Project management focuses on planning and organizing a project and its resources. This includes identifying and managing the lifecycle to be used, applying it to the user-centered design process, formulating the project team, and efficiently guiding the team through all phases until project completion.
Value of Project Management
Through proper project management, you can assure that the purpose/vision and goals of the project are maintained, all while supporting the audiences’ tasks and objectives. Additionally, you avoid risks and effectively and efficiently use your available resources. It also helps the team members to understand their responsibilities, the deliverables expected, and the schedule everyone needs to follow to complete the project on time and within budget.
Areas within Project Management
The Project Management Institute (PMI) has identified nine areas of knowledge within project management:
integration management
scope management
time management
cost management
quality management
human resource management
communication management
risk management and
procurement management
Building a Team and Encouraging Communication
Depending on your project needs, the size of your team and the roles needed may vary. Keep in mind that members on your team may fulfill one role or may fulfill many.
Regardless of the size of the team, it’s important to identify how the team will communicate and collaborate with one another. This includes discussing upfront:
Planned/ regular meetings
How formal they will be
Whether meetings will be held in-person, virtually, or both
How the team will share and collaborate on documents
Where documents will be stored and how they will be version controlled
Workflow for decisions and approval
Project Phases, Life Cycles, and Incorporating User-Centered Design Principles
Projects are typically broken down into phases. Each phase outlines the work that needs to be done and who is involved. Generally, in order for a phase to be considered complete, specific deliverables need to have been completed and handed off. Some project teams, however, do choose to implement fast tracking, which is when phases are overlapped.
A lifecycle defines the beginning and end of the project; it represents all of the phases together. When defining the project’s life cycle, the first phase is noted as Step 0. It usually captures the visioning and conceptualizing of the project. According to the Project Management Institute, most life cycles have four or five phases but some may have more.
The most common lifecycle approaches are Waterfall and Agile., Regardless of the approach you choose, you will need to incorporate user-centered design (UCD) best practices and methods. At a high-level, the UCD process includes the following steps: planning, collecting and analyzing data, writing content, designing and developing prototypes of the system, and testing.
Project Plan and Charter Agreement
When defining your project, it is important to come up with a project plan that the team agrees to upfront so that it can serve as a reference point throughout the project. Make sure when outlining your plan, that throughout it you note how you plan to include user-centered design best practices and methodologies. Most project plans outline:
At the end of the project plan, depending on your team’s needs, you may choose to include a charter agreement. A charter agreement is typically a one page document that has the sponsor of the project sign off that they agree to the work to be done as outlined by the team in the project plan. Remember, however, that successful teams understand upfront that things happen and that they’ll need to adapt. The project plan establishes the baseline for how you assume the project will happen and then provides information about the process for taking changes into account, should they arise.
Creating a Schedule
Schedules are an important part of project management because they help you measure your progress as the project moves along. They also help to outline how each team member’s part fits into the overall picture and demonstrate the dependencies.
Schedules reflect the life cycle broken down into specific deliverables and touch points. It defines what needs to be done and who is the point of contact responsible for the work.
Through Managed Services, you can move IT from a support function to one that enables true business transformation. Backed by ITIL standards and exceeding industry best practices, Carousel’s award-winning Managed Services team proactively supports your most critical business functions.
eBook | Managed Services
Are You Managing IT or Is IT Managing You?
Download our eBook to learn more about transforming the IT function.
Our approach is unique because no two clients are the same.
Incident & Problem Management
At the first sign of any issue, our goal is to restore you to normal service quickly—and with minimal impact to your business. We follow an ITIL v3 framework to ensure success. Our 24×7 network operation centers provide stellar technical support and complex problem resolution.
System Administration
We provide the day-to-day responsibilities to maintain and optimize your current-state production environment. Activities include patching, life cycle, backup and restore, and both end-user and configuration changes.
