7 ways to improve your project administration
As a Project Manager, you are faced with not only ensuring the project runs smoothly and is delivered on time and on budget, but you also need to manage the project administration too.
Such administrative responsibilities may include:-
- Ensuring that projects are run in compliance with the Organisation’s requirements and best-practice;
- Administering the project budget;
- Planning and scheduling resources;
- Monitoring resource utilisation;
- Updating project tasks;
- Tracking and reporting progress;
- Establishing and maintaining the project documentation library;
- Managing timesheets;
- Meetings – preparing the agenda, taking, and sharing, follow-up notes.
With so many responsibilities, it can be hard to balance business-driving projects with business-maintaining administrative tasks.
We have put together a few handy tips to help you achieve an on-going workflow that consistently keeps you at your most productive.
1. View your time as a commodity
Do you know what an hour of your time is worth? Calculate your hourly rate and then ask yourself, “Is the project or task I am working on right now generating a return that justifies my hourly rate?”
2. Go with the FLOW
Focus - what is your strategic focus?
Location - do you have time in your calendar to execute on your strategic focus?
Organise - group similar tasks together for maximum effectiveness;
Work - make it work for you!
3. Identify what you can stop doing
In reality, there is never enough hours in the day to complete every task needed. Take a hard look at what you are really doing. Does it align with the company’s strategic goals and objectives? If not, stop doing it.
4. Say yes to clients, but don’t let them hijack your time
Budget your calendar; preserve execution time. Become more productive by devoting your energy to one theme each day.
5. Build a workload matrix
List your tasks, time investment, and the ROI generated from each one. Present to your manager(s), to help them prioritise the work and eliminate tasks that are not adding value.
6. Turn off email alerts and leverage email tools
Email alerts can distract and cause loss of focus on tasks at hand, avoid this multi-tasking and turn them off! Proactively plan your day and try an automated tracking system for outstanding email items.
7. Delegate effectively
Delegate one task at a time, be clear on the goal and the follow up procedures.
Overall, remember every time you say YES to something, you are saying NO to something else. Make sure that each yes has maximum impact on your business goals!
Conclusion
Are you finding that project administration tasks are stopping you focusing on what really matters – delivering your project on time and on budget?
Hydra PMO is a Software+Service that empowers your Project Management Office to function at peak efficiency. The Hydra PMO team takes care of support, administration, monitoring performance, report generation and all the other necessary but time-consuming activities required for a PMO to excel. It lets your PMO leaders focus on what really matters, and ensures that projects are run in compliance with your Organisation’s requirements and best-practice.
If you would like to find out how Hydra PMO can help you manage your project administration responsibilities please have a look at our brochure or visit the Products page of our website.
One last thing...
If you enjoyed this article and would like to be kept up to date, Hydra publish a quarterly Digital Watercooler of news and blogs about the changing landscape of project management and service delivery, and we'd love to share it with you.