Define Your Needs For Technology

You can first identify your needs in international projects for technologies. To do this you first make a list of what you do in managing projects and the work involved. Make this list the first column in a table. The second column contains entries for what you do now to perform the functions in the first column. In the third column go the issues and problems with the current approach. New technologies of potential interest go in the fourth column. The last, or fifth, column contains statements of how the new technology resolves the issues and problems of the third column. An example is given in Fig. 6.2. Use this as a starting point for your own table.

Figure 6.2: Technology Evaluation Table

There are several benefits to this table. First, you show managers that you are organized. Second, the table can help identify areas where you really do need to investigate new technology. A third benefit is that it helps you narrow the focus in searching for technology. That is, you can largely ignore technologies that do not fit in any row of the table.

Where can you find out about new technologies? Check out the magazines and sources in the References appendix. What are you looking for? Articles that describe how a firm used the technology in its projects and what the benefits and lessons learned were. You can also visit vendor Web sites to see if there are new versions coming out.

Now let’s now consider a range of specific technologies that are useful in project management. Specific guidelines will be provided for using the technology effectively.