As tempting as it is to jump in and get on with things, the cause of most project failures is a result of insufficient front-end work. Generally, there are 5 stages to Project Management Initiation Planning Execution Monitor & Review Closure Stage 1 – Initiation There is a need to clearly articulate what the project is,

Mind mapping is something that you may have heard of and used before throughout your education and work-life In fact, when many of us think of brainstorming sessions, we tend to see a group of people huddled around a desk, throwing ideas back and forth while someone jots these down on

I have used Mind Mapping techniques for the best part of 30 years. Without doubt it has helped me enormously throughout my career. I have also seen many colleagues blossom as they take the technique on board and yet seen first-hand, those who find it’s not for them.   With MindMaps, it’s seems, you either “get it” or

It’s so important to keep up-to-date with trends in today’s modern world. One of the most recent trends we’ve seen is companies using infographics to provide information on their product or organisation. Infographics are a fantastic and intuitive way of grabbing your customer’s attention and pointing out key facts of the

For many of us, December is a great time of year. Christmas in a matter of weeks, and new year just around the corner. Despite December being slightly different this year, there are some activities you can do from the comfort of your own home; Christmas shopping for example. What better

It’s fair to say that this year hasn’t been great for a large majority of us over the world. As many of us have begun adjusting to the new way of working, and getting used to a world with constant restrictions in place. However, at the turn of the year there

Has your work performance gone downhill since the turn of the year? The good news is, you are definitely not alone. There are thousands of people across the world struggling to adapt to the new challenges that comes with remote working. More good news though, there is a way to get

Now that many of us are working at home for the foreseeable future, it is vital to remain productive & positive in a new working environment. There are many ways to remain productive while working at home, many of which are discussed in our previous blog the world of telecommuting: A

There are many strategies to think about when looking to start a project. The budget, the timescale and the resources, just to name a few. However, all of these options must require prior planning. It is in the planning of projects that MindGenius steps in and takes control.   Who we

Managing any project, regardless of whether it’s your first or fortieth time, can be a very difficult and matriculate process if not done correctly. The main cause of failure can be down to a number of things, however all of these potential problems can be solved by one thing; organization. This

Starting university is one of the most enjoyable feelings in the world. Regardless of whether you’re going straight from high school, from college or any other route, the start of your journey through university is a very exciting time for all. I myself came straight from high school, and while I

What’s coming up next in your life personally or professionally? An anniversary party? A graduation? A wedding? A webinar? A large conference or product launch? Planning is the key to success and a good template of what to do now, what to do next and how to reach your end goals

It appears that COVID-19 isn’t going away anytime soon. Most of us have reached that point where we at least know someone who has contracted it or has even become severely affected or died from it. I’ve even read predictions from experts that before we conquer it – if we ever

There’s no question that the way we did things last year cannot be the status quo way we do things this year. Or maybe even next year. Who knows how long this will go on and what long lasting effects the COVID-19 pandemic will have on our behaviors and business practices

While no one can guarantee success on any given project, following tried and true steps plus solid project experience can help you get as close to possible for guaranteed success. There are just too many risks, too many variables to guarantee success…differences from project to project and organization to organization.  But

Are you a longtime Waterfall business analyst or project team member an environment moving to an Agile methodology for managing projects and performing software development activities on those projects?  Then this article may be a decent intro for you.  Think of it as sort of a Waterfall ==> Agile 101 involving

A few years back I conducted a survey of my readers – mainly project managers and PMO directors and CIOs, etc….and I asked them some questions about their organization’s project management infrastructure. One question – and the troubling responses to it – focused on whether or not the respondents felt that

Whether it’s getting fit, learning a new skill, setting KPIs or developing a business strategy — goal-setting is an integral part of our personal and professional lives.  But how many times have you set goals and failed to achieve them? It’s certainly not enough to jot down your goals on a

Cybersecurity is an interesting topic – no doubt about it. But it becomes a scary topic if your organization falls victim to a vicious cyber attack that leaves your company’s, your clients’, or your projects’ sensitive data affected or vulnerable. How you are prepared to react and respond may make the

Projects are hard to manage. Big and small – no doubt. In the world of project management, not everything is always how it seems or should seem. When a project comes to you you may think that it should be ready to manage. Your superiors should have more experience and PM

I’ve been a part of many PMO’s – I’ve even helped with or led the building process for a couple of them. I’m opinionated, in general, so after seeing several PMOs fail badly and a couple actually thrive, I have my own ideas about what I consider to be the key

