You’ve likely heard the term “Scrum Master” used in the software development industry. You have probably worked with a Scrum Master.
Scrum Alliance offers the Certified Scrum Master (CSM), a certification. The certification’s main purpose is to help professionals validate and improve their knowledge of Scrum and Agile best practice.
What do you need to be Scrum Master Certified? This guide will attempt to answer that question.
What is Scrum?
Scrum is an Agile framework that is primarily used for software development. It’s not unusual to see the framework used in other functions, such as marketing and sales.
Scrum makes it easier to develop complex products and deliver them on time. The framework is built on the three pillars of Scrum: transparency, adaptation, inspection.
The framework places a lot of emphasis on teamwork and progress as well as accountability.
Learn More About Scrum Alliance
Scrum Alliance was founded in 2001 as a non-profit organization. It is one of the most prestigious and respected certification bodies in Agile.
The organization has helped over 750,000 professionals become certified since its inception.
What does a Scrum Master do?
Your responsibilities as a Scrum Master include initiating meetings and coordinating with the Scrum Team. Scrum Team consists of Scrum Product Owner, Scrum Master and Scrum Team members.
During the meetings, you will discuss the day’s activities and the plans for the next day. You will also be responsible for coaching your team members and helping them overcome any obstacles that may hinder the project’s progress.
The Scrum Master’s role in actual development is often limited or nonexistent. They should instead devote their time to coaching and leading the team.
Certified Scrum Master Certification Requirements
There are no prerequisites for the CSM certification, other than a basic knowledge of Scrum theory prior to enrolling in a Scrum Master course.
After you have read enough about Scrum, enroll in the training program. After you have completed the course, you can take the CSM exam to become certified. More information about the exam is available later.
Although a bachelor’s degree in computer science is not required, it is a preferred requirement for CSM candidates.
The Certified Scrum Master Certification has many benefits
The CSM certification has many benefits. Here are some of them:
Skill and Knowledge Development
You’ll gain a greater understanding of Scrum and improve your problem solving skills by becoming a certified Scrum Master. You will be able to manage small Scrum teams and assist them in overcoming any obstacles.
You’ll also learn leadership and teamwork skills. This will help you motivate and support your colleagues. These skills can be used in other jobs in the future.
Better Career Prospects
CSM certifications are valuable and can help you take your career to the next level. It allows you to show potential employers your skills and establish credibility as an expert in the subject matter.
It’s more than a piece of paper you hang on your wall. It’s evidence that you have a solid foundational knowledge about Scrum and that you have developed an Agile mindset that is often deemed valuable by large corporations.
The certification will also make you stand out and increase your chances to get more job interviews and better offers.
Networking
You’ll be part of a large group of professionals once you become CSM certified
Month: July 2022
About Month: July 2022
How to get a job as a Project Manager without any experience?
How to get a job as a Project Manager without any experience?
You are probably reading this blog to find out how to become project manager. You may be already in a position of project manager, whether you have planned well or just happen to be there. No matter what path you choose or how you got there, both the traditional project manager and the accidental project manager have their own set of challenges and advantages. This post will help you succeed in your job duties regardless of how you got there.
The role of project manager has changed over the years. Project management requires professionals to be able to communicate, negotiate, and lead. They also have to be able to communicate and organize effectively.
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There are two routes professionals can take to become project managers. Some people choose to become project managers without any experience, while others prefer formal training to become certified project managers.
What does it take to become a project manager?
The job titles and responsibilities of project managers vary depending on the type of organization and project. A project manager is responsible to plan, scope, assign, guide, budgeting, controlling, and finally completing projects.
This means that if you can see the steps required to complete complex tasks and projects while meeting deadlines, managing people and organizing the workday to the last minute, then you might be a good candidate for this job.
Let’s take a look at the essential skills required for project management jobs:
Communication
Negotiation and leadership
Problem-solving and risk management
Attention to detail
Time management
GreyCampus
Your ability to:
Establish a specific goal
To achieve that goal, create a plan that is 100% sure to succeed
Keep up-to-date with the team’s progress towards achieving the goal
No experience? No problem. Let’s take you through the steps to get the best job in project management.
You might also like: How to Meet 35 Contact hours Requirement with a PMP Training Bootcamp
5 Steps to Become a Project Manager Without Experience
You can become a project manager if you are a professional with no formal education or experience.
It is not uncommon to find project managers in the IT, construction, or finance industries without any formal education or experience. Here are the steps to follow if you want to follow the same path.
