When it comes to any project, there are three factors that typically determine whether it was a success. Did it meet the desired requirements or scope? Did it come in at or under cost? Was it completed on time? Cost and scope can be controlled within reason, but time can be a little trickier.
For any project, what can be achieved daily is ultimately restricted by the number of hours in the day. No matter how hard we work or how many people we put on the job, there is only ever 24 hours. So why is it than that some businesses achieve so much more in their time than others? The answer lies in effective project time management.
A lack of effective time management can have considerable adverse effects. At the base level, as one of the three triple constraints, any deviation to a schedule has an effect on the scope and cost of a project. In this instance, time really is money.
So why is it so important? Unrealistic time pressures lead to stress and frustration on the project manager, and team members often follow suit. If timeframes aren't met, this is when clients and management alike can become annoyed, and at the the extreme end, contracts fall through and jobs are lost.
Project time management refers to a component of overall project management in which a timeline is analysed and developed for the completion of a project or deliverable. The efficient use of time by means of good organisation, efficient productivity, and proper planning. Project Managers utilise project time management to complete work in the most efficient, cost-effective ways possible.
For example, at the start of a project, a project manager may put together a list of sequenced tasks to be completed, then track employee progress through those steps. Project managers often then monitor progress and implement changes during a project to make better use of time.
Picture what a project would look like if no one knew what they were supposed to be doing, when they were supposed to be doing it, or how long they had to do it. Project time management can certainly be an overwhelming task, particularly when projects are large, complex, and involve large numbers of people. It is a dynamic beast that may require input from several different teams, each with potentially different processes, all working on the same deliverables. So how do we get on top of it?
Right off the bat, you may be thinking about creating a Project Management Plan. For more information head over to our Project Management post. Here you’ll find out about how the other processes of time management are going to be managed and performed.
There is one common process that many project managers turn to, the Project Time Management Process. A streamlined series of seven steps. Let’s walk through these now to get you on top of your time management game.
In the first step we establish the policies, procedures, and documentation for planning, developing, managing, executing, and controlling the project schedule. From your first plan, ongoing development, execution and control, this will cover it all. In simple terms, the Plan Schedule Management process aims to ensure the timely completion of a project.
So what do you need to create your schedule, how do you develop it, and what is should you be aiming to produce. Let’s break it down and go through the steps:
In doing this planning, you should be left with a schedule management plan. This plan can be high-level with only a few paragraphs, or it can be quite detailed depending on the needs of your project. This document can cover the likes of:
With all this in mind, let’s face it, this is real life. In reality, you probably won’t actually need a seperate plan to manage your schedule, most of what you do here will end up in your project management plan as part of the project schedule and that’s perfectly fine.
Now, let’s work out what we need to complete our project. Effectively you want to identify all the tasks that need to be completed in order to achieve your project’s deliverables. You can use the scope statement that you crafted in your project management plan to help direct you as you break down your project into individual tasks.
The key benefit of this process is to break down work packages into activities that provide a basis for estimating, scheduling, executing, monitoring, and controlling the project work. Ideally, once you are done you should be left with a defined list of project tasks, the key input to our next step.
After compiling a breakdown of everything you need to do to achieve your project, you are probably starting to feel a little overwhelmed with how much there is to do. Don’t worry, once we put a bit of order to the chaos it will all seem a little less daunting.
Using your list form the last step and put your tasks in the right order and by doing this you will now be able to see the relationships between project tasks. As the tasks are now in the order that they need to be started and completed, you can start to see where efficiencies may lie in terms of resource allocation and time.
Other guides will suggest you produce a network diagram at the end of this process, but it’s rarely necessary so we won’t suggest it. Besides, a list of dependencies and potential start and end dates for tasks will be just as good and less time-consuming.
Now we know what you are going to do, we need to work out what resources you will need to achieve your tasks. The Estimate Activity Resources process helps with that. In this process, you’ll work out what human resources, equipment, and supplies you need, plus the quantity you need of each. Use what tools you have at your disposal to achieve this. Don’t stress too much about getting it right the first time either, we can always refine it later.
This next step is a little harder. Here we need to try and calculate how long each task is going to take with the resources outlined above. Just because a task only takes 8 hours doesn’t mean it will be finished by the morning, No-one can confirm that every hour spent on a task will be carried out with 100% productivity. Therefore, you can convert effort hours to duration activities using the following process:
Although there are several techniques that help project managers estimate time, the best way to estimate time duration for activities is to refer to historical information from similar projects done in the past. Using timesheet and performance reports on WorkflowMax is always a good start.
