I’m continually curious to learn more about the enterprise project management software market ? What products exist? How could they potentially revolutionize the way that teams do business without breaking the bank? This time, I’m taking a look at Zoho Projects, the project management software solution associated with a much larger Chennai-based B2B software company called Zoho. Product Philosophy The idea behind Zoho’s business software suite is to build a solution for any business problem that an organization might encounter. Zoho offers 50+ software applications ranging from customer suppor ..read more

IFYKYK. For those not in the know, professional development units, or PDUs, are continuing education credits required to maintain Project Management Institute (PMI) certifications. The most common PMI certification is the Project Management Professional, or PMP, with 1 million plus certification holders worldwide. In this post, we’ll review the requirements for earning PDUs towards your PMP and share some strategies for racking them up that in no way involve retaking your PMP exam—because you wouldn’t wish that pain on your worst enemy. PDU Requirements First, the basics. One PDU equals one ho ..read more

Ironically, I’ve had it on my list to review Toodledo, a to do list, for a long time. This is an OG productivity product in my toolkit, one I’ve used for many years and that came from an unexpected source—my mom. If you’re looking for a basic to do list without too many bells and whistles, read on. Toodledo may be for you. Disclosure: This post includes affiliate links. At no additional cost to you, I earn a commission if you click the link and decide to make a purchase. I only recommend products I use and love. When and How to Use a To Do List My challenge with a lot of to do list software pr ..read more

There’s a point in the life of every functioning adult when you catch yourself thinking about how kids these days fail to appreciate how good they have it. Managers are no exception to this rule. In the early days of your career, you had to walk uphill both ways, in the snow. The challenges that your employees have are nothing compared to the struggles that you dealt with. Why are they complaining? There are two ways to deal with this train of thought: Accept the status quo and watch your employees struggle. If you had to struggle, they should have to as well. That’s the way it is. Maybe you ..read more

Early in my career, I asked one of my task leads for advice on how to advance. He told me that, for the first five to ten years of your career, you should say yes. To everything. You should say yes so much that you’ll want to throw up from saying yes. Agree to the ask with a smile on your face and a twinkle in your eye. Although colorfully phrased, his point was that the experience you gain from being involved with a plethora of different tasks is invaluable for your career growth. Looking back, I agree with him—with one caveat. You should say yes as long as you don’t compromise your values by ..read more

You know you’re ready for a promotion. You’ve put in the hours, you’re outshining your peers, and when you look at the people above you, it appears that you’re doing their jobs already. But, somehow you don’t have the title. This should be a no brainer. What are you doing wrong? When evaluating your promotion readiness, keep in mind that promotions often do not result from simply doing your “day job.” Promotions require you to demonstrate outsized impact. If you’re a knowledge worker and a salaried employee, this doesn’t simply translate into working longer hours (although this may appear nece ..read more

I’m here today to spread the gospel of work blocking. I know, I know. Before you roll your eyes and click away from this post, trust me when I say that I wasn’t a believer in this productivity hack either. It never worked for me! But in the last month, I’ve become a full-fledged convert. In this post, I will explain: what work blocking is my work blocking origin strategy why work blocking may be useful for you (in certain circumstances) strategies you can use to maximize efficiency. What is Work Blocking? Work blocking is the practice of allocating periods of time in your schedule to ..read more

If you’re itching to join the Great Resignation before it’s too late, you’re probably finding yourself wondering what the heck employers even ask in an interview these days. I’ve gotten two new jobs in the course of the last year, and I’m here to tell you that I’ve got the interview circuit down to a science. Allow me to spare you the pain of the awkward song and dance of the professional dating world, aka the job interview. Read on for best practices plus my list of the top 50 interview questions that program managers should prepare to answer. Best Practices for Job Interviews Before you spee ..read more

Public service announcement: we’re halfway through the year (!), which means you’ve got about six months to dust off your goals and rightsize and refresh your OKRs for Q3. If you’re thinking about using a software solution for OKR management, WorkBoard is a potential option. Product Philosophy WorkBoard describes itself as a “business results management solution.” Huh? What I gather is that it’s intended primarily for strategy and operations teams to drive growth. From my experience, a surefire path to failure is to overcomplicate strategy creation and management. WorkBoard offers a straightfo ..read more

In 1997, my fifth grade class took a trip to a space center. We conducted a simulated space mission. Everyone in the class had a role. I was the mission leader. As I read my script, voice booming over the microphone, and exhorted the class to work together to complete their assignments so we could blast off, I realized that this is what I wanted to do. I wanted to lead projects. I wanted to bring different stakeholders together to complete a mission. Fast forward to 2022. While recording a podcast recently, I lamented to a colleague the nagging feeling I sometimes have that my profession is de ..read more