Tools for Project Planning Your Complete Guide (Updated for 2019) - Focus

Tools for Project Planning â€" Your Complete Guide (Updated for 2019) - Focus Project planning is a diverse and many-faceted discipline that requires an equally diverse set of tools. In this article, we’ll break down the project planning process into its 7 main activities â€" from brainstorming to knowledge management â€" and look at the best tools for each activity currently available on the market. 1. Writing Tools Traditional text documents are still the best format for many deliverables created during the project planning phase, such as reports, vision statements and formal project plans. Modern, cloud-based writing tools enable you to share documents with other decision makers efficiently and collaborate on them in real-time. Three of the best and most widely used online writing apps are Google Docs, Microsoft Word Online, and Dropbox Paper, all of which are simple, clean and â€" with certain limitations â€" available for free. Google Docs: Docs is available as part of G Suite â€" Google’s productivity suite of web-based apps. It’s a solid word processor that lets you work together on documents, leave comments, and even turn comments into tasks that you can assign to a collaborator. Docs also offers a number of great add-ons. Microsoft Word Online: Similarly to Docs, Microsoft Word Online comes as part of a package â€" the Microsoft Office 365 Suite. You can save your documents on OneDrive and share them easily with a secure share link. Dropbox Paper: Compared to Docs and Word, Dropbox Paper is a very sleek and modern looking text editor that focuses on distraction-free writing. It aims to simplify things like pasting videos and formatting images, and overall feels very intuitive. However, the app’s minimalism also applies to features and formatting options, so if your needs are more advanced, Docs or Word is still the better choice. 2. Spreadsheet Tools Whether you’re creating a work breakdown structure (WBS) or are working on your budget calculations, spreadsheets are an essential part of any project planning process. In 2018, all top players in the spreadsheet market are either cloud-based or at least offer cloud-based versions, enabling you to share sheets easily and collaborate with other team members. Microsoft Excel: Having been the industry standard since the 90s, Microsoft Excel is widely used across the globe and a solid choice for project managers. Excel can still be purchased and installed locally, but also offers a cloud-based version as part of Office 365. Google Sheets: If your organization works with G Suite, then Sheets is the obvious choice to cover your spreadsheet needs. The tool also offers a variety of practical templates, and comes with a whole marketplace full of powerful add-ons to make your life easier.   Zoho Sheet: Zoho Sheet is part of Zoho’s comprehensive suite of business software tools. The tool is a valid alternative to the main players in the market, and makes it particularly easy to visualize your data in the form of charts, pivot tables and more. Speaking of chart makers… 3. Chart Makers If the data visualization options inside your spreadsheet tools aren’t enough, you might want to look for a more specialized chart maker to create your pie charts, bar graphs, infographics and other visual reports. Infogram: This web-based chart maker lets you create engaging infographics and reports. They offer more than 35 charts and 500 maps, 1 million images and icons, practical templates and more. Plotly: Plotly is a great choice if your needs are more advanced â€" its marketed towards data scientists and analysts and offers next-level visualizations for your business. Venngage: Venngage offers a myriad of customizable templates that help you create infographics, presentations, reports, social media visuals and more. Their chart editor is easy to use and lets you import data from Google Sheets. Bonus: Google Charts: As part of your project communication efforts, you might want to enable stakeholders to view data live on your site. Google Charts lets you create interactive charts for browsers and mobile devices, which are updated based on your data in real-time. 4. Visual Collaboration Tools Similarly to chart makers and diagram tools, the apps in this category enable you to communicate information visually. However, this time the focus is on the collaborative process: the ability to come together as a team â€" be it virtually or in-person â€" and work together in a shared space. Typical uses of visual collaboration tools are brainstorming, decision making and collaborative planning. MindMeister: MindMeister lets you collaborate on shared mind maps with an unlimited number of colleagues. The