Here you will find the most important articles from this blog, organized into three levels and structured into 7 categories each.
The Most Important Articles
The top level contains foundational articles on work management in general, on project management, as well as time management and productivity.
A-Level
- Project Management Basics: New to project management or a seasoned veteran? Either way, you should definitely know the points presented in this article. A concise compendium of the essential knowledge every project manager needs.
- The 5 Project Management Phases: The project management lifecycle is divided into 5 phases: initiation, planning, execution, monitoring, and closing.
- Matrix Organization Explained in Full: Discover how a matrix organization breaks down silos, uses resources efficiently, and motivates globally connected teams — driving more innovation and success.
- PMBOK Guide: An Overview of the Project Management Body of Knowledge: PMBOK (Project Management Body of Knowledge) is a guide to project management that defines proven methods, processes, and standards.
- Agile vs Waterfall: Agile project management, agile software development, agile personnel: if you’re not working in an agile way, how should you be working?
- Project Organization: Forms & Roles: Project organization made easy! Learn how to plan your project efficiently, set milestones, and use tools optimally — with examples, best practices, and templates!
- Project Controlling: The Basics: To succeed in project management and project controlling, you need to […]
- Waterfall Model: Definition, Application, Pros and Cons: The waterfall model represents classic linear project management and is by no means obsolete despite the rise of agile methods. More here…
- The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) Creates Order: Definition, Structure, and Implementation Tips: A practical step-by-step guide to creating your work breakdown structure, from concept to scheduling.
- Requirements Specification: From Zero to a Hundred with a Template!: Using the V-model to arrive at a structured requirements specification — here’s how it’s done. And for a quick start, there are templates.
- Functional Specification: Tips and Template!: The functional specification (design) is a central document in classic project documentation and the contractor-side counterpart to the requirements specification.
- Project Documentation: Tips and Examples: Project documentation is often an unloved stepchild in project management, yet it’s a key factor in project success. Well-documented projects make it easy for everyone to trace decisions and maintain an overview. We present the “must-haves” of project documentation here.
- Project Manual: Tips for Creation and a Template!: Here you won’t get a dry definition of the project manual — instead, you’ll get a template you can start using immediately.
- Gantt Chart: Basics & Tips for Your Project: Gantt charts are an indispensable project management tool. We present the most important things to know in this article.
- Jour Fixe: Definition, Rules, and Practical Tips: Jour fixe: a weekly or monthly meeting, especially in project management. Here you’ll find everything that matters: rules, tips, and templates.
- Kanban Board Simply Explained: Discover how a Kanban board can revolutionize your project management. Simple explanation, real-world examples, and pro tips for beginners and experts alike!
- Kick-Off Meeting: The Ultimate Guide: At the start of a project, the team gathers for a kick-off meeting to present project goals and the planned approach, among other things.
- Project Management: The Most Important Terms, Methods, and Tools: Project management deals with initiating, planning, controlling, monitoring, and closing projects. An introduction to the world of project management.
- RACI Matrix for Clear Responsibilities: A RACI matrix presents responsibilities and tasks within a project clearly and concisely. There are four roles.
- Agile Project Management Explained: Methods, Tools, and Tips: Agile project management is a flexible, iterative approach that enables teams to respond quickly to change and continuously deliver value.
- Agile Project Management: What Is Scrum?: Learn what Scrum is and how it can help you manage your projects more effectively.
- Agile Project Management — Principles: In this article you’ll learn the most important principles of the Scrum methodology — how Scrum teams organize themselves and what techniques they use.
- Practices in Agile Project Management: This part covers organizational and technical practices, including cadenced delivery, working meetings, and continuous delivery.
- The Eisenhower Matrix in Detail: Definition, Function & Tips for Better Time Management: The Eisenhower Matrix distinguishes between the importance and urgency of a task. The combination of importance and urgency determines priority.
- Setting Priorities: How to Work Effectively & Efficiently: Setting priorities correctly: how to make the best use of your resources!
- ABC Analysis Simply Explained: The ABC analysis is a method for ranking customers, suppliers, projects, or products by importance and prioritizing them accordingly.
