Tag: Strategic & Business Management

Best of: 10 Useful Project Management Apps for Your Phone

Written by Michael Gorman on January 3, 2023. Posted in Articles. 3 Comments on Best of: 10 Useful Project Management Apps for Your Phone

The weapon you use in the war field can determine whether you will win the battle or not.

When it comes to project management, the tools you use can determine the quality of the results.

These days, time has become a valuable thing. For that reason, project managers need to have the right tools to accomplish projects fast and without stretching the budget allocated. That’s why project management mobile apps are a necessity for every project manager.

Given that project managers are always on the go, having a tool to work on your project anywhere at any time is convenient.

The good thing is that most project management apps are available on android, iOS, and web-based.

In this article, we have combed through the sea of project management apps and compiled a list of the ten useful apps for mobile devices.

Study shows that 77% of successful projects use project management tools. What’s the secret? Let’s see how useful these tools are.

Importance of project management apps

Project management apps are useful for assigning and scheduling resources.
The apps help managers to keep track of the progress of projects at any time.
They are useful for the execution of project plans.

With that in mind, let’s us have a look at each project management app and what it can offer.

1. Trello

Trello is a powerful and flexible web-based project management app that can be used by individuals, small, and medium-sized organizations. The app is easy to use and is designed with drag-and-drop features such as collaboration, issue tracking, task management, budgeting, etc.

What’s more, it supports iPad, Android, iPhone, desktop and can also be used on browsers such as Firefox, Google Chrome, IE, and Safari.

The good thing about Trello is that it integrates Pivotal Tracker, Dropbox, Zappier, Hubstaff, Bitium, Desk.com, and more.

Besides, the app offers different plans starting with a free plan, business-class plan, and an enterprise plan.

Overall, Trello is a powerful tool for collaboration and communication.

2. Asana

Asana is also another incredible project management app that is also useful for task management, agile management, Excel project management, team collaboration, and many other tasks.

Similar to Trello, this app is also accessible on Android, iOS, Windows, and mac OS. It is also a web-based application that is useful for agile management, creation of customizable to-do lists, resource management, bug tracking, time and expense tracking, testing/QA management, and budget management.

Asana is also a powerful tool for collaboration. This allows managers and teams to work collaboratively on projects.

With Asana, project managers can assign tasks and completion dates, plan their day, communicate priorities, etc.

The good thing about Asana is that it integrates with multiple platforms including Dropbox, WordPress, MailChimp, Google Drive, Zendesk, GitHub, Slack, just to mention a few.

The tool offers a free plan for a few members, a premium and an enterprise subscription.

3. Wrike

Wrike is another awesome project management app for task collaboration and online project management. It is a suitable app for companies of all sizes and helps to enhance communication, accountability, and transparency.

Wrike is a cloud-based project management platform that is also available on Android, iPhone, iPad.

Similar to Trello, this app comes with remarkable features including milestone tracking, project planning, status tracking, time and expense tracking, file sharing, bug tracking, budget management, just to mention a few.

It also integrates Dropbox, Zapier, LinkedIn, Slack, Evernote, Salesforce, Google Drive, GitHub, and Adobe.

The free plan supports up to 5 members but the tool has two other plans including the professional and business plans.

4. Teamweek

For project planning and task management, managers can find Teamweek a useful tool for the work.

The app offers four plans in addition to the free one that supports up to five members.

What’s more, Teamweek integrates with Slack, calendar, Asana, Trello, GitHub, Jira, etc.

The good thing about Teamweek is that it is built for novices and techies alike and is accessible on browsers and mobile devices.

With this app, project managers can create and assign tasks to team members using drag-and-drop features. Another good thing about this app is that it offers Gantt-chart visualization so project managers can keep an eye on crucial milestones.

Overall, Teamweek is a flexible, easy to use and useful project management app for project managers and team members alike.

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5. Basecamp

With Basecamp, project managers can organize projects under one roof. Given that it’s a web-based project management platform, users can work on their projects anywhere at any time. Besides, Basecamp supports any team size at the same price.

What’s more, project managers can use Basecamp to create to-do lists, share files with team members, track time, collaborate with a team, etc.

