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In the current world abuzz with people in their 20s who are utilizing their creative ideas to give birth to a company, or as commonly called ‘startups’, a sense of youthfulness has attached itself with the corporate world. Compared to the scenario a few years back, college pass outs aren’t equally willing to go through the grill of competing for placements in a company, and thereafter competing for a better position in the company’s hierarchy.

This veering in culture has consequently led to a shift in how the current corporate organizations are functioning with regards to their office culture and ethics.

The Project Management Institute (PMI) publishes reports on the project, program and portfolio management since 2006. These reports provide multiple valuable tips for the business and project managers to understand the trends and needs of the current project scenarios.

In the recently published report on the 2017 survey, PMI has provided results by analyzing both the big players as well as the under performers. The results showed that in order to become the big player or the champion the companies need complete projects within scope and achieve around 80% of business goals.

From the full survey report, it becomes clear that there are certain factors that can make or break the project. Having an understanding of these factors and using reliable tools is essential to becoming the champions of project management.

Here are a few important factors will help you achieve the desired project goals this year.

1. Bring strategic competency in the project management

 The strategic competency is what helps the project get desired goals. According to the report, when companies align all of their project management strategies together, then, it increases the rate of achieving goals by 38%. It reduces the rates of failure by 33% and allows the project to reach the preset destination.

In order to utilize the project management plan to its maximum, you need a strategic approach. This includes the use of latest technologies such as a iOS project management app and others as well.

 2. Smart money management

According to PMI, the money management is the key to becoming a champion company. The companies wasting the minimal amount of money get better project performance. All of the champion companies in 2016 have found to be wasting very fewer amounts of money, which ultimately increased the success rates up to 92%.

The wastage of money has reduced as compared to 2015, which shows the path for the project managers. Having a quality plan and the right tools for execution can ensure the minimal amount of wastage.

 3. Improve execution with technology engagement

Technology tackling is also mentioned in the survey. The reliable technology has allowed the companies to get improved success rates around 59% to 62% in 2016. However, the strategy formulation and business disruption are mentioned as well. Along with that, the relations with the customers and efficiency in the operations were also found to have important roles in the success of the plan.

4. Train to improve talents

One other aspect found in the successful projects was the availability of the advanced technical skills, leadership skills, and management skills. The companies with improved training programs for the development of technical skills, leadership skills, and strategic skills got amazingly better results in the project management.

According to the report, the technical skill development training increased the success rates of the projects by 57%. And the leadership skills contributed 60% in the success rates. However, for the strategic and business management training, this percentage was found to be 51%.

It clearly shows how critical it is to improve the talent of the employees by providing them quality training in the relevant skills.

5. Using Agile methodologies

The use of agile methodologies increased in 2016. Around 20% of successful projects used this method and improved the results and success rates of the project.

Finally, the strategic approach and the availability of the right tools, such as android project management app can help you execute the project plan in a structured manner and get desired success rates.

The best ideas come from better teams. Divide and conquer!

The basic reason why project managers opt for banking upon the best project management tools is to collaborate and co-ordinate among one another while planning and scheduling a project, and later when executing it or meeting deadlines, generating reports and so on. The project management solution will take care of the total business for you. It will be used for monitoring the workflow, guiding the project managers, and obtaining information about the progress and outcome of the various parts of the projects. The software – based control enables you to draw your budget, supervise jobs entrusted to different members, doing all paper-work for you.

However, it is all about managing the people responsible to the project that are managed by the solutions. Because all processes and jobs and deadlines and schedules are, after all dealing in the managers and staff who are actually doing the work for the organisation.

The good web-based tools form the basis of communication in the in-office environment as well as with the clients and stakeholders for the projects. It is all in order to collaborate work together that such software may be used. But you need to bear in mind the fact that the use of the finest project management tools can lead to improvement and betterment of inter-personal relations among each and every individual involved in your projects.

As the head of an organisation your sole aim is to increase the motivation of the employees and build a relation with them based on trust and confidence. If the project management solutions help in building that, then what better outcome do you ask for?

Ways to collaborate work together with the help of project management software

Building up relations beyond the purview of professional exchanges is important to get better returns. The tools for collaboration will help you develop the soft skills of communication and provide a lot of mileage in teamwork by making each of the member’s work in close contact with each other. All the teams are tightly knit with one another. Such teamwork will ultimately lead to great levels of trust and confidence among the team members.

The best way to achieve pleasantry in relationships is by making the job assignments and work load distribution visible to everyone. If anyone has any issues regarding job allocation may be free to consult the scheduling and then contact the managers and get their problems resolved. There is no way that anyone in the office can hold any grudge against you for biasedness in workload distribution. Now that everything is available in black and white, even the most critical of the employees will have to remain silent when he / she find that jobs are distributed absolutely equitably.