intuitive interface is ideal for ad-hoc brainstorming sessions, strategizing, project planning and decision making. MindMeister also offers mobile apps for iOS and Android, which allow you to access your mind maps while you’re offline. Miro: Miro (formerly known as Realtime Board) is a versatile online whiteboard software that offers many practical integrations, for instance with Atlassian products. The software runs inside your browser, on Desktop and mobile devices. Mural: Mural lets you draw or type ideas on virtual sticky notes, add visuals in the form of images and videos, and collaborate on them with your team members in real-time. It’s a simple and straightforward collaboration software similar to Realtime Board. 5. Diagram Tools Diagram tools allow you to visualize data and processes, and make them easy to comprehend for your audiences. The diagram solutions we listed all provide a large variety of formats and structures for you to choose from, such as org charts, flow charts, concept maps, floor plans and more: Visio Online: Developed by Microsoft, Visio Online is a professional and sophisticated diagram tool that allows real-time collaboration between users and lets you create anything from flow charts to timelines and from floor plans to business processes. Lucidchart: Beside the standard selection of diagram types, Lucidchart also works as a wireframe and mockup tool and offers specialized diagrams for engineers. In opposite to Visio Online, Lucidchart can also be used for free. SmartDraw: SmartDraw lets you create chart-based, graph-based and schematic diagrams â€" basically anything from simple donut diagrams to sophisticated infographics. The cloud-based software is simple to use and reasonably priced. Bonus: Fluid UI: As a powerful prototyping and collaboration tool, Fluid UI lets you create simple workflows in minutes and share them with the rest of your team, who can provide feedback and edit the documents directly. 6. Knowledge Management Tools To ensure the best use of available resources, project teams need a place where they can collect, store and share assets as well as knowledge effectively. This is where knowledge management tools come in. Here are our top three choices for this category: Confluence: Teams working in the Atlassian environment will find a great knowledge management tool in Confluence. Here, knowledge is organized around spaces, and each space can hold all sorts of pages â€" anything from meeting minutes to tutorials to blog posts. Dozens of add-ons allow you to integrate even more types of assets into your spaces, such as diagrams or mind maps. MindMeister: MindMeister lets you create a net of knowledge maps that either store information locally or link to assets stored on external file storage platforms such as Google Drive or OneDrive. Mind maps are a particularly great format for knowledge management because they allow you to create intuitive models of the common knowledge (ontologies) which are easy to navigate and work with. Evernote Business: Working in Evernote is based on individual notes, which are collected in notebooks. You can also link notes together to quickly jump from one set of information to the next, or create a table of contents for a notebook. Overall, Evernote is a simple tool that’s great for collecting research and institutional knowledge. 7. Resource Planning Tools While you can technically create resource plans with a simple spreadsheet tool, there are many benefits to using specialized resource planning software with your project team. These tools usually offer interactive schedules and Gantt charts, task dependencies, time tracking and many more features that make the complex task of resource planning easier and more efficient. Forecast: Forecast uses artificial intelligence to help you schedule resources and manage projects more efficiently. It also connects with many other popular tools project teams use, such as Slack, Drive, and various task managers. Forecast is beautifully designed and reasonably priced. Resource Guru: Compared to Forecast’s sleek look, Resource Guru’s UI and website seem a little outdated, but what the tool lacks in terms of design it makes up for with simplicity, usability and a fairly low pricing. 10,000ft Plans: With 10K’ Plans, you create visual, interactive resource management plans and dynamic timelines that replace your static spreadsheet schedules. Overall, 10K’ Plans is a great allrounder that includes time tracking, planning and scheduling, as well as analytics and reports. So these are our top 21 tools for project planning in 2019. If you give any of them a try, let us know how you get on in the comments below! Plan projects visually with mind maps Get Started Its free! Get Started

