How to Uber-Manage Your Home Remodel Project

It's pretty cool that you can use the same software to manage words and... garage door hardware. That's quite a range of uses.

Last year my wife and I wanted to finally get some hardware on the garage doors we'd been holding closed with a bungee cord.

So we did what most people do: We got onto Google and started looking for hardware we liked.

But how to you manage information like that? I guess you could:

1. Print out a picture of every piece of hardware you like.
2. Make sure that you can remember which website each piece of hardware was from.
3. Keep track of any communication you've had with the vendor.
4. Find a way to group different styles of hardware you get from different sites.

I guess that now that Pinterest is around, you could pin the different hardware options so you could see them all at once.... show them to whoever is going to install them to make sure they'll work and work together. But that's kind of a clunky solution.

That's why we created a mind map for the project:

(Click on image for larger view.)

As you can see, ConceptDraw enables you to put a whole bunch of info on one screen:

• Name/Skew, dimensions, finish, and price of product
• Link to vendor website
• Picture of each piece of hardware
• Contact info for vendor
• Record of communications with vendor

This kind of info makes it much easier to keep track of your options, vendor promises, and decisions. And this is just a simple map for a very simple project.

Imagine how useful it would be to have a map like this to help you keep track of the kind of appliance choices, woodwork styles, lighting options you have to consider for a larger project. You can even build a map to help you compare your choice of contractors.

As with all other projects, from coming up with blog ideas to putting on an addition, being able to mix images, web links, ideas, and information all on one screen just makes life easier. And heaven knows that when it comes to remodel projects, you need all the "easier" you can get.

CS Odessa Announces that ConceptDraw PROJECT v6 now has the ability to import and export Microsoft Project files



ConceptDraw PROJECT 6 can
import and export MS Project files.



CS Odessa announces that ConceptDraw PROJECT v6 now has the ability to import and export Microsoft Project XML files, with new PROJECT EXCHANGE. Because of this ability to exchange data between ConceptDraw PROJECT and MS Project; users have increased flexibility on how to exchange project information with all members of the project team. The exchange of project data across different project applications keeps everyone informed and allows for quality collaboration among team members, as well as 3rd parties that have involvement in your project.



The ability to exchange project information is key to a project’s success. ConceptDraw PROJECT 6 has the ability to save to a MS Project XML file format so that ConceptDraw PROJECT files can be shared with users of MS Project (2003, 2007, and 2010) as well as any other project management tools that can accurately import MS Project xml file format. This allows users of ConceptDraw PROJECT 6 and ConceptDraw Office 2 (contains ConceptDraw PROJECT 6) to generate project content that can be shared with all team members.

Project participants also have the ability to import MS Project files into ConceptDraw PROJECT 6 and ConceptDraw Office 2. This gives users an excellent alternative on the way they manage projects, and assists in the interoperability of project information between team members who have Macintosh and PC computers.



The ability to exchange data between ConceptDraw Office and MS Project is a big plus for project members because they can then use the other the other project tools that are part of ConceptDraw Office. As an example, ConceptDraw MINDMAP 7, part of ConceptDraw Office 2, can be used as a project front- end to brainstorm, build processes, identify contingencies and organize information for presentations to brief team members and stakeholders. The PROJECT EXCHANGE can be found in the CS Odessa ConceptDraw Solution Park.



CS Odessa provides a range of professional project software tools that assist you during every stage of your project. ConceptDraw Office uses powerful ConceptDraw INGYRE2 technology to make all tasks as easy as pushing a few buttons. The top to bottom integration of ConceptDraw Office, which includes the innovative standalone ConceptDraw PROJECT 6 product, are valuable tools to help Project Managers work towards their organization’s success.

In addition, CS Odessa also provides many project management solution add-ins that can be downloaded from ConceptDraw Solution Park. The combination of ConceptDraw Product and ConceptDraw Solution Park, from CS Odessa makes for an unbeatable value in project management software tools.

PC Magazine On-line -- Reviews ConceptDraw Office 2.0



PC Magazine rates ConceptDraw Office 2.0

Very good (4 out of 5)



Read the overall review here.

Reviewer drills down and looks at the individual products.

Individual looks at ConceptDraw MINDMAP, ConceptDraw PROJECT & ConceptDraw PRO.



