You have seen these people are all around us (and may be one yourself) - they are not present in the physical world, but rather are doing that cell phone pacing, teetering march while looking down with a pivot/spin move on the corner or worse yet, cutting us off in traffic while connected somewhere else. You can look straight into their eyes, and they will not see you. Some expect some sort of nodding praise that their multi-tasking is a sign of productivity. Next time, ask them what they are working on simultaneously right now.

1. Divide and Conquer - Break large projects down into small pieces to delegate and share. PlanDone has three hierarchical levels - Project, Task, Action Step. The devil is in the details, and the real, detailed work gets done at the step level as opposed to the high project level. PlanDone will help staff know exactly what is next to do by assigning them action steps and giving them the ability to share it with co-workers if they get overwhelmed.

If you have seen the TV show, "The Office," you might identify with some of the dysfunctional working environments and staff members. It's funny because it's true that people are strange.

A lot of companies will claim that their collaboration solution is a magic pill that will transform the office into a productive, happy place. Well, we won't say that because PlanDone is not for everyone.

Most Project Management tools have estimates built into the process for metric tracking later to gauge estimates vs. actual progress or theory vs. reality project planning. Too often in the planning stage, the project planners are different team members than the task executors. When implementation is to begin, there is a hand off to a team lead or project manager to delegate, track and hold task members accountable for their guesses on work estimates that are nearly universally incorrect based on two factors - 1.

Unlike other products, PlanDone’s focus is on completing projects and bringing clarity and accountability to project planning in a whole new way. Headquartered in Petaluma, California, Please welcome Founder and CEO, AJ Wacaser, and CTO, Mark Riedesel.

Quick question: How many people here have ever had a project that was overdue?
More appropriately, How many people are late right NOW?

The main reason projects are overdue is the lack of clear, concise communication.

Recently, employees and contractors have been asked to do more with less and multi-task in a challenging economic environment. Most have no formal training as professional project managers and many are left to use linear, static tools and processes in isolated meeting spaces, both physical and electronic, without any relevant communications.

PlanDone was selected by the 2008 Petaluma River Fest planning committee to assist in event coordination for volunteers in distributed locations. Many times the process of assigning tasks to volunteers is difficult because of their competing schedules and inability to make meetings. Too often, event committees must spend a portion of their time bringing everyone up to speed on the current status of the project and ask for reports on action items.

Planning events are slightly different that creating project or action plans because the end result is an experience whether it's a wedding, speaker, environmental cleanup or corporate retreat. Event planners, like project managers, have to create deliverables, manage many details and stick to deadlines. Event planners who are more organized - get more business and referrals.

An action plan is different from most other plans in that it has built-in deliverables. Assigning and executing deliverables is not difficult, but when deadlines matter, how a team communicates those action steps leading to the goals of the action plan makes all of the difference. Your team's timelines depend on clear visibility into tasks and action steps in order to foresee and to proactively respond to issues as they arise, keeping everyone on the same page.

Here's a quick guide to help you build your action plan now.

One of the great things about working at the Petaluma Marina is the connection to the Petaluma River. The river, which is actually a tidal slough, has a rich history when Petaluma was the "egg basket to the world" in the late 1800s supplying the growing city of San Francisco. Today, the river is experiencing a revival as downtown lofts and redevelopment move in to provide residents a recreational and aesthetic use. Other residents are living rent-free along the river.