Written by Rhona Aylward

Rhona is Deputy Everything Officer at Psoda, where she does everything except code. After starting life as a microbiologist she moved into PMO leadership roles around the world before settling in New Zealand with her family.

Join a project management association

By joining a project management society such as the Project Management Institute (PMI) or Association for Project Management, you get to meet current project managers and start building connections with people in the industry. You are also able to access professional certifications, which will go a long way towards helping you in your career.

Attend industry events

There are loads of different industry events which you can attend. Some will cost, but loads are free. They are great places to learn and network. Events to consider are: special interest groups, conferences, or monthly project management specific events – e.g. PMI have local chapter meetings once a month.

Find a professional mentor

I can’t emphasise enough how much benefit you’ll get from having a mentor. When you have one that works, it can have a truly profound effect on both parties, so is worth nurturing. For a mentor the reward is in the giving and passing on their hard-won knowledge. And for the mentee, a guiding hand and invaluable expert advice.

Contact specialist PM recruiters

When you’re ready to start your job search, it’s worth talking to recruiters that specialise in project management roles. They will be able to help you tailor your CV, provide you with guidance around the right kind of roles for your experience level and help you find employment. Some really good recruiters also provide free value-added services like CV writing and interview coaching.

Get a project support role

You’re really unlikely to get a project manager role straight out of university. I won’t say it’s impossible but unless you’ve done some amazing project work during your holidays, it’s not really going to happen.
The best way to get your foot in the door is to take a support role, such as a junior project coordinator or administrator. That way you can learn on the job & build up some experience.
With your business degree you could also consider looking at junior business analyst roles.
Management consultancies are also a good option as most of their work is project based, so you’ll get really good experience in different environments.

Be willing to step outside your current boundaries

This might sound like a counter-intuitive suggestion, but it’s worth considering roles outside of the IT industry. Any project management experience (including support roles) is better than none. Multi industry experience is a really good thing to show on your CV as it highlights your adaptability and flexibility. Both of which are great traits in project management.
I hope this is useful and that you land an amazing role soon!

Psoda plug

If you’re looking for a tool to help you manage your projects, regardless of your experience level, then look no further than Psoda. You can sign up for a free trial by clicking on the big red button at the top right hand side of the page.

Written by Rhona Aylward

Rhona is Deputy Everything Officer at Psoda, where she does everything except code. After starting life as a microbiologist she moved into PMO leadership roles around the world before settling in New Zealand with her family.

Leverage your sponsor

My first piece of advice is to leverage your sponsor as much as you can. He or she is going to be in a really good position to help you get the stakeholders on board. If they can’t do that, then they will be able to help you put a management plan in place.
When you go and speak to your sponsor, make sure you take concrete examples of the stakeholders’ negative behaviour. That might sound a bit obvious but it’s for very good reasons:

• It’s much easier to fix a problem when you know exactly what it is
• There’s less wriggle room for the people creating the drama when faced with a real example
• It shows that you’re not sweating the small stuff and that there actually is a problem
• You’ll enhance your credibility

Make sure you get some firm commitments from the sponsor on when they will get involved as well as the type of help they’ll give you. This isn’t the time for wooliness!

Speak to the wider project team

It’s always a good idea to get other people’s perspectives, so it’s worth asking the project team and anyone else connected to the team for their opinions. I’d suggest you do it one-on-one as people are more likely to be forthcoming when there’s no one else around. Use this opportunity to get as much information about the stakeholders as possible. It’s also worth using this time to dig deeper and find out if there are any underlying reasons why people are so anti each other and the project. You never know, you might come across a nugget of information that you can use to your advantage.

Read the existing project documentation

If documentation exists, make sure that you read it. There will likely be lots of really useful information in there that you can use. Pay close attention to the stakeholder matrix and engagement plan (if they exist). Just be aware that the information in there may be out of date or inaccurate so it’s worth revisiting. Also be aware of what’s not there. Often insights come from information that’s not included. Look at everything as a whole, not disparate pieces. Stepping back and taking a wider view often pays dividends in situations like this. Mainly because people don’t want to write anything negative down.