The Olympics - Ancient Greek Funeral Games

Its a curious aspect of sports that even when they are part of a celebration of global peace, like the Olympics, they are nationalistic, competitive, violent, and potentially deadly. Substitute panhellenic (open to all Greeks) for global and the same could be said about the ancient Olympics. Sports, in general, could be described as ritualized warfare where one power competes with another, where each hero (star athlete) strives to defeat a worthy opponent within a setting where death is unlikely. Rituals of Compensation for the Catastrophe of Death Control and ritual seem to be the defining terms. In coming to grips with the eternally present fact of death (remember: antiquity was a time of high infant mortality, death by diseases we can now control, and almost incessant warfare), the ancients put on shows where death was under human control. Sometimes the outcome of these shows was purposeful submission to death (as in the gladiatorial games), at other times, it was ​a  victory. Origin of the Games in Funerals The[re] are a number of possible explanations of the custom of funeral games such as to honor a dead warrior by reenacting his military skills, or as a renewal and affirmation of life to compensate for the loss of a warrior or as an expression of the aggressive impulses that accompany rage over the death. Perhaps they are all true at the same time.- Roger Dunkles Recreation and Games * In honor of his friend Patroclus, Achilles held funeral games (as described in Iliad 23). In honor of their father, Marcus and Decimus Brutus held the first gladiatorial games in Rome in 264 BCE. The Pythian Games celebrated Apollos slaying of the Python. The Isthmian games were a funeral tribute to the hero Melicertes. The Nemean games celebrated either Hercules killing of the Nemean lion or the funeral of Opheltes. All of these games celebrated death. But what about the Olympics? The Olympic games also began as a celebration of death, but like the Nemean games, the mythological explanations for the Olympics are confused. Two central figures used to explain the origins are Pelops and Hercules who are genealogically linked insofar as Hercules mortal father was Pelops grandson. Pelops Pelops wished to marry Hippodamia, the daughter of King Oenomaus of Pisa who had promised his daughter to the man who could win a chariot race against him. If the suitor lost the race, he would also lose his head. Through treachery, Oenomaus had kept his daughter unmarried and through treachery, Pelops won the race, killed the king, and married Hippodamia. Pelops celebrated his victory or King Oenomaus funeral with Olympic games. The site of the ancient Olympics was in Elis, which is in Pisa, in the Peloponnese. Hercules After Hercules cleaned the Augean stables, the king of Elis (in Pisa) welshed on his deal, so, when Hercules had a chance -- after he finished his labors -- he returned to Elis to wage war. The conclusion was foregone. After Hercules sacked the city, he put on the Olympic games to honor his father Zeus. In another version, Hercules merely regularized the games Pelops had instituted.

Historical Developments And Social Changes Essay - 1295 Words

Given the fact that political theories must continually respond to historical developments and social changes, no significant political tradition worthy of its name can afford to remain in the state of stasis. The postmodern turn, which has been underway since the 1960s, has turned out to be a particularly significant challenge to established political traditions of the 20th century. In particular, such prominent theoretical frameworks as liberalism, positivism, and Marxism had to confront the postmodern challenge in a distinct manner and with varying degree of success. According to Gà ¸sta Esping-Andersen, the crucial issue facing contemporary political theorists is the status of the welfare state in the postmodern era. Indeed, the political debates of the 20th century concern the welfare state’s potential to transform the capitalist society (Esping-Andersen 93). In this respect, the idea of welfare state undoubtedly lies at the heart of 20th-century political debates considering the fact that this very term invokes the complex relationship between the state and market economy. Considering the gradual dissolution of the welfare state in the postmodern era, the problematic relationship between welfare and capitalism remains central to theoretical frameworks grappling to come to terms with the postmodern turn. Out of the three theoretical frameworks in question, liberalism was and is still is particularly invested in the idea of the welfare state.Indeed, it is with regard toShow MoreRelatedContemporary Social Theory And Functionalist Approach1457 Words   |  6 Pagespreference over other in contemporary social theory these themes consist of relationship between society and self, nature of social life, possibility, and role of social transformation, structure of social institutions and themes such as class, gender, and race. 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Peer Mentor Free Essays

