7 things you should be doing to keep safe if you're a mobile worker.
These tips will make your mobile working safer.
Remember Apple’s iPod ads where you could have 1,000 songs in your pocket? At the time, it was revolutionary.
Since then developments in technology mean we can now have our entire business in our pocket. And changes in the way we work mean more and more of us do.
Easy access to data and the ability to work where and when we need to have enormous benefits. But they also come with some risk.
Devices can easily be lost or stolen. Remote access increases the opportunities for data to be breached. And inexperienced staff may not keep up with safe working practices.
Verto is cloud-based project management software, which means your whole team can make the most of mobile working. To help you make the most of these opportunities, we’ve put together some tips on how to make mobile working as safe as it can be.
These are really simple things you can do that will protect your data, your organization and your staff.
- Insist all your team use a password, or better still finger print scanning, to lock their screen.
- Set up all your devices to wipe their data after the passcode has been entered incorrectly a set number of times.
- Use remote management tools to track, lock and even wipe the data on your devices.
- Smart phones can’t be tracked once their SIM card has been removed. So accept we all lose things from time to time and encourage your staff to report a lost or stolen device as soon as possible without fear of penalty.
- Make sure all your mobile devices have up-to-date malware protection, exactly as you do for your desktop devices.
- Make sure all your staff are aware of the risks linked to mobile devices. For example, they should only use apps that your IT team have confirmed as safe. And they should only ever access sensitive data via a password secured network.
- Limit the types of devices on your network. This will help them integrate seamlessly with your back-office systems and make it easier for you to keep security measures up-to-date.
It’s worth taking the time to make mobile working safe as the benefits are significant. For example, mobile working means flexible working, which is good for both employers and employees. It can help you recruit the best staff. And it can help you cut costs. For more on this see our blog about how flexible working can make you a better employer.
To find out more about how Verto can help you make the most of mobile working please call us on 0118 334 6200 or message us here.
Our five golden rules for a successful meeting
Our five golden rules for a successful meeting
In our post on 9th March, we looked at the top five skills all project managers should have. Number five on our list was being able to manage meetings. Because well-run meetings are such a vital part of a project’s success, we said we’d look at them again in a future post.
So today, we’re going to look at how you can make sure your meetings are a success.
The professional meeting goer
Many of us go to so many meetings it can seem like that’s all our job is. An endless round of agendas, minutes, background papers, reports, coffee, biscuits and hoping you’ll be able to park.
Will your morning meeting be over in time so you can go back to your office before your afternoon meeting? How many of the people who were in your last meeting will be in your next meeting? How many people do you only ever meet in meetings?
What are all these meetings for?
But, however much we may moan about them, we do need meetings. They’re a key part of how we share information, make decisions and keep a project moving forward.
Meetings can also be the only time different people involved in a project get to see each other. So they can be an important way to keep partners connected and involved.
How to make sure people come to your meetings
When people are confident that your meetings are relevant, useful, well run and overall a good use of their time, they’ll come to them. And, perhaps more importantly, they’ll keep coming.
This is key, because consistent commitment and participation from the right people is one of the things that will help your projects succeed.
So take a look at our golden rules for how to run a successful meeting. They’ll help your meetings succeed and, as a result, help your projects succeed too.
Our five golden rules for successful meetings
1. Make sure you invite the right people
Only invite people who are involved in the business of the meeting, can contribute to it and make decisions - or who have a direct link to those who can. This is particularly important with public sector organizations where the decision-making process can have several layers and be complex.
Generally, for a meeting to be effective no more than 12 people should be part of the core group. However, from time to time you may also want to invite people who you need to hear from or who need to hear what you’re discussing.
2. Plan the meeting carefully
When you’re putting the agenda together make sure you stay focused on a clear outcome (or outcomes, but not too many – see point about timing below). Think about what the meeting needs to decide, discuss and hear about now. If something doesn’t require immediate action or isn’t clearly relevant, leave it for a later date or don’t include it at all.