Video On CS Odessa INGYRE2 Integration Between ConceptDraw Applications

Video demonstrates how project data flows
between ConceptDraw MINDMAP,
ConceptDraw PROJECT, and MS Excel

Wojciech Korsak, of Explorer-Consulting, is a mind mapping, project management authority who put together a video, showing the integration between ConceptDraw MINDMAP, ConceptDraw PROJECT and MS Excel. The text is in Polish so it will be hard for some to read (language works that way). You will find that the video is a great example of the power in the ConceptDraw products. It takes a minute to download so be patient.

Using ConceptDraw MINDMAP to Gather Requirements

After writing an article about using ConceptDraw MINDMAP to gather requirements, I got in contact with the Requirements Networking Group: Where Requirements Gatherers Meet. "RQNG" has lots of whitepapers, articles, and podcasts about everything from Agile to data warehousing to requirements security. Feel free to download a PDF of the article: Visually Mapping Requirements: An uncommon approach that just might make your job easier.

Ye Olde Fashioned Questionnaire

A post on the Sielevel Software blog talks about using questionnaires to make sure project assumptions are correct. As I'm sure you've discovered, using mind maps is really an excellent way to ensure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to project planning. Maps are especially useful in early-stage planning for this very reason. By projecting a map on the wall, participants can make sure that there are no misunderstandings or misconceptions about the project.

But I liked this blog's idea of using questionnaires as the last step in the project planning process. Here's the example they give:

Please validate each of the statements below by answering “Yes” or “No”.
1. Customers with a classification of “REV” are NOT charged any Federal Taxes.
2. Customers with a classification of “REV” are ALWAYS required to pay Local Municipality Service Taxes.
3. The tax rate charged for Local Municipality Service Taxes for Customers with a classification of “REV” is ALWAYS the same as the rate charged for ALL other Customers.
4. Etc., etc.

If you're building maps together with a client to plan a new project or product, this step may not be necessary. But it might be useful if there is any question about the work at hand.

The Checklist Manifesto

Have you read Atul Gawande's "The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right"? Gawande writes about the how we humans--including those among us who spend decades training, practicing, applying our skills--are no match for the complexity of the modern world. But we think we are. And when we think that way, mistakes are sure to happen.

Gawande is a very highly respected surgeon and a brilliant writer (he's published numerous books on this general topic, and is a frequent contributor to the New Yorker). He traces mistakes to two basic problems. First, ignorance: We simply might not know enough. Second, we're inept: We know, but we might not always apply what we know correctly.

His solution to massive complexity: the simple checklist, and offers startling examples of the improvements checklists have had in medical outcomes. But he says that checklists can be used in all kinds of endeavors. (It reminds me of another overwhelmingly simple response to complexity--the Geek PDA).

One of the best uses of mind mapping for project management I've ever seen is in project post mortems. You list all of the things that went wrong in the project, and ways you might improve or avoid them next time. Then, when you start the next project, copy and paste those lessons onto your new project map. Your mistakes are right there in front of you as you plan the new path ahead.

Gawande is clear that there are no grand checklists: life is complex. Few things in life can be reduced to repeatable processes. But maybe some things can. Are there things you do over and over again that might benefit from a simple checklist? By letting go of the notion that we are smart enough, experienced enough to manage the complexity of our work (and maybe our lives), we might all experience greater success.

Getting Projects Off on the Right (or Left) Foot

If you're interested in "projects"* and have never visited Glen Alleman's blog, Herding Cats, you might want to check it out. Glen is very thoughtful on the subject of project management (and on lots of other subject, I'm sure). In the last couple of days, he's been talking about the importance of starting projects with a clear, shared understanding of the goal and of what it means for the project to be "done."

Glen quotes David Campbell, who makes the obvious but often overlooked observation that "if you don't know where you're going, you'll probably end up somewhere else." Sounds pretty much like common sense.

But in my experience, and maybe yours, the tendency when a team gets started on a new work initiative (AKA project) is to just get going. The benefit that can come from taking even an hour up front to identify key metrics... it's huge. If you're not doing it now, try getting a few key players in the room and projecting a map up on the wall to build a common understanding. It's a common sense thing to do... like looking at a map before you start a trip, or reviewing a recipe before you start to cook.

The cool thing with ConceptDraw Office is that, once you've done this kind of thinking, you can essentially toggle back and forth between the mind map view and the project chart view, and build process diagrams -- all without leaving the ConceptDraw environment. No lost data, not competing rules, no need to buy another application. Sweet!