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)