Best strategy on notes for your overall project?

[wiebe@CARYA]

AFAIK, JIRA, Redmin, DevOps all work similar, and they try to solve the same problems.

OneNote, Wikis, also work pretty similar, as that they're basically open canvasses where you can do whatever you want.

They all do some good, but I don't feel any solution is excelent.

It all reminds me of drawing class diagrams (or documentation in general). You can use a modeling tool like Modelio or Visio, that make you model everything, or use something like DrawIO, that gives you all the freedom.

You can choose to model everything at the expense of having to model everything, or have freedom, and you need to organize everything yourself.

I would like to cherry pick features, landing somewhere in the middle...

[JÞB]

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@_Bryan wrote:

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@JÞB wrote:

No amount of time spent in front of a computer documenting project status is available for actually advancing the status of the project!  Worse, it should be obsolete by the time you type it.

That doesn't mean that the PM shouldn't manage the project!  But, he should be walking around looking at the teams needs and anticipating problems.

Managers need to have a vision forward.   

Way back when I was in the Navy I had a great conversation with my division officer in front of his boss.  "Sir, don't come to me with solutions! Providing you with solutions is what the Navy trained me and my men to do.  Tell us your problems."

When the Operations boss heard that I was immediately escorted to the Captain's office and ordered to repeat myself.  The quote was posted in the wardroom and entered in the ships standing orders .

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Thanks for the insight.  Not that I really disagree, but how does that address my question?  I am just trying to see if there is a better way to do something that could make my life a little easier.  Besides, I was telling the forum my problem and looking for solutions.  (Sorry I could not help myself.  Way back I was in the USMC.)

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Well, I guess I was saying the project tracking is a management quality litmus test.  If everyone is worried about tracking the team progress it hampers progress and management spends more resources tracking than empowering their team.  If management invests in the team, production takes care of itself and they can spend more time at the bank depositing profit and cutting those bonus checks the team is really interested in. 

I wasn't providing a solution.   I was defining the problem.  I trust you to find a solution!

(You have to spell EVERYTHING out for those jar-heads)

[_Bryan]

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@JÞB wrote:

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@_Bryan wrote:

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@JÞB wrote:

No amount of time spent in front of a computer documenting project status is available for actually advancing the status of the project!  Worse, it should be obsolete by the time you type it.

That doesn't mean that the PM shouldn't manage the project!  But, he should be walking around looking at the teams needs and anticipating problems.

Managers need to have a vision forward.   

Way back when I was in the Navy I had a great conversation with my division officer in front of his boss.  "Sir, don't come to me with solutions! Providing you with solutions is what the Navy trained me and my men to do.  Tell us your problems."

When the Operations boss heard that I was immediately escorted to the Captain's office and ordered to repeat myself.  The quote was posted in the wardroom and entered in the ships standing orders .

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Thanks for the insight.  Not that I really disagree, but how does that address my question?  I am just trying to see if there is a better way to do something that could make my life a little easier.  Besides, I was telling the forum my problem and looking for solutions.  (Sorry I could not help myself.  Way back I was in the USMC.)

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Well, I guess I was saying the project tracking is a management quality litmus test.  If everyone is worried about tracking the team progress it hampers progress and management spends more resources tracking than empowering their team.  If management invests in the team, production takes care of itself and they can spend more time at the bank depositing profit and cutting those bonus checks the team is really interested in. 

I wasn't providing a solution.   I was defining the problem.  I trust you to find a solution!

(You have to spell EVERYTHING out for those jar-heads)

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Ha ha.

I guess I should say thanks for telling me what you think my problem was in different words?  (It must be a Navy Sea-Daddy thing)😉

These notes are for my own use during the project and not for management to track my progress.  My current project is the first of a series of 3 part automated resin mixing stations with a PLC, HMI touch screen, load cell, 5 different servo motors and pumps.  So I want to try something besides Excel to track everything I am doing.  And I can see where some of the suggestion would actually help me track other ongoing projects as well.  Since it looks like I am being my own project manager for myself.  I have seen people use Excel to track all kinds of things, but it also looks like a huge time suck to try and keep everything updated and running smoothly. 

Bryan

[Hooovahh]

I don't have any experience with it, but I see program managers using Microsoft Project all the time to track deliverables, and delays in things.  It seems to help with tasks, and show when one thing is requirement for another, or how timelines shift when one things change.

[_Bryan]

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@Hooovahh wrote:

I don't have any experience with it, but I see program managers using Microsoft Project all the time to track deliverables, and delays in things.  It seems to help with tasks, and show when one thing is requirement for another, or how timelines shift when one things change.

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I checked on Microsoft Project and it was not an option in our Office Suite.  I even asked our IT guy if we had any project management software in the company and he said no.  But I would hope someone has that type of software in the company.  I would guess either he did not understand or they have limited licenses.

Thanks.