Client Experience
Our client-first philosophy mandates that your success is our success. To help keep your end users thrilled, we take great measures to provide enhanced monitoring and robust reporting. Our engineering and service delivery managers assure that you gain peace of mind.
What We Offer
We help companies transform the way they run IT—enjoying greater efficiencies, cost savings and productivity. We have deep expertise cross a wide variety of technologies you know and use.
Unified Communications & Collaboration
Networking
Data Center
Security
Cloud-Based Solutions
Complementary Offerings
You may also want to check out these solutions and services
Agile infrastructure management that accelerates response time, value and quality of service.
Server Management
Overview
Introduction
Innovations
Innovations
Products_Solutions
Portfolio
Case_Study
Case Study
Accelerate service delivery with software
Infrastructure complexity and increasing security threats slow down responses to ever-evolving business needs. Success means meeting business needs while lowering the relative cost of “keeping the lights on.” To do that, you need server management resources that deliver new levels of automation, simplicity and security – freeing resources to focus on revenue-generating activities.
+ show more
Innovations
NEW LEVELS OF AUTOMATION, SIMPLICITY AND SECURITY
Simplify your management tasks while increasing your agility with HPE server management solutions.
NEW LEVELS OF AUTOMATION, SIMPLICITY AND SECURITY
Simplify your management tasks while increasing your agility with HPE server management solutions.
Deploy faster
Simplify operations
Increase productivity
End to End Security
Deploy faster
Deploy faster
Software-defined intelligence enables automated provisioning with repeatable templates that ensure high reliability, consistency and control – leading to lower operating expenses.
Learn more about HPE OneView
Simplify operations
Simplify operations
Transform how infrastructure is managed and supported by adding simplified, AI-driven operations to your hybrid cloud.
HPE OneView extends HPE storage and compute portfolio integration
02 December 2019 You can now provision HPE Primera 630, 650, 670 storage base modules in minutes versus days with expanded support from HPE OneView. OneView is the foundation of today’s software-defined infrastructure, helping deploy infrastructure faster, simplify lifecycle operations, and increase productivity.
What’s New
HPE OneView extends HPE storage and compute portfolio integration
02 December 2019 You can now provision HPE Primera 630, 650, 670 storage base modules in minutes versus days with expanded support from HPE OneView. OneView is the foundation of today’s software-defined infrastructure, helping deploy infrastructure faster, simplify lifecycle operations, and increase productivity.
02 April 2019
HPE Integrated Lights-Out 5 brings together the latest innovations in security and performance
15 November 2018
HPE delivers cloud-based AI-driven operations for HPE ProLiant, Apollo and Synergy servers
01 June 2018
Unified server, storage and networking management
11 July 2017
Gen10 secure server management
21 February 2018
New server system-restore feature
24 October 2017
Global dashboard updates
04 June 2018
HPE simplifies infrastructure management with announcement of HPE OneView 4.1
04 January 2018
Server infrastructure security solutions
01 February 2018
HPE delivers industry-leading security and recovery capabilities in its ProLiant Gen10 portfolio
With a keen focus on simplifying management tasks while increasing agility, HPE server management can help you deploy resources faster, simplify lifecycle operations, and increase productivity.
Infrastructure management
Transform servers, storage and networking into software-defined infrastructure to eliminate complex manual processes, spur IT collaboration and increase the speed and flexibility of IT service delivery.
HPE iLO arms you with the tools to manage your servers efficiently, resolve issues quickly and keep your business running – from anywhere in the world.
Optimise performance and predict and prevent problems by adding AI-driven operations that combine cloud-based machine learning with performance monitoring.
Transform servers, storage and networking into software-defined infrastructure to eliminate complex manual processes, spur IT collaboration and increase the speed and flexibility of IT service delivery.
HPE iLO arms you with the tools to manage your servers efficiently, resolve issues quickly and keep your business running – from anywhere in the world.