Nobody is perfect. We like to think we are sometimes delivering perfection on our projects or products we deliver… we are so proud of them. However, we really know that… no matter how hard we try perfection is basically unattainable.  Do your best – that’s all you really can do.  But

Monday morning project chaos. That’s what likely awaits you as a project manager. It is a way of life for us. Think starting the day wondering who has emailed issues to you since you last checked your messages.  Think arriving at your desk with voice mails from two of your project

In Part 1 of this two part series on Virtual Team Management Strategies, we covered the first two of my personal list of five key strategies. Since it is so common today – especially in the IT world – to have project team members dispersed all over the world and your

I have long been a proponent of remote work, remote project management and the virtual project team concept. It has worked very successfully for me as a PM and consultant, and for many of the organizations I have worked for and consulted for. I know that working from home or wherever

I recently read about one software vendors opinion that you should reward exceptional project team and team member efforts – around Valentine’s Day, for example – with Valentine’s cards. What? You’ve got to be kidding. This is not the 2nd grade where we all make our Valentine’s Day mailboxes for our

Is your PM infrastructure doing all it needs to do to promote maximum project success in the organization and for your project customers? Are your project managers growing, expanding their careers, gaining needed training and certifications and mentoring colleagues the way a successful project management office (PMO) should be operating? The

Taking a line from one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite groups… BUSH… I’m thinking about how this line relates to many of our project management experiences. Often, as project managers, the projects we run can seem like we are walking through a series of fires with our

Another week of homeworking? We know the effects that homeworking can have both physically and mentally on you. This blog is designed to help alleviate some of the stress caused by the current circumstances and help those at home to be at ease in a new working environment. Homeworking problems As

Think “Monday morning chaos.”  Think starting the day wondering who has emailed issues to you since you last checked your messages.  Think arriving at your desk with voice mails from two of your project customers already waiting for you.  Headaches, right?  Frustrations?  Commonplace occurrences? And in the face of working from

Following on from our last blog – the World of Telecommuting – where we spoke on some of the ways to make your office at home enjoyable. However, with Covid19 forcing the majority of us to work from home (myself included), this blog is to show that by using MindGenius, working

In light of the Dyslexia Show being held in Birmingham’s NEC on the 20th March, this week’s blog shall be dedicated to those suffering from dyslexia, and showing how the use of mind maps can simplify and improve your organizational skills, whether you are dyslexic or not. As many of you

Have you been working at home recently? This blog is being directed at those around the world who have been trying to adjust to working from home. Having had personal experience at working from home in the past, hopefully these tips will provide you with the advice and guidance you need

In today’s world, Social Media is the most crucial, and cost-effective, marketing tool there is. Regardless of whether you’re a multinational organization or a local café, you should be using social media to advertise, communicate and interact with both existing and potential customers. This blog will provide hints and tips to

One thing I know from personal experience is that it’s never easy to be a leader. Whether you’re a managing a project, a group leader in a university project or even being captain of a sports team, being a leader is one of the most difficult and most accountable roles you

There are many benefits to being productive, both in work and in your personal life. From a business point of view, your productivity can be the deciding factor in whether your business or project is a success or failure. Personally, being productive provides you with motivation and happiness that affects all

5 Easy Steps to the Perfect Lessons Learned Session Brad Egeland Creator and Author of Top Project Management Blog: Bradegeland.com Lessons learned on any project is a great way to learn what all key stakeholders think went right and wrong on the engagement. The key is to really make it about

When your career reaches its finale and the days of full time golfing are imminent, will you be able to pass the slipper test? By this I mean, when you’re sitting in your arm chair, cup of coffee and a chocolate digestive in hand and wearing the slippers that the children

Conflict is Coming.   Having had experience at managing projects in the past, let me tell you that no matter how hard you try to avoid it, conflict within most project management teams is inevitable. Effectively managing conflict is arguably one of the hardest things a project manager has to do.

