Is your project management software up to the job?
With more advanced technology than ever before, it is now possible to reduce the delivery time of professional services and in-house projects and accomplish more with fewer resources. But new technology alone is no guarantee of project success.
It’s essential your project management software matches the specific needs of your business and the projects you complete. If you have chosen the wrong project management software solution for your organisation, there are a few sure signs that indicate something is amiss. So, how do you know if your project management tool isn’t right for you?
1. Your team’s priorities are unclear
One of the most demotivating incidents for your project team is to spend several hours or even days working on a project task without knowing it has either been tabled, cancelled, or another task has taken precedent. The trouble is that if your project management software has a static checklist, this is a real risk.
As we as all know, changes are inherent in projects, so you must have a project management solution that can take project changes into account and deliver real-time insights to align teams and get the work done. Your PM software should also be able to incorporate all of your ‘business as usual’ work with your project portfolio. This will provide ultimate visibility of what can be achieved, by who and when.
2. Your resources are overbooked
If your team is overloaded then it’s a sure sign that your project management software is not up to the job, or that you don’t have reliable processes in place. To do more with less, it’s essential your resources are allocated quickly and efficiently across all your projects. A good PM tool will allow you to move from allocating tasks on a ‘who you know’ basis, to ‘who has the right skills’. This will allow you to allocate resources based on their skills, cost and availability to deliver the earliest and most cost effective finish for the project.
3. Your relationships with stakeholders are strained
Even if you deliver great projects, it is still possible your stakeholders and clients will look elsewhere if they don’t like the way you work. Failing to keep stakeholders and clients updated throughout the project or surprising them with news of a schedule change can damage a business’s relationship with its stakeholders.
All clients ask is for honest and clear visibility of the project and its progress. However, it’s even better still if your project management software has a central space clients can access to participate in projects and become part of the process
4. There’s nowhere to log progress
If your project management software has no easy way for team members to track time and log progress, you put yourself at risk of a number of things going wrong. Without accurate and up to date information, client projects can overrun and budgets can be off.
Allowing resources to easily input the time spent on each task means PMs can easily check a project’s status. Time tracking also provides a rich seam of project data and analytics to use to forecast project work and create project blueprints for the future.
5. Your project team is in chaos
If you and your team are in a constant state of stress due to changing priorities, shifting project scope, ineffective communication and the under- and over-allocation of resources, your project management software is clearly not doing its job.
A good PM tool will allow you to prioritise work, allocate resources in the most effective way and give you complete visibility of the project at all times. It will also allow your project team to communicate and collaborate effectively, and work in a carefully planned and structured way.
Does that sound like your project team?
Discover Hydra Cloud today to learn more about making the jump to a more effective way to plan, execute, control and govern your projects.
