Every change should start with a good diagnosis of the situation. You already know what a project schedule is and what project scheduling methods every good project manager should know. Now we will discuss the most common problems that project managers face in resource planning and how project scheduling methods can help solve them.
1. You have trouble estimating time.
The main responsibility of a project manager is to estimate how much time is needed to complete a project. If the deadline is too short, everyone will be under pressure, the quality of the product may deteriorate, and the client will be dissatisfied with the delay. If the deadline is too long, the company may abandon new projects because it believes it lacks resources. The client may also leave your organization and choose one that will complete the project in a shorter time. Of course, the ideal option is somewhere in the middle. But how to find it?
Use your experience to estimate how much time you’ll luxembourg telegram phone numbers need based on previous projects. The Program Evaluation and Review Method, which is one of the mathematical analyses of project schedules we wrote about, is a great way to do this. Based on the tasks and milestones, create an optimistic, most likely, and pessimistic scenario and assess what situation you’re facing. This way, you’ll be prepared for anything!
2. You don't meet deadlines
Overdue projects are a huge problem for project managers, with only 52% of projects being completed on schedule (Project Management Institute, 2018). Overdue projects are often perceived as the clearest evidence that a project manager lacks organizational skills.
Of course, this is not always the case. Sometimes it is difficult to contact the client, there is a lack of people or other resources, or the company is simply in a hurry because projects are just pouring in. Regardless of the reason, exceeding the project deadline is a big problem and should be avoided at all costs. Especially since there are several effective ways to reduce the number of such cases. And perfect project planning is one of them.
If you frequently miss deadlines, use a time-saver method, especially rapid scheduling, to shorten your schedule by doing some tasks at once or bypassing those that are not critical to the end result.
3. You don't have enough people
This is a nightmare of the modern market - projects are stalled due to a lack of specialists. Sometimes this happens because the pace of company development is faster than the pace of hiring new people. In other cases, resources are enough every day, but when projects accumulate, there is simply a shortage of workers. It is very difficult to keep up with deals when there is no one to do the work, and the deadline is inevitably approaching. If you often encounter this problem in your work, collapse will help you - one of the methods of compressing the duration.
Offer employees paid overtime or additional work that they can take as a day off at any time. It’s also a good idea to use the help of freelancers or an outsourcing company to provide you with the necessary specialists to work on a complex project.