In this quarter, being a peer mentor has a great impact to me, especially with the fact that the minute that I got is all international student from another country, like China, Korea, and Vietnam. At first I think mentoring people in the age range between 16 until 17 will be a really hard and tough Job, because people at that age tends to think that they know everything and usually refuse to receive a commentary or advisory from another people. They tend to do whatever they want without thinking about the consequences and sometimes very hard to approach because they think hey know everything best for them and keep everything themselves. We will write a custom essay sample on Peer Mentor or any similar topic only for you Order Now In fact all my minute are easily approachable and very fun to have chat with. At the first meeting most of them are a little bit shy to ask or to talk about their personal problem, but as time goes on they become really talkative and tell me everything that they think I would like to know, for example their grades, their living situation, etc. They share everything without I have to ask or insist them to tell me about something, which I think is very good and far beyond my expectation. As a peer mentor, I learn a lot about my minute culture and their characteristic. Furthermore, I learn how to be responsible for them and try to be a good role model for them, by being active in class and do all the homework far before its due. In conclusion, being a peer mentor this quarter Is really fun for me and have a lot of positive effects towards me, I know more people, learn how to communicate with people which Is not from my home country, learn how to approach people, and learn how to manage my time, which I think Is very Important for me, especially to be a person which is not only excel In grade but also have a good relationship and willing to serve and help other people. How to cite Peer Mentor, Papers

Managers Guide to Performance Management- Human Resource Management

Question: Describe about the Managers Guide to Performance Management? Answer: Concept of Human Resource Management Human resource management is the key function for any organization. An efficient human resource helps the organization achieve its desired objectives. Human resource management is the system of recruiting and selecting the workforce of an organization and giving them proper training and helps in developing their skills (Dessler, 2013). The efficiency of the employees is then estimated based on the measurement of their performance. Performance measurement is an important tool to understand the performance of the human resource and based on the performance they are provided with certain benefits like incentives and remuneration which motivates the employee in performing better. Performance Management Performance management is the method by which the management and the employees of an organization work together to achieve the desired goal of an organization. The organization makes a plan to achieve the desired goal use its human resource in achieving it, the performance of their employees is then monitored and based on it a performance review is prepared. The performance review helps in understanding the overall contribution of the employees in the organizational objectives (Aguinis, 2013). Performance Management Cycle We can understand the concept of performance management better with the study of the performance management cycle. Performance management is explained in the figure below: Performance Management Cycle Planning functions: Identifying the expectations of the organization. Identifying the method of measurement of results. Agreeing upon the monitoring system. Finalizing the plan (Bacal, 2012). Monitoring functions: Monitoring and evaluating the process. Taking corrective actions based on the evaluation (Cardy and Leonard, 2011). Reviewing functions: Evaluating and reviewing the annual performance. Displaying a clear picture of the organizations performance. Stages of Prerformance Management: The three stages of performance management are further described below: Planning Stage: Planning stage requires the collective effort of the managers and the employees. The following points of the planning stage are- It reviews the job description of the employee to understand the job carried out by them at present and make necessary updates if the job structure of the employee has changed. It reviews and identifies the connection between the job description of the employee and the organizations objectives. It develops the plan of work to outline the job to be completed, desired results to be achieved and setting the standards based on which the performance will be measured (Hope and Player, 2012). It identifies the important areas that are the vital objectives for performance management. These areas are determined with the effective plan of the organization which is depended on the desire of the employee to develop certain outcomes or aspects of a job. It identifies the training objectives necessary for developing the work skills and knowledge of the employees. It makes long term planning which includes several important development objectives (Nielsen and Hunter, 2013). Monitoring Stage: Monitoring stage is not just measuring the daily performance of the employees but also on the end result achieved and the affect of the employees individual behavior on the work environment. The following points of monitoring stage are- It assesses the progress made to meet the objectives of the performance. It identifies the problems which prevent the employees from achieving the desired goals and finding solutions to those problems. It gives feedback on the development related to the objectives. It identifies the changes which are related to change in priorities of the organization and accordingly the employees are assigned new duties. It determines the areas in which the employees require support from the management (Samsonowa, 2012). Reviewing Stage: In this stage, the performance of all the employees is reviewed and evaluated and based on it the performance management notes is prepared. The performance management note is useful in measuring the performance of the employees. This helps the management deal with the problems and issues of employees performance and takes corrective measures to improve it. The following points reviewing stage is discussed below: It summarizes all the tasks completed in the year and compares it with the goals set initially. The success and failure of all the tasks is taken into account. It documents all the challenges faced in a year and all the areas are subjected to development. It identifies the barriers which are discussed to achieve the goals (Torrington, 2011). Conclusion: Human resource management is the key function of a company. It is required in managing the human resource of the company through recruitment, selection, training and development of the employees. Some of the important functions of human resource management are hiring efficient employees, management of their performance, developing the organization, providing safety in health of the employees, motivating the employees with benefits and incentives and providing proper training and development to the employees (Mondy and Mondy, 2012). Here we have discussed one of the important functions of human resource management which is performance management. Performance management is the process of evaluating and comparing the performance of the employees with the standards set to achieve. Thus, to understand the performance management system we have made use of the performance management cycle. Performance management cycle has three stages which explain the way a plan is made based on the identi fication and study of the expected goals. According to the plan the performance of the workforce is evaluated and monitored and based on it measures are taken to correct any flak in performance. In the last stage of the performance management cycle the overall performance of the workers for the year is reviewed and compared and finally the cycle comes to an end. In this topic the concept of human resource management and one of its vital functions is discussed (Price and Price, 2011). References Aguinis, H. (2013).Performance management. Boston: Pearson. Bacal, R. (2012).Manager's guide to Performance management. New York: McGraw-Hill. Cardy, R. and Leonard, B. (2011).Performance management. Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe. Dessler, G. (2013).Human resource management. Boston: Prentice Hall. Hope, J. and Player, S. (2012).Beyond performance management. Boston, Mass.: Harvard Business Review Press. Mondy, R. and Mondy, J. (2012).Human resource management. Boston: Prentice Hall. Nielsen, S. and Hunter, D. (2013).Performance management and evaluation. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Price, A. and Price, A. (2011).Human resource management. Andover: Cengage Learning. Samsonowa, T. (2012).Industrial research performance management. Heidelberg: Physica-Verlag. Torrington, D. (2011).Human resource management. Harlow, England: Financial Times/Prentice Hall.