1) Assess Your Experience — Don’t start by describing your professional experience. You don’t have to have worked in the same job before to have the right skills. You might already have skills in leadership and time management that you are familiar with from previous jobs.
Source: SkillDirector
These are key skills in project management:
Time management
Resource management
Quality Management
Scope management
Management of procurement
Stakeholder management
Conflict management
Take a look at the projects you have been involved in and make a list. Then compare your management skills with the knowledge areas discussed above. This will give you an idea of how your hands-on experience compares to the job duties and skills of a project manager.
This information will allow you to evaluate the form.
How to get 7,500 hours of project management experience for PMP
You will need to have either 4,500 or 7,500 hours of experience leading and directing projects, depending on your education. PMP is the gold standard in project management because of its high entry barrier. How do you get started?
Keep a log of your work
This is important to understand now. You might lose your PMP application if you don’t keep track of your work. PMI requires details about the project work, including dates of employment, qualifications, roles, organization details, reference and a summary of experience. How can you determine if something you have worked on qualifies for a project? PMI defines a project as “a temporary undertaking undertaken to create an unique product or service.” This means that anything that has a deadline and has a deliverable can be considered a project.
Volunteer
Volunteer as an expediter or project coordinator. It’s often easier to get involved as a volunteer coordinator or expediter because it’s not paid work. To be eligible for the PMP, you will need to spend thousands of hours managing and directing projects. You might prefer to put those hours into your job. Volunteering is a time-consuming activity.
Network
You can get great advice from conference attendees about how to start in project management. You might even be able to get a job with the right networking. Even project managers with years of experience value networking. It is worth building a strong professional network early on in your career.
Consider your industry
Project management is a popular job in software vendors and consulting firms. For entry-level roles, try titles such as business analyst or test manager. You should keep in mind that projects include creating websites, organizing events, and producing media. This means that there are many other industries that you can work in.
Start small
Companies don’t hire junior project managers and entry-level employees. You should work your way up in the company until you are able to manage a low-risk/low visibility project. Once you have enough experience, you can move up to bigger projects or companies.
Start your own projects
You can suggest small projects that you can take to your managers, such as a new way of processing vendor invoices. Ask yourself and other employees to help you determine the foundation of your project.
Which processes take the longest to complete?
What are the most expensive processes to complete?
What are the most frustrating processes?
You can automate or take out certain processes by mapping out one of these processes. You can test your new version to ensure it is fast and quality. Write a report detailing the time and/or money that you can save.
Don’t pay attention to job titles
The job title you held at the time is irrelevant if you can show examples of new products, processes, or systems that you have created. PMI doesn’t care about your current title. To verify that your description is accurate, all you need is a reference who has worked with you on the project.
Get a CAPM certificate
You can become a Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM), if you have never managed a project. This certification will allow you to understand the PMBOK(r), and prepare you for the PMP exam. This qualification can help you find new opportunities. This certification is a must-have if you want to get into project management. An accredited online training course is available here.
How To Establish A Good Communication Method?
How To Establish A Good Communication Method?
Communication is vital in any profession. A lack of a proper communication method or mechanism can sometimes lead to chaos. This applies to teams too. It can affect the success of a project if there is not proper communication between the teams. It is possible that team members don’t have the right information about their tasks and duties if there is no way to communicate with them. It is essential that organizations have a good communication system in place to ensure that all information is communicated effectively and clearly to team members.
This article will focus on creating a communication guide that is effective and what it should contain in order to avoid miscommunication.
Section One (Introduction).
The introduction space should include all details about the project, communication method, software, and tools that will be used to complete tasks. The introduction space should include information about the project, the guidelines, and the schedule. This will give team members a complete overview and allow them to understand how to communicate with their superiors.
Some organizations skip the most important details. However, it is essential that the guide includes all details so that team members have a complete understanding of the project. It is essential that team members have a thorough understanding of the project. This will allow them to deliver better results and give them a better idea of how it works. It will affect the quality of the final product if they don’t have a clear understanding of what they are expected to deliver.
Section 2 (Body)
This section should detail each aspect of the project. This section should include information such as the reason the task is important, the criticality of it, the consequences if it is not completed according to client’s requirements, and how it will impact the overall quality of the project. To help team members understand the subject better, organizations can include case studies, analysis and images, demographics, and infographics. Experts believe visuals will aid readers in understanding the subject better and quicker. If a team member fails to understand a concept in the guide book, the organization must provide assistance. They should also offer training sessions on communication methods that will help employees improve their communication skills.
