Running a team and managing projects in person are challenging enough. However, with uncertainties caused by the disease outbreak, a rise in remote working in project management is inevitable. According to research published by Bloomberg, nearly 40% of employees would resign if the remote work policy were to be scrapped.
No matter how knowledgeable and experienced a project manager is, juggling remote project management with distributed teams is challenging. Since you are responsible for the project's success and keeping the team that reports to you accountable, it calls for extraordinary organizational and decision-making abilities.
For the project to proceed amidst everyone in various locations and time zones, a remote project manager must ensure that the appropriate tools, processes, framework, and team members are in place.
Overview of Project Management Software
According to Future Market Insights, the project management software market revenue reached USD 5,359.6 million in 2021 and is expected to hit USD 20,420.6 million by 2032, with a 13.1% CAGR from 2022 to 2032.
Project management software offers resources for project organization, planning, execution, and control to project managers, their teams, and stakeholders.
Project management tools help maintain the order and focus of a team's work. Project managers can use this suite of tools to improve objective clarity, hold individuals accountable for achieving those objectives, and support teams in meeting deadlines.
With project management software, everything is centralized, progress is visible, and the team can concentrate on completing the project rather than trying to figure out what to do next.
With the help of project management software, multiple team members can work asynchronously and remotely on a project. Additionally, it offers a common discussion point and makes it possible to monitor development effectively in relation to key performance indicators.
Project Management Software Best Practices
Even though remote project management has challenges, they can all be minimized or even improved by implementing the four remote project management best practices.
1. Make A Clear Plan and Schedule
When managing a team, it is critical to have everyone's tasks and responsibilities clearly defined and visible to prevent confusion and know to whom to delegate new tasks.
A robust project management software allows you to assign tasks to team members and set priorities and deadlines. Adding deadlines to tasks triggers an automatic notification whenever the targeted completion date gets closer and the activity remains unfinished.
- Prioritizing Tasks
Setting priorities for tasks is very beneficial whenever urgent issues arise. You can easily add time to your planned schedule by utilizing a planning tool with time slots rather than manually rescheduling the entire project plan.
- Shared Team Calendar
Setting up a shared calendar that syncs with well-known calendaring applications guarantees that all receive notifications and show up for meetings on time. You can also add significant schedules to your team calendar to quickly see upcoming deadlines.
Teams can automate scheduling tasks by using various examples of appointment scheduling software. With appointment scheduling software that works on any device, you can view schedules and access your calendar whenever and wherever you want. An appointment scheduling system can also assist your team in avoiding booking-related errors and efficiently handling multiple customer appointments.
2. Create An Organized and Timely Communication System
A huge project team may include tens or hundreds of individuals, each responsible for specific tasks and having expertise in a specialized field.
Project team members are frequently required to view each other's work to supplement their own. Creating an organized and timely communication system through multiple channels is essential.
- File Sharing
The best project management software includes sharing files, calendars, and contact lists. Each team member can enter data into the system and get instant access anytime and anywhere they need it.
Some project management tools allow you to attach files to tasks for easy sharing. Check if your project software provides free storage for uploading files and data. - Team Dashboards
Select software that allows you to create team dashboards that anyone can access. You can customize your dashboard with graphs, charts, visual metrics, and KPIs.
A team dashboard can be used as a KPI in project management reports and is an excellent tool for communicating to everyone your monitored metrics and measuring the actual real-time results to the project timeline during meetings.
Showing the KPIs gives a quick snapshot of whether the team is on track to meet its objectives, allowing for more informed decision-making. You can also distribute the graphs to team members so that they can all contribute suggestions for ways to boost project performance. - Easy Access to Your Files and Data
Having all your data in one place lets you quickly share it with your team and view it with a few clicks. Switching between spreadsheets is unnecessary to find the information you need.
- Sharing Clients’ Data
Managing and storing your client data in one secured space is crucial. You can do that with the help of project management tools, which also enable you to make a custom card that you can distribute to other team members.
If you’re looking for a client help desk solution that can scale to your business growth, browse a Zendesk alternative, among others, and learn which solution is best for your needs.
3. Manage Resources Properly
You need remote project management tools to keep track of additional project resources, such as meeting spaces and supplies used during the project's execution.
A reliable project management tool has a resource management feature that lists all the planned and scheduled resources and computes the cost of using them. Doing this reduces over-assignments and potential conflicts caused by resource shortages.
When a resource is being overused, you'll know immediately and can choose to limit its use or establish new rules for its exploitation. You can manage resources, assign them to particular tasks, and help ensure that everybody has the tools they need to finish their tasks.
4. Automate the Creative Content Review Method
The proofing process is probably the least popular project management best practice, but it is becoming increasingly important for remote work. With the help of these feedback management tools, you can fully automate the evaluation of all creative content, leading to shorter feedback loops and quicker approval times.
Optimize Your Remote Work with Project Management Software Best Practices
One of the most challenging issues that remote teams face is project management. It can, however, be successfully overcome with the appropriate set of skills, toolkits, and practices. Follow these best practices to improve the effectiveness and ease of your role as a remote project manager.
