Insights

04 20 2017

As a project manager, I am called upon to act in a few different capacities: liaison, scheduler, historian, inventory control manager—even disciplinarian. It’s critical to have an eye on what has been completed, and what is coming fast down the pike. I need to know what tasks I own, and what tasks I have assigned. I must be able to communicate to the team, outside partners, and clients how we got “here” and our plan for getting “there.” Relying on memory can be a recipe for disaster. Enter project management software.

We have roughly 25 projects in full production at any given time, with anywhere from 4 to 10 internal and external team members involved along the road to completion. That’s a lot of collaboration (which we love)! But with that comes a lot of planning, scheduling, resource management, and communication. And did I mention constantly moving deadlines? At StratComm, we find that using project management software can keep our team organized, accountable, and able to meet our goals on time.

Whether we are working on a complex, ongoing integrated campaign, or a quarterly magazine with a hard deadline, it involves multiple tasks assigned to writers, editors, designers, developers, project managers, and our business development team. Project management software helps to make sure every team member has access to the key details of the project, the latest version of all documents, and a real-time view into the status of the project.

Building a reasonable timeline for a project is a key responsibility. I often take a step back and come up with a giant task list, chunking tasks up into phases or milestones, and assigning them to team members. From there, a timeline can be created with a start date, an end date, and deadlines for deliverables that I must monitor to keep on track. Many tasks will have subtasks, most with dependencies. Thankfully, project management software can build a schedule with that in mind, so a quick keystroke can reflow a timeline and adjust dates as needed. All stakeholders can view the calendar, status updates, versions, and final docs in one place. Searching through email threads is so 2005!

Project management software has greatly improved communication with the people we collaborate with. We use it daily to share ideas, links to news and research, and even to raise a red flag about a problem during a particular project. Our team has started using the calendar functionality to plan vacation coverage.

There are many useful software tools to help set measurable goals and shepherd a project along to successful completion. Tasks can be tracked by using such ubiquitous software as Outlook and Excel, or by investing in more integrated tools such as SmartSheets, Wrike and Basecamp. The right program can serve as an online checklist that can help you stay organized, on task, and ultimately help you cross the finish line on time and within budget.

AUTHOR

Alison Lutes
Project Manager at StratComm