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MANAGER.TXT
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1993-05-30
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ManagePro
Review by Gary W. Wodka
Madison PC User's Group
In a perfect world, things would be so easy! You're the boss. You
know what has to be done, you know when it has to be done, and you
know who has to do it. When the time comes, voila! Finished
product.
However, most of us don't work in a perfect world, and just knowing
what, when, and who is not enough. Somewhere in the equation,
things seem to break down. What's a manager to do? Well, up to now
there have been a number of project management tools available. You
type in the project goals, the time line, and who's going to get it
done. Then you hope and pray. If you've been in management long,
you know that you can't manage results -- you have to manage
activity. Until now there hasn't been a program that enables you to
manage people within a project. You had to choose to either
manage the project, or the people, but not both.
Avantos Performance Systems has created the first "Goal and People
Management Tool" called ManagePro. It's been rated one of the best
products of the year by several publications, and for good reason!
In addition to project management tools, MP offers tools for
supporting the process of delegation, coaching and performance
recognition. It's kind of like TimeLine and The One Minute Manager
all rolled up into one.
Running under Windows with at least 2 MB RAM, this powerful program
has two main modules: Goal Planning and People Planning. Managers
have two key areas of responsibility: Goal Achievement and People
Management. Sounds like a perfect match, huh? The problem most
managers have is that they are inexperienced in dealing with people,
recognizing the benefits of positive reinforcement, and working with
teams of support people. ManagePro has a system for every manager.
In fact, ManagePro might be the industry's first on-the-job
management trainer.
The main button bar, located just under the menu bar, graphically
represents the choices you have as a manager. From this bar you can
select whether to work on project goals, or the people assigned to
accomplish those goals. The tutorial accompanying ManagePro is
highly recommended. It will walk you through the process of a
sample goal-setting session, familiarizing you with the terminology
and the tasks that need to be accomplished.
The first choice you'll have to make is to decide which management
style you'd like to use. This system is defined as "scalable usage"
because it offers five usage styles. In order of least to most time
investment, they are: the People Manager, the People Manager and
Developer, the Goal Planner/Manager, the Goal and People Manager,
and the Integrated Performance Manager.
The People Manager incorporates only the most basic people-management
principles, providing support for communicating individual and team
goals, documenting performance, and creating performance reviews.
It's a great place to start. In this module, you establish a
database of performance for individuals, making reviews a breeze.
ManagePro can also provide a performance history report of the
individual's progress.
The People Manager/Developer takes everything from above and adds
expert advice to help plan and record performance feedback and
coaching. You can create individual skill development plans for
each member of the team, and provide tools and feedback to help your
employees expand themselves. The management database can assist you
in giving quality feedback at appropriate times, offering expert
diagnostic advice and recommendations on a variety of common
behavioral problems.
The Goal Planner/Manager section is designed for a project manager
that has no people reporting directly to him/her. This module helps
define and delegate supporting individual or team goals and track
actual progress versus desired results. ManagePro alerts you when
a portion of your plan is off-track, and advises when to "interfere"
to get the job back on track. An Action List helps track the
activities in your database, and the Calendar and Goal Timeline let
you view and manage the accompanying schedules.
The Goal and People Manager combines the basic management features of
the People Manager with the Goal Planner/Manager. The only thing
missing here is the more advanced people management features in the
People Manager/Developer style.
The Integrated Performance Manager combines the full functionality
of people and goal management. Obviously, this style requires the
most time, but will probably provide you with the best overall
results. You only get out of something what you put into it.
And speaking of "putting into it," entering data into ManagePro is
as easy as it can be. Once through the tutorial, you'll understand
the basic categories, and will be comfortable enough to create your
own specific goals. In fact, the first exercise walks you through a
project based on your specific company and goals.
In the Goals module you will have the type of report you're familiar
with if you've worked with any of those other programs out there.
A Gantt chart time line, listing the goals and their parts,
scheduled into a calendar. You'll have, at a glance, a real-time
view of the priority, status and due date of each sub-goal. Here
you'll be able to keep track of individual progress data for a
selected goal, along with detailed information about the selected
goal, checkpoints, and measurement options. There is also a Notes
window where you can attach a note for the goal and view it later.
A Goal Status Board gives a real-time graphic display of your group's
primary and supporting goals. If the status is not on track, a small
colored triangle appears near that particular goal. By exploding
each goal you can find out who and what is impacting the successful
achievement of key goals.
The real value of ManagePro, in my opinion, is in its People
Management module. This module is so complete, you can throw away
all those management books on your shelf that you've been meaning to
read! The People Planner window contains a summary table where you
can add people or teams to the ManagePro database.
Through this module, you'll learn how to really motivate people and
teams. From clearly defining goals for selected persons or teams,
to adding and editing progress notes relating to those people and
teams, you'll have the tools and the "nudges" to help you help them
get the job done.
For each selected individual or team you'll be able to:
* enter feedback or coaching plans and discussion notes,
* add and edit interim and formal review information,
* add/edit performance recognition information,
* add/edit plans to help improve individual skills,
* add/edit commitments you've made to selected persons,
* add/edit calendar events for selected persons, and
* add/edit detailed information about the selected person/team.
You'll also be able to add and display notes for the selected person
or team, much like a PIM. The People Status Board is a graphics
windows which provides an at-a-glance status of your people
management reminders. If a related activity deadline is approaching,
a yellow (caution?) triangle appears next to the goal. If a deadline
has passed, a red triangle shows up. This board helps to focus on
the areas of greatest leverage and quickly take care of important
people management activities.
ManagePro's Action List contains a to-do list with details, an event
list with details, and a commitment list with details of those
commitments you have made to the members of your staff or team.
ManagePro also contains a Reports Planner, which lets you set up and
print reports for goals, people and action items.
The ?Advisor button drops down a Management Advisor window. This is
a set of context-sensitive management help tools that offers six
buttons to help get to the crux of the matter NOW. This window can
be left open while working with other ManagePro windows, providing
immediate help for any people management problem.
I used ManagePro to set up a project at work that needed the
cooperation of six individuals and two teams. I was able to
customize the terminology to fit my particular industry (insurance).
There doesn't seem to be a limit to the amount of people or goals
that the program can hold. I was able to actually see how my
project was progressing, as well as "feel" my software nudging me
to intervene when two people became delinquent in desired reports.
I have to admit that when I first got the program, it seemed to be
overwhelming. I started out with just the People Management module.
As I progressed, I discovered that each step up the ladder required
more time in planning and scheduling. But I also discovered that by
using the Integrated Goal and People module, I was able to have
total control of the project, and manage the people responsible for
making me look good. Yeah, it took some time to get used to it.
It's a lot more complicated than just entering a goal and a timeline.
But the results are worth it!
The documentation that ships with ManagePro consists of a Getting
Started tutorial, a Reference Guide, and a paperback edition of
Managing People - Your Competitive Edge in the 90's. You'll want to
use the entire tutorial. This is not a program you just dive into.
The more time you spend in the manuals, the more you'll get out of
the program. Oh, and another nice thing about the folks at
ManagePro: About a week after receiving ManagePro, a representative
from Avantos called to see how I was progressing and asking if there
was anything she could do to help. I've never had service like that
before! I hope these people keep on developing business software
like this! Maybe they could improve on the word processor... or
presentation software... or...
ManagePro retails for $249 and is a product of:
Avantos Performance Systems
5900 Hollis Street, Suite C
Emeryville, CA 94608
(510) 654-4600
(510) 654-1725 (fax)