ColdFusion Project Management : Welcome to the CFPM™ Column

by Mark Phillips, Lead Spokesperson, Vertabase

Fusion Authority is proud to present a new column on project management and time management tips. The column is focused on making you more productive. It casts a wide net, offering practical solutions for individual developers, team members, team leaders, product managers and decision makers involved with running a development-related operation, or for those making decisions about how developers should spend their time. The approach is real-world and applied.

This column is important because in today's world, there is less and less room for inefficiency. We are all being asked to do more with what we've got. We would also like to accomplish more with each day, week or month. We want to get our work done, produce great results, and still have time to spend on outside projects or with family and friends. Being able to manage our own time better, and that of others, is often the path to promotion and to making more money. With statistics repeatedly showing that over 60% of all projects fail to meet expectations, there is a need to learn how to manage projects and time better. The CFPM column – "Project Management for the ColdFusion Community" – is Fusion Authority's answer to this need.

The column will draw on several sources:

• my more than 15 years of real world experience producing projects, developing and customizing project and time management solutions for thousands of clients
• classic project management literature
• recent approaches and innovations in the field of project management

The CFPM approach relies heavily on data and observation of how people act in different circumstances. It is focused on proven management tools and techniques.

Here's a little background on me. Since 2007, I have been the product manager at Vertabase project management software. We make the world's leading ColdFusion-based project management software. Prior to launching the application in 1999, Vertabase produced large scale web-development projects for companies such as Avon, MTV and Young and Rubicam. Before founding Vertabase, I worked as an analyst on Wall Street, producing reports, forecasts and investment recommendations on companies and countries in Latin American. When Latin American stock markets collapsed in 1994, I learned about risk management and productivity. My education continued during the dot com bust of 2001 and the company's growth path in the ensuing years. Those lessons are being applied, once again, in the current economic environment.

Managing better is not as hard as it sounds, but management is as much a set of habits as a specific tools. Like any change in behavior, it can take time to manage your project better or make better use of your day. Start by finding a technique that can become a habit for you. Not every technique is right for everybody. You have to find one that feels right and doable, and then actually use it. Some habits will be things you do on every project. Others will only apply to solving specific challenges.

The first habit, though, is the commitment to improve. You have to want to improve, and follow through on trying different ways to do so. Whether the drive is coming from the outside (work, clients, family and friends) or from the inside, make a commitment to do better. You can be more productive and have more time to do what you want to do, everyday. Here at the CFPM column, we'll give you practical advice and techniques to make that a reality. Stay tuned.

CFPM™ is a trademark of Vertabase project management software.

Mark Phillips is the product manager and lead spokesperson at Vertabase project management solutions. Vertabase makes the world's leading ColdFusion based project management software. Mark has been the project manager and creative lead on numerous web-based and rich internet applications. He has presented to ColdFusion and Adobe User Groups in the U.S. and Canada on software design, usability, project and time management. He most recently spoke at CFUnited 2009 on project management. He hosted a Birds of the Feather Session at Adobe MAX 2008 on CFML Language Development.

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