Workforce Management Featured Article
Key Considerations in Choosing Project Management Software
If you know anything about the average office employee, you know that they don’t spend nearly as much time on task as they could. Indeed, a recent analysis found that most office workers spend less than half of their time focused on official tasks. The rest of the time is a split between useful (and useless) meetings, sorting through emails, dealing with interruptions, and other breaks in the office day. These are not numbers that make supervisors feel great about their employees’ productivity.
So, what’s there to do about all of the time wasted in your average office? One of the best solutions to time wasted is to streamline office activities using project management software, but there are so many different ones on the market. How do you choose between them all? Here are some tips for choosing the right project management software for your company’s needs.
Opening Considerations
Before you dive in and begin exploring all of the project management software options, it helps to assess what activities you’re hoping to streamline. The goal is to find a software option that fits most closely with the tools you need and that doesn’t have too many extras tacked on. Extra features will just end up being distractions to wade through and will make the software more difficult to use.
One of the most valuable things with which project management software can assist is budgetary concerns. A great program can help you make better cost estimates, as well as manage billing procedures. Indeed, most billing practices can be automated with the right project management software, according to Ian Needs at KeyedIn Projects.
Another use of project management software is productivity tracking. If you’re concerned about all of that wasted time that seems to plague offices, project management software can help you to key in on how effectively staff resources are being used, how quickly projects are being completed, and it can paint a picture of what your true resource capabilities are.
Let’s Talk Tech Specs
Moving beyond the specific needs of your office, there are some key things you should look for in any great project management software. While some of these are a matter of preference, others should be nonnegotiable. For example, your software should be able to integrate your company email system. This one is a must have. If the software can’t do this, your employees are going to be wasting time moving back and forth between two disparate interfaces that would do much better to be combined.
One tech option in which many offices are interested, and which is very popular with project management software companies, is cloud storage. Programs that allow your company to do project management in this nebulous space are beneficial because employees can access them from wherever they are, the software manages its own updates, and overall cloud programs reduce company maintenance costs and concerns.
Talk to the End Users
One thing that many companies forget to do when they’re choosing project management software is to talk to the people who’re going to use it every day. What’re the tasks about which they’re particularly concerned, and what do they hope the software will simplify? Jennifer Lonoff Schiff at CIO emphasizes that you shouldn’t overlook talking to people and key departments who’ll be using the software. This will also make them more open to adopting a new program, since employees will feel that they had a hand in the process.
Get the Right Training
It’s important that you don’t just choose a project management software, forego training, and dive right in. In fact, it’s important that the people who’ve been managing projects – with or without software – are trained to do so. As the team at CBTNuggets observes, many companies place people in leadership positions without giving them training in the skills needed to get a project from start to finish. Now’s a great time to get the appropriate people trained in whatever project management procedures and software you’ll be using. This training is a boon to any employee interested in office leadership in today’s rapidly changing marketplace.
At the end of the day, you need to choose the project management software that fits your company most comfortably. It shouldn’t have excessive tools, it should integrate well with current practices, and people who will use it should be involved in choosing the software. If you can hone in on your company’s goals, you’ll be able to sort through the extensive software market and make a decision that’ll amp up your office’s productivity and move your projects seamlessly from start to finish.
Edited by Dominick Sorrentino