As a project manager, you have a lot of responsibilities. One of them is to keep track of projects. Whenever you give a project status report, you should be able to show how much progress has been made compared to how much progress was planned. In addition, you should know what big tasks and milestones have been done and whether the project is on track to finish on time. If you don't have a project tracking system in place, you might not be able to see looming deadlines that could affect project delivery and you might be scrambling when a higher-up wants to know about the project.
Find out why project tracking is so important for project managers in this detailed guide to project tracking. You'll also find out about how to make your own project tracker so that you're never in the dark about a project again.
What is project tracking?
Keeping track of a project is a way to keep an eye on how things are going, or how they aren't going at all. It lets people who are important to the project know where the project is in its life cycle and if it's on track for a good return on investment.
It also helps project managers and stakeholders stay up to date on what tasks and milestones have been completed, how many resources have been used, and how to deal with unexpected problems that come up.
Why is project tracking important?
Project tracking is very important for project managers, team members, and other people who care about the project to stay up to date on the project's goals, deadlines, and current status. It's a full setup of PMO that controls the whole project . When you're in charge of a big project with many stages and milestones, project tracking helps you make sure that deliverables are submitted on time and tasks are done on time.
Keeping track of projects also makes it easier for project managers to know when a project is going off track and why they need time tracking software to keep track of freelancers or contract staff. A project tracker can also help managers price projects and find problems before they become big issues, which could save time, money, and resources in the long run.
What are project tracking best practices?
Some things you can do to make sure you and your team get the most out of your project tracking system are to do these things: This is a look at some of the best ways to keep track of projects:
Plan
Without a plan, you can't tell if something is going as planned. It's impossible to keep track of a project without having a clear project plan that includes goals, tasks, team members, deadlines, milestones, and KPIs.Be realistic
Setting realistic deadlines is the first step to staying on track with deliverables. Being too ambitious with project deadlines and budgets can cause a lot of stress and make the project fail. When deadlines and milestones keep getting pushed back, it makes it hard to keep track of a project.Identify risks
When you start a project, it's important to think about what could go wrong. This will help you keep track of the project and make sure it stays on track. Project risks fall into three groups: known, unknown, and unknown. When you plan a project, it's important to think about each type of risk. This way, you can prepare for and deal with any possible effects on the project's results.Be consistent
Project tracking only works if you keep a close eye on the project at least once a week. Make a plan to keep track of project work, or you risk forgetting tasks and missing deadlines.Be accurate
If the project is taking a long time, it may be tempting to mark tasks as done even though they aren't done yet. People on the team and people who are interested in the project could be misled by this. It could also lead to incomplete tasks at the end of the project, which is bad for everyone.
In project management tracking, there are a few things that you may not know how to do. The first thing to figure out may be what data and metrics to keep track of and how to set baselines and goals for those metrics. Keep in mind that unless you're a huge company with a lot of money, you won't be able to keep track of all of the KPIs you want to.
It's important to pick the KPIs that you'll be tracking very carefully. Start by meeting with key stakeholders to figure out what business benefits they most want to see from the project, then start the project. A good idea of which KPIs to measure in order to keep track of progress toward your goals will come from this. In addition, keep track of KPIs that you can measure and figure out.
Another problem you might have in project tracking is finding a system that can collect, organize, and make it easy for you to get to the data you're keeping track of. This is where project tracking software comes in. You should think about whether you want to use a free project tracking software or a paid one. A project management tracking tool like Wrike can make your life a million times easier by giving you a single place to keep track of all your projects and a place to store, organize, and share updates with your team, stakeholders, and other people who have an interest in them.
Are there project tracking tools out there?
You can find a lot of project tracking tools on the internet, such as project tracking software that makes it easy to keep an eye on projects of any size. The following are some of the advantages of project tracking software over a manual project tracker:
There are real-time project updates.
Everyone on a project can get the most up-to-date information right away thanks to project tracking software. Making sure that problems and issues don't get in the way of your plans and goals. This means that the faster you can spot problems with your project, the easier it is to fix them right away. Managers can use project tracking software to assign resources and shift priorities at the drop of a hat before problems have a chance to slow down project progress.
Keeping the team excited
When teams can see how their projects are progressing each day and how many tasks they have left to do, it helps keep their motivation up. What's more, project tracking software lets team members see how their work fits into the bigger picture of the finished product.
With accuracy and ease, you can report.
Finally, project tracking software makes it easy to report quickly and easily. If you're a project manager who has done a lot of work, you know that different people want different kinds of reports. With the right project tracking software, you don't have to spend hours putting together data from different sources.
Look for features in project tracking software that will help you keep track of your projects
You have a lot of project tracking tools to choose from. How do you know which one is best for you and your company? Here are some things to think about when you choose project tracking software:
User-friendliness
The first thing to think about is whether the software will make it easier to keep track of projects. Make project tracking even more of a pain if the software is too complicated or hard to use.
Communication
Communication is very important to the success of a project. You'll want to make sure that any project tracking software you use can make it easy for everyone involved in the project to communicate with each other. This includes everyone from individual team members to project leaders to senior management and stakeholders.
Does it meet the needs of your group?
Finally, make sure that the project tracker you're looking at meets your needs before you buy it. Make a list of the things you need right away. That way, you'll be able to figure out which software is best for you more quickly.
Why should you use Wrike to keep track of your projects online?
With Wrike, you can keep track of and monitor all of your organization's projects in one place. Wrike keeps you connected and up to date with your projects, no matter where your team is. Wrike can be used with many different project management methods, like Agile, Scrum, and Kanban. A full set of pre-made project templates helps you make sure you finish every project on time. Ready to learn why you should use Wrike as your project tracker? It's free for two weeks, so you can see for yourself.
No comments:
Post a Comment