  Banishing the Blues As February gets underway, many of us have already given up on our previously well-thought out, “achievable” goals for this year. In fact, research would suggest that 80% of us give up on our New Year’s resolutions by February. However, it’s not too late to get back

Mindmapping: Productive Practice for Project Managers   Have you ever attempted mapping out your mind?  And no, we’re not talking about MRIs or brain scans, solving the mysteries of our mind’s vast, vast capabilities or exploring how far our neurological functions can stretch out and go—or maybe just a little. BYOG

  Describe your fourth year at University? Late night’s in the library, gathering seemingly endless amounts of data, and then making sure all 15,000 words or so are perfectly put together. All this, while trying to figure out your life after University. Just me? Didn’t think so. Having only graduated in

CEO NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS Following on from my last blog, it would have been easy to make one of my New Year resolutions to simply improve my golf, after all the starting position is particularly bad and getting better would be a breeze.  Work consumed my working life in 2019, maybe

Recruitment – most of you won’t like this. This is written from an employer’s perspective which will win me few friends, but we have a voice and it needs to be heard. Forget anything else; recruitment continues to be the biggest risk to any growing organisation. Of all that could go

The Difference Between Project Charter and Project Scope Statement Ever wondered what the difference is between a Project Scope Statement and a Project Charter? Do you really need both?  Read on to find out. The project charter and project scope statement are created in the early phases of a project. They

Project Management Terms for Team Leaders Confused by Project Management terms? You’re not alone!  PRINCE2, NVP, Analogous Estimating etc. It’s all so baffling. So we have made it easy for all you Team Leaders and Managers out there who are running projects and brought you a list of what we think are

Sales Strategy – Now That’s A Novelty Hiring great Sales Staff is notoriously difficult and I for one have made a few bad hires over the years. It is so easy to get sucked in, as the personalities in front of you have a natural ability to talk such a good

Conducting an Efficient Management Review for ISO 27001 and ISO 22301 For anyone who has ever managed to try and gather an overloaded management team or Board of Directors together to facilitate a management review meeting for any regulatory compliance standard realises what a nightmare challenge this is to co-ordinate.  Typically

Project Success Hinges on Strong Relationship with Project Sponsors Engaging the right people in the right way in a project can make a massive difference between success and failure.  Other factors do play a role, such as aligning project deliverables and objective, holding productive meetings and delegating workload. The management of

Event Planning – Don’t Leave Anything To Chance A successful event which runs smoothly relies on a great deal of organisation. Anyone who has ever planned any kind of event will tell you it can be a highly stressful task, there are a million things to consider, contingency plans for things

5 Uses of Mind Mapping in Project Planning Wouldn’t it be great if all projects achieved everything that you set out to do? In reality, getting to this endpoint requires organisation, planning and communication among other things. This article will give you the 5 benefits of mind mapping when planning and

How To Track Your Teams Tasks With MindGenius Online MindGenius Online has thousands of possible uses within an organization to help individuals and teams to plan more thoroughly, stay on track and get the right things done on time. MindGenius Online does this in 3 simple but highly productive and engaging

Launch our Next Campaign or Project with MindGenius Online If you have a major campaign or project on the horizon then you will have a million and one things to do. This is not only the case for the manager but also for team members as well. Here at MindGenius Online

Stay Organised and Be Better Prepared There are some things you might think are pre-requisites for working in marketing- creativity, able to work in teams, even a bit wacky at times. One trait in particular is that a person needs to be highly organised. Is being organised something that comes naturally

Make University Life Easier University isn’t all about night outs, joining clubs and societies and meeting new people. Sadly at one point some work needs to get done, you are there after all to get a degree! Although there are a lot of good aspects to university, when it comes to

Marketing – It’s Really Just Great Storytelling When deciding on a career in marketing, what did you envision? Mad Men style advertising agencies and big creative campaigns perhaps? Is that the reality or are you like the many marketers just trying to find creative ways to tell your amazing product story

How To Create A Project Scope Statement With MindGenius Online MindGenius Online has thousands of possible uses within an organization to help individuals and teams to plan more thoroughly, stay on track and get the right things done on time. MindGenius Online does this in 3 simple but highly productive and

How To Start A Project Are you struggling with not knowing where to start when it comes to a new project? You might think it is a good idea to just start and deal with everything as and when you need to. Getting a project started can be very difficult, pleasing

Assign Yourself Tasks I’m the only person involved in this project, why do I need to assign myself a task? MindGenius Online is used for managing and collaborating on group projects with your team members but also for individual projects. Although it is easy to see the logic in assigning yourself

SWOT – It’s All About The Follow Through I have been involved in many SWOT sessions over the years, often as a participant and many other times facilitating the group. What I can say without any shadow of doubt is that the real work kicks-in once the initial session is done,

Empower Your Human Resource Processes A founder can’t grow a winning enterprise single handedly. Some may try, but it is nearly impossible to do so. Every famous entrepreneur that has succeeded in building a flourishing company has done so with great employees by his or her side. That’s why hiring and

