Project management isn’t just for large companies. Small businesses have plenty of projects to accomplish and track the progress of as well. A project is essentially any undertaking for your business aimed at achieving a defined objective. Projects can be strategic or operational, but they always have an end goal. Project management involves devising a strategy for your project, and actively managing it through completion. The goal of project management is to complete projects efficiently, on time, and within budget.
Let’s review some of the benefits of project management and explore some tools and resources that can help you streamline the process for your business.
Benefits of Project Management
- Helps you stay within budget. Effective project management includes keeping track of all project expenses, so you can adhere to your budget. When you know where money is being spent, and you know when certain aspects of the project are more or less expensive than anticipated, you can adjust your plan and future project expenses accordingly.
- Helps you stay organized. Let’s face it. Projects typically have many moving parts. Sometimes one aspect of a project can’t be started until another task has been completed. For this reason, it’s crucial to remain organized and properly prioritize. By taking time to think through all aspects of the project and document everything involved, you can stay on track.
- Helps you stick to a timeline. Project management also includes monitoring the progress of the project. By carefully tracking the pace of the project and setting specific goals along the way, you’ll be better prepared to handle any minor delays or setbacks.
- Provides accountability. By keeping careful track of project expenses, progress, and timelines, you’ll have a better idea of where hiccups are occurring. Communicating with your team via regular project meetings can also help everyone remain on the same page and accountable for their specific parts of the project.
- Allows for reflection. When projects are ultimately completed, you can review all of your project notes and timelines to get a sense of how the process went as a whole. Evaluating your project allows you to home in on areas of efficiency and inefficiency, so you can better prepare for future projects. You should reflect on your budget projections and timeline estimates to see how accurate they were, review project communication to determine if it was sufficient, and identify any missteps or mistakes that got in the way. Such details will give you actionable insights to help improve your future projects.
Project Management Tools
As a small business owner, your time and resources are often limited. Luckily, there are many tools out there that can help you manage projects easily and efficiently. Options include:
- Monday.com. Monday.com’s main feature is a shared calendar that identifies critical tasks and due dates. All of the data points and organizational tools within the platform are presented in customizable and visual dashboards.
- Trello. Trello is a shared, digital “to-do” list. The software uses “cards” that contain all task-related information, including deadlines and files. Cards are dragged and dropped as they’re completed, so you know exactly what has been done and what still needs doing. Colleagues can also be tagged when needed. Trello offers both paid and free versions of their platform.
- Basecamp. Basecamp is a robust suite of task management tools. There are multiple tools available to track project management at any level, and they’re easy to navigate through dashboards.
No project is too big or too small for project management, nor does the number of people involved impact whether or not project management principles should be used. The truth is that any project can benefit from effective project management. More efficiently reaching your business’s strategic and operational goals has a direct impact on your bottom line, and the future success of your business.
If you’re a business owner in MA or RI who is looking for financing for a particular project, or looking for solutions to help streamline your business operations, BankFive can help. Don’t hesitate to reach out to our dedicated Business Banking Team and start a conversation today.