Besides, the app can integrate with Usersnap, Zapier, TestLodge, Automate, Kilpfolio, etc.

It is also accessible via mobile devices including iPhone, Android, and iPad.

6. Monday.com

When it comes to project management tasks such as Calendar, time tracking, reporting, planning and many more, managers can never go wrong with Monday.com.

With this app, team members can collaborate effectively. It also has four plans in addition to the free trial.

7. Podio

Podio is a web-based project management app introduced by Citrix. The app was developed to simplify workflow management, project management, and team collaboration.

What’s more, the app is useful for file sharing, task management, team collaboration, etc.

Podio integrates with multiple platforms including Campaign Monitor, Dropbox, Email, Google Drive, Evernote, GoToMeeting, and many more.

8. Smartsheet

Smartsheet is also another incredible web-based project management platform for task collaboration and data integration.

The tool is useful for businesses whether large or small.

What’s more, the app comes with a user-friendly interface.

Similar to other tools discussed above, this app is useful for bug tracking, Gant chart, project planning, collaboration, file sharing, resource management, task and time expense management, milestone tracking, etc.

9. Nifty

Nifty is a sought-after project management platform when it comes to team collaboration, automation of projects, reporting, and project planning.

With Nifty, managers can manage projects through Kanban-style Tasks.

What’s more, the tool features an easy-to-use and intuitive interface.

10. Projectmanager.com

Taking position ten in our list is projectmanger.com, a web-based project management platform that allows effective scheduling or projects, creation and assigning of tasks on the web. The tool also allows managers to track the time spent on particular tasks.

What’s more, the tool supports Google Docs, Google Calendar, Gmail, and Google Spreadsheets.

Final Words

There you have it: Ten useful project management apps for your phone. From this list, Trello, Asana, and Wrike, have stolen our hearts. These tools are easy to use and come with plenty of incredible features to take your project management to the next level.

Published on October 9, 2019

Management Skills: Understanding What Makes Delegation Effective

Written by Diane Wong on December 7, 2022. Posted in Articles.

What should managers know about delegation? Understanding the key elements of delegation is the key to using this management skill effectively.

Delegation is a management concept that is frequently misunderstood and misused. It is entrusting an activity and its results to another person. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines delegation as ‘the act of empowering to act for another. In effect, this means that one person gives another the right to make decisions for him. It is this idea that underlies many managers’ reluctance to delegate.

The following information about delegation might help a manager overcome his concern about delegating that kind of decision-making power.

What Can and Cannot Be Delegated?

There are three terms about delegation that are often used interchangeably but they are quite different.

Accountability: the main feature of the manager’s job is that he is held accountable for the results of the work being done. It is a feature that is attached to that position. The manager cannot delegate accountability. No matter what work he gives over to a subordinate, he alone is accountable for the final results.
Responsibility: an employee might have certain responsibilities concerning the work. These are usually identified in the job description. Whether or not the employee wholeheartedly accepts those responsibilities and fulfills them is his choice. All the manager can do is offer the responsibilities of some of his work. The employee might or might not want to accept them.
Authority: by definition, authority is the ‘power to influence the behavior of others. A manager cannot delegate responsibility or accountability, but he can delegate authority. He can make it known that an employee is acting in his place for that particular work; that the employee has the power to influence the work being done by other staff.

Why Is Effective Delegation an Important Management Skill?

One function of a manager can be defined as achieving work objectives by coordinating the efforts of other people. Effective delegation has two benefits that are relevant to this.

A manager who delegates is practicing good time management He has more time to spend on other major areas of his job for which he is accountable. He has time to look for efficiencies in the overall work process.
A manager who delegates authority for certain tasks creates a working environment in which staff can learn from their successes and failures.
As staff assumes more responsibility under the guidance of the manager who is ultimately accountable, the entire organization grows and matures.

When Is Delegation Appropriate?

Here are some of the primary factors for the manager to consider when deciding whether or not to delegate.