There is also a positive advantage in making the staff interacts with each other directly rather than approach the project managers to solve every single bit of inter-personal problems in communication. They should be able to take on the challenges and share the pains as well as gains along with everybody else. No one in the office can possibly work in an isolated way while running a project. They need to share every single experience and discuss all the problems so as to come up with solutions. Every member should understand that they must collaborate work together and work as a team to make the project work.

The project managers also have some responsibilities towards building up the relations of trust and commitment. They must also share all relevant information regarding the project with the staff, so that they feel involved and important and a part of a big family where everyone works hand in hand. Moreover, there are suggestions coming from various quarters that may work miracles, and the element of transparency is liked by all. To be closer to your team members, always maintain a picture of yourself in all your profiles, so that they know the appearance of the person they are working with.

The best project managers touch lives of their team members beyond the professional purviews. The little gestures like wishing them on their special days like birthdays, anniversaries, holding small surprise parties to celebrate important occasions, both of the staff and pertaining to the project – can go a long way in building up a strong relationship that can work like magic while implementing the projects.

Why do you need project management solutions?

An ideal project management software is meant to help your organisation in planning and scheduling management of human and non-human resources, controlling and reducing project cost, checking and monitoring the progress of a project, systematising inter-office and intra- office communication for in-house as well as remote projects.

So, to put in a nutshell, a good project management solution can make it much easier and hassles-free to plan and execute your projects.

There are loads of team project management tools available in the market. To pick up the right one for your organisation – the one that is going to serve your purpose and make running your projects easy for you, is a difficult task altogether.

In this article, a few points have been highlighted to help you select the best project management tools.

Basic considerations before selecting project management tools

Before deciding on the ideal project management tool, there are certain questions that you must tease your brain with and let your project manager s discuss amongst themselves:

Ø  How are the communications pertaining to the project handled in your office? That is, what are the main modes of communication? Emails? Exchanging information through doc files and Excel spreadsheets, or some other personalised way?

Ø  Is the project running in multiple sites across the globe, needing mobility of management?

Ø  Have there been any instances of non-collaboration among team members while executing the project?

Ø  Do you feel that the team needs to get together more and exchange ideas than communicate on the virtual media?

Ø  Are you feeling a distinct gap in communication? Do you have to poke over and over again to know the latest project status?

Ø  What is the team size? More or less than 10?

Tips to select the best team project management solutions

The following are some aspects that should be considered while you make your choice about the task management software that your concern needs:

The very first consideration is how ready your organisation is with respect to the people employed and the processes involved.  In order to understand this, you need to brain-storm again as to who holds the stakes in the project and whether the project managers are in receipt of sufficient training in handling a workload of the quantum that the project offers?

If you come up unsatisfactory answers to the above questions, meaning that your staff is still not fully attuned to the requirements of the game and if there are a lot of statutory requirements to be fulfilled in the execution of the project, failing which there may be monetary and resource loss, then you have no other choice but to go for the best solution in project management that befits your requirements. The greater the complexity of the project in hand, the more the managers needs a comprehensive system to tie all ends of the project in a neat workflow.

It is very important for you to identify the problem areas while executing the project. There may be hindrances in the workflow and in delivery. You may need to streamline jobs so as to make the execution work smooth and hassles – free. If you have an automated system to create assignments, project plans, and execution strategies for you, then the inter-personal communication is also smoothened and everybody is happy.

Once your project planning is done accurately, then you can look ahead to achieve other milestones for the betterment of business. Saving time of the project managers automatically means that they can pay more time and attention to the ongoing work and you may then allow the clients visit project sites or your office to keep them updated with the progress of the project.

Based on these, you may now decide on the basic tools that must be present in the software that you require to manage your projects. You categorise these features into those that are absolutely essential, those which may add value and those which are a total no-no. Now, you are ready to pick up what you need from that software which is short-listed.

Extreme project management is all about planning the project in a flexible manner. Unlike traditional management process, extreme project management allows you to shift and modify the planning according to the situations that arise during the process.

In today’s business scenarios, sometimes the extreme planning works better than traditional ones. Especially in the case of small term tasks and projects. It allows a fast paced work with constant modifications to ensure the desired results. The team works collectively and try multiple methods to get the work done in an effective manner.

Hence, the features of this kind of planning suit the projects that have complex needs.

But when it comes to the execution, it is important to make sure that you have the right approach.

1. A flexible plan

Planning is the most important part of any project management. However, in the case of extreme project management, you need to keep your plan flexible. The idea is to leave the room for changes and modifications during the ongoing process. This is to give the project the required time and the ability to change course, which ultimately leads to the required goals. Planning in this manner allows you to cover all sorts of complications that can arise during the execution. The best way to create a flexible plan is to use a reliable tool.

