Do you have what it takes to be a project manager? Are you having difficulty in balancing your project management tasks? Well, look no further. This article talks about the three main things you need to balance in your project management tasks by using project management software and more.
With so many software that boasts they can help you out with your project management tasks, it’s hard to decide which one to use. Each one has its own features and benefits. But which one can be advantageous to your business? Let’s talk first about the project management software tools before going any further.
What Are Its Benefits?
The software can be beneficial to all kinds of business, whether big or small. It definitely can have a solution that’s right for you too. Below are some of the benefits of project management software:
- Collaboration in Your Teams. When you collaborate with your team, it promotes teamwork and improved communication. Also, it promotes positive development and growth in your team. They’ll be able to perform faster and fosters good relationships, which commands respect and inspiration to one another.
- Helps You Stay in Schedule. Each member of the team follows a schedule to contribute to the project completion.
- Provides Better Customer Satisfaction. A customer is happy when they know the progress of their projects. Because the software helps you stay in schedule, your projects are done on time, which makes your customers happy. This can lead to repeat customers in the future.
- Track Projects. What better way to find out if your projects are working or not? An advantage of the software is that you can keep track of your projects in one glance and concentrate on the ones that need most help in.
- Quality of Service. You’ll be able to pinpoint what’s working for the project and what’s not, eliminating any issues you’ll be facing with. This leads to a better quality of service.
These benefits, together with sound project management strategies will help you target and achieve your project goals at the soonest possible time without sacrificing quality and money. This means that project management software for small business can greatly benefit them. It’s a win-win situation every time.
What Are Its Features?
Each business has its own unique business environment and has different needs. With so many features a software can offer, what are the key features you need to have? There are five main features of project management software that is the most sought after features when you’re considering buying one.
- Project Planning. The ability to create, modify, and delete tasks is the most important part of a project management campaign. In this way, you and your team will know the latest tasks or changes that might occur. Some tools also provide user groups and permissions so that you can control who is able to make changes in the tasks. The task details can be displayed and filtered depending on the task type.
- Task Delegation. As a project manager, you can have difficulties in delegating tasks to your team especially if you have a big team. By using the software, it will help remind you and your team the task priorities, its deadlines and the level of difficulty a task has. Always make sure that there is communication between members so that no one will do the same task twice and save time. The team also should update each other on what their task progress is, so that they can help one another if they have any issues with the task. The good part about communication in this software is that it is done in real time.
- Scheduling and Time Management Capabilities. Depending on the software, scheduling can be done by adding entries one at a time while others can be used in a form view. But the one main thing it does it that you’ll be able to focus on your goals on that day and check out your other team members schedule as well if you need to set up a meeting.
- Load Balancing. Using the software will make sure that the workload of everyone is fair and workable. The team would be happy and can share their work equally. This can help greatly to finish the project on time. The future success of your projects will depend on what kind of balance the tasks you’ll make. It helps you to determine your actual versus planned project situation and align the project to what seems fit. You’ll be able to see a clearer view of your projects. The software also helps you in your decision-making as it has all the information in just one place. Your decisions can be made more accurately and be more optimized for success.
- Reporting and Documenting Capabilities. In order to know the progress of your projects, you need to monitor its stages and find out if they are still within the time frame. You’ll be able to see which tasks have been completed or not and let the team know which ones they need to focus on.
The Triple Constraint
Now, let’s go to the three things you need to focus on as a project manager. The first thing you need to know is the triple constraint. Now, what’s that? The triple constraint is a model used mostly by veteran project managers. It is very well known and may also be called the Project Management Triangle. It’s supposed to be an asset for project managers if you understand fully about its role and implications in a project.
The most important thing you need to take note of in a triple constraint is that even with the best project management software, you are not able to change one factor without affect the others. They are interrelated to one another and you need to be able to make decisions wisely. Make sure to set your goals and follow them to know which one to focus on in your triple constraint
Time
Let’s start with the first one, which is time. Time can be very tricky because you can’t change time once it has been used. If you would like to focus on time, you need to set a time frame. This is referred to as the real time you need to set when creating a project. It should be realistic enough to correlate with the requirements or goals (scope), and the resources used (cost). The best thing to do with time is to start your work with a calendar or spreadsheet. Mark down each task you need to complete. Take into consideration what needs to be done and how long it takes to finish it. It will greatly help you determine your priorities, what your current focus should be and what will be your next task. It also lets you know what tasks still need assistance. A good project management software can help you and your team manages your schedule and tasks efficiently, meeting your deadlines.
Cost
Cost is how you can predict the amount of cash a project will use. You also have to take into consideration miscellaneous costs such labor rates for freelancers or contractors, resources, taxes, risk estimates and a lot more. This includes everything that has a monetary value that covers the overall costs the project has. Check out project management software reviews to see which software can help you reduce costs and manages your finances well.
Scope
Scope is basically all of the tasks you need to do in order to create and complete a project. These are all the elements included in a project. It has to be identified firsthand to know if a project is viable or not and if it could be successful. This is also looking at the possible outcome of a project. You need to make a list of the project’s deliverables and should be taken to consideration by the team.
A subset of scope is quality. It just means that most of the time, high quality projects have a high cost. And low quality projects are cheaper. A good project manager should be able to manage the scope of the project and if any changes will occur, can also manage how it affects your cost and time. Use a project management tool to help you balance all three of them.
These three are often referred to in the phrase of “On time, on budget and on spec (specification/scope). They are all correlated to one another. For example, the amount of time you put in tasks will determine the quality of the project. Doing all of this plus using the best project management software can help you and your project management team in your production. You’ll be able to manage your team well and employ strategies that can benefit you as you complete your tasks. However, remember that the software is just there as a guide, similar to a road map. It main purpose is to help you become more efficient in your tasks, gives you vital information in your decision-making and saves you time and money.
When buying, make sure that you take note of all of these things to make your projects more successful. You can always read CrowdReviews.com’s project management software reviews to help you in finding the features you’re looking for in the software.
Trevor Price
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