Section Three (Ending).
This section should contain motivational messages that encourage team members to complete their tasks within the time frame. This section also shows how team members should coordinate in case they have difficulty understanding the topic or need clarification.
Body language
It is important to communicate well with your team members. Team leaders must listen to team members’ questions and respond politely. This will allow team members the freedom to ask questions without hesitation. If team leaders don’t use the correct body language or are hesitant to clarify the doubts of team members, there is a chance that they will make mistakes, which could impact the overall workflow and quality.
Team leaders must communicate with their team members regularly. They should communicate with their team members beyond work communication. This will give them a better understanding of their personal interests, likes and dislikes.
How to Apply Lessons Learned in Project Management
Project managers are well aware of the importance to learn from past and future projects. The project can be kept on track by regularly updating and recording the lessons learned. It can help organizations improve their ability to execute projects in the long-term.
Lessons learned definition
The knowledge gained through the course of a project is called lessons learned. This includes both the positives as well as the negatives. It is important to focus on the positives and not the negatives.
This process is defined by the Project Management Institute (PMI), A Guide to Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK (r) Guide), as a “set of interrelated activities and activities performed in order to achieve a specific set of products, results, or services”. The lessons learned process consists of five steps that include activities that will capture and apply lessons learned. These are the steps:
Identify the comments and suggestions that can be made. These comments and recommendations can be valuable knowledge assets for future projects.
Document – Take note of the lessons learned during discussions and create a report that can be accessed by all participants. Distribute the report to the entire project team. Keep it for future reference.
Analyze and organize the lessons learned to be shared with other teams. They can be used to improve project management or in training sessions.
Keep the lessons learned reports safe and secure on a shared drive, or in a cloud storage solution. This makes them accessible to all project team members.
Retrieve – When storing the lessons learned reports, create a keyword search capability that makes them easily retrievable at any point during or after the project.
How to document lessons learned
It’s difficult to keep track of the lessons learned and make improvements without a formalized documentation process. From the kick-off meeting, establish a continuous documentation process. It is important to document all lessons learned throughout the project’s lifecycle, especially if it is a large project.
Regular surveys can be used to identify problems during a project. These surveys can be used in short meetings to discuss, analyze and document the lessons learned.
Survey template: Lessons learned
This is a guideline. Project managers should create their own questions. These surveys should be modified and updated throughout the project.
Please indicate whether you agree or disagree with each statement.
Planning a project
The project plan and schedule were well-documented with the appropriate structure and detail.
(Strongly agree – Agree – Neutral – Disagree)
Comments:____________________________
As a stakeholder, my input to the project planning process is appreciated.
(Strongly agree – Agree – Neutral – Disagree)
Comments:____________________________
The purpose of the project was clearly stated in the project plan.
(Strongly agree – Agree – Neutral – Disagree)
Comments:____________________________
The scope of the project was clearly defined.
(Strongly agree – Agree – Neutral – Disagree)
Comments:____________________________
Project Execution
The project schedule is on track.
(Strongly agree – Agree – Neutral – Disagree)
Comments:____________________________
Project changes were manageable.
(Strongly agree – Agree – Neutral – Disagree)
Comments:____________________________
I am aware of everyone’s responsibilities.
(Strongly agree – Agree – Neutral – Disagree)
Comments:____________________________
Sponsors were engaged.
(Strongly agree – Agree – Neutral – Disagree)
Comments:____________________________
The project
7 Organizations That Use Salesforce to Shock You
Salesforce is a complex platform that can be difficult to grasp for new users. However, Salesforce is used by many companies in many unique ways. Several might even surprise you!
Amazon Web Services
Amazon Web Services is a cloud powerhouse. We all know this, but it would be wrong to assume that Amazon manages all aspects of the platform internally. Amazon is aware of the power of Salesforce and has been able to adapt and grow with customers in record time. AWS has a distinct advantage in the cloud space by using Salesforce Custom Apps for budget management and exploring Communities to educate outreach. Amazon was able take the journey with Salesforce, its customers, and explosive growth to the next level.
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Get started trainingCarlo’s Bakery
AKA THE Cake Boss… What should you do when your sales go up by 1000%? You take the pencil down and hold your breath! Buddy Valastro, the Cake Boss needed a better way of managing sales. He chose Salesforce Sales Cloud. Buddy can manage any order using Sales Cloud, whether it is direct to his customers or to his other business accounts.
