Estimating Costs and Allocating Resources: Project Management Resources

            This week we were asked to find resources that would be helpful for instructional design projects. After all, there are many pieces to every project--costs, time, effort, activities, resources, etc. Keeping track of all of that seems like a herculean task! Nonetheless, there are many resources that can help, especially in this age of technology.

1.      http://insightly.com/ Insightly is free for up to 3 users and then it is $29 per month. I was intrigued by this tool because it is a Google App (and it's free--that's a price you can't beat!).  I really like how you can import your Gmail contacts and any other important documents for the project. It seems easy to use, especially if you already use Google applications. In fact, after I set up my project "Let's Go Camping," I could see e-mails, notes (from Evernote, too!), files, milestones, tasks and events associated with the project. It was all there in one spot and I can invite people to that one spot, too, so this looks like it would be a great resource to use with your project team and stakeholders. Communication should be transparent and current if this Google App is used.

2.      https://basecamp.com/ While Insightly is free, it doesn't look quite as appealing as Basecamp, another project management site. Basecamp has discussion threads, "To-Do" lists, file storage, and calendars among other features. Again, everything is all in one place, making it easy to keep your team and stakeholders organized and in the know. Basically it looks to be like Insightly only more aesthetically pleasing and possibly more user-friendly and it costs $20 a month.

3.      http://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/project-budget.html Vertex 42: The Guide to Excel in Everything has free Excel budget templates! Budgeting for a project is the thing that scares me most (namely because of the unknowns), so having some templates with the formulas and some of the budget areas already listed is a big plus. I think this kind of resource would help me as I tried to get a handle on the budgeting side of projects. As an added bonus, there are even some tips and resources (with working hyperlinks!) at the bottom of the page that can further help one plan the project budget.

            Honestly, there are a plethora of project management resources available on the internet; however, these are the three resources I've found that I think would best serve me at this point. It's good to know, though, that there are a number of project management resources available and project managers who are active on the internet. (I actually found all of my resources using Pinterest! I plan to peruse Twitter next.) That kind of support should help me succeed with any project I am assigned or choose to tackle in the future.

References

#1 Free Online CRM for Small Business: Customer Relationship Software - Insightly. (2013). In Insightly. Retrieved from http://insightly.com/

Portny, S. E., Mantel, S. J., Meredith, J. R., Shafer, S. M., Sutton, M. M., & Kramer, B. E. (2008). Project management: Planning, scheduling, and controlling projects. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Project Budget Template. (2013). In Vertex 42. Retrieved from http://www.vertex42.com/ExcelTemplates/project-budget.html

Project management software, online collaboration: Basecamp. (2013). In Basecamp. Retrieved from https://basecamp.com/

Smith, T. (2013, May 13). 10 Great Project Management Tools for Freelancers. In SparkPlugging. Retrieved from http://www.sparkplugging.com/freelance-parent/10-great-project-management-tools-for-freelancers/