Over the next few weeks on the blog, we’re going to take a deep dive into one of the trendiest business topics of the last few years – Project Management.
While the concept of project management isn’t a new thing (It’s been around since the pyramids were built), it’s come to the fore in recent years as more businesses adopt an agile methodology for getting tasks completed. Let’s start with the basics; what is project management?
What is Project Management?
A successful business usually has a few projects on the go. Whether that’s improvements to customer management, inventory control improvements or infrastructure overhauls, most companies are typically in project mode. With so much on the go, it’s so easy to get lost in tasks and allocate time inefficiently. This is why project management has become so attractive to businesses, with many hiring a dedicated member of staff to oversee the entire process.
What to Look for in a Project Manager
The individual you hire to manage your projects should be a jack of all trades. You’ll need them to be comfortable wearing several hats and liaising with multiple teams at one. They are an individual comfortable with allocating resources, budgets and deadlines, with enough technical proficiency to understand any logistical hurdles that spring up during the process. A comparison that’s apt to use for a project manager is a sports coach. They are the one who devises the game plan for the project and steers your team towards victory.
Benefits of Project Management
Quicker Turnaround
We’ve all sent emails that take an age to get a reply to. A project manager creates an accountable link between stakeholders and successfully eliminates long response times. Clients like having an individual they can go to and hold accountable for changes, concerns and queries relating to a project. As part of their role, project managers deliver regular updates on goals and performance to clients and business leaders.
Identify What’s Important
A result of this increased, efficient communication is that clients can make their concerns and needs clear to the project manager. This allows them to readily identify what’s ‘important’ to a client, allowing them to action it as a priority. This has an additional benefit of taking stress away from team members, allowing them to focus on the assigned task and not have to manage expectations.
Improves Coordination Between Teams
How your staff communicate with each other is just as important as how they communicate externally. Rather than staff approaching senior management with conflicting concerns, they can use the project manager as a conduit. They will weight up the competing concerns before approaching senior management to provide a full picture. The project manager will also have an understanding of the workload of each department so is in a unique position to provide a balanced viewpoint.
Optimize Processes
This awareness of workloads also enables the project manager to cut out inefficiencies and eliminate steps that are hindering productivity. For example, the project manager might notice one team is spending time on a project that does nothing to boost the bottom line of the business. They can instruct the team to park that project and reallocate the resources to a more productive use.
Find Out More
Need help with your small business project management? GD Commerce is standing by to provide advice on how you can improve your processes and take your business to the next level. Contact us and we’ll be happy to set up a one-on-one consultation.
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