with links to each individual stage of the process. It also has additional links for PM books, services, and templates. A useful link for getting people started in PM.

Wow, John, what a find! I wish I had this a few months ago when we started this course. I've been looking for a simple visual that still manages to encompass most of the detail that goes into the project process. I love the printable color-coded version (http://www.consulting.ky/files/project_management_process_diagram_large.jpg). I plan on hanging that up in my office. I could also print a copy for each project, and use it as a sort of checklist. The other things I love about the site is that it lists specific deliverables for each stage. Love it! It's definitely more usable than the visuals in our Carroll book, since it's more detailed.

Thanks, this looks to be an excellent resource, and it has that guy on the side that looks at your pointer.

The GoToMeeting platform can be used for meetings for groups in which all teammates are not in the same location.

I have used GoToWebinar and I loved it. It is easy to use and professional looking. I am curious to try GoToMeeting and GoToTraining.

It is interesting to me that so many people like GoToMeeting/Webinar/Training. I've had mixed experiences with it. It lacks some of the functionality of other tools like Adobe Connect (chat features vary depending on which version you have, playing videos is very problematic, relies on screen sharing to share documents and do presentations). We do a lot of webinars, many with very large audiences (300-1000 people). While this is fine for meetings and daily business. I don't recommend this for large groups., It also isn't good if you want to have a virtual room when you can leave your documents, notes etc.

This article gives project managers some tips for managing stress.

Jaime- I am on day 2 of no caffeine and I already feel SO much calmer. I'm craving it really badly, but I was so jittery lately and I know it was stressing me out more. A good reminder on keeping stress under control. Thanks Allan!

I like the recommendations for stress reduction. A few people at my work actually requested that the company create a quiet relaxation room. Not sure if they'll do it, but I hope so. I got into breathing meditation years ago and it pretty much cured me of anxiety attacks that had persisted from my late 20's to early 30's. A couple years of daily practice and they haven't returned for almost 10 years. I don't keep up with the meditation anymore, but I'd say any amount of practice can affect long-term benefits.

Free templates for all stages of Project Management. Great simple explanations of terminology and descriptions of what should go in each section of templates that are available. Not only are there documents you would expect such as Project Initiation Documents and Work Breakdown Schedule documents, but also Project Meeting Agenda and Minute templates. When you don't know where to start with compiling PM documents, this site offers some easy to use options.

Great resource! I appreciated that not only templates were included, but also lots of related information about "why and how would I use this."

Giselle, this is a great find! I can't believe these templates are free.

I came across this and looked at it just because it had a unique name, but when I opened it, it is actually helpful. It is a search engine to help you search the topic at hand. There are several links (including a free booklet) on project management.

I've used this simple To Do list program for several years. It includes a task list, a calendar view and a Gantt chart. Probably not something to use with enormous complicated projects, but I use it for a lot of different things. It is a free utility that runs from an executable rather than installing a full program which makes it easy to give it a test run.

This is a pretty neat tool I came across the other day. It's called Quizlet, and it lets you create flashcards and other games... for Free! I like it because you could use it to send out some pre pr post training materials, (acronyms, terms, ect.)

This is great! I use Brainscape.com to put in flashcards for my Spanish students. There is an app in the app store that pairs with it called "Flashcardlet" so that you can do flashcards on your mobile. I don't know if there is android app for it, but I'm sure there is.

From their website: "Free, simple, fast online meetings. Share your screen instantly with anyone." I couldn't say it better myself. Join Me is a pretty great tool if you have meetings with remote members of project teams. The premium version has all of the features of WebEx and then some, and you can get a 30 day trial of the premium version for free. Even the free version that is available after the 30 day trial is useful. No one has to download anything or have a program installed except for the moderator (and it is a very simple download). The moderator gives everyone a code, they go to a website and type it in and can immediately share screens. My advice: Use Microsoft Paint to enhance your Join Me meetings by using it like the WebEx whiteboard.

Andi, thanks for sharing, sounds like a cool alternative to expensive or complicated ways to create an online meeting. I will try it for a couple of online interviews I need to conduct.

This is another article that explores the potential of leveraging the Agile PM methodology in the ID world.

I like the prictorial way they represent this design modle. This looks like a nice way of organizing the PM role.

D-cube! Design, Develop, Deploy. I like this simplified version of ADDIE. It fits with rapid design and since the only way we know if a product works is to test it, then you might as well get it out the door and get some feedback which you can then feed into the iterative process of making it better.

Although our class has already discussed MS Project, I didn't notice it on our resource list here. It is a great addition to MS Products, such as SharePoint. Teams can manage their parts of projects in SharePoint and add their smaller tasks as needed. Unfortunately it is still something feared and underused. Another disadvantaged is that users must have PCs to. Use it and to view the plans

In this article, Preetam Kaushik explains what Kaizen is and how it is used in project management. It is an introduction to Kaizen - a philosophy developed by engineers while manufacturing cars at Toyota. It basically involves continuous improvements in all stages of any process with every small improvement making its own contribution to the final process.

This site has a lot of great media resources. It includes two podcasts (a PM 101 for beginners and a more advanced one) which both have multiple casts. It also includes Google Hangouts that the host has put together, which speak to many topics related to Project Management. The Hangout pages include videos of the sessions, and suggested websites and books that came up during the videos. This is a great way to listen to experienced PMs and benefit from their list of recommended resources. An added bonus is that the site itself recommends related content and postings at the bottoms of pages, so you can easily browse around for information that interests you.

This is a pretty neat concept. Have you used it much? I would be interested in hearing some first hand feedback - but maybe I'll check it out and then we can discuss further!

Melissa, thanks for sharing I like the approach to search for resources that suits your specific needs.