Every business has to deal with myriads of projects on a day-to-day basis. Sometimes, the deadlines of multiple projects may clash with each other, leaving you and your team overwhelmed. So, you are left with two options: either to increase your work hours or to enhance your productivity. The former may not sound as a viable option as maintaining a work-life balance is pivotal. Hence, you need to focus on the latter i.e. getting more work done in less time.
Boosting the efficiency of projects isn’t rocket science. You just need to unleash the manager in you and manage time as well as resources like project management software, performance management software, task management software and many other software. While improving productivity, you should also focus on accuracy as you wouldn’t want to waste time fixing errors or making improvements.
But how?
Well, here are some ways in which you can enhance productivity as well as the accuracy of your projects:
1. Create a project blueprint
Planning is the foundation stage of any project. Proper planning can ensure that projects are completed well before the deadlines and within the budget. So, you can create a project blueprint describing what needs to be done by whom and at what time. However, you should create a flexible project plan that can be changed according to the situation.
2. Track and limit time spent on tasks
A project is divided into multiple tasks with different timelines. You can find out the time that would be needed to complete an activity/task. You can use some estimating tools and software to exactly find the time each activity would take. Next, you can delegate the task to team members, asking them to finish the tasks within the timelines.
3. Exploit project management software
Project management is a time-consuming and tedious task. Luckily, a plethora of project management tools is available at the disposal of businesses. Using project management software, you can create projects, set deadlines, set project goals, create to-do lists, allocated tasks and track the status as well as the performance of the team. A project management tool saves a lot of time and it organizes things for business owners and managers.
There are several tools available in the market catering to diverse business needs. Before choosing a software, you should go through its features, functionality, and pricing. You should select a tool that is most suitable to sync with your business needs. Furthermore, you should also consider the user-friendliness of the software so that you do not have to spend time training your team.
4. Make a to-do list every day highlighting ‘crucial tasks’
Every business will have several tasks that need to be performed each day. You can begin your day by creating a list of tasks. Furthermore, you should also identify important tasks. The tasks that are of utmost importance for taking forward the projects should be categorized as important. You can then aim at accomplishing the crucial task first. You can also use productivity software to make things easy for you.
5. Maintain a two-way communication
Communications and collaboration are crucial for the success of the projects. When teams are able to collaborate effectively with each other, it enhances productivity as well as the accuracy of projects.
As a business owner or manager, you should ensure that you maintain clear and consistent communication. Communication ensures that the entire team is on the same page and the team members have all the project-related information. This facilitates team members to make well-informed decisions that can boost the efficiency of projects.
6. Have all your project details at a centralized location
Each project has large chunks of data related to it. When you work on various projects, you have to deal with an overwhelming amount of data. Your data can be scattered in emails, call records, messages, and chats. So, organizing this data can be a cumbersome task.
Businesses should keep all their data and information in a centralized location which is accessible to all the concerned team members. This will save a lot of time as you won’t have to share the data individually with each team member. Furthermore, team members won’t have to search for information scattered over emails and files.
You can exploit project management and collaboration tool to make things easier for you. The tool will facilitate in keeping all project data at a single place. It will also enable team members to communicate and share data, images, and videos with each other. This will surely uplift the productivity of your projects.
7. Divide activities in batches
In order to boost the productivity and accuracy of projects, you can batch the activities. You should focus on completing one activity at a time. This will allow you and your team members to take their time in building rhythm and once that is accomplished, the task can be completed sooner than expected.
You can also follow the 2-minute rule to enhance productivity by eradicating procrastination. Under this rule, you should target those tasks first that hardly need 2 minutes for completion. In this way, you’ll prevent them from wasting your time later on when you are not that productive.
8. Gauge the performance of projects from time to time
The most effective way to augment the productivity of projects is by monitoring the project’s performance regularly. You can gauge the performance of projects as well as individual team members based on various metrics. ‘
You should check whether the project is going on as planned. If you find any dip in performance, then you can delegate suitable resources to keep the project on track. You can also make certain amendments in the project’s plan to accommodate adverse/unforeseen situations.
9. Avoid unproductive meetings
Though meetings are essential to enhance network and to discuss projects, they take a considerable time. So you should try to think of alternatives to save time. You can use emails or phone calls to discuss issues with your team or stakeholders. You can also opt for web-based meetings. These are more productive than a face-to-face meeting and they’ll even save your commute time. You can use collaboration tools that facilitate video conferencing and screen sharing.
10. Avoid multitasking
Most of the professionals are under the wrong impression that multi-tasking can accelerate productivity. However, psychological studies go against this notion. In fact, multitasking results in reduced productivity and lost time. So you and your team should follow the habit of completing a task first and then moving to the next task.
These are some of the ways in which you can take your projects’ productivity to another level. Try these in your workplace and you’ll surely witness a positive graph.