Expert communications

Now isn’t the time to skimp on spending money. If the stakeholders really are as difficult as you say, you need to hit them with the big guns. In this case, it’s buying in expert communications and change management help.
Work with the experts to create a really detailed stakeholder matrix and a multi-pronged communication, engagement and change management programme.
Don’t plan too far into the future. Consider having a detailed plan for the first two week, a slightly less detailed plan for the following two weeks and headline only for the two weeks after that. Make sure you put in plenty of metrics! This is one plan that you need to micromanage. That way you’ll get early notice of any problems and will be able to fix it before it goes completely off the rails. I’d go so far as to suggest that for the first two weeks at least you should be meeting with the change management and communications teams daily.
You can plan the next two weeks after a week on the current plan. This way you have the flexibility to quickly adapt and modify the plans and any content.

Keep perspective

Whatever you do, don’t be surprised if, even after all your efforts, the stakeholders still stay off side. It’s not uncommon for behaviour to be so ingrained that nothing you do will change it. It could also be that the stakeholders are just fundamentally opposed to your project and you will never make them agree.
I hope this has given you some ideas on how to manage these particular stakeholders. Good luck, I hope you and your project are successful!

Psoda plug

If you’re looking for a tool to help you manage your stakeholder relationships, then look no further than Psoda. You can sign up for a free trial by clicking on the big red button at the top right hand side of the page.

Written by Rhona Aylward

Rhona is Deputy Everything Officer at Psoda, where she does everything except code. After starting life as a microbiologist she moved into PMO leadership roles around the world before settling in New Zealand with her family.

Emails

The easiest one to take the heat out of, is the emails. It’s best to respond promptly even if you don’t have an update. Most people prefer to receive something rather than have their email disappear into the ether. Even if all you say is something like “thanks for your email, I don’t have an answer for you right now but I’ll get back to you by x with a response”. Just make sure you stick to the response time you gave, even if it’s another stalling email. A good way to make sure that you do that is to put a reminder in your calendar. People tend to be more willing to wait if they’ve received an acknowledgement of a request, even if it’s a “no new information at present” one, as they know that it’s in hand.

Status reports

Are you directly involved in collating the status reports, or do you need to wait for your boss to pass on the information?
If it’s the latter it would be worth suggesting to your boss that you take over the job of putting the status reports together. That way you get direct access to engineers and can make sure you get the information you need when you need it.
You just need to make sure that you don’t get overworked and end up being the bottleneck!
A good way to frame this with your boss is to say you’re noticing that his workload is getting bigger, it’s your job to help and support him and that you’d love to help by taking this repetitive task off his hands (even if you’re not). If he is unwilling to let you take over, you may need to be a little blunt, which brings me onto the next problem.

Communication

The best way to deal with the way your boss communicates is with a face to face meeting with him. You need to cite concrete examples of the problems you’re facing and explain the impact it’s having. When you’re having the conversation, try and frame it around the damage it’s doing to the department’s credibility. You can even consider saying something about the damage it’s doing to your boss’s reputation in the organisation.
Make sure when you do have the meeting that you present a few potential solutions to the problem. I know it isn’t really your problem to solve but it’s usually easier to get changes made if you present ready-made solutions. I’m sure you’ll have experienced your boss saying “leave it with me” and then nothing ever happens. This is a way to try and stop that from happening.

Some suggestions to put to him, if you haven’t already tried them are:

• Implementing a daily stand up meeting. Use it as part progress session and part information sharing. The team say what they’re working on, highlight any bottlenecks and discuss what the next day will look like. The boss then shares anything of relevance, including off the cuff decisions.
• Make the team’s status reporting day two days before the reports have to be submitted to the project managers. You don’t need to tell the team it’s two days before, but it gives you breathing room to make sure you’ve got the most up to date information possible.
• Using an online PPM tool. That would ensure that all the project information is in one place and current. This would greatly enhance the quality of the project reports and make your job a lot easier as you wouldn’t have to chase everyone.
• Have a regularly scheduled catch up with the boss. Make it the day before the status reports are due. You can then work through them together and make any changes he needs. Hopefully this will help with the accuracy of the reports coming out of your department.

Addendum 

A brilliant tip from Andrew Ball (@andrewball01):
Implement a decision log. The rule is: ‘if it’s not on the log, it was never made.’ I know it’s never that simple but you have to capture and codify stuff like this or it completely undermines your authority.
If he’s still resistant, you might need to ask him exactly how he wants you to handle things. You could start by saying “how do you want me to handle it when x is frustrated about our lack of response?”
 