Optimise performance and predict and prevent problems by adding AI-driven operations that combine cloud-based machine learning with performance monitoring.
Supplement your HPE OneView and HPE iLO management solutions with these essential and powerful server management tools to increase administrator productivity.
Conduct systematic and organised server updates via Service Pack for HPE ProLiant (SPP) or Smart Update Manager.
Utility toolsets
Use PowerShell scripting tools to perform configuration tasks on HPE servers based on PowerShell syntax and scripting models. Perform HPE ProLiant server configurations at scale with this toolkit of Windows and Linux scripting utilities.
iLO RESTful API
Simplify programmatic computing and standardise server interactions with the new HPE ProLiant Gen9 and Gen10 API in conformance with Redfish 1.0.
Scripting tool that leverages the iLO RESTful API for secure, remote server configurations at scale.
Active Health System Viewer
Easily read your active health system logs, get actionable insight into the health of your server, and speed problem resolution.
Carousel
Featured case study
REDUCING GENOME-ANALYSIS WORKLOAD TIME TO SECONDS
The HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology conducts data-intensive genome research with demanding infrastructure requirements – critical for supporting the intensive collaboration and analysis that are central to scientific breakthroughs.
Challenge
With hundreds of researchers, educators and entrepreneurs on campus at HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, IT resources were pushed to the limit.
Solution
HudsonAlpha used HPE OneView to speed the time to usable data, enhance self-service capabilities, and enable its developers to automate operations and provision new cloud environments rapidly.
“Immediately it provided an increase in speed. We’re able to bring all the needs of our 34 companies and 200 researchers together and use our resources in the most efficient manner possible.”
Jim Hudson, Co-founder and Chairman, HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology
Result
With HPE Synergy, HudsonAlpha is able to balance cost and performance requirements and enable a dynamic, flexible, cost-effective infrastructure, resulting in higher staff productivity, more efficient IT operations, and a five-year ROI of 247%.
Infrastructure Management Software
HPE OneView
Integrated systems
HPE Synergy
Hyperconverged Systems
HPE SimpliVity
Load more tiles
Load # more
HOW WE’RE HELPING
Discover
Discover
HPE Discover Virtual Experience Starting 23 June
We’re here to help. Register now and get everything you need to address your challenges today and transform for the future.
Enterprise.nxt
Enterprise.nxt
Nine steps to the new normal
Coronavirus demands an immediate and a longer-term crisis management plan that readies the company to succeed in a changed world. See this nine-step guide.
Enterprise.nxt
Enterprise.nxt
Security checklist for working at home
There are, perhaps, as many work-at-home computing configurations as there are workers, so security is hard. Check out these guidelines to follow.
Enterprise.nxt
Enterprise.nxt
Telemedicine reduces healthcare workloads and increases access
New technologies that go beyond the expected boundaries of the current healthcare system look to become the new standard of care.
Enterprise.nxt
Enterprise.nxt
Using sound technologies to improve the world
Need a reason to say “Oh, cool”? Scientists are doing innovative research that can improve the quality of life. Here are six examples to brighten your day.
Newsroom
Newsroom
HPE opens its patents to fight COVID-19
HPE signed the Open COVID Pledge, granting free access to all of its patented technologies. Organisations are now free to use HPE technologies to combat COVID-19.
Newsroom
Newsroom
HPE CEO: As long as hope remains, we can make it through this
We are starting to see light at the end of the tunnel. However, this situation will not end overnight, and we all need to remain steadfast in our resolve.
Newsroom
Newsroom
HPE offers $2 billion to help weather COVID-19
HPE Financial Services is designating $2 billion to help customers and partners preserve cash flow, defer or reduce expenses, and relieve delivery delays.
Free online digital learning
One month free access to explore HPE technologies, hottest industry topics and key skills with HPE Digital Learner. Team members working remotely can feel connected while building their personal skills.