Organization objectives: do not delegate amid a crisis that requires rapid, informed, decisive responses to restore the organization’s normal operations.
Availability of staff: it’s not just a question of how many people are available, but also, who are they, and what is their experience and competency? It might be better for the manager to do the job himself, rather than delegate to the wrong person.
Location: where are the employees located? If the manager works in a head office and his employees are scattered across branch offices, he should be delegating. In the interest of efficient operations, considerable authority simply has to be delegated to those people who are in the field where the actual work is happening. The scope of the delegation depends on how fast, efficient decision-making is balanced with the consistency of policy and procedures across the entire organization.
Culture of the organization: what is the current culture? Do managers still make all the decisions? Even if that kind of environment is already changing, employees will need a period of adjustment until they can fully accept that they are being trusted with the authority and decision-making that has been delegated.

The manager might find it easiest to look carefully at his job and identify what absolutely cannot be delegated. Then, consider everything else, perhaps a specific project at a time, or a time-limited process. There are many options. For example, an administrative assistant can answer routine letters and e-mails. Jobs that require specialized skills can be delegated to employees with those skills. The manager has to see only the results. Activities that lead to the professional development of employees and test their ability can and should be delegated.

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How to Delegate and Manage Efficiently

Business owners who are effective managers practice time management. They also have strong skills in negotiation, supervisory, and leadership. After all, “managing” equates to “achieving objectives through others.” Technically, any manager who cannot successfully delegate cannot manage, by definition. Therefore, business success depends on their willingness to motivate, trust, and reliance on their employees to produce results.

To delegate is not that simple, and when done in the wrong way, it can backfire. But when used effectively, it greatly benefits the business. Delegation is an art in business and a skill that can be learned. There’s popular workplace advice: “delegate when possible.”

One of the most famous and often quoted on delegation comes from an equally famous Scottish industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie who said, “The secret of success is not in doing your work but in recognizing the right man to do it.”

Here are ways business owners use to delegate successfully.

Match the Right Employee with the Tasks to be Delegated

Delegation takes careful thinking. The staff’s expertise, strengths, and interests are highly considered. For example, for a staff dealing directly with customer service, the role is delegated to an employee who enjoys serving customers, possesses great people skills, and knows how to investigate and solve problems.

Define Clear Goals and Expectations for the Assigned Tasks

Defining clear objectives eliminates the ambiguity in the process as the staff discovers for himself or themselves how to follow through. It also enhances the probability of achieving desired results.

Clarify Assigned Tasks

Once the right match is identified and goals clearly defined, the manager confirms that the staff understands the purpose and the goal. It is important that the manager sets clear deadlines and removes ambiguities.

Set-up Controls and Checkpoints

Controls and checkpoints monitor the employee’s progress. The manager or business owner discusses how progress and performance measures are evaluated as a yardstick for success.

More Insights on Delegation

Delegation is not the same as routine work assignments that fall within the normal job role of the staff. They should be identified and explained to the staff. True delegation involves giving the staff the responsibility and authority to do something that’s normally part of a manager’s job and not theirs.
Delegation is not “dumping” tasks either. It is not an abdication of responsibility. If employees think that the least desirable tasks are being tossed on their lap in the name of “delegation,” they will resent it.
New managers may tend to assume that once they delegate, they are no longer accountable for the task outcome. Handing over responsibility and authority to employees has its limits, however, ultimate accountability remains with the business owner or the manager.
Some managers may fall into the trap of taking an assignment back unwittingly. They might say, “Here, let me show you,” and end up doing the whole assigned task themselves. A competent manager avoids this by letting employees solve problems for themselves.

Delegating greatly improves efficiency through proper planning and communication. Business owners and managers can focus on high-priority issues and not get bogged down in work that depletes their time and energy. At the same time, they can develop their employees and make them more valuable to the business.

There is a certain amount of risk-taking inherent in the delegation. The manager must be willing to accept the results of the delegated work and be willing to be held accountable for them. But, if he is delegating effectively, monitoring, coaching, and supporting, the organization as a whole will benefit.

Star-staffing SMEs on Change and Transformation Projects

Written by George Pitagorsky on November 29, 2022. Posted in Articles.