If none of this works, then I hate to say it but you might just have to escalate things to your boss’s boss. After all, it’s in no-one’s best interests to have a failing department and that’s exactly what your boss will be doing if things don’t drastically change.
I hope that’s been useful.
There are likely a lot more suggestions people can make to help you with this problem, so if you have any ideas please feel free to leave them in the comments.
If you’d like a question featured in our “Ask a project manager” series, please do get in touch.

Psoda plug

If you’re looking for a tool to make sure your reports are timely, accurate and look great, then look no further than Psoda. You can sign up for a free trial by clicking on the big red button at the top right hand side of the page.

Written by Rhona Aylward

Rhona is Deputy Everything Officer at Psoda, where she does everything except code. After starting life as a microbiologist she moved into PMO leadership roles around the world before settling in New Zealand with her family.

What does PMO mean?

The first question to answer is what does PMO stand for? It could be Project Management Office, it could be Programme Management Office or it could even be Portfolio Management Office. Confusing, right? You can usually make a stab at which one is which by what they do.

PMO’s role

The roles performed by PMOs are as diverse as their names. In a nutshell, the following descriptions pretty much hold true:
Portfolio Management Office – is there to help the organisation do the right things
Programme Management Office – is there to do things in the right order
Project Management Office – is there to do things the right way
One thing that’s consistent across the different PMOs, regardless of form or function, is that they have to have the right team in place to do the work they need to do.

Type of PMO

The Project Management Institute’s description of the three generic “types” of PMOs is the best that I’ve found:

Supportive

A supportive PMO is set up to provide the organisation with project related templates, tools, processes and best practices. It provides training and tracks lessons learned. Ideally, it should have very little control in the programmes and projects themselves.

Controlling

A controlling PMO is the organisation’s project police. It’s role is to audit the organisation’s programmes and projects. This PMO makes sure that the correct tools, processes, standards and procedures are used.

Directive

A directive PMO is the most controlling of the PMO types. What this PMO says, goes for all an organisation’s programmes and projects. It decides on resource allocation (including people), funding, reporting requirements and most have the individual programme and project managers reporting to it.

Structure

There are almost limitless permutations of PMOs. They can be permanent structures that report to the board in the case of an enterprise portfolio management office. They can be temporary structures that are set up to support a particular programme of work. Or, they can even be project specific entities that work only with one project.
Some of the more common structures are:
Individual PMOs – most likely to be a programme or project management office. They are set up to specifically work with one programme or project. They are unlikely to be permanent.
Departmental/business unit PMO – This construct will support multiple programmes and projects across a business unit. They will likely report into an enterprise or organisational PMO or a senior executive like the CIO. It is likely that it will be a permanent feature.
Organisational PMO – This will be an organisational PMO with responsibilities across the organisation. They will set the processes, tools, methodologies, training, etc. that all the other PMOs will follow. It is likely that this office will be providing portfolio management services as well as everything else. This is definitely a permanent feature and will report to the board or CIO.

People

Depending on the type of PMO you’re working in, you might have some, or all of the following roles represented:

• • Business analysts
  • Resource managers
  • Accountants
  • Process specialists
  • Quality assurance specialists
  • Training specialists

As I said, PMOs come in many different shapes and sizes with a wide range of functions and responsibilities. So, the answer to your question – “What is a PMO?” – will differ from organisation to organisation. I hope this overview has given you enough information to get started. Good luck with the interview!

Psoda plug

If you’re looking for a tool to help your PMO work more efficiently, then look no further than Psoda. With our interactive dashboards, you can monitor, track and report on portfolios, programmes and projects in real time. Helping you make quick, efficient decisions. Click on the big red button at the top right hand corner of the screen to sign up for a free trial!

Written by Rhona Aylward

Rhona is Deputy Everything Officer at Psoda, where she does everything except code. After starting life as a microbiologist she moved into PMO leadership roles around the world before settling in New Zealand with her family.

Why do projects get into trouble?

Projects get into trouble all the time. In fact, the PMI’s 2018 Pulse of the Profession showed that more projects are failing than in the previous year.
They get into trouble for all sorts of reasons, but some of the more common ones are:

• Scope creep
• Budget over runs
• Inaccurate requirements
• Poor change management
• Key people either leaving or not supporting the project

It’s normally a combination of problems that have come together and created a perfect storm.