UC Health
Although Salesforce and healthcare seem unlikely to be a good combination, UC Health found that the CRM platform was a perfect fit. Salesforce Platform, formerly App Cloud, is being used by UC Health to collect and analyze data that can be used to improve the treatment of cancer patients. UC Health understood that cancer is not a universal disease and that there is no cure. They created a Wisdom Study to categorize individual variability in genes, biology, environment, lifestyle, and the performance and outcomes of clinical interventions to tailor communication for each patient.
American Red Cross
How is Salesforce used by the Red Cross? This might surprise you. What if we told them that they use social media to track survey responses and monitor trends? Marketing Cloud, people! It doesn’t stop there. Sales Cloud is also used by the Red Cross to keep in touch with volunteers. The cloud makes it easier to train volunteers and get them to respond to emergencies. This allows help to reach the right people faster and more efficiently.
CareerBuilder
CareerBuilder receives more than 25,000,000 visits each month to search for jobs and get advice. Marketing Cloud may seem like the obvious choice for CareerBuilder, given its high engagement and traffic. What other Salesforce products does CareerBuilder use to create opportunities and connect with others? Data.com/! It is impossible to sell a space that you don’t know exists. Career Builder uses Data.com/ for this purpose.
New Jersey Transit
It is difficult enough to service thousands of customers per day. But communicating with all those customers adds complexity. NJ Transit was able to create a uniform tool that its support staff could use by using Service Cloud. It was a huge success. NJ Transit was able use Service Cloud’s robust functionality for a faster response time of days. And it didn’t have to hire any more employees. It’s not surprising that New Jersey Transit is now using social media to join conversations.
The City of San Francisco
This could be the most surprising Salesforce user. The City of San Francisco uses Salesforce! Officials wanted to engage with citizens, so they started using Marketing Cloud. While social media was one way they could reach their citizens, Marketing Cloud allows them to really engage with and listen. The city facilitates conversations and even goes as far as to go
7 Most Useful AD Group Policy Setting Settings
Imagine that you and your entire team need to work remotely as fast as possible. Everyone must be able to access their accounts, their computers, and a video conferencing application from outside the office. This process should be easy and secure. It should all work! Is it possible to do this in the next day?
This scenario is all too familiar to IT professionals, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic. Let’s now discuss Group Policies, their purpose, and what you need to do to set them up.
What are group policies?
Administrators can use Group Policies to configure user and computer settings on their networks using Active Directory Domain Services. You can create Group Policies as long as computers are connected to your domain and users log in using domain credentials. This will allow you to reduce help desk calls and costs, and also control all configurations. You can keep your users happy and secure.
Why you should use group policies
We’ll discuss the most important settings in detail later, but for now, know that you can prevent:
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Unauthorized access of specific resources
Execution of scripts
Simple tasks, such as forcing a homepage open for all users in the network, can be accomplished
It can be fun to help users get up and configure their computers. If you have to help multiple users with the same problems, your time and effort are not being utilized optimally. Group Policies can be used to save time and make settings available to all users. This saves time and keeps your environment secure.
Are You Using Group Policies in Your Office 365 License
Microsoft Group Policies are always available in on-premise Office solutions. Office 365 Group Policy availability is dependent on the plan you have bought.
These are the versions that come with it.
Office 365 ProPlus
Office 365 Enterprise E3
Office 365 Enterprise E5
If your plan doesn’t include Group Policy (any Office 365 Business plans or Education plans, Enterprise and Government E1 and K1) you can upgrade your license to any plans that do. After switching to the new plan, you will need to uninstall and reinstall Office software one by one. You should quickly realize if you have to use them in order not to be faced with an overwhelming upgrade project.
Here’s a TechNet article listing the features of Office 365 plans that include Group Policy support.
Enterprise valueOffice Professional Plus 2013Office Professional Plus 2016Office Professional Plus 2019Office 365 ProPlusOffice 365 BusinessOffice 365 Business EssentialsOffice 365 Business PremiumGroup Policy supportYesYesYesYesNoNoNo7 Must-Have Group Policy Settings
In Lord of the Ring terms, Group Policies are “one set of policies that can rule them all”. Here are the top 7 priorities for any system administrator.
1. The Control Panel
Who controls the control panel? Who is the administrator of your company’s computer system? The user? It is important to limit access to Control Panel in an IT environment for business. This allows you, the administrator, to control who can access Control Panel. Group Policies can be used to control your computer in two ways. You can either restrict or block access to the Control Panel.