Video
Video
A message from Antonio
We know COVID-19 is concerning, so we wanted to share a quick update from our CEO Antonio Neri about how we at HPE are addressing this rapidly evolving situation.
1,2,3 Based on HPE Nimble Storage’s installed base
There are numerous telecoms brands in the PBX space, with some big names able to tackle your business’s telephone system needs. Below, we round up some of the main PBX providers you may come across:
PBX Provider
Summary
Mitel
Mitel specializes in host-based phone solutions, though they do also offer on-site services as well. Using their proprietary technology, they offer feature-rich but simple phones, and promise one low, per-user monthly charge with no hidden fees. While the hardware is hosted off site, you can take advantage of their intuitive web-based administration of your system from your computer.
3CX
3CX offers a software-based solution for your IP PBX needs, and promises to reduce your telephone costs by up to 70%. Its software can be installed in and operated from Windows, eliminating the need for advanced telecom skills. Plus, it can be configured to work with popular IP phones and VoIP gateways, and easily integrated with your employees’ smart phones.
XO Communications
XO Communications offers both managed and converged IP network services, with a focus on small and mid-sized operations. Their services include design, consultation, installation, and training.
Which PBX provider is right for your business? The answer is never one-size-fits-all.
The most important thing is understand the costs for installing a PBX system for your business, not anyone else’s. That means comparing quotes for the scale of operation that you’re running, and the specific business phone setup that has the features you’ll actually use.
We have a handy Business Phone Quotes Comparison Tool you can use – simple fill in a few key details and we can serve you with quotes from various providers.
PBX Jargon Explained
When you’re choosing a PBX system, you’re likely to come across a few key terms. Below, we explain the main PBX technical phrases you’ll encounter:
Telephone trunks
A telephone trunk provides network access to many employees by sharing a certain number of lines, as opposed to providing them individually. It might help to think of it like a tree, which has one trunk and many branches.
When it comes to a PBX, the number of ‘trunk lines’ refers to the number of lines coming into the system from the telephone provider.
SIP Trunking is a form of trunking commonly used to upgrade traditional PBX systems to modern IP-PBXs, allowing multiple users to connect to both the analog Public Switched Telephone Network, and the internet, using VoIP.
Hardware / software
The technology used for PBX systems performs the duties of old-fashioned telephone operators.
Essentially, it takes an incoming call and routes or switches it to the correct destination. The size and storage of the hardware varies depending on which type of PBX system you choose, and in many cases the software can integrate with or replace that of your old phone system.
Network of lines
The network of lines refers to the number of lines in use for your enterprise. These can be phone lines for your office, VoIP lines for the internet, or even lines that connect incoming calls to your business with your mobile phone or off-site line.
As IT budgets tighten, it’s even harder for businesses of any and all sizes to manage IT resources and respond quickly and appropriately to change. As an extension of your current support team, our Managed Services team allows you to leverage our expertise so that you’re able to focus on strategic business systems by maximizing the use of your resources.
First Name
Last Name
Email
Phone
Your company name
Please provide any additional information Sign me up for the newsletter
Critical business systems need support 24 hours a day, 365 days per year, which requires available and knowledgeable resources. NRC has the functional and technical staff to comprehensively support and maintain your technology applications with constant vigilance and seamless execution. There are few organizations with the experience, savvy, and dedication of New Resources Consulting; we provide the industry’s finest services and consultants to maximize your resources.
Our on-demand support option can be utilized for multiple coverage needs, including employee absences (i.e. vacation, maternity, paternity, disability, etc.), new hires getting up to speed, or known peak business demands and system upgrades.
Our mission is “improvement through technology.” We have been and continue to be a company dedicated to technology solutions and services that strengthen our clients.
Please provide any additional information Sign me up for the newsletter
Close
Organizations can purchase an allocated number of hours on a weekly, monthly, or annual basis that can be used as needed across functional and technical support areas. NRC’s Managed Services Group helps bridge the gap between where you are and where you need to be without losing precious time.