Show whether each agenda item is for decision, information or discussion. As people are usually more lively and creative at the start of a meeting, put items that need mental energy and clear heads at the top of the agenda. However, it can also be helpful to put items of significant interest and concern further down the agenda. This can help people get over the natural attention lag that happens about 20 minutes in to a meeting.
It’s also worth thinking about the impact agenda items will have on the group. Some will bring people together while others can create a divide. The order in which you include these items will make a difference to the whole atmosphere of the meeting. For example, it is worth ending the meeting with an item that creates consensus so that people leave on a positive note.
3. Time the meeting carefully
Set a time for your meeting and stick to it. And try not to let it last longer than two hours. Meetings that go on too long become less effective.
Include the start and end time on the agenda as well as the timing for each agenda item. This will help keep people focused and prevent the meeting from overrunning.
We all hate lengthy meetings that go on and on so doing this will help people look at your meetings in a positive way and encourage them to attend regularly.
4. Set the right tone
You, or the chair, need to set the tone for the meeting from the start. Make sure it’s purposeful, focused and energetic. However, you also want people to feel comfortable and able to contribute so make a conscious effort to include everyone and allow some time for a more easy-going approach.
The right tone also relates to what happens outside of the meeting. So make it clear you expect people to prepare, to turn up on time, to participate and to carry out actions they commit to.
5. Follow-up the meeting properly
Once you’ve held your meeting send the minutes to everyone promptly, preferably within a week. Include the actions you agreed on and the names of the people who will carry them out.
Minutes also help people who weren’t at the meeting catch up on what was discussed and agreed. If necessary, get in touch with them in person to share what happened and discuss any particular issues with them. This will show they were missed and encourage them to stay committed to the work of the group and attend next time.
Well-run meetings are particularly useful when you’re managing multi-agency projects. They can bring people together who otherwise wouldn’t meet. They can help to define the partnership. And they can help people to understand both their collective aim and the way in which they and others can contribute to and influence this.
To find out more about how Verto can make your project management easier please call us on 0844 870 8785 or message us here.
How we can help you help your clients
Verto is widely used across both the private and public sectors.
For example, our clients include Capita PLC, Northgate Vehicle Leasing, NHS and councils across the country.
Many of our private sector clients also work with public sector organisations, helping them build shared services, deliver change and realize challenging efficiency savings.
Even when several organisations from different sectors are involved, Verto’s tools make it easy for them to work together. Because with Verto, everyone can work on the same platform and communicate with each other quickly and easily.
Here are some examples of how we’re helping our clients and what they have to say about us.
Capita
Capita uses technology to create and deliver smarter process management and professional support services across the public and private sectors.
They say:
“I have been working with the Verto team for the last 18 months and in that time we have built an excellent working relationship. The reason for this is that not only is VERTO an excellent PPM tool, but what makes the product stand out is the team behind it for their responsiveness, help, support and ability to go the extra mile in both promoting and delivering the tool to clients. The VERTO team understand real problems and issues and how to resolve them in a fit for purpose way and do so in a friendly and open manner that is very refreshing.”
Onesource
Onesource provides shared back office support services for local government and other public services. They use Verto to support their project and programme management.
They say:
“We have found Verto to be very flexible, especially when embedding our corporate methodology and workflow into a cloud-based application. [It] has enabled better collaborative ways of working and greater transparency in all aspects of project management and expenditure. Furthermore, TMI [Verto] has consistently provided an excellent customer service and [been] willing to support us at all times. We’ve enjoyed working with TMI to achieve our corporate PMO application requirements.”
Denbighshire Council
“The support from TMI Systems from day one has been outstanding, they are always willing to listen to new ideas and respond to all system enquiries almost by return.”
Wolverhampton City Council
“The support provided by TMI Systems has been brilliant to get the system up and running. The system enables us to have a cross directorate view of the projects and programmes currently being managed within the Council.”
