Project Managers

[Frankster]

Any of you manage a group of people for projects? I think Dan does, so maybe you give your suggestions here.
What I want are tips:

-To motivate an indivudual (or group) to not procrastinate and be very motivated to work on a project and get it finished in a fixed time frame.

-To keep the motivation up when a project drags on for long periods of time and people might get tired of working on the same damn thing.

Anything trick/tips that helps to get projects run smoothly and get quick turn around times.

[SquareHead]

-To motivate an indivudual (or group) to not procrastinate and be very motivated to work on a project and get it finished in a fixed time frame.

Incentives

-To keep the motivation up when a project drags on for long periods of time and people might get tired of working on the same damn thing.

Outing with the group to blow off steam... I.e. bowling beer drinking...

[Frankster]

Yeah, I should have mentioned, it's a virtual environment hehe. It's internet work, maybe I could pay online bowling with them haha.
What kind of incentives? Like a pay bonus if the finish it by "x" date?

[harryhoudini66]

I manage a group of 85 people. When I get back from the gym, I will tell you what we do at my job.

In the mean time, look in to the "Fish" philosophy.

[SquareHead]

You could fire one of them and get me to work for you instead.

[Frankster]

Thanks for the advice so far. SH, you are programmer?

[Berserker]

I am project engineer. I don't have any people under me right now though. Its tough to motivate people. The best way is to get along with them. So when you do ask for something they don't drag there heels.
Though chaining them to there desk is probably the best way.

[drew]

Originally posted by Berserker
I am project engineer. I don't have any people under me right now though. Its tough to motivate people. The best way is to get along with them. So when you do ask for something they don't drag there heels.
Though chaining them to there desk is probably the best way.
I'm also a project engineer. I find the only way to keep people motivated is to ask daily about their progress, and keep them informed of how vital they are to the success of the project.

It also helps to have the support of your VPs, which I do.

Also, I'm younger than everyone on the team. Sometimes it feels as though they don't take me seriously, but I don't let it phase me. I've got plenty of successful projects under my belt :)

[aidano]

Deadlines, milestones and targets. I work a lot better when I'm under pressure, but there also must some reward at the end of it. For me it's money and good experience to have on my resume.

If your programmers are bored maybe you could switch around some of their work? I'm working on a project right now where we've swapped work between coders and it keeps them more interested and improves quality too. Not always possible though.