Control Panel: Administrators should not be afraid to open the Control Panel to see all that is possible. This is where admins can modify account settings, add unauthorized users, and add/change screen-savers (a huge security risk).
7 Most Important AWS Security Tools
Amazon Web Services (AWS), which allows companies to dynamically scale their infrastructure and applications, is a revolutionary technology. They have also excelled at incorporating security features into their offerings. AWS acknowledges that they are responsible for protecting their infrastructure but it is up to the users to ensure that AWS services are configured in accordance with best practices. Our AWS cloud training courses will teach you how to configure AWS services correctly and much more.
AWS takes layer security very seriously and provides administrators with tools to ensure that their AWS deployments remain as secure as possible. The ease of deployment is one of the biggest advantages of AWS’s security stack. It is often as simple as subscribing.
These are some of the AWS tools that are available.
AWS Shield
AWS Shield provides managed DDoS protection services. Shield can protect EC2, Loadbalers, CloudFront and Global Accelerator as well as Route 53 resources. DDoS protection may not sound revolutionary, but Amazon claims that 99 per cent of infrastructure flood attacks that are detected by Shield are mitigated within less than one second using CloudFront.
Learn how to become a security expert with SPOTO’s Cybersecurity Training
Start trainingSometimes, attacks are just meant to stop a company doing business. A tool that allows you stay up without having to engage your security teams can be a competitive advantage. AWS shield can protect websites even if they are not hosted within AWS.
AWS Shield ensures that your services are available at an unmatched success rate.
GuardDuty
GuardDuty is the “watcher at the wall”. GuardDuty is a managed threat identification service that is easy to deploy and scales with your infrastructure. GuardDuty will analyze logs from all your accounts and services to ensure that you are protected. Amazon claims that GuardDuty analyses tens to billions of events across AWS and uses machine learning to provide accurate and actionable alerts. Few other companies can boast such a large data set.
GuardDuty can detect activities related to account compromise, instance compromise, and reconnaissance. This includes things like port scanning, data exfiltration and malware, as well as unusual API calls and attempts to disable logging.
GuardDuty doesn’t allow you to create your own custom alerts. AWS states that it is a “hands-off” tool.
It can automate remediation through AWS Lambda, and integrate into CloudWatch so administrators have one pane of glass.
Guard Duty analyses your logs to make sure you don’t have too.
CloudWatch
CloudWatch is an AWS monitoring tool that monitors everything. CloudWatch gathers logs, events and metrics from your AWS infrastructure so you can see everything happening in your environment.
Anyone who has used a SIEM knows that it is important to have a tool that can aggregate large amounts of data and make it available to engineers. CloudWatch integrates seamlessly with GuardDuty and can provide a lot of information that can be used to help you troubleshoot security issues.
CloudWatch aggregates resource utilization and performance data in addition to security applications. CloudWatch can be used to automate scaling of EC2 instances, to add or remove compute resources. This will ensure that organizations get the most out of their AWS services spend.
CloudWatch is a single-pane of class that provides visibility into log events and security services.
Macie
Macie is all for protecting data. It is a machine-learning service that monitors data access trends and detects anomalies to identify data leaks and unauthorized access. Cloudwatch can receive all of its alerts. This allows you to take advantage of all the automation and custom alerting. It is fully managed. It’s always available.
7 Essential Skills for Associate Cloud Engineers
The cloud is here and will stay. The way we manage computing resources has changed dramatically. Although some people believe that the job of system administrator will disappear, it’s more sensible to consider the many ways that the job is changing. One way to see it is that cloud engineers have replaced system administrators.
What skills does an associate cloud engineer need?
You can either be a veteran systems administrator looking to advance in your career or a novice looking to get a job in IT. There are some key skills you should acquire in order to prepare to become an associate cloud engineer. These seven skills are essential for associate cloud engineers. Some of these skills may be familiar to you. We also offer on-demand IT training that you can take at your own pace if you need to refresh your skills. Get started with your first week free by checking out our IT career path training.
Continue reading to learn more about the top skills associate cloud engineers should master.
1. Linux
All associate cloud engineers must be familiar with Linux. Linux knowledge is an area where the most skilled, old-fashioned and geeky system administrators have an advantage. Here’s why.
Linux is the foundation of the cloud. Linux is also used to run internal data centers. While Microsoft products can be used for certain applications, the web and all other web applications run on Linux.
This is where the old-timers are at their best. They have been using Linux for decades. They grew up using Linux.
The cloud is possible because of Linux. Cloud engineers might not be able to work directly with the Linux OS depending on the cloud products they use, but those products still use Linux.
