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Small teams may have difficulty in project management as their range of motion is narrower. In this article, we will talk about what project management is, what small teams can do for a more effective project management, how project management software such as PeerBie contribute to the process.
What is Project Management?
Project management is a map prepared by the project manager about how and how a project will be run, when it will be delivered and its budget. This map includes predictions about when the project will take place and what kind of situations will be encountered and aims to guide project implementers in this direction.
Especially for small teams, project implementation is as important as the preparation of the project plan. Having a good plan doesn’t matter much if it’s not being implemented or it can not be implemented.
What Does a Project Manager Do?
Project managers are generally responsible for planning, organizing and directing an organization’s projects and ensuring that these projects are on time, on budget and within scope.
Project managers are responsible for following all steps of projects from start to finish, shaping the course of an organization, using resources properly and avoiding unnecessary costs, maximizing project efficiency and increasing revenue.
Why is Project Management Important for Small Teams?
To grow an organization, many tasks must be completed in a disciplined manner. Getting things done on time can sometimes be difficult with a small team. Stop wasting the resources at hand and develop a strategy suitable for the organization and apply it to project management.
Project management is very important especially for small businesses/teams. With the right plan, it is possible to deliver the projects on time and completely.
For the delivery of tasks and projects on time, completely and within budget, a suitable plan is needed first. This plan protects you from time and unnecessary additional costs by showing how you should use your time, how and where you use your resources, and how it can be effective. The fact that your team does not lose its target or falter, the correct use of financial resources, the measurement of successes and failures depends on an accurate project management plan.
9 Tips for Small Teams
There are some essentials for a healthy project management process. Small teams should try to achieve success by increasing the efficiency of their resources while managing projects. Here are some tips to help project management of small teams in this process:
1. The Right Team
One of the most important elements in project management is the team members who will carry the project on their shoulders. Selecting qualified and suitable candidates for the project ensures that the process proceeds more smoothly. The communication of the team members with each other is also very important because the progress of the project also depends on healthy communication.
Project leadership is also necessary for the right team. A project leader can increase team members’ productivity and project success by demonstrating democratic leadership. According to a Gallup study, teams of leaders who involve team members in the goal setting process are 3.6 times more committed to the project. As a result of this commitment and participation, the emergence of a successful project becomes inevitable.
2. Being Aware of Limitations
If you have a small business, trying to make a profit by taking on more projects may seem logical at first and can yield good returns, but it will have dire consequences in the long run. Knowing your team’s limitations and strengths is an advantage.
When taking on a new project, you should first check the status of your team, and if you are going to increase the project purchase, you should do it gradually. For example, if your team has difficulties in delivering existing projects, getting new projects will put a lot of strain on team members and you may lose instead of profit. Project management software allows you to analyze such situations and make the right decisions. For example, PeerBie offers performance analysis. It shows how long a project took, in how many steps it was completed, and how many tasks the team members took to complete the project.
To achieve a successful output, you must distribute the workload fairly to your employees. Projects that increase suddenly can cause stress in team members and reduce their productivity, as well as cause excessive fatigue in your employees, causing them to enter burnout syndrome. As a result, you will incur a serious loss not only financially, but also by losing your qualified workforce. With PeerBie, you can make a fairer distribution of tasks by tracking the workload of team members.
3. Setting Expectations
Expectations should be set before starting the project planning not before starting the project. It is the expectations that guide the project and determine the project processes. This is what kind of output you want to get after all.
Setting expectations at the beginning of the project planning process will guide the process. It gives customers and employees an idea of how to proceed and what output will be achieved. In particular, knowing the expectations of the team members ensures that the project is carried out in accordance with the desired end.
4. Determining Project Boundaries
In order for a project to be called “done”, it is the definition of done to determine the project boundaries. The project is considered completely finished when the tasks are fulfilled and what kind of output is obtained. Determining this from the beginning makes it easier to prevent future problems.
5.Setting the Deadline
Setting a deadline clearly shows you how much time you have on hand. By combining the work to be done and the time on hand, you can easily make a plan.
Setting a deadline sets a firm date for when the project should be finished. This is something that team members look forward to and can increase their productivity if you have the right plan and strategy to implement the plan. Dividing the time until the deadline and the tasks that need to be done into certain groups will also motivate your team when these works are completed.
6. Managing Risks
Risks are situations that arise unexpectedly and have the potential to adversely affect the project plan and project progress. The leadership of the project leader is tested in such situations. The best way to deal with risks is to recognize and identify potential risks before the project begins. After the risks are identified, they should be evaluated in terms of their effects on the project and then action should be taken. There are two things that can be done in this situation: reduce the risks or manage the risks.
Risk reduction is defined as identifying situations that could clearly impede the progress of the project and preparing or modifying the project plan to avoid them. Risk management, on the other hand, tries to reduce the effects of risk after an unexpected situation suddenly arises.
7. Communication
Communication is the key to successful project management. Staying in constant communication with both customers and team members helps to move forward faster so that the project processes can progress smoothly. Problems may be encountered during the process or there may be different demands from the customer. In a smooth communication, there is no lack of information and the project will be completed faster if everyone knows what needs to be done and when.
8. Identifying the Right Steps
Most failed projects fail because the right steps are not identified to run the project. Setting wrong steps and tasks not only hinders the progress of the project, but also reduces productivity by being tedious for team members who have to do the same things again and again.
In order not to identify wrong steps, first of all, a requirement analysis should be done correctly, and then a test system should be used to determine whether the tasks are completed or not. Project management software such as PeerBie creates a To-Do list, determines task duration, and indicates whether the task is complete. Using project management software such as PeerBie in this process can prevent such problems that may arise.
9. Using a Project Management Tool
Why should we do things the hard way when technology can make our lives easier in every area? Using a project management tool like PeerBie makes your work much easier. First, you can create a project space that includes your teammates by creating teams and projects. In this project area, you can prepare personal and team To-Do lists, assign tasks, and see the schedules and densities of team members. With the storage space offered by PeerBie, you can store all your information and documents about the project in one place and share them with your teammates. PeerBie also saves you from unnecessary email traffic with the messaging opportunity it offers. You can have faster and uninterrupted communication by creating a group with your team.