Smart organizations assure quality results by making sure their change and transformation projects are strategically staffed with star performers. They realize that these projects influence the future for years to come. They are willing to invest the time and effort to make sure the best people are in the right places.

There are many facets to managing change projects, this article addresses project stakeholders, with an emphasis on subject matter experts (SME) and their role.

The Change Project Continuum

All projects that make significant changes to products and processes are change projects. These projects range from ones that improve existing products and processes to those that fundamentally change, transform, the way an organization functions.

The difference between simple change and transformation is like the difference between gradual maturity and the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly.

The Stakeholders

“Too often, the people side of change is either not addressed or not addressed adequately.”

Stakeholders are “individuals and organizations whose interests may be affected by the program outcomes, either positively or negatively.” They are sponsor(s), members of the steering committee (“board of directors,”), architect(s), SMEs, functional, product, program and project managers, engineers, technologists, facilitators, BAs, operational staff (current and future), regulators, QA, QC, administrative, and more.

While many factors contribute to the success of change projects, stakeholders are the most critical. These are the people who authorize, pay for, plan, implement, benefit from, and live with the results. All stakeholders must understand their roles and the nature of the change – the reason for it, the desired outcome, the plan to achieve it.

Subject Matter Experts (SME)

This article zeroes in on SME’s and the need to make sure their role is well understood. All stakeholders are important. SMEs are singled out because their role is often misunderstood and understaffed or given to less-than-optimal players.

SMEs help to ensure that deliverables meet the needs of stakeholders. In a transformation or major change project there are multiple SMEs with a variety of specialties. They provide detailed information, fact check, assure compliance with regulations, policies, and standards, and promote best practices. Some provide experiential knowledge of the process being changed and its environment.

SMEs possess knowledge. They are influencers, not decision makers. Decisions are made by senior program leadership using information from SMEs, architects, and others.

Technical SMEs

SMEs may be technical or content experts. The work of technical SMEs is focused on technology, legal, regulatory, financial, policy, procedural compliance, and support matters.

The technical SME role is relatively objective, but there are always interpretations. For example, deciding if a design approach complies with regulations and standards depends on an SME’s interpretation of the regulations, their flexibility, and understanding of the design.

As a project or program manager, choosing the right technical SME (if there is a choice) means finding ones who bring options and recommendations to the table rather than making arbitrary decisions.

Because technical SMEs are often working across multiple projects and may have other, operational, responsibilities, make sure their availability is adequate and that you are building SME response time estimates and realistic delays into your schedule.

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Content SMEs

The content SME role is far more subjective. The content SMEs’ role is to provide knowledge of the program’s current and target settings. Working with content experts, business analysts document procedures, operational history, etc. Designers and architects rely on practical feedback regarding the feasibility and potential impact of design elements.

Knowledge

SMEs provide knowledge. There are two types of knowledge, explicit (documented) and tacit (undocumented). Explicit knowledge is easy to acquire. Though it often does not reflect reality.

To obtain tacit knowledge engage subject matter experts to get the pulse of the organization, its nuances, and its staff. As a project manager beware of subject matter experts who:
• think their perception of reality is reality
• have outdated knowledge
• lack a process understanding that considers multiple perspectives
• do not realize that they represent current, and possibly, future stakeholders
• are overburdened with operational work to dedicate adequate time and attention
• do not realize the importance of their role
• Think they are in charge (though there are exceptions).

As an example, some SMEs who are in oversight positions, such as review board members “may sit in judgment … and expect their knowledge to influence content decisions. Their input may be a distraction to the process if they insist on making their influence felt on decisions that the design team and other SMEs are in a better position to make.”

Objectivity

When it comes to getting knowledge that will be used to make decisions, the goal is objectivity. Though there are always personal and organizational biases. Expect subjectivity and work to integrate it into a full decision package.

For example, a very knowledgeable SME who has been part of an organization for decades may be biased towards retaining the status quo, even though the project goal is to radically change it. An SME may not understand the power of technologies such as artificial intelligence and robotics and dismiss ideas from technical SMEs, designers, and architects. Another SME might be forward looking in terms of applying technology to transform a process, but fails to address the impact on staffing and customer relations.

