You’ve just been named the lead on a major project for your company. After the initial excitement wears off, reality sets in. You see a mound of challenges and tasks in front of you—namely, how in the world do you get started? Well, one of the first things you may consider is the development of a good project schedule and set of associated goals and tasks. After that, you need to identify the members of your team and who is going to be responsible for which task. Then you remember that these team members also work on other projects within your company and all of a sudden, your job can start to seem very out of control. Fear not, there are many tools such as resource schedule software that can help.
Before the panic completely sets in, take a breath and follow some basic guidelines to achieve complete success as your team’s project manager. Step number one in effectively managing any project is to initiate a clear set of goals and objectives, including identifying deadlines and resources for each task. One of the best things you can do at this step it to utilize robust resource schedule software to help you line up your tasks and responsible parties. Technology today makes outlining project plans much easier than before, including the ability to adjust plans as a project progresses.
Once you have set your foundation and have your team ready to go, it’s time to get the show started. You will want to identify any regular meetings or milestones as the project progresses—this is especially important for long term projects or for projects where the work of one person directly impacts the work of the next person. You will want to make sure that you walk the line of being a good manager and helping to facilitate the overall process but yet not becoming a micromanager and impeding process. This is another area where resource schedule software can be an effective tool as it can help you identify which of your team members is available when and plan the schedule and course of activities to take place accordingly.
If your project is one that will be repeated, the end of the project is even more critical as what you will have learned through the cycle about what worked and what didn’t will help tremendously in planning the next iteration. Your resource schedule software will collect valuable data that will be hugely beneficial in this process. Overall, you will want to monitor closely but also be sure to utilize the tools that today’s world allows to help you on your road to success.
When you need to manage large projects, resource schedule software can dramatically reduce your management time and complexity. Taking advantage of Rendezvous can help improve your overall return on investment.
