10 Project Manager Resolutions for Every New Year

lego PMEvery new year means New Year Resolutions! I see evidence of this each year at my gym, which gets very crowded during the month of January. Many people focus on their personal lives, resolving to eat better, exercise more, and improve their relationships with others. And that’s all very good. However, if you are a project manager or the owner of a project-centric business, the start of a new year is but one time to resolve to improve your work life.

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Face Your Challenges

financial challenges accepted by Spitfire Project Management SystemGlenn Ebersole once wrote an article entitled “Viewpoint: Construction industry faces financial challenges in 2015.” I’m not sure how many of these challenges were specific to 2015—it seems to me these challenges have been part of the construction industry for a long time—but perhaps it is telling that these challenges remain even today. The challenges he enumerates are:

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Spreadsheets Plus

excel_spreadsheetIn a  Construction Technology Report survey, construction industry professionals made it clear that they use–and do not want to give up using–spreadsheets. Likewise, when I asked a new client if she used Microsoft Excel, she answered, “Extensively.” I can understand the original appeal: spreadsheets are easy-to-use and flexible, allow you to list things in an organized manner, and can perform complex or otherwise tedious calculations quickly.

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A System that Tames the Construction Billing Cycle

billing attributesBack in 2014, Adam Bluemner with Find Accounting Software wrote an article entitled “How to Tame the Construction Billing Cycle with Software.” I read the article with interest because I wanted to see how our Spitfire Project Management System (which includes functionality for construction billing as well as for general project management) fares when compared to Adam’s recommendations.

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Best of a New Breed

connected puzzle piecesI once read a blog post by Joel Levy at Construction Digital that included lots of interesting statistical information about construction software buyers. In fact, lots of the data in that article is a ringing endorsement for both our project management system and the timeliness and topical relevance of our blog posts over the last year.  Yes, even the one about Freeze Rays.

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