Managing Strategy free essay sample

Political According Blee and Whittington (2011), government in western countries are introducing different laws in order to discourage different type of drinking which might result into accidents or health problem. Government in the United Kingdom has put a certain limit on drink driving which is over 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood as stated by direct. gov. uk (2011) and the drivers whom are found guilty might face driving ban. Economical There are several factors which affects the economic through the brewery industry in Western Europe. As stated by Blee and Whittington (2011), one of it is the decrease of demand for beer which is eventually results in lower taxes for the government. Social They also suggest that the decrease in demand for beer is usually related to the substitutes and also the new innovation in beer by some company such as apple flavour beer. This means people drinking habit are changing and prefer to some other drinks. We will write a custom essay sample on Managing Strategy or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In country such as UK sales of beer decreased dramatically after the recession where there was seen a fall of by 9. 9% in 2009 according to Wallop. Blee and Whittington (2011) shows that there has been decline in demand in countries like Germany and France. Technological There is been new type of drinks created by different firms in order to diversify their products. Firms like have created new product such as apple flavour beer according to the case study. Environmental The main environmental issue with beer is the waste of the cans and the bottles. But in countries like UK and Germany, councils has been providing with separate bin for recyclable items such as cans and bottles according to wasteonline. om. It also suggests that this initiative taken by the Government has also decrease the emission of carbon dioxide which is produced normally on the production of a new glass. Legal There are different concerns about the legal status of brewery firms according to the case study. One of the main issues is licensing of firms. As cited by another issue is the price-fixing cartel. In order to resolve this problem, the European Commis sion decided to fined firms who were involved. Some other legal issues related to beer are drink driving and permitted hours for shops to sell them. Porter’s five forces theory Threat of entry Western European brewery industry is highly concentrated and thus it is difficult for any other company to enter the market according to the case study. But this also suggest there are still small threats from firms like Tsingtao which claims to promote its sales volume and became an international great company. Thus, it might be a future challenge for the existing firms. Supplier’s power The main suppliers for the brewery industry are the packaging industry as cited by the case study. It also suggests the market for the packaging industry is highly concentrated and therefore it is tough for brewery firms to make a backward integration. The other main things that are important to make beer are its ingredients and the most important of them is the barley according to Arnold (2005). The barley companies do not have much bargaining power and the brewery firms can thus exploit the prices. Buyer’s power The concentration for buyers in brewery industry is low according to the case study. This means that beer is a low percentage of the buyers’ total purchases as stated by Johnson et al (2009). Thus the consumers here buyers can change from one brand to the other as the switching cost is low. Competitive rivalry Brewery industry has few but big firms which compete fiercely against each other. It can be said to be an oligopoly as it is defined as a market where there are few big firms according to. According to the case study, Heineken and Carlsberg with A-B Inbev are the big players in the Western European market. It also suggests that there are lots of competitions with the firms. Substitutes According to the case study, non-alcoholic beers, extra cold lagers and fruit flavoured beers are the closest substitutes for alcoholic beers. The other substitute for beer is wine as it is been preferred as an alcohol in countries like UK and France as it has saw an increase in consumption through the years according. It can be concluded that PESTEL and Porter’s five forces can be interrelated to each other. Each of the factors related. For example, Porter’s competitive rivalry is one force that includes most of the PESTEL as it consists of things like political to legal. Regarding the Analysis of the factors affecting the brewery industry, it can be concluded that the market consist of few big firms which makes it an oligopoly. The two analysis show that the demand for beer has been decreasing in Western Europe and the demand for its substitute has increase. It can also be concluded that due to Government new policies and intervention has firstly help to reduce the abuse of alcohol and secondly has been able to break prize fixing strategy of many firms in order to exploit consumers. An-bev An-bev has the largest market share in the brewery industry in the world according to, this makes it very strong and thus it is very difficult to compete with such competition. The political initiative affects the company negatively as the new policies discourage people from consuming alcohol in Western Europe.