Cloud engineers need to be able to use Linux. First, you must understand how to use Linux. You’re done.
2. Networking
Cloud engineers don’t need to manage different pieces or IP segments. Most of the networking heavy lifting has been done.
However, cloud engineers still need to have strong networking skills. What if you have to deploy multiple EC2 instances using a CDN that has port 8080 open? First, you must understand the meaning of each word. Next, you will need to understand how each of these things affects each other. The final step is to configure each cloud product.
Networking is the backbone IT-related so even if you don’t know much about it, you probably have some networking skills if you want to try out cloud tech.
3. Virtualization
Virtualization is everything in the cloud. We take that back. You can buy dedicated equipment, but that means you will have to sell all 20 of your kidneys. You will instead be using virtualized resources.
Cloud providers must get the most out of their hardware. This has been a practice of organizations for more than ten years in their internal data centers. TCO is the cost of a PC that isn’t functioning properly. You paid for them. They will be used. Amazon, Microsoft, Google, et al. They will do the exact same.
You will also need to manage the nested virtual environments created by resources in the cloud. You will need to be able to manage a virtualized OS if you create an EC2 instance on AWS.
4. Identity Management
Cloud providers offer one of the most valuable features, which is identity management. We have always had some form of identity management in our data centres. The services offered by cloud providers are an order-of-magnitude better.
These services are often called IAM profiles or roles by cloud providers. IAM profiles and roles are blueprints for users. They are similar to Microsoft’s Active Directory software but offer more features.
Just like Act, you can create groups for each IAM role.
Software review: Viewpath Express
Viewpath 2.0 is a web-based project management software. The company announced earlier this month that Viewpath Express would be free and open to all at the Office 2.0 Conference San Francisco. Because there are ads all along the right-hand side of the page, they can do this. Viewpath Standard is also available at $10.95 per user per month. I tried the Express version.
Registering for an account is all it takes to get started. To have access, all members of your team will need a login. Once your team is established, it’s easy to create a new project.
Viewpath defaults in the Gantt chart view MS Project users are familiar with. Drag and drop can be used to move columns. Double-clicking allows for you to edit tasks in line without opening a dialogue box. Easy Projects.NET does not allow you to have fractions of a daily time. Viewpath has some great keyboard shortcuts. t will create a new task, and tab will indent subtasks. Attach documents to tasks. These can be made accessible to only selected users, although I have not tested it. Auto-scroll is when you select a task, the Gantt pane moves along with it so that you always have a visual view of how it fits in with everything else.
The video tutorial showed tasks being created using automatic work breakdown structure numbering. However, when I created a new project, this was not the case. This feature may only be available in the paid-for version. WBS is not something that I use in MS Project, so I could do without it.
After I had completed my tasks, I attempted to create dependencies. I received a strange error message when trying to link 8 tasks in succession. It could have been that one of the tasks didn’t have an alias. I lost all my dependencies even those I created after the error message, so I refreshed the screen. This is a concern because although the error message didn’t stop me from doing anything, my data that had been saved after that point was not saved. It was a little confusing and I ended up starting a new project. I also made sure I didn’t attempt to work on tasks without names.
You will also need to manage your own dependencies, both start-to–start and finish–to–finish. You have two options in the dependency menu: ‘link top-to-bottom’ or ‘link below the top’. It’s just another way to think about them. However, I couldn’t figure out how to get two consecutive tasks started at the same time. I created a summary task, then I hung all the start to-start dependencies from the end of it. They didn’t go back to their pre-linked positions when I unlinked them. The task date didn’t change, but the dependency was gone.
Viewpath also offers a ‘My Viewpath view’ that defaults to your daily to-do list across all projects. It is not possible to search the online help. It took me a while to realize that a ‘blocked task’ on my personal to-do list is one that is dependent upon another and not something to worry about. It will show me all tasks on my list, even if they are marked complete. However, you can change the view so that it shows only the completed actions. Click on an action to take you to the project. This function consolidates activity across multiple projects and helps manage multiple priorities. This is a good thing, since people rarely have one thing they are working on at a time. My to-do list is written on paper for me.
I like the idea of being allowed to schedule events as separate tasks. For example, you could submit all meetings of your steering groups. Emails can be sent to people with task and event information, notifying them that they were invited or assigned to work. Outlook does not sync event information. Viewpath is okay, but nothing special. It’s free for the Express edition. Project management is a new skill for teams just starting out.