Remote project management tips

Remote project management has become the need of the hour. But it is certainly not a piece of cake. It can be a cumbersome task to stay on top of your projects, ensure they meet deadlines and project budgets, while your teams are working from different locations.

Project Management Software is the Future

The regular office environment allows project managers to have face to face interactions with team members and check up on their progress frequently. This is where remote project management software tools play their role. Manually managing a project is still an option, but you risk a higher degree of human error when using such an inefficient process.

There are plenty of remote project management tools available, but make sure you choose the best-suited one to your organization based on the scale of your projects, number of employees, and budget. The right software can help enhance visibility and improve team collaboration.

The IT sector has adopted such tools long ago owing to work being completed from different locations across the globe. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced multiple other industries to look out for remote project management platforms. Choosing a platform is based on some vital criteria:

Streamlined Communication

Often the remote project management platform is integrated with email services, instant messaging, and video conferencing applications to enable communication on the go.

Enhanced Collaboration

As the work of one team member affects another, visualization of where things stand is extremely important. Large scale projects may have numerous teams working simultaneously. Along with proper workflow management, a task management software that exhibits the current status of work, assigns, and shifts work between teams and generate timely reports are extremely important for successful remote project management.

Comprehensive Reporting

Smart asset management requires accurate and relevant information. Some tools come with customizable dashboards and reports that record data in real-time. This feature provides useful insight that can improve and streamline the remote process.

Security

With the growing need for IT resources, companies are starting to provide their workforce with laptops, mobile phones, and other useful tech. An IT asset management system like Teqtivity can help managers keep track of these resources to ensure the right people are using them at the right time.

Data Storage

Project management software should have a knowledge repository with different levels of access. Having this feature can make the process of sharing and storing documents much easier for a remote team.

Time Tracking

The greatest challenge associated with remote working can be the delay caused in the completion of work. Employees tend to slack back in the comfort of their homes, and it is difficult for the project manager to monitor each employee as he would in a regular office environment. The remote project management tool should have a time tracking option so that timelines and deadlines are always met.

Budget Management

As projects tend to take more time for completion when teams are working remotely, the chances for the project budgets going overboard are also high. Make sure your team completes tasks on time and stay within budget constraints at all times.

Ease-of-Use

Why bother with a tool that’s difficult to understand? Choose one that your team can quickly and easily master. The best software also uses a clean and simple interface with a streamlined process.

Key Takeaway

Efficient project management is all about choosing the best tools and integrating them on to a single platform rather than using individual apps. For this, the platform needs to be highly agile and scalable to allow numerous integrations and facilitate seamless functioning. SaaS ( Software as a Service) technology is becoming increasingly popular in this regard due to its reduced cost, quick delivery, agile and scalable nature and easy to use interface that involves less or no coding. Non-technical sectors are adopting such drag-and-drop platforms as they do not require a team with technical expertise to monitor the day to day functioning of the remote project management platform.

Though managing and tracking projects remotely can be tedious for the project manager, they need to make sure that they give employees the time, space, and freedom to adapt to the new normal. Keeping your teams engaged and stress-free can go a long way in helping them to deliver to the best of their abilities. Along with the technical support from remote project management tools, your emotional support and encouragement are inevitable for the successful completion and delivery of projects.