To promote objectivity make sure the SMEs and other stakeholders understand the need for it, and are willing to take the time and effort to elicit knowledge from stakeholders with multiple perspectives.

Star-staffing

Organizational change and transformation programs are investments in the future. They set the stage for years of operation and evolution.

Don’t scrimp on SME staffing. Put “stars” on the project. Be ready to give up key operations and management people to staff the project with SMEs who have the mindset and availability to be effective partners in the change process.

This requires dialogue among program leadership, functional and operational managers, and communication across all stakeholders to ensure that everyone is aware of the need for open-minded objectivity, their role, and how it impacts success.

Why Scenario Planning is Oh-So-Important for Project Businesses

Written by Tim Copeland on November 22, 2022. Posted in Articles.

The business world is characterized by constant change – particularly in project-oriented businesses – and if you don’t bend, you’ll break. Flexibility and responsiveness are key to success in an environment that’s hard to predict. But unpredictability doesn’t mean you SHOULDN’T plan ahead. It just means you need the agility to create, compare, and adjust plans when the sands shift.

What is scenario planning?

Project-centric businesses are always in a state of tension between work they’ve already committed to and the work they’re hoping to win. Will it go ahead? Can we fit it in? Will we need more people to deliver?

Scenario planning asks and answers those questions. It is the process of creating and comparing different combinations of projects – to understand whether you have the capacity to take on new work and deliver it successfully.

Businesses that practice effective scenario planning can commit to new work confidently because they have fully explored and understood the ramifications on their project pipeline.

The challenge with scenario planning

Scenario planning can be difficult for professional services firms considering the interdependencies between projects and people.

Client 1 can change the deliverables on their project and that can have knock-on implications for Clients 2, 3, and 4. Or maybe a key team member becomes ill or leaves the business. These – very common – curveballs can disrupt delivery across a number of projects, leaving project managers frantically mapping out new project paths.

Then there are the projects you hope to win. Not only that but you might be bidding for six projects but only expect to win two. But you actually win five. That’s great news on paper but how are you going to deliver them all? Who do you need to hire? And when can you realistically onboard them?

This is why scenario planning is often called ‘what if’ planning. It’s about asking the question, ‘what if this happens?’ How do different scenarios impact factors like:

Revenue
Business capacity
Resource availability and utilization

And from there, what does that mean for customer outcomes, staff workload, and your reputation overall?

Your sales pipeline is a poor proxy

In my past life as head of sales for a digital agency, I got frustrated by the one-dimensional nature of the data I received from our CRM.

I could see projects in the pipeline and their “value” but not how that translated to actual work, capacity, and billing over time. If you can’t answer the question ‘What’s billing going to be next month?’, or “how many developers will be needed in 6 weeks” you’re leading your company blindfolded.

In this context, probability percentages are less helpful than you might think. When you’re thinking of upcoming work, most CRMs might think of a new project as a deal, and that deal might be weighted based on a probability, say “90% certain it will be going ahead”. For sales, this means you can do a weighted average to determine how much work is ‘in the pipeline’. But that has no correlation to when it needs to be delivered – or your capacity to deliver it.

A pipeline forecast chart might look pretty, but it’s a poor proxy for company billing or the performance of the business. For example:

There is a big difference between a $100,000 project that is spread over twenty months at $5k per month or over two, at $50k per month. A CRM won’t show the difference between the two.
There is a big difference between $100k project that starts next month, vs one that starts in 12 months. If the deal were too ‘close’ on the same day, the pipeline report would look the same.
If your sales team closed a large sale, but you don’t have enough people to actually do the work in the timeframe, and need to hire, is it a good sale?

Scenario planning is a more collaborative and nuanced approach to understanding your project pipeline. It shows what’s actually happening, not just what’s coming up, and that knowledge is power. Because – armed with a 360 understanding of the impact of different projects on your team, capacity and bottom line – you can make better business decisions.

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Spreadsheets just can’t cut it

However, despite the value of scenario planning, many businesses don’t have the time or tools to do it.

When we talk to potential customers about scenario planning, they describe laborious processes involving several hours of a data analyst’s time, poring over Excel to model a single alternative scenario. The time and cost involved mean that the business is reluctant to model too many different scenarios, which seriously limits the usefulness of the project.

