The Ultimate Guide to Online Project Management
Executive Summary In today s world, going to world is less about being at a particular location, chatting with peers, and being in the office. Instead, it is more about getting things done and completing projects regardless of where you are. With increasing popularity of remote working, it has become an absolute necessity for businesses to invest in cloud-based team and project management tools to facilitate collaboration and achieve the desired results in a reasonable amount of time. Research suggests that more than 77 percent of organizations use a project management or collaboration tool to lower costs, improve efficiency, and foster customer satisfaction. However, despite the high adoption rate, these solutions remain largely underutilized. While there are a number of factors that contribute to the underutilization of collaboration tools, the lack of understanding of the features and capabilities of the software remains one of the primary reasons managers struggle when it comes to managing projects and teamwork online. This whitepaper addresses this challenge by outlining the three phases of managing a project online, and different features that managers can use to ensure efficient and smooth flow of processes. Beginning with a brief overview of how collaboration software drives business value, the whitepaper highlights the strategic importance of investing in an online collaboration tool. Next, the whitepaper categorizes the project management process into three steps and provides a detailed description of different features that can be used at each step to accelerate progress towards the ultimate objective. 2
Introduction In order to thrive and survive in today s hypercompetitive and increasingly chaotic global economy, companies are turning to project management to increase the efficiency and reliability of their processes, make optimal use of the available resources, and consistently deliver business results. But contrary to what most people think, project management does not simply refer to the effective management of tasks. Instead, it is a management strategy that encompasses the entire organization, guiding project execution at every level in order to deliver value at each step along the way. Research suggests that companies that invest time, money, and resources in the project management expertise of their workforce, as well as in purchasing supporting tools and software, enjoy numerous advantages. Effective communication and project management are known to lower costs, improve efficiency, enhance employee, customer, and stakeholder satisfaction, and offer greater a competitive advantage. PwC, one of the Big Four accounting firms, conducted a survey to study the project management expertise of 213 companies from 26 different countries. The survey found that 77 percent of companies have a documented, companywide project management methodology. It was also reported that organizations that did not have a project management methodology exhibited poor performance on a higher number of projects as compared to the companies that used project management software1. But despite the benefits, project management tools remain highly underutilized. An effective strategy to increase the adoption and utilization of project management tools is to invest in cloud-based software that offers easy accessibility to the users and enable online collaboration among employees. 1 Insights and Trends: Current Program and Project Management Practices, PwC https://www.pwc.com/us/en/peoplemanagement/assets/programme_project_management_survey.pdf 3
Making Optimal Use of Online Project Management Software Project management is not just about controlling costs. Instead, it is about adding value to the business. Therefore, a strategy should be developed to ensure easy implementation and optimal use of the group collaboration software. While the functionality and features offered by different web-based collaboration and project management software vary considerably, we can divide the process of their implementation and use into three main steps: - Planning - Implementation - Monitoring A project manager is responsible to ensure that each of these stages of the processes are completed efficiently in order to get their desired return from the software. Planning Developing clear objectives for the implementation of project management software is essential to facilitate easy adoption of the software by your team. Some of the most common reasons businesses use online collaboration software include: - To improve team communication - To improve product quality - To ensure on-time, on-budget delivery of projects - To enhance customer satisfaction 2 Once you have developed the objectives, it is important to communicate them to your team members to ensure that everyone s on the same page and focusing their efforts on a common objective. Online collaboration tools offer a number of useful features through which a manager can communicate the objectives to their team. Some of these include: 2 Project Management User Research Report, Capterra http://www.capterra.com/project-management-software/user-research/ 4
- Chat or DM Group chat makes collaboration with the team easier by providing a shared space where you can spitball new ideas, share updates, etc. These more informal channels also give people the opportunity to bring a little personality to their interactions, helping to build camaraderie and foster a positive work culture. - File Sharing Project management and online collaboration software offer significant cost savings to companies by reducing redundancy and rework. Using a single platform to share research, updates, and other information keeps everyone connected and updated of the progress. By sharing files directly from your collaboration software and keeping them in one place, you also reduce the time spent by your employees searching for files in email attachments. - Bulletin Boards Bulletin boards are the preferred tool to share information on matters that concern a large group of people. This is a virtual place to post notifications so that the entire team can read the updates and share their feedback. What s more, since bulletin boards keep comments and feedback provided by team members on a particular topic in one thread, they make it easier for the manager to review the team s input without spending hours looking for it in a cluttered inbox, or losing it forever when someone hijacks an email thread with a new topic. 5