We are finally there. Let’s now take everything we have done in the previous steps and put together your project schedule. Officially, this step should be the most complicated. With 13 inputs, numerous tools and techniques, and multiple outputs, the actual project schedule can get a little lost. For your sake, we are just going to glance over this fact. After all, you’ve gone through all of this to get the schedule which is a critical document for managing your project’s performance.
So to start, your schedule doesn’t have to be a Gantt chart. Gantt charts are a fantastic and highly useful tool for tracking and coordinating all of the small steps that go into a large project, but they can quickly become overwhelming and messy, So what are our alternatives? There are a few in fact:
We aren’t going to delve into these here, what is important however is that you pick a solution the works best for you and your team. If you can all understand it, you know what you are supposed to be doing and when, and nothing is falling through the cracks, great!
Now that you have finished putting all the hard work into your schedule, you don’t want it to be messed with. The Control Schedule process gives you the tools you need to monitor and update your project schedule, making sure that changes are managed appropriately and that you keep control of the timings of your project. Make sure you outline everything you want to be covered, this can include:
Leading any project creates a lot of demand on your time. From activity coordination to conflict resolution, there will be many things on your plate and what feels like not enough time to complete them. Now add in your freshly created project time management plan. If you don’t effectively implement your plan, all that hard work will go to waste. So what is the preventative here? Effective time management.
To be an effective project manager, you need to be a master of time management and you must learn to consistently focus on the activities that add the most benefit to your projects and your clients. The better you are at maintaining focus and managing your time, the more you will achieve and the more successful your plan implementation will be. So how do you achieve this? Here are 10 essential time management strategies to help you on your way.
The importance of time tracking should not be underestimated. It’s not just about menially logging hours and timesheets; time tracking is the fuel that powers project work.
Through tracking project time, you can record the resources spent on individual tasks and projects. As this goes on, your schedule will become increasingly more accurate, which allows you to plan, act and anticipate better.
Tracking time also lets you get an overview of what you and your team are doing. This is significant, after all, the two great unknown in business are understanding how much time and resource projects take. With this knowledge, you will be better informed when managing and allocating resources, you can justify human resource decisions, and most importantly, have a realistic idea of project timeframes.
Overall, the data generated in this process is a goldmine for increasing productivity. With the right tools in place, you and your team can boost efficiency, motivation and focus without the need to additional effort or resource. So how does it do this?
Choosing the right tool to track your time is incredibly important. You want to make sure the tool you use addresses the needs of you and your company. Take into account your company size and tools already in use. If your company is growing, you will want something that is scalable. If you already have tools in place, complete an audit to see if it is meeting your needs. If not, consider additional software integrations or all in one tools.
Bottom line, make sure whatever you go with is properly utilised. Keep track of how people are using their trackers. If they aren’t using it correctly, all your data insights could be skewed. And most importantly, remind your employees to use it! Encourage them to get into the habit of monitoring their time, the initial constant reminding will make it all worth it in future.
Why not consider WorkflowMax? A complete job management software with a free 14 day trial, time tracking is just one of our areas of expertise. With six different ways to track time, it has never been easier to keep your team and project on track. We think you’ll love it:
Despite new emerging technology, the core concept of timesheets still has an incredibly important role in project management. At its simplest a timesheet is a tool used for time tracking. It records what hours you and your team spend on tasks and projects. If you want to bill in units of time, you need to record your billable hours. Hence, timesheets are critical requirement for many service based industries.
Beyond entering time for hours worked, a timesheet, if recorded accurately, can have many benefits within a business or project. Among other things, you can:
When it comes to creating your timesheets, many options are available to you. Of course you can have a manual paper based system, but this is slow and inefficient. The easiest timesheets to complete and disseminate are those that link automatically to your project schedule. This is where WorkflowMax can benefit.
You’ll save a lot of time on entering the task data if all you have to do is pick the tasks from a list. Simply fill in your timesheet against each task in the job. You can do this via timer, duration, start and finish time, or even via mobile.
Once done, you view it as you like it. View or edit timesheets in weekly or daily view to suit your way of working. And as a project manager, you no longer need to enter your employees timesheets for them, leaving you free to get on with your tasks. Even better, the whole process is Xero integrated, so you can export your weekly payroll to all the leading payroll software systems, to save time on data entry.
Soon you’ll be on your way to mastering your time management. Implement this process in conjunction with WorkflowMax and you will soon be making the most of your time and seeing improvements in efficiency, productivity and profits in your projects.
Want a little more info in time management? Check out these links on how to work smarter with your time:
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