About Jose Maria Delos Santos

Jose is a subject matter expert in the project management field. He has gained vast knowledge by having written hundreds of articles including project management software reviews, books reviews, training site reviews, and general articles related to the project management industry.

Common Project Management Mistakes, Their Implications, and Solutions

According to a 2019 Project Management Institute survey, organizations lost about 12 percent of their total project investments because of poor performance. Unfortunately, this value has not gone down for the past 5 years. Even though more companies are using standardized project management practices, a significant amount of their efforts continue to go to waste. One probable reason is that the business landscape is changing too fast brought on by advances in technology and disruptions. Keeping pace is becoming very challenging. Another reason is that project teams are committing the same mistakes over and over again.

Common PM Mistakes

Although projects are usually different from one another, the issues that affect them are quite similar. Here are some of the common project management mistakes that are the usual suspects for its failure.

1. Poor project initiation

The PMBOK identifies 5 project management phases or lifecycles. The first one is the project initiation phase. Most experts believe that it is the most crucial among the phases. A common mistake that usually happens here […]

By |2019-07-26T10:03:52-04:00July 26, 2019|

Basecamp 2 or Basecamp 3: Do You Need To Switch?

Basecamp online project management and team communication software is one of the pioneers in cloud productivity tools. The company 37signals started in 1999 as a web design company. To manage their projects, they developed Basecamp as an internal project management tool. In 2004, they shifted to web applications development and offered Basecamp to the public. Basecamp 2 was released in 2012, and the original Basecamp became Basecamp Classic. In 2014, Basecamp 3 was released. Also, the company renamed itself to Basecamp.

Basecamp 2

When Basecamp 2 was released, it offered a new interface, a discussion board, and several collaboration features. It enables people to be more organized and work better together towards a common goal. The PM tool keeps all project communication in one place and offers a better alternative than email for collaboration. Users are able to send status reports to their teammates. Also, they are able to manage multiple projects at the same time. Today, Basecamp 2 is still supported and secure. The company applies security […]

By |2019-07-25T10:03:36-04:00July 25, 2019|

Asana Custom Fields – Add in a Single Project or Track across the Organization

Asana project tracking software enables teams, departments, and companies to track and manage all kinds of work. They rely on the application to help them track the stage of a project, the priority level of a ticket, or the cost of a product. When custom fields became available in 2016, customers were able to track different types of work specific to their organization. Just recently, Asana has updated their custom fields feature and made it even more flexible. For a powerful reporting and exporting tool for Asana, give our own tool Bridge24 for Asana a try.

Custom Fields = Track Anything

Custom fields allow users to add additional data to tasks in their Asana projects. These special, customizable containers make it possible to track almost anything across tasks and projects. For example, teams can create fields for work stage to help them track how work is progressing. They can create fields for priority level to help them see the importance or urgency of a ticket or request. A […]

By |2019-07-22T15:29:11-04:00July 22, 2019|

Achieve Inbox Zero with Asana

If we ask people to describe their inbox, it is possible that only a few can honestly describe it as manageable. Most will probably say that their inbox is out of control. It may contain hundreds or even a thousand emails, mostly unread. Some may date back to more than a year from senders who they do not even remember.

We all wish that our email inbox would look neat and organized, with only a few emails, mostly read and already responded to. However, email has become the central hub of our communication, be it personal or work-related. Unfortunately, email was not designed for work management.

A Complex Problem

In 2022, email would be 50 years old, and yet people are depending on it as if it’s at the prime of its youth. One reason email has been overused is because it is so easy to use. We use email even though a quick phone call or a face-to-face chat would be sufficient.

Another problem is the carbon copy (CC:) function. When […]

By |2019-07-04T08:13:10-04:00July 4, 2019|

Trello – Is It Worth Upgrading to the Paid Plans?

Trello is an online visual project management and collaboration software. It was built by Fog Creek Software in 2011. By 2016, it has reported to have passed 14 million users, with 1 million active users daily. In January 2017, software giant Atlassian, the owner of Jira Software, acquired it for $425 million. To this day, Trello remains one of the most popular productivity tools used by teams for business and personal applications.

