I am new to Clarity, can someone clarify on if I am the one to start the conversation before being eligible for calls?

I ran a web design agency for 6 years, despite of studying PMBOK for advanced project management (for Engineering projects). I used "Web Redesign, Strategies for Success by Kelly Goto" Courser Link: http://www.lynda.com/Web-Design-tutorials/webredesignstrategiesforsuccess/316-6.html as a basis for building our project management model. 1) Breakdown the project into milestones for your team and for your client example (Finish Wireframes, Confirm on Design Palette and colors, Confirm on Content, Functionality Testing) 2) Include all expected tasks/hours from the beginning, should be increasing with your experience, especially you are focusing on specific platforms, let customer see the different dates in which they are required to provide feedback, even schedule calls with clients on these days 2) Use a robust Project Management tool like BaseCamp, where you can give client direct access to the platform preferably with a Skype/Telephony functionality to schedule calls. If you need any more help designing and deploying your PM system, I would be glad to help.

That would depend on what you're trying to accomplish and who you are as a manager and individual. Off the top of my head I can tell you that Podio, Asanna and Basecamp are all popular project management tools. Which one you use really depends on you and the features you want. On a personal level I use Trello which I make work for me. It has the features I want and allows me to display information that seems logical to me. I suggest that you play around with all them and find which one works best for you. If I'm off the mark and you're asking about a specific system I suggest scrum. Although scrum is most talked associated with building agile products I've successfully used it on a wide variety of projects technical and non technical. Hope this helps and best of luck!

I don't know how much your workflows vary from project to project which may have some impact on the best way to develop this, but a good starting approach could be to analyze the current workflow(s) that you are using now and then document best practices based on that as well as incorporating research-based best practices into your workflow(s) depending on they type of workflow that needs developed. Checklists, templates, etc. could be developed to assist your staff based on this analysis. Happy to discuss further. I have developed many processes and project plans for IT related processes in the Healthcare sector. Steve

Hi.. i 've been doing project management for years. Moved from project management to product management to program management. Managed lots of projects, software and non software stuff.. I worked on CMMI / Agile ( Scrum , XP ...etc) and also on PMI schemes. Although you are working under Agile, I HIGHLY recommend you attend the PMP courses, for the PMP exam. Even if you are not interested in sitting for the PMP exam. PMP gives you tons of knowledge on time management and cost management , which you don't have in this way in scrum master certification. PMP gives you the high level broad spectrum helicopter view of projects, also project valuation and business perspective.. Once you get familiar with these concepts, you can then apply with the Agile approach. Which, I believe is a tweak of the concepts to match an agility needing environment, mainly used on software projects. But the solid foundation you will have from PMP will give you more confidence when you apply Agile. Coz, in agile, the whole advantage is you don't need to apply the process by the book. You can still tweak it to tailor something specific for your team and project. So moving from a too-strict approach ( like CMMI or PMP) to Agile ( which is more flexible ) will be good for you. The strict approach in PMP will also give you the alarm you need to see when something go beyond control. And remember.. Be a result oriented person. There is no point applying any process if it doesn't improve the performance, reduce cost and achieve the targeted result. So you will hear a lot about the illusion that Agile is the best which is not true. Agile is IDEAL for the projects that need Agile. Widening your project management schemes will help you always make the best decision for what to use to manage a project. Let me know if you have more questions. Good Luck!

I like Harvest both for time-tracking and for invoicing clients. It's simple, which I love.