REDUCE DOWNTIME
LEVERAGE EXPERTISE
MAXIMIZE BUDGETS
Our emergency support contract option provides an ‘insurance policy’ for the support of your critical business systems should any unplanned emergencies occur.
NRC can help balance your resource needs with the assignment of a few Managed Services team members, negating the time and resource cost associated with finding and hiring high-demand talent.
Please provide any additional information Sign me up for the newsletter
Close
Berlin Packing had identified multiple technology project initiatives that could enhance their organization’s overall business efficiencies, but they were unable to move them forward due to their staff’s consuming day-to-day responsibilities. NRC’s Managed Services Team provided daily support to allow Berlin’s team to focus on completing their project initiatives while ensuring their overall duties were being met.
Wake Forest Baptist Health desired constant support (24x 7×365) for all of their PeopleSoft 9.1 modules, as well as the integration points between PeopleSoft and specified third party systems. Utilizing NRC’s Managed Services Team, Wake Forest receives round-the-clock support for all PeopleSoft modules, including application administration, service support and evolutionary enhancements.
AO Smith was in the process of sunsetting their PeopleSoft system. However, they needed support for a few month-end processes that remained in the PeopleSoft system. Utilizing NRC’s Managed Services Team’s emergent support approach, AO Smith was able to ensure that their system was being successfully and continually maintained.
HSHS utilized the NRC Managed Services team to assist in a corporate-wide project initiative. The project included the identification and reduction of duplicate patient records that existed in HSHS’s Epic system.
Since 2018, NRC has provided emergent support for Veolia’s PeopleSoft system. This Managed Services Team allows Veolia to know that their business system is supported when needed. Any issues that arise are addressed and resolved based on a defined Service Level Agreement.
BIDMC had a unique need for a cross-functional resource that could serve as a system administrator, a developer, and a business analyst when needed. Recognizing the difficulty to find all of these attributes within one resource, BIDMC employed NRC’s Managed Services team to fulfill those required skill sets on an as-needed basis and within BIDMC’s budget constraints.
In 2018, UW Health began an initiative to move their current on-premise PeopleSoft solution to Oracle Cloud. Understanding the need for internal resources to concentrate their efforts on the significant initiative, UW Health hired NRC’s Managed Services staff to provide day-to-day technical support.
First Citizens Bank was upgrading their PeopleSoft system and requested the New Resources Consulting’s Managed Services team to provide additional support during the implementation.
Raymond James needed support for their Cloud HCM system. Using NRC’s Managed Services Incremental Support contract option, Raymond James contracted for an number of hours per month that can be used as needed across functional and technical support areas.
When Manitowoc Company moved to Milwaukee, they lost the assistance of the HRIS team that had been supporting their Oracle Cloud HCM system. NRC’s Managed Services team was able to provide support with half the resources initially used by Manitowoc.
Delta Dental internal resources did not have the experience or availability to support their SQL server environment. NRC’s Managed Services team was able to provide overflow SQL server DBA support on an as needed basis.
Manpower required support for their global PeopleSoft application. The NRC Managed Services team’s “follow-the-sun” round-the-clock model was used to provide support for Manpower’s offices across the globe.
Written by Kathy Donnelly Balancing your personal and professional life in the same space can be a challenge. These tips […]
Written by Mike Doyle Years back Oracle announced that 9.2 would be the last application upgrade delivered for PeopleSoft. From […]
Written by Kathy Donnelly A structured Managed Services team provides significant differences between a standard Outsourcing or Help Desk approach. […]
Keep your business connected with Wireless services. Call 1.877.534.6698 or see offers.
Like automatic call forwarding, voicemail to email, seamless call transfer between devices and dozens of others.
Keep your business running: If you lose power, our cloud-based VoIP connection can reroute calls to another preset number.
Manage your calls from anywhere you have an Internet connection using our app and online dashboard.
