Every business owner wants their employees to be productive, and project managers likely feel the same with their team members.
After all, the primary objective of project management is to plan and oversee a project to achieve the set goals and complete the deliverables.
And when people aren’t productive, the chances of hitting this target are low.
There are several hacks in project management that you can adopt to boost your team’s productivity. Below are some of the best practices:
Have A Project Control Plan
When planning a new project, you must gather all the team players for their ideas in creating a project control plan.
This document outlines the expenses, timeline, and budget related to the project.
Project management controls also include forecasting materials costs or setting milestones for each project phase.
Standards for measuring productivity and quality should be established. These standards help control how resources are utilized to achieve quality output.
You can assign someone to be the project controller. They can support the project manager in keeping everyone on track.
When your team members are aware of the goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) and receive regular updates on their progress, they tend to be productive.
Use A Document System To Your Advantage
Documentation is part of any business. You can use this for project management and keep tabs on the project’s process.
You can then easily identify when a task is completed, who is involved, and what the outcome is. A document system creates a sense of accountability for all team members, which increases their motivation and productivity.
Good project documentation should include a charter, feasibility report, requirement specification, traceability matrix, and work estimate.
You can store these documents in a database. Alternatively, you can use a spreadsheet program like Excel to track all tasks assigned to different people and monitor the progress made by each team member.
Track Time Spent On Each Task
Time tracking is crucial in project management because it indicates your team’s productivity level in each phase.
You can gauge whether you are spending enough time on each task and if there are any bottlenecks or delays in your workflow.
An online time-tracking app is one way to track productivity. This lets you see how much time each team member spends daily on the tasks and help them make necessary adjustments.
You can also create an Excel sheet and input the data so that you can check at a glance how much work has been done by each team member.
This allows you to identify areas where employees are underperforming or need more time. They can then adjust their productivity levels accordingly.
Avoid Setting Too Many Team Meetings
Team meetings are key to project management to see if all team members are on the same page and understand what needs to be done.
However, this can cause distractions and delays in the project.
Scheduling meetings daily creates extra work for you and your team members. Instead, you can set only one to two per week or, if necessary, just one by the end of the day.
With fewer meetings, everyone can focus on their tasks, so the project progresses toward completion.
Set Short Breaks To Avoid Burnout
Burnout is common in most projects. Everybody wants to achieve the goal for each timeline, but this sometimes leads to stress and fatigue.
Eventually, your team members can’t finish their tasks for a few days and must take a break to recover.
To avoid burnout, you may set short breaks to prevent your team’s productivity from dwindling over time. For instance, allow them to take breaks of at least 10 to 15 minutes once every two hours.
This gives them a chance to relax and refresh themselves before proceeding with any work again.
Catch Up With Each Team Member
As your team members work on their tasks for the project, you should catch up with each of them.
This allows you to monitor whether or not they need more guidance so that they’re still on track with the project timeline.
An excellent way to do this is by visiting their workstation daily. If you’re managing a remote team, you can use online messaging platforms to track their progress and support them.
This ensures that communication lines are open, and you can provide feedback in real time should any issues arise throughout the project.
Assess The Project After Completion
Once the project is complete, you must still assess whether it has reached its goal. This assessment should cover all aspects of the project, including its cost-effectiveness, quality, and efficiency.
You may also check the KPIs and compare the results of your completed project so that you can make the necessary changes.
This step is essential for two main reasons. For one, you want to ensure that the output you’ll show clients will meet their expectations to encourage them to work with you again. For another, you should let your team members know how valuable their contributions are so that they’ll be inspired to be productive and keep growing with the company.
Key Takeaway
Before starting a project, you should have a project control plan outlining how much the project will cost and how long it will take so you can figure out how to complete it.
You should track your team members’ progress by providing them with feedback and support in case they need it.
Boosting employees’ productivity is crucial to any business. With these tips, you can see enhanced productivity among your team members, which then leads to the success of your projects.