- Pareto Principle: The 80/20 Rule Simply Explained: Pareto Principle: use the 80/20 rule! Achieve 80% of results with 20% of the effort — discover tips & examples now!
- Task Management for Higher Productivity: Anyone who wants to work effectively should plan sensibly and use available time efficiently. About a quarter of the working day is spent on inefficient activities, such as searching for information.
- Becoming More Productive: 12 Tips for Greater Productivity! (2024): Increasing productivity is an important goal for many working people — and it means something different to everyone.
- Time Management Methods & Tips for Greater Productivity: Time management is one of the most important methods used by successful people, and it’s helpful both personally and professionally. Learn how here.
- Pomodoro Technique: More Breaks for More Productive Work: Focused work interrupted by regular breaks — that’s the core of the Pomodoro Technique, a proven time management method.
- ALPEN Method for Time Management: Definition and Benefits: What is the ALPEN method? The idea is to have a time-defined […]
- Time Blocking: Dividing Your Calendar into Time Blocks Increases Productivity: We introduce the time management method “Time Blocking,” which frees up time for what truly matters — yourself and everything that makes you happy.
- Timeboxing Simply Explained: Definition, Tips & Examples: Timeboxing simply explained: Definition, Tips & Examples
- The Difference Between Efficiency and Effectiveness in Everyday Project Work: Efficiency means doing things “right.” Effectiveness means doing the “right things.”
- Project Management Triangle: An Overview of the Three Dimensions!: The project management triangle describes the three competing variables of every project: time, cost, and scope.
Further Reading
The second level contains more in-depth articles on the topics of work management in general, project management, and time management and productivity.
B-Level
- Effort Estimation: A Guide for Successful Project Planners: Learn how to arrive at precise effort estimates. This guide shows best practices and innovative methods for efficient project planning.
- Capacity Planning: What It Is and How to Implement It: In capacity planning, resources are assigned to task packages. Employee skills and availability must both be taken into account.
- PRINCE2 Method: What a Project Manager Needs to Know: PRINCE2 is one of the most widely used project management methods and provides project managers with a process framework that helps them structure a project systematically.
- 10 Rules for a Good Requirements Specification: The quality of a requirements specification has a significant impact on project success. Here are a few rules that every requirements specification should meet.
- Guide to Creating a Project Plan — Simple & Compact: Successful project planning requires experience and a methodical approach. Learn here in minimal time how to create realistic project plans.
- Project Scope Simply Explained: Learn everything about project scope: definition, avoiding scope creep, creating a scope statement, and tips for effective scope management.
- Creating a Project Schedule: Step-by-Step Guide & Best Practices: Project scheduling made easy! Learn how to plan your project efficiently, set milestones, and use tools optimally — with examples, best practices, and templates!
- Project Planning: How to Keep to Your Deadlines: Project planning defines goals, tasks, resources, and timelines to manage projects efficiently, reduce risks, and ensure project success.
- Earned Value Analysis: How It Works: Earned value analysis links the planned and actual performance and costs of a project, making it visible whether a project is on time and within budget.
- Getting Things Done — an Overview of the GTD Method!: Getting Things Done (GTD) is a popular self-management method for increasing productivity, developed by productivity consultant David Allen.
- Project Management Methods: The Ultimate Overview: A fairly comprehensive overview and concise introduction to the most important project management methods.
- What Every Project Manager Should Know About Dependencies: In the world of project management, every new project brings […]
- The Scrum Artifacts: In this article you’ll learn about the key Scrum artifacts, including the product backlog with epics and user stories, the task board, and burn charts.
- Values in Agile Project Management: Agile project management is based on corresponding values, principles, and practices. This article discusses the agile value canon.
- Scrum Roles Simply Explained: Here we introduce the three Scrum roles — Product Owner, Scrum Master, and Scrum Team — with their tasks and competencies, and describe how they interact.
- The Eisenhower Matrix in Detail: Definition, Function & Tips for Better Time Management: The Eisenhower Matrix distinguishes between the importance and urgency of a task. The combination of importance and urgency determines priority.