And they’re often frustrated to discover the data is bad and their predictions aren’t accurate anyway. A revised delivery date here, a change of personnel there… Suddenly your spreadsheets are out of date and you’re making capacity decisions based on fiction, not fact.

Sadly, spreadsheets just aren’t cut out for the complexity of scenario modeling.

So, you can see if someone is fully booked or if projects clash. But you can’t easily interrogate that data to understand the ramifications of a change in one project to others in the pipeline. You can’t actively model a range of scenarios to understand project interdependencies and the implications of your decisions.

Plus, they only present data in one dimension and moment in time. Whereas scenario planning involves multi-dimensional, temporal datasets. In English? Resource planning is much more complex than simply looking at a snapshot of static data. A change of assignments impacts utilization levels, capacity, billing, profitability… Spreadsheets just can’t handle so many moving parts. Plus, these changes happen dynamically and over time, which means the exact same input data will result in different results at different periods of time… Yep, it’s complicated!

Model in minutes

Scenario planning is much quicker, easier, and more accurate when you use the proper software tools. The right software quickly answers the question ‘what are the consequences of taking on this work at this time?’.

Imagine a dashboard that lets you see an overview of all of your current projects in real-time – including capacity, availability, and utilization rates. And you can add in new projects – tentative or planned – and instantly see the impact on your organization.

Instead of spending hours of expert time to model a single scenario, anyone can model any number of project combinations in a matter of minutes. And immediately understand the implications of onboarding new projects.

This gives managers the opportunity to plan and explore myriad possibilities and choose the combination that delivers the best outcome for the organization. It is a rapid test-and-understand approach that can make the difference between seizing an opportunity and letting it slide by…

Reduce friction between functions

Scenario planning software also reduces friction between business functions and gets everyone pulling in the same direction.

A common problem with business planning is that operational systems are vertical and siloed. HR. Sales. Delivery. Accounting. And so on.

There’s no visibility into connected and contingent factors that affect your ability to deliver. For example, sales colleagues might commit to a project without fully understanding the impact on the delivery team. Or a project manager might plan around an individual’s capacity without knowing they’re coming to the end of a temporary contract or have 4 weeks of holiday planned.

This can cause friction and frustration between teams. And risks the cardinal sin of overpromising and under-delivering to clients.

A cross-functional planning tool like Runn increases transparency across the organization. It gives every business function access to real-time tools to model the impact of project decisions. So, sales can add in a tentative project and understand whether it could work before committing to it. And HR has access to the information they need for proactive recruitment planning, instead of being stuck in a reactive cycle.

This joined-up approach isn’t just good for internal harmony. It means customers are more likely to be satisfied because you have the capacity and resources to deliver what was promised.

Harness the benefits of scenario planning

Scenario planning is highly beneficial to project-based businesses. It:

powers robust but flexible forecasting, which makes your business more agile to opportunities
let’s you plan effectively for a range of different scenarios, confident that each one is manageable
optimizes your pipeline to maximize business outcomes – without burning out your resources
right size your team to deliver great work without overspending on headcount

All of which adds up to productive, profitable projects that delight clients and boost your reputation. And who wouldn’t want that?

Lean and Project Sustainability

Written by Gratien Gasaba on November 16, 2022. Posted in Articles.

On July 18^th, 2008, SPIEGEL quoted the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas on how sustainability is seen and understood by various people. Rem Koolhaas allegedly said that “sustainability is such a political category that it’s getting more and more difficult to think about it in a serious way”. The issue raised by Rem is that sustainability is a complex concept, difficult to think about. It is therefore difficult to implement and control a concept that doesn’t come out clearly in our minds.

The former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, quoted by the financial times on March 28th, 2009, commented on sustainability from the lean management viewpoint and opined that the 2007-2009 Great Recession “did not come about because we issued too little money but because we created economic growth with too much money, and it was not sustainable growth.”

