5 Essential Techniques for Better Project Management

There are a lot of challenges that you will face as a budding project manager. Even if you have been doing this job for years, you are probably met with new and exciting challenges daily. This is because the technology world keeps developing and changing – and so does the way we manage clients and projects. But if you are starting – then you are in for a ride! Growing your business means constantly doing a juggling act with various projects. In this article, we’ll explore the top 5 essential techniques for better project management. There’s also similar management tools that you shoudl try.

However, you should not stress about this! There are so many things that you can do which will make your project management better! Essential techniques and new approaches are developed each day – but some things always stay true! For example, most of the tried and true techniques involve milestones and client project management tools. Today, we take a look at the five most efficient and easiest ones you can use to boost your projects without stress!

5 Best Techniques for Better Project Management

Make sure you are preparing for your projects.

Sometimes, especially if you have been dealing with managing projects for a while, we tend to just into the work head-first. But it is important to step back and go back to the roots. Before every project, you should take some time to prepare for it. This way, you will not only be able to develop it better, but managing it will be easier too.

So first, set up a meeting with your team members and talk to them. Your goal is to learn more about who they are and what they can do. Do this even if you have worked with the same team for a while. Maybe there is something new they are inspired to try doing to bring completely new energy into the team. It would help if you also talked to the stakeholders. Knowing what the expectations and the goals of the project are will have you better manage it.

The main point is to get everyone on the same page. Of course, you will need to be the mediator between the clients and the team members, but if everyone has the same expectations, your job managing the project will be easier. The type of meeting, though, depends on you. If you are working remotely, this can be over the phone or online. You can do it face-to-face if working within a company. Whatever the case, this is an old technique that many people forget, but it is essential to better managing projects.

Learn about the PERT technique for project management

PERT, or Program Evaluation Review Technique, is how to calculate the amount of time you will need for each project you are dealing with. This technique is great for those who love visualizing stuff. The main parts of it are the charts which hold a lot of significant information.

For example, you will find an outline of your assignment on them. With it, you can better control the tasks in the project, set up the milestones and the deadlines, and much more! And since we mentioned them, milestones are presented as nodes. Then, you can connect them with lines or arrows to figure out the order of steps and tasks to take. You should also add the time you will need to reach each of them.

This technique is great for visualizing your project. Having things listed on paper is good but putting them in space gives you a whole new dimension of project management.

Track the team’s progress at all times

Tracking time is an essential part of every project management. There are many benefits to doing it correctly. First, this is one of how you can measure the progress of your team. Second, you can easily improve efficiency this way by focusing on the tasks that are slow – or improve the project as a whole where you see ample time for work.

This technique will also help you meet deadlines and keep your team in check. This is important for client communication – no shareholders will be happy if you are late or your team is dragging along. Tracking the progress also helps to report and giving feedback to the clients – sometimes even immediately as things happen.

Luckily, this is not hard to do. Nowadays, many useful tools can help you track time as things happen. Nifty, for example, lets you both communicate with your team and follow them along as they do each task or reach milestones. It also helps create Gantt charts and Kanban boards, which again help organize your team’s timeline and workflow.

Use good project management tools.

One of the best techniques for better management these days is to use a good tool. Unfortunately, there is so much software on the internet that can sometimes be hard to choose from – but getting the right one will be essential to boosting your project management. Nifty, a savvy Wunderlist alternative – as we mentioned – is one of these tools.

With it, you can automatize a lot of project management tasks. Your clients can, for example, get an insight into the project on a deeper level, so you can skip on giving them overviews and reports. You can easily create milestones and track your team’s progress and talk to them and get an immediate response. This speed is what makes a good project manager great!

Budgeting is another important aspect of project management

The final technique you need to use for better project management might seem obvious – but it is still beneficial. If you want to lead a project correctly, then you need how to manage your resources. This is a lifeline of your project – once you run out of funds, you cannot do the project.

Experts recommend you access the budget at least once per week. This way, you will have a good understanding of what is happening to your resources and how you are spending them. In addition, you can adjust your later budget if you are keeping them on track if you notice you have already gone overboard that week. This way, you are using your budgeting skills for better project management – and the stakeholders will be more than happy with that!