- Setting Priorities: How to Work Effectively & Efficiently: Setting priorities correctly: how to make the best use of your resources!
- ABC Analysis Simply Explained: The ABC analysis is a method for ranking customers, suppliers, projects, or products by importance and prioritizing them accordingly.
- Pareto Principle: The 80/20 Rule Simply Explained: Pareto Principle: use the 80/20 rule! Achieve 80% of results with 20% of the effort — discover tips & examples now!
- Task Management for Higher Productivity: Anyone who wants to work effectively should plan sensibly and use available time efficiently. About a quarter of the working day is spent on inefficient activities, such as searching for information.
- Becoming More Productive: 12 Tips for Greater Productivity! (2024): Increasing productivity is an important goal for many working people — and it means something different to everyone.
- Time Management Methods & Tips for Greater Productivity: Time management is one of the most important methods used by successful people, and it’s helpful both personally and professionally. Learn how here.
- Pomodoro Technique: More Breaks for More Productive Work: Focused work interrupted by regular breaks — that’s the core of the Pomodoro Technique, a proven time management method.
- ALPEN Method for Time Management: Definition and Benefits: What is the ALPEN method? The idea is to have a time-defined […]
- Time Blocking: Dividing Your Calendar into Time Blocks Increases Productivity: We introduce the time management method “Time Blocking,” which frees up time for what truly matters — yourself and everything that makes you happy.
- Timeboxing Simply Explained: Definition, Tips & Examples: Timeboxing simply explained: Definition, Tips & Examples
- The Role of the Project Manager: A project manager is a specialist in the field of project management. But what exactly is the project manager’s role?
- Good Communication: How to Lay the Foundation for Project Success: So many meetings, so many emails, so many messages and phone calls — who hasn’t wished they could just work “in peace”? Learn the tips and tricks of successful project managers and how they shape communication in their projects for maximum effect…
Special Topics and Essays
The bottom level addresses specialized topics in work management and essays with thoughts and reflections on this subject area.
C-Level
- 10 Project Management Best Practices: Ten project management best practices that will lead you to success as a project manager.
- 4 Important Task Management Methods: The list of task management methods is manageable. In this overview article we explain which methods belong to a good task management system.
- Project Portfolio Management Simply Explained: Project portfolio management (PPM) is the process of evaluating, prioritizing, and managing all of a company’s projects in order to achieve its strategic goals, optimize resources, minimize risks, and maximize overall value.
- Team Building Made Easy: Team building turns individuals into a collective whose capabilities exceed the sum of their individual skills. Here are a few tips for impressive team building.
- What Is ALM?: Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) encompasses all activities in the lifecycle of an application — from the initial idea all the way through to decommissioning. Learn the most important things in this article.
- Writing Meeting Minutes: Tips and a Template!: Writing meeting minutes should be a matter of course for every meeting. Tools and templates make it easier.
- Requirements Engineering and Safety Standards: Systematic requirements engineering is a prerequisite for compliance with safety standards. Learn more about the connections here.
- Formulating and Applying SMART Goals!: SMART goals are: Specific · Measurable · Achievable · Realistic · Time-bound. The SMART method simply explained.
- SWOT Analysis: Explained in Detail: Learn everything about the SWOT analysis: definition, practical examples, and a step-by-step guide to carrying one out.
- Task Management for Better Collaboration: In many companies, clocking out on time, lengthy to-do meetings, and selective input from chosen employees are already things of the past.
- Issue Tracking in Product Lines: Bug management for reused components requires intelligent dependency modeling. Find out about issue tracking in product lines here.
- Creating a Milestone Trend Analysis: How It Works: The milestone trend analysis presents the development of key project dates over time in a clear way, helping to identify schedule deviations early.
- Network Diagram Simply Explained: Discover how network diagram techniques visualize complex project workflows and optimize the critical path — with best practices and hands-on tips.
- To-Do Lists: Overview and Tips for a Productivity Boost!: To-do lists: overview and tips for a productivity boost!