The issue raised by Merkel is that monetary and related instruments leave out key lean principles, especially on eliminating waste, namely (i) identifying and specifying value from the customer’s perspective, (ii) mapping the value stream, (iii)creating continuous flow, and (iv) establishing pull system. Eliminating waste is a major aspect of quality management. With the USA’s Great Recession case at hand, this article discusses lean as a tool for sustainability.

Eliminating waste to maximize sustainability

Generally, there are two types of work: value-adding and non-value-adding work. The non-value-adding work is also known as waste. A major aspect of sustainability thinking is the efficient and effective management of resources. In lean management, there are 7 categories of waste that need to be considered for sustainability’s sake.

They include (i) overproduction, (ii) over processing, (iii) waiting, (iv) transport, (v) inventory or stock, (vi) motion and (vii) defects.

Sustainability-oriented project teams will strive to eliminate these wastes to make sure project results “meet the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generations”. By eliminating the above-listed wastes, project teams increase the chances for project results to survive the closure phase.

Voice of the customer (VOC) as the foundation for sustainability

The Brundtland Commission report underscores three dimensions of sustainability namely environment, society, and economy. The social dimension of sustainability requires that beneficiaries of any given intervention are heard and participate in the decision-making process. It is this participation in the decision-making that guarantees the ownership of beneficiaries. Not only the lack of this ownership does shorten the lifecycle of the project results but also erodes the capacity of beneficiaries for resilience and adaptation. Needless to mention that resilience and adaptation are key features of a sustainable intervention.

Applied to project management, the lean methodology uses VOC to collect information on how customers or stakeholders feel about the project and their expectations. For instance, customers interviews, live chat, focus group discussions, emails, social media, feedback forms or even special events such as customer dinner or brown-bag lunch are organized to collect data on how customers, at their respective chain levels, feel about the business, the products and understand their preferences.

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Mistake-proofing the sustainability-related processes

Mistake-proofing, also known as poka-yoke, is a declaration of systematic war against errors to make it impossible for an error to happen or if it occurs it doesn’t reach customers. The majority of poka-yoke in manufacturing use automatic devices or other technological tactics to filter out errors.

It is advisable that, in all industries, whenever possible, the project team and other stakeholders use poka-yoke to prevent the occurrence of errors throughout the project life cycle. For instance, during the formulation or reviews of the projects, checklists can be automated using drop-down lists with links to critical features of sustainability.

If certain sustainability requirements are not met, the next step will be put on hold until everything is right. Advanced technologies will also include digital documents and pictures (both baseline and targets). The use of GIS and GPS in mistake-proofing helps to prevent environment-related mistakes. Simply put, there are many ways project sustainability can be assured using the poka-yoke technique.

Two Muda that threaten sustainability: the USA great recession case

What if chancellor Merkel’s complaint was about overproduction or over processing? From her argument, we learn that the traditional belief that monetary policies and related instruments designed and implemented by central banks and other monetary institutions are not necessarily demand-driven. When Chancellor Merkel argued that “too much money” was supplied in the market, she warns us against the Muda of overproduction of money that doesn’t match with sustainable growth.

Assuming that Merkel was right, it is logical to warn against a new Muda of overproduction probably worse than the 2007-2009 great recession, as it would be exacerbated by the solution brought by the federal reserve. In fact, as a response to the crisis, the Federal Reserve, along with massive government spending, reduced the interest rate to zero and bought financial assets to add more money into the economy.

From another analytical angle and in line with Merkel’s opinion, since the federal reserve injected much money into the economy, it can be inferred that a second Muda of over processing is ongoing. For complex processes, unless mistake-proofing is used, over processing can only be known when products are out and customers don’t take them.

Conclusion

With scarce resources and increasing demand by the current generation, it is urgent to think about how to assure the quality and quantity of what the current generation will leave for the future one.

This said, we need to first figure out what will be the needs of future generations and then, as advised by the Lean Methodology, establish a pull system to serve those needs. The above-discussed great recession would not have happened if there were a poka-yoke to prevent it. The fundamental question is why the Federal Reserve didn’t think of mistake-proofing in the financial system to prevent the crisis.

Is it because this kind of poka-yoke is impossible? Is it because, as Rem tries to convince us, sustainability is just a fashionable political category?