Recovering the project

So, you’ve been given the project – where do you start? There are a number of steps you should take to resolve the situation.

Current state assessment

Before you even start trying to plan the recovery you need to know what the current status of the project is. The best way to do this is to audit the project. If you can, it’s worth getting an expert in to do this bit of work as they’ll know exactly what to look for. If you can’t, here’s a process you can use:

1. Document review

The document review will give you a lot of critical information. You should be able to understand exactly what the project was supposed to deliver, when and how it was to deliver it. Documents you need to review include:

• Project requirements specifications
• Project charter
• Contracts
• Project plans
• Work packages
• Budgets
• Resource plans
• Quality plans
• Metrics
• Stage gate reviews
• Status reports
• Change requests

When you’re reviewing the documents there are a number of red flags you should be looking for:

• Vague or incomplete requirements. These set the project up to fail. Poor requirements mean that everything the project does is built on sand and it will likely be subject to a lot
  of changes throughout the lifecycle.
• Unrealistic benefits in the charter. This indicates that the project manager and sponsor don’t have a handle on what it is they want to achieve with the project
• Too tight or too loose contracts. Both scenarios are bad news. Too tight, means there’s less wiggle room when needed and too loose means anything goes.
• No work packages or work packages that are light on details. As these are the key documents for the people actually doing the work, they won’t deliver what you want them to deliver
  if they are short on details.
• Lots of change requests. This is one of my big red flags. This tells me that either the project hasn’t been planned properly in the first instance or that the tolerances are too
  low.
• The names of people assigned to the project keep changing. Again, this is a big red flag to me as this can indicate serious morale problems. It can also be a sign that the business
  has lost confidence in project.
• The Gantt chart is updated too often or not often enough. By looking at the updates on the Gantt chart, you can see if the project manager has a handle on what’s going on or has
  let things slip. Personally, I find if it’s being updated more frequently than once a week the project manager is too into micromanaging. If it’s updated less than fortnightly,
  then the project manager has lost control.
• The number of versions the documents have gone through. This might seem a strange one but if there are too few or too many revisions it can indicate a disengaged steering
  committee, or an overzealous one. Both of which are bad news.
• Project status reports have no bad news. If the project status reports are consistently Pollyanna in their outlook, this tells you that you either have a project team in denial or
  one which doesn’t care. Not good.

Once you’ve finished the document review you should have a good idea where the project’s at. It’s time to move on to the next phase of the audit.

2. Interviews with the key stakeholders

Never underestimate the power of a face-to-face interview. This is often the point where you’ll get to the real root cause of the project’s problems.
You should aim to sit down with the following people:

• The client(s)
• Project team
• Project steering committee
• Sponsor
• PMO

You’re looking to get insights into why those parties think the project is in trouble and if they have any ideas on how to get the project back on track. This can be a useful source of information you may not otherwise get access to.
Questions I tend to ask are:

• Why do you think the project is failing?
• How do you think it can get back on track?
• Should it be revived?

During the interviews, make sure it’s clear that anything said is confidential and that you’re looking for a full and frank discussion.

3. Document your findings

You’ve finished the audit, now it’s time to document the findings. You’ll be making a recommendation at this point as to whether you think the project is worth saving or not. You need to make sure you present all of the reasons the project is failing and include any remedial actions you could take to bring everything back on track.
I’ll be very clear here – if you think the project cannot be saved, you need to document that here. You will be presenting your findings to the project steering committee and they should sign off on any recommendations. This will be your formal record.
This point is worth reiterating. This is your only realistic chance to tell the steering committee that the project is not worth saving. Do not commit to salvaging the project if you do not believe it is salvageable. The damage to your reputation is not worth it!
In reality, some projects just cannot be saved and as the project manager you need to be able to make a judgement call as to whether it is worth the time, effort and expense of trying to recover a project – or if it would be better to simply close the project down and start from scratch.

