Android: Project Management in Your Pocket

If there's any way to produce the worse type of project phantasmagoria, it's by remaining disconnected from any part of the team or workforce. Granted, you can't be connected to every person in the workforce, but everybody can be connected to the network of the workforce. Let me explain what I mean by this.

CEO John Doe, for example, does not need to be connected directly to every person under him, especially if the company has thousands of employees. He need not be best friends with the Human Resource intern. However, though the companies information system, the CEO ought to be able to see what the HR intern is doing, most likely in an indirect form such as aggregate data. In other words, the CEO doesn't see what the intern does, but he should be able to see what the intern's directors and managers are doing. That way, the CEO can direct the future course of the business without knowing the detail of every little project.

Lately, I have been thinking of the connection offered through modern Smartphone Apps. Many companies, for example, have implemented Android project management / iPhone project management tools that connect teams across the world. Project management software alone is able to connect teams remarkably, but I can think of no better way to connect the workforce than through a Smartphone. Getting work done with these devices is literally a matter of pulling the phone out of your pocket. Android Project Management

Visual Project Management

Avoiding errors in project management decision making has a lot to do with the project management software and how it visually represents the project. I did a quick google image search for project management software, and most of the images that appeared involved very bland screenshots of various software platforms for PM. Hardly any of them seemed visual pleasing to me. For some projects, or course, whether it is "visual" or not has no importance to actually getting things done. But, I think it's safe to say that ALL projects require form of visibility - every project needs accurate representation of its data. Out of all the images of project tools that I found, the most pleasing had the following forms of usability: 1) personal task management central, 2) team communication and collaboration central, 3) generated reports (plus advanced reporting capabilities). In each of these categories, the user functionality was increased with things like drag-and-drop editing, social-rich element commenting, and customizable layouts and views. Overall, it is important to avoid a visual project management tool that does not actually integrate into the company's information system infrastructure. Visual Project Management

Program Management Phantasm

Yet another mode of Phantasmagoria. The impatient, the unwilling, and the careless managers will let their projects collapse in an attempt to ignore precision. Program Management

Three Steps Toward Project Phantasmagoria

When a project goes wrong, it can often be traced back to some form of miscommunication. Whatever the mistake may be, a project that fails does so because it exists in a state of what I call project phantasmagoria.

As this is not a common term, let me supply a definition. Phantasmagoria is "a shifting series of phantasms, illusions, or deceptive appearances, as in a dream or as created by the imagination." While there may be some argument about the usage of this word, it is generally agreed that phantasmagoria is a state of believing in a false reality.

Sometimes, a project fails because of this false reality. It is “a shifting series of ‘project’ phantasms, ‘project’ illusions, or deceptive appearances ‘in a project.’” Maybe it’s the individual team member living in a state of phantasmagoria. Or maybe it's the entire team. It could be the manager or the project itself. It could be your project management software. Perhaps the whole business is altogether nothing but a shifting series of phantasms. 

A business can attain phantasmagoria in three easy steps, each of which is progressively worse than the previous. I will describe them below.

1. Individual phantasmagoria. This happens when the smallest unit of a company, the individual team member, is not in sync with the goals of the project. Tasks are not prioritized. The individual fails to keep work documented, refuses to listen to the advice of managers, and ignores important data associated with the project. When this person’s final work is not in accord with the project’s goals, he or she can’t comprehend why the manager is so upset.

2. Team phantasmagoria. This happens when the team loses track of the project. They might be caught up in some sort of collective hype over the scope of the project. An example of this would be when a team has put too much detail into the anticipated result. Perhaps they are thinking about the income, or, even one step further, thinking about steak dinner on payday. In reality, the team hasn’t even found sufficient resources to initiate the project.

3. Manager phantasmagoria. This is a much more complex stage because the project manager can lose perspective of a project in a variety of ways, especially if the team and its individuals are already off. One of the leading causes of manager phantasmagoria happens when the project manager doesn’t trust his or her resources. When team members are inaccurately downsized or upsized in their capabilities, the manager can’t evenly distribute the work. In the manager’s view, the team members are entirely at fault when problems occur in a project, causing a stressful, negative environment for everyone.

Once these three steps are taken, achieving phantasmagoria for the whole business is only a matter of time. New ideas might imperceptibly slip into the management methodologies. New restrictions and regulations might rule an otherwise natural workflow. Over-the-top project goals and insufficient project management software might create a business with a foundation of false information, which, in turn, leads to more and more miscommunication. In the end, when company processes misfire, and no one knows why, people might be driven to make decisions based on fleeting personal emotions, blaming or, in worst-case scenarios, even hurting others.

Such a state is a state of project phantasmagoria.

What is Project Management?

What is Project Management?

A viable question. After all, this is where most phantasmagoric projects begin - when a project manager actually doesn't know the answer to, "what is project management?"

This link comes from the company that produces the project management software that I use, and they top the industry. Apple uses it to manager their projects. And, if there's any business that most definitely does NOT have phantasmagoria in the business world, it's Apple. Remember the white iPhone that Apple fans were complaining about? Well, because they knew the product would be unsatisfactory, they weren't going to release something that would mess up their name. They didn't let the hype of the "idea of the white iPhone" get in front of the reality of the white iPhone.

AtTask is the cure to project phantasmagoria.

Phantasmagoria at Work