With any project there are bound to be sticking points, and in general, the more complex a project is the more error-prone it is. Even with the most detailed project plan, project managers need to be prepared both for something unexpected to happen and something planned not to happen. An effective risk management alongside the regular project monitoring plan will help you minimize the impact of uncertain project events.

Since last summer, you can always take real-time project data with you – on your smartphone. The InLoox Mobile Apps for Android and iPhone enable you to manage projects on the go.

We are excited to welcome Jim and David to our InLoox consulting team in San Francisco. They both joined us in September 2013 and support our clients in finding the best project solution for them, implementation, technical support and training.

Meet our newest additions to the InLoox Team:

There are many misunderstandings when it comes to the definition of a project. Especially the time factor is often neglected and in many companies, ongoing tasks are defined as projects.

InLoox PM is project management software, at least that is the use it was designed for. But some InLoox customers use it for other purposes than that, thanks to the versatility of InLoox. An example is VIGC in Belgium.

The vacation season is nearly over and the recovery effect vanishes into thin air when project team members have a first look at their e-mail inboxes after returning. It’s not unusual that hundreds of mails pile up there. No question – project communication is essential for project success - but what can you do not to drown in the flood of e-mails?

Here are 10 tips to use e-mails in your project communication as efficiently as possible:  

One of the biggest challenges in project management is estimating project effort. Many project managers run into problems, because they have underestimated the time, resources and budget they need to complete the project successfully.

A few weeks ago, we asked for your opinion on the InLoox products in the InLoox Customer Survey 2013 and these are the results:

Part 2: Completing projects in time

^{Adapted from: www.Speed4Projects.Net}

^{Author: Wolfram Müller, Speed4Projects; license agreement: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/de/legalcode}

Last week’s post was about the phenomenon that even though there are generous buffer times, projects often are not completed in time. Most project teams are familiar with the procedure: After a relaxed initial phase, projects become very stressful for all team members. Actual times hardly ever stay below the estimated values.

But how can you avoid this problem?

Part 1: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow…

"Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion“, says Parkinson's law (C. Northcote Parkinson, 1955).

Everyone knows cases in which this doctrine applies to project management. At the beginning of a project, there is plenty of buffer time for all the project stages, so that the project team doesn’t fall behind and is able to deliver results to the customer in time. Towards the end of the project, things tend to get really stressful and meeting the project objectives is jeopardized. There are loads of projects which are finished far behind schedule.