Recovery plan

You presented your findings to the steering committee and they have given you the go ahead to recover the project. Before you can begin, you need to develop the recovery plan.
Bear in mind that this plan is not the same as a standard project plan. You’re going into a very tricky situation where team morale is likely to be low and you’re going to face resistance. Once this project has been re-baselined it cannot, under any circumstances, slip again. So any plan you do develop needs to be realistic and achievable.
Your project is going to be under extraordinary scrutiny by a number of different people so you must be ready to defend any actions and decisions you make.
Your recovery plan needs to include:

• How you will address fundamental changes in scope, time and cost
• The monitoring and control mechanisms you will employ
• How you will communicate, as well as the frequency of the communications
• The ways you will improve team morale
• Establishing and controlling the project schedule
• Project reporting requirements
• Actively manage risks and issues
• Conflict resolution
• Project tolerances and metrics

Once you’ve got the recovery plan documented you need to present it to the steering committee. Don’t start work without the formal approval of the steering committee! They need to formally sign off on the plan first.

Work the plan and report the progress.

In some respects, this is the easiest part of the recovery process. You’ve got a plan and now you follow it.
All work should have formal work packages that are agreed with the people who will be doing the work. These should contain tolerances and reporting requirements as well as the details about the actual work to be done.
Be prepared to be a micromanager. This is not a recommended management style under normal circumstances. However, in the case of a troubled project it is unfortunately the only one that’s likely to work. You need to be all over everything. At the slightest hint of a problem, you need to have it resolved and bring the project back on track.
You will need to track the project schedule meticulously, record reasons for any deviations, recalibrate the plan regularly – normally fortnightly and under no circumstances commit to a new baseline unless it is achievable. You will also need to make sure you are actively managing your risks so that they don’t turn into issues. During a recovery project, issues can be fatal.
Report on progress religiously. By letting the client, steering committee and other relevant parties know how you are tracking with the recovery plan, you will build confidence in your ability. Don’t be tempted to hide anything that’s going wrong. If you need help, ask. Remember – everyone will be invested in this project succeeding!
I hope this has helped and has given you a process you can use to recover your project. Please let me know how you get on!

Psoda plug

If you’re looking for a tool to help you recover projects that are in trouble, or to make sure they don’t get there in the first instance, then look no further than Psoda. With our interactive dashboards you can monitor, track and report on portfolio, programme and projects in real time. Helping you make quick, efficient decisions. Sign up for a free trial today!

Written by Rhona Aylward

Rhona is Deputy Everything Officer at Psoda, where she does everything except code. After starting life as a microbiologist she moved into PMO leadership roles around the world before settling in New Zealand with her family.

Welcome to the latest Ask a Project Manager blog. This week we’re answering a question about subject matter experts.

I’m working on a large and complicated project at the moment, involving a lot of different subject matter experts.

They’re not in my project team full time but are assigned to it on an “as needed” basis.

How do I keep them happy, without hurting my team?

Thanks for the question.

It’s great to have subject matter experts on your team, even if they are only part-time. Your team can benefit from their knowledge and expertise, and the subject matter experts can give really focussed attention to your project, rather than getting bogged down in unnecessary detail.

Here are some suggestions on how to keep these valuable people happy and engaged:

Trust what they say

That might sound like common sense but you’d be surprised how often a subject matter expert will be over ruled. For example, they might say that a task will take 20 hours but then be over-ruled by a manager saying it will take 10 hours. They are the expert and are in the best position to gauge how long a task will take.

Remember they only work part time

When scheduling the SMEs, don’t forget they are only working a fraction of their week on your project. Often a manager will schedule work based on a full time person doing that job. This leads to your SMEs being overworked, stressed and unproductive. Remember to include time for meetings, documentation and other time consuming activities, which will eat into the time available.

Be very explicit about their role

As the SMEs are only joining your project on an ad hoc basis, it’s likely they will end up doing your work on top of their day job unless it is made very clear what expertise they will be providing. By making it clear that they have SME responsibilities for a defined portion of their time, it’s easier to get that enforced. For example, if you document that 25% of an engineer’s time will be spent providing engineering advice to your project, it’s easier for them to ensure their line manager only expects them to be available for their “core” role 75%of the working week. This will go some way towards preventing them having to do their full time job plus your 25%.

Make it clear there will need to be compromises

Your SME might provide a huge amount of value to your project in the 25% of their time that they work with you. Yet, it’s not unreasonable to find that you need more than that 25%. This might lead to having conversations with your steering committee and other higher ups about whether you need to hire someone to do the SME role full time. You might need to compromise on the amount of work produced by your project if the amount of time the SME has available can’t be increased. There are lots of different options but you’ll need to be really clear on what is and isn’t reasonable, and whether there are better alternatives.

