6 Tips, Tricks, and Tools for an Easier Project Management Process

Every 20 seconds, organizations around the world lose $1 million collectively due to poor project management practices. This equates to a jaw-dropping $2 trillion a year.

Ineffective implementation of Business Proposal strategies is more common than you may imagine. Only 2.5% of companies globally complete every project they set out to do. It’s a scary statistic, but it shows the importance of staying on top of the project management process in your organization.

As the project manager in your company, you’re ultimately responsible for keeping your projects on track, particularly in times of pressure. You must be able to effectively balance the budget, deadlines, and quality to achieve expected results. Doing so can prove stressful, even during seemingly simple projects.

So, what strategies should you adopt to keep all projects on track? Which project management tools can help you stay organized?

If you are asking yourself these questions, you’ve come to the right place. In this comprehensive guide, we discuss the best tips and tools for managing your project processes.

1. Set Project Expectations Early

At the start of the project, make sure every member of your team knows what is expected for the project. For instance, your team should be aware of the quality of work you expect, how you’ll all be communicating with each other, and which members are responsible for which tasks.

When every member of your team is aware of your expectations, there’s less confusion or assumptions from the beginning. It keeps everyone working towards a common goal.

2. Define the Scope of Work

Another key initial step in the project management process is to define the scope of the project clearly. Start by defining the deliverables. What outputs and outcomes do you expect?

Calculate the costs and set a budget if it’s not already been set for you. Understand how long you have to finish the project and what human, physical, and financial resources you have at your disposal.

Define the stakeholders in the project. That means identifying the people involved in the project. Understand who the decision-makers, influencers, and recipients are in the project.

3. Follow an Appropriate Template

Don’t try reinventing the wheel when you’re managing a project. Source suitable document templates that can help you stay organized. There are many task management tools that provide such templates.

You may also want to keep a diary or log of your work that contains notes of the ways you tackle certain challenges during the project. This way, you’ll have information to reference in case similar issues arise in the course of the project.

4. Review the Progress Against Your Project Plan

A project plan serves as a roadmap for the project. It contains detailed information regarding the approved schedule, scope, and cost of the project. Use this plan to review how you’re progressing, asking such questions as:

• Is the team completing tasks effectively?
• Based on your working pace, do the original deadlines still seem realistic, or should you put more focus on certain tasks?
• Are the necessary resources for completing the project still available?

Keep reviewing your progress regularly, using the feedback and updates you get from your team. Address any issues that arise and consider adjusting the project plan if necessary.

5. Set Achievable Time Limits

The best way to ensure things get done in a timely way is to set realistic timeframes against certain project tasks. People tend to do things more efficiently if a large piece of work gets broken up into smaller tasks that have set milestones.

Be sure to assign tasks to workers with the right skill set to get them done on time. If you set unrealistic timeframes, you may be placing unnecessary stress on your project resources. The result is unsatisfactory work quality and team burnout.

6. Use the Right Project Management Tools

Thanks to technology, there’s a variety of invaluable project management software that can help make your project management easier. The best tools are light-weight and easy to use. Let’s look at some of the best picks in the market at the moment.

Trello

Ask any project manager for a simple project management solution, and chances are, they’ll mention Trello. It’s a user-friendly app that helps you keep tabs on everything happening in your project. The tool offers you a shared perspective on all your projects and tasks.

Users of this tool love the easy-to-use, visually appealing design. You don’t need any special training to set up workflows, allocate tasks, or upload documents.

Apps like Trello are the best for staying updated on how tasks are progressing.

TeamGantt

If what you want is seamless scheduling, then TeamGantt is an ideal solution. Its timeline chart may look a little complex at first, but they’re actually quite simple and self-explanatory. This task management tool allows users to easily create their own charts by simply dragging and drop.

TeamGantt is especially helpful for project managers who like envisioning their progress with a timeline. The software is useful for getting everything in one central place.

Timely

Timely is one of the best tools for coordinating project resources and workloads. As you already know, good time management is critical to effective project management.

With Timely, you can automatically track time. This helps account for how you’re spending project time and budget.

The software keeps all your employees’ logged activity in a central dashboard. This way, you can ensure that every member of your team is meeting your project’s priorities.

By tracking how you’re spending financial resources in real-time, you have full visibility at all times. The tool is unmatched when it comes to staying within deadlines, seeing which members are heading for burnout, and identifying who is available to help out.

Improve Your Project Management Process With Our Tips

The project management process can be a challenging one, especially when it comes to making watertight plans, coordinating resources, and keeping things within budget. By applying the right strategies and using available tools to facilitate the process, you can ensure all your projects stay on track.

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