2. Ensure team collaboration

The collaboration among the team members is necessary here. In this kind of project management, the continuous modification is what brings the perfection. And to constantly modify, it is important that the team members constantly stay in touch with each other. Hence, you need a tool that allows them to communicate better and exchange information in real time. There are reliable team collaboration tools available with multiple features like this. You can do your research and employ one for the project.

3. Scheduling is necessary

Even if this management is all keeping things flexible, it is important to ensure that no phase takes too much time. You can prioritize the multiple steps according to the complexity and the requirement. Give the team members a time limit to complete the tasks. It is better to cut the overall task into a few smaller ones and schedule the time limit for that. This method is more approachable and allows the team to complete the small portions of the project, according to the pre-decided time limit.

4. Review, monitor, and re-align

During the ongoing process, it’s your responsibility to constantly review the progress of the project. You need to monitor each level and re-align the project functions to achieve the right goals. While the tools are there to help you gather the data easily, they can also help you in setting meetings and offer your suggestions as well.

Finally, each step mentioned above becomes much easier to execute when you have a robust task management software.

Technology has opened gates to the excellence in the business world. The management software available in the market allows the projects to get the desired efficiency and the ability to achieve the desired results. However, it is important to know that multiple tools come with different kinds of features and capacities. Plus, the price and other services also matter when you are out there in the search of reliable tools.

Hence, this article gives you the questions that you should ask yourself before looking out for the internal communication tools for management of the tasks and projects.

1. Why do you need a management tool?

 The first thing you need to ask yourself is the need. You should be able to answer this question clearly. Only then, you will be able to find the right tools for your business.

Understanding the problems that require the solution helps you picking the right features. For instance, if it becomes really hard for the employees and team members to communicate, then, a reliable communication software would be beneficial for you. Hence, asking this question is important.

2. How do you plan to blend the tool in the workflow of the organization?

Every organization has a unique, established method of the workflow. The team members, employees, and all the other stakeholders know their job and work accordingly. Hence, when you come with a change such as a new tool, it requires proper planning. It is important in order to ensure that the workflow doesn’t get affected and the new tool easily blends in the procedure you follow in the company.

To do this, you need to get some suggestions from the stakeholders who frequently handle multiple projects in your company. Ask for their point of view and prepare a list of features they want in the tool.

3. What additional services do you need?

The additional services that come along with the tools help in getting the maximum advantage of them. Hence, it is important to be clear about the additional services you need. Some companies provide the technical support and documents, so that, the employees can adjust with the tool easily. When you know what you want, it gets easier for you to pick the right provider.

4. Are the employees ready for the change?

When you choose to shift the business management, it is important to know whether the employees are ready for it or not. They should be ready to learn new methods of automation through a team communication app.

In order to prepare them, you can conduct special meetings and answer their questions. Once they are satisfied, it will be easier for you to shift the management procedure to complete automation.

Adding a reliable management tool always offers something positive to your business. But when you are prepared in all possible way, then, the benefits reach a whole new level.

When you work on a project, the biggest worry is about the project management. Though the project in-charge has it under control, automation makes the whole thing simple. So much depends on timely delivery and having a responsive system that helps speed up communication.

Everything is monitored

How much automation can we use? The answer is simple – everything! This means, one uses the task management apps to go into auto pilot mode. One need not worry about whether Tom has contributed his bit or whether the night watchman has logged out or not. One just checks their page in the map and gets the ‘high’ of seeing the work completed or the ‘low’ of seeing that one is behind schedule.

Just a decade or so back, people who used a calendar reminder to water the plants used to find the calendar bell ringing a week later rather than the next day. This is a far cry from the apps of today and the apps for managing individual tasks and the whole project too have much reliability and timeliness built into them. Maybe this is due to the competition in the field of app development and the unquenchable desire of the software developers to conquer the commercial zone with their brand of automation.

Keeps one focused

But, really, what do they do? Well, they can remind you to do some certain task at some set time. You can make a list of collaborators and add them to your project. You can assign tasks and allot it to some person. Alternately, you can choose a project template so that the software allocates the tasks to the available person or the responsible person at that level.

So, how much reliable are the project management apps? Since people use them daily and they exist for quite some time now, one should say that they are reliable. One can set the sunrise and sunset by it though one must walk to buy the milk. The only gripe is that one should adapt to the use of the software and in some cases, do the design on one’s own. But, that is part of the fun and adds to the excitement of the chase in the project.

Start with the free option

You can run free Project management software if you will host them on your server. This allows you to customise the layout and include the features you desire. One can move the code around and set the time schedules as per one’s desire. And, if you upgrade the software gets more features and allows you to add more people to the project.