Emphasise the priorities

When you’ve only got someone part time, you need to make sure that they clearly understand the work priorities. Is there something that must always come first? Are there pieces of work that they can reassign or leave until later? Are there times when they must absolutely be on the project team? It’s critical that these expectations are set up front so that you and your SMEs are on the same page. Not only will it make your project planning easier, it will also make it easier to get your SMEs exactly when you need them.

Help manage their time

Make sure your SMEs don’t become overloaded or find themselves pulled in too many directions. When you’ve only got someone part time, you need to make sure that they clearly understand the work priorities. Is there something that must always come first? Are there pieces of work that they can reassign or leave until later? Are there times when they must absolutely be on the project team? It’s critical that these expectations are set up front so that you and your SMEs are on the same page. Not only will it make your project planning easier, it will also make it easier to get your SMEs exactly when you need them.

I hope this has given you some ideas on how to keep your subject matter experts happy!

If you have any questions you’d like to ask a project manager please send them through in the comments below and your question could feature in the next “Ask a project manager” blog!

And as always, if you’re looking for a fabulous PPM tool, check out Psoda. Sign up for a free trial here.

Written by Rhona Aylward

Rhona is Deputy Everything Officer at Psoda, where she does everything except code. After starting life as a microbiologist she moved into PMO leadership roles around the world before settling in New Zealand with her family.

Welcome to our new blog series ask a project manager, where I’ll be answering any portfolio, programme or project management related questions.

I’m Rhona Aylward, Deputy Everything Officer at Psoda and I’ve been involved with portfolio, programmes and projects for over 20 years. I’ve set up PMOs, been a project manager, worked as a subject matter expert, have been a sponsor and more.

You can submit questions via the comments section so ask away!

So let’s kick off with our very first question.  It is:

What does everyone actually do?

I’m new to project management and I’m getting confused with all of the different roles. I keep hearing things like Senior Responsible Owner, Business Analyst and Senior Supplier and I’m really confused. Can you tell me what they all mean please?

Like every industry, project management has its own unique vocabulary and it can take a while to get your head around all the different terms. It’s made more confusing by the same roles being called different things. So in no particular order

Sponsor

The first role is Sponsor. It can also be called the Senior responsible owner or the Executive

They’re the one person with ultimate responsibility for the project. They “own” the business case and it’s their job to see that the project delivers what it says it will. They also chair the project steering committee.

Business Analyst

The business analyst is a key project role. They’re responsible for documenting the project business case and gathering the project’s requirements. They work very closely with the project manager.

Project Manager

The project manager is responsible for delivering the project within the parameters outlined in the business case.

Stakeholder

This is someone, or a group of someones, who will be, or who think they will be, directly or indirectly affected by what the project is supposed to be delivering.

Senior Supplier

The senior supplier(s) represent the organisations or departments that are providing products or services to the project. They’re responsible for making sure the organisation or department they represent does what they say they will do. They approve supplier product descriptions and resolve any supplier related conflicts.

Senior User

The senior user is a representative of the people who will use the final product. Their role is to make sure that the users’ interests are heard and to help resolve any user related conflicts. They’re a member of the project steering committee

Team Manager or Work Package Owner

The team manager or work package owner is responsible for producing the products outlined in the work package. They receive the work packages from the project manager and then issue the work to the team members. They’re responsible for reporting progress to the project manager and attend stage gate reviews as and when required. They don’t go to the steering committee meetings

Steering Committee

A group of people that have been tasked with providing strategic guidance to the project and are there to support the project manager.They make sure the project stays on track and decide on any changes that are outside the pre-agreed tolerances.

Project Assurance

Project assurance are there to make sure that the project follows the correct procedures, the product(s) they produce are an acceptable quality and that it adheres to any applicable legislative or quality standards.They conduct regular health checks or quality audits at pre-agreed stages in the project’s lifecycle.

Customer

The last role, but by no means the least one.

This is the person or group of people who commissioned the work and will use the end product.

These are the main roles you’re likely to come across in a project environment. There are more so if there are any titles you don’t understand let us know in the comments and we’ll add them.

Also, if you have any questions you’d like to ask a project manager please send them through in the comments below. Your question could feature in the next ask a project manager blog!

And always, if you’re looking for a fabulous PPM tool, check out Psoda. You can sign up for a free trial here