Implementation Implementation is perhaps the most crucial stage of introducing an online collaboration system. Without an adequate implementation strategy, businesses may not only remain unsuccessful at realizing their objectives of investing in a project management tool, but also face unexpected delays in the delivery of projects. There are a few proven ways project managers can eliminate bottlenecks, ensure smooth flow of operations, and minimize unanticipated delays. - Profiles Brief profiles of all the team members along with their contact information not only help employees get acquainted with their peers, but also allow them to contact each other and prevent delays that may arise due to the unavailability of a team member. It s also helpful to include the contact information of preferred vendors so everyone is working with the same approved contractors and helping streamline workflow. - Chain of Command A project manager needs to clearly lay out how things will be done. Developing a chain of command or outlining who will be reporting to whom is important to promote collaboration and avoid chaos. Definitely post an org chart to help everyone identify the scope of each other s duties, tell them where to go for information, and eliminate duplication of efforts. - Project Milestones Milestones not only keep your team members on track, but are useful to you as a project manager as they help you determine whether or not your team is making optimal progress towards the ultimate goal. When developing project milestones, make sure that you present the following information to your team members in a clear and concise manner: 6
o o o o What work needs to be accomplished to reach a particular milestone Who is responsible for performing the work When the deliverables are produced and delivered in each phase Who is responsible for the review and approval of each deliverable You should also be padding your deadlines. This means leaving a cushion for troubleshooting issues when they arise. And they definitely will arise from time to time. Once you have created the milestones and set the deadlines, you can use the following features of your collaboration software to communicate them to your team and ensure that they are working in the right direction. - Action Items According to McKinsey Global Institute, employees spend about 20 percent of their work hours searching for details and tracking down their colleagues for answers 3. Action Items allow project managers to assign a particular task to the right person or persons online. This way, they will get an email notification and be updated about the activity they are required to perform. They can also receive valuable input on the task from their colleagues through a commenting feature. - Calendar A group calendar that s viewable to each team member can be really useful in keeping the team updated of the approaching deadlines. You can also set notifications to remind your team members about an upcoming milestone. It s a good idea to attach relevant materials, like parking instructions or meeting agendas, directly to the event itself so people don t have to spend time looking for them. 3 The Social Economy: Unlocking Value and Productivity Through Social Technologies, McKinsey Global Institute http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/high-tech/ourinsights/the-social-economy 7
- Activity feed A great way to stay on top of everything is working off software that shows you all your projects activity in a single timeline. That way you have a reliable command center where you ll never miss a beat. - Image Gallery We re all human and at times all of us feel stress. So don t be afraid to lighten the mood if it feels called for and fits your corporate culture. The family that plays together, stays together, as they say, so don t be afraid to share that hilarious picture or meme wherever your platform keeps images. Monitoring You can give your team members all the tools in the world, but the key to implementing any new software successfully is managing it actively. Make sure you post information and material on the platform that people need to access on a regular basis. The best way to get people using a software is to keep useful documents, task lists and schedules there. Keep track of the activity level of your group members my monitoring an activity feed. If you don t see enough action, remind people the tool is there to be used. You may also want to consider discouraging the use of other, less effective, and less transparent channels of communication. For example, tell your team that no emails are to be sent in relation to a project that all communication should take place on the collaboration system instead for reliable trackability. 8
Conclusion Your ability to manage a project in an efficient and effective manner depends greatly on your choice of collaboration software. While the selection of a software solution depends greatly on the precise needs and preferences of a business, there are a few features that are common to all high-performance collaboration tools. Intraboom is one of the tools that offers all the features mentioned in this whitepaper. To gain an in-depth understanding of the capabilities of Intraboom and learn how it can add value to your business, please visit https://www.intraboom.com/features. 9