Our network delivers fast speeds with high reliability to help keep your business running smoothly.
-Unlimited nationwide calling.
-1-5 users.
-National businesses.
Need more than 5 lines?
Select a converter if you’d like to keep your current phone equipment. PBX and Key Systems are not supported on Analog Converters (ATA).
Frequently Asked Questions
Business Digital Voice is a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone service provided by broadband. VoIP is a technology that transports high quality voice calls over the internet instead of a traditional phone network.
Features: 45+ advanced features included at no additional cost.
Flexibility: Work from anywhere you have an Internet connection. Supports road warriors and remote workers.
Seamlessness: Don’t miss a call. With the Business Digital Voice Mobile app you can answer business calls right from your cell phone. If you make outbound calls, your business caller ID will show to the receiver.
Disaster Recovery: VoIP-based phone systems reside “in the cloud”. This allows you to maintain customer communications when you lose power by routing calls to another phone number or your mobile phone.
Fax machines require a Business Digital Voice telephone line and an Analog converter (ATA) to work.
Verizon Fios customers can fax unlimited pages on their Business Digital Voice line.
For non-Fios customers, it is not recommended to fax more than 5 pages per fax. Verizon cannot guarantee your fax machine will work on a VoIP line. Credit card, alarm, fire, elevator, or security lines are not supported on Business Digital Voice. You can purchase an additional copper telephone line for these purposes.
Business Digital Voice requires IP phones that work over an internet connection. These phones allow you to manage some of your Business Digital Voice features right from the phone and provide high quality calls. Verizon offers a variety of IP phones starting at $85.00 to best fit your business needs. At this time, we do not allow customers to bring their own VoIP equipment.
If you do not want to purchase IP Phones, you can purchase an Analog Terminal Adapter (ATA) starting at $85.00 to use with two telephones. You plug your traditional analog phone(s) into the adapter and it will run over IP! Please note: you cannot plug IP Phones into an ATA.
PBX and Key Systems are not supported on ATAs. Customers faxing on Business Digital Voice will need an ATA. Please see “Can I use my fax, alarm, or credit card lines on Business Digital Voice” for more information.
Business Digital Voice is the premier solution that provides big business tools for small businesses, with over 45 features to make your business more efficient, productive and mobile. With Business Digital Voice, you receive an Auto Attendant which acts as your Virtual Receptionist. We also include mobile and desktop apps so you can manage your calls and business when you are away from your desk. Multiple call forwarding options are available so you don’t miss a call. For a complete list of features, click here.
Success stories
Our customers talk about how Verizon powers their business.
“
I love Fios. It’s fantastic for a thousand different reasons. Just about everything out here in the shop requires the internet in some way or another and so that’s all on the Wi-Fi. You have to have it and it has to be fast.
Richard Ellis, Owner, Precision Tuning Motorsports
Fios business customer: Antojos Ticos
See how this Costa Rican restaurant keeps their customers happy, and coming back for more.
Fios business customer:The Dental Family
Watch this video and see how Verizon Fios helps Drs. Brett and Irene Druger achieve their dream of becoming a fully digital office.
J. D. Power
Verizon received the highest score among small/medium businesses in the J.D. Power 2017-2019 Business Wireline Satisfaction Study of customers’ satisfaction with their business wireline service. Visit jdpower.com/awards.
Find the right plan and get up and running quickly with help from our team. Once you order you can track What’s Next here.
Check pricing and availability.
See if this product is available in your area and get pricing.
Work with our experts.
Tell us a little bit about your business and get set up to meet with our professionals to ask questions, get advice or request a quote.
Find what’s right for you.
Not sure if this is what you need? We can make some recommendations.
Previously published in The Business Journal of Sonoma/Marin.
Problem-solving and decision-making. Ask anyone in the workplace if these activities are part of their day and they answer ‘Yes!’ But how many of us have had training in problem-solving?We know it’s a critical element of our work, but do we know how to do it effectively?