Trello Free Version

Trello offers a free version with many features. People liken it to a digital whiteboard where users can see projects organized visually into boards, columns, and cards. It is easy to use, with drag and drop. It allows customization to a certain level, allowing users to create stages or groupings with columns within a board. Cards represent smaller work items like tasks, and can include additional details. Moreover, users can move these cards across the different columns or across stages. Thus, it is easy to track the progress of work and monitor effort […]

By |2019-07-03T08:28:02-04:00July 3, 2019|

Top Basecamp 3 Productivity Tips and Tricks

Today, businesses and teams are using project management to help improve the chances of achieving their desired result. PM standards exist to help project managers plan work, assign tasks, lead teams, track progress, monitor status, and communicate updates. Still, every company or team has a different and preferred way of getting work done. As a result, the PM software market is full of choices, including online tools. One of the most effective online project management tools is Basecamp.

Third time’s a charm

Basecamp is a web-based project management and collaboration software. Moreover, Basecamp 3 is the third and latest iteration of the PM tool. It was re-designed from the ground up, and includes new features to make it as functional and as easy to use as possible. For example, it helps teams achieve their project’s desired result. It incorporates organization, access, workflow, and capabilities that support project management. In other words, Basecamp 3 helps increase the accountability of individuals and teams by making visible who is working on […]

By |2019-07-03T08:19:08-04:00July 3, 2019|

Butler Review – The Built-in Automation For Trello

Online project management software like Trello makes it easier for a lot of people. PM associations and body of knowledge standards define a project as usually something temporary. However, as businesses become more project-centric, teams are encountering the same familiar tasks on their boards time and time again. And doing the same tasks repeatedly can affect our efficiency. Butler is a Trello Power-Up that enables users to take advantage of built-in workflow automation. It enables them to automate processes such as managing repeating tasks through custom automations, rules, and scheduled commands. If you are looking for a great reporting and exporting tool for Trello, we suggest trying out our own tool Bridge24 for Trello.

What can Butler do? Rule-based Automation

Butler provides rule-based automation. Depending on the Trello version a customer has, users have access to a number of pre-built rules that can automate their everyday tasks. They can set specific rules on cards and boards, which will trigger automatically when certain actions are performed. These rule-based automations […]

By |2019-07-03T04:32:15-04:00July 3, 2019|

New Dropbox Unveils More Connected, Collaborative Desktop App

Dropbox is a technology company that primarily offers cloud storage. Since its launch in 2007, it has reportedly passed 500 million users in 2016. Aside from hosting files online, it allows customers to sync files across devices, to share big files, to brainstorm with a variety of content, and use desktop client software for different operating systems. Advances in technology developed new tools for people that enable them to accomplish more work in less time. This, however, entails using more tools. Also, content is now scattered across apps. As a result, people are now spending more time on work that is not actually their primary work. This work about work is what the new Dropbox desktop app offers to address.

New Dropbox Desktop App

The new Dropbox provides additional features beyond file storage and syncing. It is a central workspace where users can organize all their files, connect their productivity tools, and collaborate with other Dropbox users. The new desktop app is being introduced through an early access program, available […]

By |2019-06-25T10:57:50-04:00June 25, 2019|

Kanban Boards or Task Lists: Which is Better for Your Team?

Project management enables teams and companies to successfully bring an undertaking from point A to point B. Project management software is a tool that helps make this attempt done in a more organized and efficient manner. Projects are usually broken down to smaller, more manageable tasks. Tasks are then assigned to teams or individuals who will be responsible and accountable for completing them. Today’s PM tools offer several ways in presenting tasks. Among the most popular are the simple task lists and the modern Kanban boards.

Which is better?

Before we determine the best task management presentation, we have to answer a fundamental question: who is your team? Productivity methodology seems to be a very personal, or team-specific, thing. What works for one might not work for another. Another question to think about is what stage in the project lifecycle are you now?

Task Lists – One at a time

Pros: Task lists are great project planning tools. It is simple and easy to do, which is an important factor when […]

By |2019-06-19T11:15:36-04:00June 19, 2019|

Asana Announces New Workload Feature in Latest Release

Asana is a project tracking and work management software for teams. It is a powerful business solution that helps users manage their projects, process, and people. With a mission to empower teams to do great things together, it has launched a series of new features to help each team member know what they should be doing and why. Features such as Timeline, Portfolios, Milestones, Forms, and others, are tools that aim to improve clarity, transparency and focus. The latest tool to join these features is Workload. For a powerful reporting and exporting tool for Asana, give our own tool Bridge24 for Asana a try.

Introducing Workload

Asana recognizes that what makes projects successful are people. People using the right tools and following the right processes are able to accomplish great things. No matter how powerful the tools, or how effective the process, it all grinds to a halt when no one is completing the task. Workload provides Asana Business and Enterprise users a central place where they can […]

By |2019-06-13T14:36:51-04:00June 13, 2019|
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