Teamport FAQ

How does TeamPort relate to Project Management Tools? TeamPort complements existing tools, yet displaces the need to use them on the strategic, front-end of projects. How? Existing project tools were created to manage and control projects, assuming the input is based on a feasible schedule. These existing tools emphasize detail tasks, individual resource schedules, and passive collaboration through groupware. In contrast, TeamPort plays a very different role, used early-on and at a high-level, to determine top-down the best overall design for a complex project. TeamPort allows rapid design, launch, & adjustment of plans. With great plans and aware teams, traditional PM tools play a role in tracking and accounting.

TeamPort and Project Design appear to be very advanced. Shouldn't we walk before we run? Our experience has shown us that traditional, detailed PM tools by themselves do not improve results. Bad, infeasible, and overly detailed plans -- no matter how well documented or controlled -- still lead to bad results. Better results begin with demonstration of changed behavior. TeamPort does have advanced mathematics and insights built in, but it is quite easy to use. Project Design as an exercise can be deployed without training, installation or customization, and thus change in behavior and results begin immediately. If your most strategic projects can improve performance and RUN today, why hobble and delay them with ineffective approaches? RUN first!

TeamPort is more than just software, isn't it? Yes, TeamPort is part of a solution that is centered on the activity of people in complex activities. The solution includes a method-led strategy, facilitated project launches, simulation-based analysis, and ongoing quality audits. The TeamPort approach is a project design method which significantly improves the awareness and performance of project teams. Once a project is designed in TeamPort, the project can then be exported and controlled using project tools.

What are the Complex Factors that TeamPort evaluates? The simulator in TeamPort incorporates the impact of distributed teams, time zones, concurrent dependencies, decisions, re-work, quality, travel, and communication demands. No existing scheduling (CPM, CCM) approach handles these important, real-world factors. Global Project Design (GPD) has been working for decades on complex and global projects. TeamPort was created to solve a very specific yet strategically important problem: the coordination of complex projects.

How can I tell if TeamPort will help my project portfolio? TeamPort is useful on all projects, with the most value when projects are uncertain, large and/ or complex.

How good are the plans your teams generate today? Accurate? Understandable? Lean? Sustainable?

Are your projects different from previous ones:

Are the teams the same as previous projects? How distributed are the teams?
How has the product or service changed? How much innovation is expected?
Has workflow changed? Do all teams and vendors share the same workflow?
How much concurrence is expected? Expected commonality or global templates across a rollout?
How likely are requirements to change during the project?

How difficult is it to deploy Project Design? TeamPort does not require integration into or customization for existing enterprise systems. The software in TeamPort can be accessed remotely, so that the teams using TeamPort do not have to install, support, or open an intranet while collaborating globally.

How does TeamPort help me early on, before we commit to a schedule? TeamPort helps to rapidly reach consensus on a realistic and optimal plan, including organizational structure, product decomposition, work and coordination styles to best fit the project at hand. This incorporation of organizational and product dynamics is not captured in MS Project, Primavera, and other tools.