People tend to do three things when faced with a problem: they get afraid or uncomfortable and wish it would go away; they feel that they have to come up with an answer and it has to be the right answer; and they look for someone to blame. Being faced with a problem becomes a problem. And that’s a problem because, in fact, there are always going to be problems!
There are two reasons why we tend to see a problem as a problem: it has to be solved and we’re not sure how to find the best solution, and there will probably be conflicts about what the best solution is. Most of us tend to be “conflict-averse”. We don’t feel comfortable dealing with conflict and we tend to have the feeling that something bad is going to happen. The goal of a good problem-solving process is to make us and our organization more “conflict-friendly” and “conflict-competent”.
There are two important things to remember about problems and conflicts: they happen all the time and they are opportunities to improve the system and the relationships. They are actually providing us with information that we can use to fix what needs fixing and do a better job. Looked at in this way, we can almost begin to welcome problems! (Well, almost.)
Because people are born problem solvers, the biggest challenge is to overcome the tendency to immediately come up with a solution. Let me say that again. The most common mistake in problem solving is trying to find a solution right away. That’s a mistake because it tries to put the solution at the beginning of the process, when what we need is a solution at the end of the process.
Here are seven-steps for an effective problem-solving process.
1. Identify the issues.
Be clear about what the problem is.
Remember that different people might have different views of what the issues are.
Separate the listing of issues from the identification of interests (that’s the next step!).
2. Understand everyone’s interests.
This is a critical step that is usually missing.
Interests are the needs that you want satisfied by any given solution. We often ignore our true interests as we become attached to one particular solution.
The best solution is the one that satisfies everyone’s interests.
This is the time for active listening. Put down your differences for awhile and listen to each other with the intention to understand.
Separate the naming of interests from the listing of solutions.
3. List the possible solutions (options)
This is the time to do some brainstorming. There may be lots of room for creativity.
Separate the listing of options from the evaluation of the options.
4. Evaluate the options.
What are the pluses and minuses? Honestly!
Separate the evaluation of options from the selection of options.
5. Select an option or options.
What’s the best option, in the balance?
Is there a way to “bundle” a number of options together for a more satisfactory solution?
6. Document the agreement(s).
Don’t rely on memory.
Writing it down will help you think through all the details and implications.
7. Agree on contingencies, monitoring, and evaluation.
Conditions may change. Make contingency agreements about foreseeable future circumstances (If-then!).
How will you monitor compliance and follow-through?
Create opportunities to evaluate the agreements and their implementation. (“Let’s try it this way for three months and then look at it.”)
Effective problem solving does take some time and attention more of the latter than the former. But less time and attention than is required by a problem not well solved. What it really takes is a willingness to slow down. A problem is like a curve in the road. Take it right and you’ll find yourself in good shape for the straightaway that follows. Take it too fast and you may not be in as good shape.
Working through this process is not always a strictly linear exercise. You may have to cycle back to an earlier step. For example, if you’re having trouble selecting an option, you may have to go back to thinking about the interests.
This process can be used in a large group, between two people, or by one person who is faced with a difficult decision. The more difficult and important the problem, the more helpful and necessary it is to use a disciplined process. If you’re just trying to decide where to go out for lunch, you probably don’t need to go through these seven steps!
Don’t worry if it feels a bit unfamiliar and uncomfortable at first. You’ll have lots of opportunities to practice!
Tim Hicks has a private practice based in Eugene, Oregon providing mediation, facilitation, and conflict management consultation and services to individuals and organizations. From 2006 to 2014, he was the first director of the Masters degree program in Conflict and Dispute Resolution at the University of Oregon. His most recent book, Embodied Conflict: the neural basis of conflict and communication (Routledge, 2018), is available with a 20% discount by using the code FLR40 at www.routledge.com/9781138087118.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
.