History and Inventors of Beds and Mattresses

History and Inventors of Beds and Mattresses A bed is a piece of furniture upon which a person may recline or sleep, in many cultures and for for many centuries the bed was considered the most important piece of furniture in the house and a type of status symbol. Beds were used in ancient Egypt as more than a place for sleeping, beds were used as a place to eat meals and entertain socially. The Mattress Among the earliest beds were simple, shallow boxes or chests in stuffed or layered with soft bedding. Later, ropes or strips of leather were suspended across a wooden framework to create a soft basis to sleep on. By the 15th century, most beds were built upon these straps of support over timber. The mattress itself evolved to be a sort of bag filled fiber like straw or wool, and then covered in common, inexpensive cloth. In the mid 18th century, the cover became made of quality linen or cotton, the mattress cane box was shaped or bordered and the fillings available were natural and plenty, including coconut fibre, cotton, wool, and horsehair. The mattresses also became tufted or buttoned to hold the fillings and cover together and the edges were stitched. Iron and steel replaced the past timber frames in the late 19th century. The most expensive beds of 1929 were latex rubber mattresses produced by the very successful Dunlopillo. Pocket spring mattresses were also introduced. These were individual springs sewn into linked fabric bags. Waterbeds The first water-filled beds were goatskins filled with water, used in Persia more than 3,600 years ago. In 1873, Sir James Paget at St. Bartholomews Hospital presented a modern waterbed designed by Neil Arnott as a treatment and prevention of pressure ulcers (bed sores). Waterbeds allowed mattress pressure to be evenly distributed over the body. By 1895, a few waterbeds were sold via mail order by the British store, Harrods. They looked like, and probably were, very large hot water bottles. Due to lack of suitable materials, the waterbed did not gain widespread use until the 1960s, after the invention of vinyl. Murphy Bed Murphy Bed, the bedding idea of 1900 was invented by American William Lawrence Murphy (1876 to 1959) from San Francisco. The space-saving Murphy Bed folds into a wall closet. William Lawrence Murphy formed the Murphy Bed Company of New York, the second oldest oldest furniture manufacturer in the United States. Murphy patented his In-A-Dor bed in 1908, however, he did not trademark the name Murphy Bed.