- To-Do List in Excel Style: No Thanks!: Excel may be one of the most widely used tools for task management, but is it really the right tool for managing tasks and projects?
- Effort Estimation with Planning Poker: Effort estimation with planning poker significantly improves planning accuracy in your projects. Here’s how it works.
- The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe): An Overview: The Scaled Agile Framework describes how agile principles, methods, and techniques can be profitably applied even to large-scale initiatives. This article provides an overview based on SAFe 5.0.
- The Eisenhower Matrix in Detail: Definition, Function & Tips for Better Time Management: The Eisenhower Matrix distinguishes between the importance and urgency of a task. The combination of importance and urgency determines priority.
- Setting Priorities: How to Work Effectively & Efficiently: Setting priorities correctly: how to make the best use of your resources!
- ABC Analysis Simply Explained: The ABC analysis is a method for ranking customers, suppliers, projects, or products by importance and prioritizing them accordingly.
- Pareto Principle: The 80/20 Rule Simply Explained: Pareto Principle: use the 80/20 rule! Achieve 80% of results with 20% of the effort — discover tips & examples now!
- Task Management for Higher Productivity: Anyone who wants to work effectively should plan sensibly and use available time efficiently. About a quarter of the working day is spent on inefficient activities, such as searching for information.
- Becoming More Productive: 12 Tips for Greater Productivity! (2024): Increasing productivity is an important goal for many working people — and it means something different to everyone.
- Time Management Methods & Tips for Greater Productivity: Time management is one of the most important methods used by successful people, and it’s helpful both personally and professionally. Learn how here.
- Pomodoro Technique: More Breaks for More Productive Work: Focused work interrupted by regular breaks — that’s the core of the Pomodoro Technique, a proven time management method.
- ALPEN Method for Time Management: Definition and Benefits: What is the ALPEN method? The idea is to have a time-defined […]
- Time Blocking: Dividing Your Calendar into Time Blocks Increases Productivity: We introduce the time management method “Time Blocking,” which frees up time for what truly matters — yourself and everything that makes you happy.
- Timeboxing Simply Explained: Definition, Tips & Examples: Timeboxing simply explained: Definition, Tips & Examples
- 10 Requirements for the Next-Generation Project Manager: Pure doers are no longer cut out to be successful project managers. That’s the finding of Mary Gerush from Forrester Research, after she surveyed numerous industry managers, IT experts, project leaders, and team members from large companies and her own organization.
- Helpdesk Software and ITIL Requirements: In companies, IT organizations are evolving — as part of a transformation process — from being pure suppliers of information technology into service providers for the entire organization. The focus here is increasingly on customer and process orientation.
- Multitasking in Project Management Is Inefficient: Are you a jack of all trades? Is your team working at full speed and still not making progress? Then it may be time to rethink your multi-project management.
- Project Management Software: On-Premise vs. Cloud: There are many different factors a company must consider […]
- Project Management Standards Compared: Project management has long become a standard way of working in public authorities, companies, and organizations. Project team members and managers with a wide range of experience and qualifications put their methodological knowledge to work in the service of goal achievement — worldwide and nationally.
- Scrum Project Manager Thinks: The Team Organizes Itself!: Self-organizing teams — that sounds great. But what’s really behind it, and can it actually work?
- Teamwork: Tips for Improving Collaboration: Every company benefits from teamwork, but not every company works […]
- Top 10 Project Management Certifications 2024: A project management certification can always add meaning and relevance to your role […]
- Difference Between Ticket System, Helpdesk, Servicedesk, and Issue Tracking System: What distinguishes helpdesk software from a service desk? And what is a ticket system?
With accordion lists and FAQ sections you can structure content clearly and in a user-friendly way — whether in your project documentation, your project manual, or on your website.
Jörg Friedrich
Senior Advisor
Jörg Friedrich is the original author of the project management software Allegra and continues to accompany its development to this day. He has many years of industry experience as a project and department manager. He also serves as a professor in the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology at Esslingen University of Applied Sciences.
