The document discusses a case study of a company that tracks thousands of data points for technical documentation projects. Initially, project tracking involved multiple spreadsheets across many employees, resulting in errors and delays. Two improvement processes integrated peer reviews and spreadsheet redesigns but issues remained. A workshop identified further solutions like a customized tracking system or app extensions. Lessons included that spreadsheets worked better consolidated than separate, and specialized software may better solve complex project tracking needs.

2. Your Host
Scott Abel aka “The Content Wrangler”
Internationally recognized content strategist
Helps organizations deliver the right content to the
right audience, anywhere, anytime, on any device
Featured presenter at content industry events
Serves on the faculty of the University of California,
Berkeley, School of Information.

3. Your Speaker
Barry Saiff
33 years in technical documentation
Led content development teams at
Symantec, Oracle, IBM, and GE
Founded Saiff Solutions in 2011
Provides technical writing services to large
enterprises in Australia, Japan, Canada,
US

4. Agenda
● Project Life Cycle
● Project Tracking: Data
● Case Study: Introduction
● Project Tracking: Initial Process
● Project Tracking Issues
● First Improvement Process
● Results from the Improvement Process
● Remaining Project Tracking Issues
● Second Improvement Process
● Planned Solutions
● Lessons Learned
Proj

5. Polling Question 1
What is your biggest project management
challenge?
A. Volume of data to track/time lost
B. Accuracy, team compliance
C. Finding the right technology/tools
D. Quality: measuring it, maintaining/improving
E. Other
Proj

6. Project Life Cycle

7. 1. Request for Proposal
The client defines the project requirements,
including any cost or production targets,
quality metrics, reporting requirements, etc.

8. 2. Mock or Pilot Project
The client defines the project requirements,
including any cost or production targets, quality
metrics, reporting requirements, etc.

9. 3. Project Estimate or Proposal
Determines the budget, parameters, and
success factors against which project
performance will be measured.
To meet the set parameters for project
estimates, remember the following:
● Accurate estimation requires good data.
● Accurate Estimate vs. Acceptable
Estimate
● Unexpected setbacks may happen.

10. 4. Actual Project
The data is tracked based on the project
needs. The analysis and reporting measure
success based on the agreed benchmarks.

11. Project Tracking: Data
Why is project tracking important?
● To keep track of important data that may reach
thousands of elements
● To keep track of the project’s progress
● To make sure that the project cost did not exceed
the budget
● To make sure that all the resources are being
maximized

12. Project Tracking: Data
Three Key Metric of Tracking Tech Doc Projects:
● Project Units - Example: Source Page, Topics,
Maps, Model IDs
● Duration - Example: Budgeted Minutes, Pages per
day
● Cost - Rates for each role, overhead, software,
equipment, training, etc.

13. Some data can be used as reference for future
projects. Look for similarities, for example:
● Same team
● Same customer
● Same target units
● Similar product or technology
● Similar delivery
● Similar scope
Developing & Using Historical Data

14. SSI has worked with a software company
that focuses on the repair and maintenance
of large trucks. This project involves highly
technical content, with thousands of data
points that must be tracked.
Project Tracking: Case Study

15. Project Tracking: Initial Process
Project Tracking Tools:
● Google Apps
○ Individual Project Work Details (PWD)
○ Work progress tracking of topics and
diagrams (Masterlist)
○ Collation of PWD
○ Budget Tracker
○ Cost Analysis, Estimated Invoice
Creation, and Submission
● Trello - for project workflow management

16. Project Tracking: Issues
With numerous people editing and updating the
data used for the reports, the following issues
arose:
● Using multiple spreadsheets (at least 3
spreadsheets per person a day)
● Many data errors (missing data, wrong
entries, etc.)
● Delayed submission of reports
● Time spent on creating cost analysis
reports: 2 days/month

17. Project Tracking: Issues
As the project continued and became more
demanding, project tracking also became fast-
paced and overloaded with data.
● Updating spreadsheets accumulated a large
percentage of rendered project hours (20%
average of the daily working hours)
● Time spent on manual collation: 1 hour/day
● Time spent on fixing tracking errors: 4
hours/day/person x 40 people

18. Project Tracking: First Improvement
Process
● Created a peer data review process, that reduced
the tracking errors.
● Experimented with two apps, Harvest and
TimeCamp, to enhance project tracking efficiency.
● Redesigned the spreadsheets to simplify data
collection and minimize errors caused by
disorganized data.

19. Project Tracking: Results
Neither TimeCamp nor Harvest was customizable
enough for our needs.
Redesigning the spreadsheets and conducting a peer
review minimally decreased the time spent on error-
checking and collating data.
Despite the tracking challenges, and team growth from
15 to 50 in 6 weeks, we successfully met the deadlines
with excellent quality (according to the client).

20. Project Tracking: Remaining Issues
● Time spent on updating and maintaining the
spreadsheets decreased from 20% to 15% of the
daily working hours.
● Time spent on manual collation decreased from 1
to 0.5 hours/day.
● Time spent on manual error checking decreased
from 4 to 2.5 hours per day.
● Multiple spreadsheets were still used to track
projects.
● Time spent on creating cost analysis reports
decreased from 2 to 1 days/month.

21. Project Tracking: Second Improvement
Process
SSI started a Rapid Improvement Workshop including
10 people. The workshop was facilitated by an external
consultant. Our purpose was to solve the company’s
remaining issues with project-tracking and analysis,
while training staff in critical thinking skills.

22. Project Tracking: Second Improvement
Process

23. Project Tracking: Solutions
Short-Term
● Train more people in data tracking and
reporting to provide backup.
● Combine spreadsheets that contain
redundant information to minimize the time
spent tracking.

24. P A C U
Project Tracking: Planned Solutions
Short-Term
● Create a visual management board to easily
track individual activities, and give timely
updates on every project task.
PACU management board: A visual presentation of
people (P), accounts (A), computers (C), and updates
(U) available for the project. This enables the team to
see an overview of the project and maximize the
available resources.

25. Project Tracking: Planned Solutions
PACUP A C
U
P - People
A - Accounts
C - Computer
U - Updates

26. Project Tracking: Planned Solutions
Long-Term
● Hiring a software developer or database
administrator to create a customized, more fully
automated project tracking system, OR
● Hiring a company that specializes in app APIs to
create custom app extensions. (Example: Cloud
Elements)

27. Lessons Learned
What Worked:
PWD Peer Reviews
Redesigning Spreadsheets
What Didn’t Work:
Use of Multiple Spreadsheets
Apps
What We Didn’t Try:
Hiring a software developer, database admin, API
specialist, or API company

28. Can We Help You?
If Saiff Solutions could assist you in overcoming
your challenges, would you be interested in a free
consultation?
A. Yes, please contact me directly.
B. Not right now, but please send me more information about Saiff
Solutions’ services.
C. No, thank you.