To find out more about how Verto can help you and your clients please call us on 0844 870 8785 or message us here.
Our Top Ten Tips for Project Management Best Practice
However many projects you manage, no two will ever be the same. Even where projects share some aspects, they are unlikely to be totally alike. For example, the project team, stakeholders, funding streams or key targets could all be different.
However, some areas of best practice apply to all the projects you manage. Have a look at our top ten tips and make them part of the way you work. You’ll find your job will become easier and your projects will be more likely to succeed.
1. Plan your project properly
Thorough planning before the project starts will help you be clear and realistic about what the project is meant to achieve. This means you can set well-defined success criteria that you can measure and report on.
You’ll be able to make sure you have the right budget, the right resources and the right skills on the project team. It will also help you identify and plan for potential risks and set realistic timescales.
2. Start your project properly
To help set the tone for your project and create some energy around it, start it formally with a meeting or event.
Invite all your stakeholders and use it as an opportunity to remind everyone of the project’s aims and the part they’ll all play in its delivery – and ultimate success.
3. Keep in touch with all your stakeholders
Once your project is up and running make sure you communicate regularly with everyone involved. Let them know what’s going on, including any problems, risks and delays. Be sure to share successes too, like when milestones are reached, to acknowledge people’s input and say thank you.
How you share information can include anything from a simple message to one person right through to a formal report to the project board. What’s important is to make sure everyone is as up-to-date on the project as possible.
4. Ask for feedback
Alongside keeping in touch with everyone involved in your project, ask them to share information with you too. Encourage people to give their feedback, as this will help them stay involved with the project and keep you in touch with what’s going on.
You can also use feedback to help you learn and improve your own performance.
5. Keep an up-to-date and detailed work plan
A detailed work plan will help everyone know what they’re responsible for and will make it easier for you to measure progress, hit milestones and meet deadlines.
These days, cloud-based applications make it easy to share documents. So update your work plan regularly and store it in the cloud so everyone can work off the current version.
6. Record everything that happens
Make sure you record everything that happens on your project and use it to improve performance across the board. You can learn from what has worked as well as from what hasn’t. You’ll also build a valuable source of data to help with your reporting and future planning.
7. Learn to say no
When someone asks you to take on more work or responsibility it’s tempting to say yes, especially when you know that’s what they want to hear. But always saying yes can easily lead to overload and a reduction in performance across the board.
So only say yes to new tasks or commitments when they won’t have an adverse effect on the priorities you’ve already agreed. Even small changes can accumulate over time and have a significant impact on your project.
8. Always document and agree any changes to the scope of the project
It’s likely that at some point in the life of your project, its scope may need to change. This may improve the overall benefit of the project but it can also have a negative impact.
So, before you go ahead with changes to the scope of your project, make sure the project board understands their potential impact and agrees to them. Finally, make sure you document the changes and update your project plan.
9. Be ready to respond to risk
Risk is a normal part of any project so you should build risk analysis in from the start. You can manage risk and minimise its effect by having a clear view of all the project’s potential risks, and mechanisms in place to let you know as soon as one arises.
The quicker you respond to risk the less impact it will have and the more likely it is that your project will stay on track.
10. Take time to reflect on the project when it’s ended
When your project has ended, involve the whole project team in reflecting on how it went. Look back in detail on how the project ran, its key events and issues. Learn both from what went well and what could have gone better.
Ask, for example, if the project delivered what it set out to achieve? Could it have done more and delivered bigger benefits? What went wrong and how could you have avoided these problems?
Use this learning to improve your own practice and share it with others to help future projects succeed.
Verto’s cloud-based software makes managing projects easy for you. For example, its instant messaging tool, flexible reporting, instant updates, inbuilt version control and instant access to your documents and lessons learnt will all help you put these best practice tips into action.
For more information please message us here.