How To Agree Your Sales Strategy With MindGenius Online MINDGENIUS ONLINE FOR FREE MindGenius Online has thousands of possible uses within an organization to help individuals and teams to plan more thoroughly, stay on track and get the right things done on time. MindGenius Online does this in 3 simple but

How To Manage The Product Roadmap With MindGenius Online MindGenius Online has thousands of possible uses within an organization to help individuals and teams to plan more thoroughly, stay on track and get the right things done on time. MindGenius Online does this in 3 simple but highly productive and engaging

10 Common Project Management Pitfalls There is always a sense of optimism at the start of a project that surely everything will go smoothly this time. Of course, even the most novice project manager is less than surprised when things don’t always go quite according to plan. So what project pitfalls

How To Plan Your Social Media Strategy With MindGenius Online MindGenius Online has thousands of possible uses within an organization to help individuals and teams to plan more thoroughly, stay on track and get the right things done on time. MindGenius Online does this in 3 simple but highly productive and

The 10 Project Management Terms You Should Know To achieve success within the field of project management, communication is essential, but this means ensuring everybody involved in the project is singing from the same hymn sheet. As with most other disciplines, project management has its own jargon, and this is often

Why Do I Need A Social Media Strategy? When you mention social media, everyone automatically thinks of celebrities with millions of followers and endless tweets about their perfect lives.   There are a number of reasons why a business should be active on social media but if the answer to why is

Built for Collaboration MindGenius Online is the application of the future. We’re built for teams. We’re available on all devices, and we’re accessible anywhere there’s internet.   In today’s world it is increasingly common for members of the same team to work in different locations around the world and many people now

How To Organise A Company SWOT Analysis With MindGenius Online MindGenius Online has thousands of possible uses within an organization to help individuals and teams to plan more thoroughly, stay on track and get the right things done on time. MindGenius Online does this in 3 simple but highly productive and

Say Farewell to Tasks Falling Through The Cracks How many times have you sat back with a sense of satisfaction as you get to the end of a mountain of work, only to be asked the status of the one task that wasn’t done? You’re gripped by a sense of sudden

Project Management That’s as Easy as 1,2,3 – Plan, Schedule, Deliver In my blog Plan For Success, I talked about the importance of planning for successful projects and how chaos can quickly ensue if plans aren’t in place up front.  There is one major benefit to this approach which we will explore

No More Missed Deadlines Many managers today find themselves in a situation where not only are they expected to be experts in their chosen field but are also required to be proficient in project management.  That can be a daunting prospect when you don’t consider yourself to be a project manager.

Plan For Success We don’t generally get in our cars and just drive without being clear on where our destination is and a rough idea on how we will get there. If it’s somewhere we haven’t been before, we might consult a map beforehand or we plug the post code into

Avoid Confrontation A project close out meeting should in theory be a relaxed meeting. That is if the project has been delivered on time, on budget and meets the desired outcomes. However, if a project takes twice the time, costs twice the budget and you get only half of what you

Don’t Leave Project Success to Chance A project kick-off meeting should be given the same focus as the project as a whole. Think of it as setting the scene for the tone of the whole project. Anything less than full focus for this meeting will put the project at risk from

Do Start-Ups Need Project Management? Ashley Marron – 10 May 2019 Start-ups are definitely an exciting somewhat trailblazing type of organisation to be involved in or with. But they are definitely not for everyone and not those with a nervous disposition. It may just be me, but I like working with

What is Strategy? Ashley Marron – 1st February 2019 Most CEOs are aware of the importance of formulating a strategic plan within their business. But what exactly is strategy? Wikipedia defines strategy as a high level plan to achieve one or more goals under conditions of uncertainty. Yet strategy is different

Project Planning Should Start with the 5W Questions Before Getting to the How? Ashley Marron – 24th January 2019 As I have watched my two daughters develop over the past 21 years I am stuck by how their approach to gaining knowledge has matured. However, they have still retained at its

No Blue Monday Here Fiona Macintyre – 21st January 2019 Mid Jan – the point where Christmas becomes a distant memory and summer seems a long way away – it’s no wonder today is referred to as Blue Monday. How are those NY resolutions coming along? Managing to stick to them

Get Things Done Fiona Macintyre 18th January 2019 Let’s face it – we’ve probably all at one point or another moaned about not having enough hours in the day or week. We can’t increase the hours available but we can be more effective with the hours we have and stop wasting