02/16/2018 by Jackie Dembinsky Tags: project management software award, roads and bridges, winner
Dear Readers,
We’re extremely pleased to share this news. Roads and Bridges magazine’s “Contractor’s Choice for Project Management Software” silver award has been given to FastTrack Schedule!
If you’re unfamiliar with Roads and Bridges magazine, here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia to catch you up.
“Roads & Bridges magazine is a 107-year-old trade publication serving construction and maintenance professionals, as well as heavy equipment manufacturers … It provides industry news, information on relevant equipment and safety recommendations and has been cited in studies of American infrastructure.
Roads & Bridges works with associations such as the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), and American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA).
Roads & Bridges presents multiple annual awards and produces yearly Top 10 Roads & Top 10 Bridges Lists. As of July 2013, Roads & Bridges had 61,000 subscribers for its print edition.”
The only way to make Road’s and Bridges’s Top Ten Lists in any of their annual categories is for actual persons in the construction field to submit nominations and votes.
Thank you for submitting our software for the award and for your votes. It means the world to us.
Thank you,
The Team at AEC Software, Inc.
01/02/2018 by Jackie Dembinsky
Through the smoke and the flames, a voice cries out…
“Does anyone have a fire extinguisher?!?”
Yep. There is always a joker in the crowd.
The icing on one cake says, “FastTrack Schedule, 30 YEARS!” while the second one reads, “AEC Software Inc, 33 Years.” THAT IS A LOT OF CANDLES!!
The 3-O is BIG for anyone, but for a software company and its product, that is an almost unheard of milestone that very few, if any reach.
Continue reading “Make a Wish & Say Happy Birthday”
12/19/2017 by Jackie Dembinsky Tags: FastTrack Schedule, Merry Christmas, project management, Santa, Secret
For 30 years, we have kept a secret. On Christmas Eve in 1987, Santa visited AEC Software Inc.’s office… when we were still celebrating our annual Holiday party and the upcoming launch of a brand new product (FastTrack Schedule).

The poor man was so upset. He was already behind schedule with deliveries and thanks to our party, he was going to need to make a repeat visit to our office! Thankfully, we spotted him before he could sneak away so he wouldn’t have to come back again. he told us how behind he was with his deliveries, all of us at AEC Software, looked at each other with a brilliant idea. We could help Santa!
And so, with a twinkle in our eyes, we gave Santa a very special gift.
Santa received the first official copy of FastTrack Schedule and a lifetime of free training and software updates.
This Christmas, we received a thank you note from Santa and permission to share his story with you.
As our oldest customer (he’s 1,748 years old and has been using FastTrack Schedule for 30 years), Santa is very special to us.
Happy Holidays!
AEC Software, Inc.
“You can’t stay on schedule if you don’t have one!”
11/16/2017 by Jackie Dembinsky Tags: Free Template, Hostest with the mostest, Thanksgiving
An American tradition for nearly 400 years, Thanksgiving’s feast is no ordinary Thursday night dinner. It is the culmination of a lot of work to nurture, hunt, and collect enough food for the upcoming winter.
Today, most people only need to harvest their local grocery store to obtain all the culinary ingredients for making this meal. But with all the basting and brining, cooking and thawing, food safety times and temperatures, stirring gravy and… (what is that burning!?!), might have you taking a second look at that normal Thursday night frozen meal aisle.

Continue reading “Gobble ’till you Wobble!”
11/02/2017 by Mark Dembinsky Tags: building a plan, getting started, project manager
Congratulations! Your proposal won, and the boss made you the PM for that big project.
Now it is time to start stamping metal and shipping boxes… or more likely, not. Jumping straight in, without a schedule or even a plan, is a false economy for fools that have yet to learn luck strikes both ways. Often that first step is imagined as more difficult than it needs to be and is skipped, resulting in a fall later.

Continue reading “Getting Started, by Planning to Plan”
10/30/2017 by Jackie Dembinsky
AEC Software is happy to announce an update to its award-winning Project Management software, FastTrack Schedule: Version 10.2.1.

Continue reading “FastTrack Schedule 10.2.1 for macOS High Sierra is here!”
10/25/2017 by Jackie Dembinsky Tags: employee retention, team building, workplace culture
Humans are social animals, yet in many office spaces, eating lunch at your desk alone is the norm. It is possible with some jobs, to go to the office, work all day and go home without having said a single word verbally to anyone there.

Continue reading “Building Teams with Food”
10/19/2017 by Brad Egeland Tags: fix troubled project, weak link
In Part 1 of this two-part series on examining on a project that is going south on you, we looked at an out of control budget scenario and actions to take in response. Here, in Part 2, we’ll examine the ever growing issues list scenario and the problems of disengaged team resources or a disengaged project client and how to hopefully remedy those situations proactively.

Continue reading “What is Wrong with My Project? (Part 2 of 2)”
10/13/2017 by Brad Egeland Tags: project success criteria, remediation, weak link
What Makes a Project Successful?
This answer is subjective to each project manager, and generally, consists of:
- On-time delivery.
- On-budget delivery.
- Quality.
My answer to this question does not contain “quality,” instead, I use “customer satisfaction” in my concept of three key project success determiners because the customer needs to be satisfied with the end product no matter what.

Continue reading “What is Wrong with My Project? (Part 1 of 2)”
10/05/2017 by Brad Egeland Tags: best practices for troubled projects, leadership, stable
Can good project management and best practices save a project?
Yes. Good, focused project management can save a troubled project engagement – there’s little question about that. Best practices applied well by an experienced project manager and team, will nearly always have a favorable impact and more often than not, outcome. But can it save a company? Well…that’s an entirely different question. A whole company – beyond just the project issues? Let’s consider…

Continue reading “Your Company Has Problems – Can PM Save It?”