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IT Project Management: Managing IT Projects

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What Is IT Project Management?

What is it project management software, benefits of it project management software, must-have features for it project management software, how to manage an it project, unique challenges of it project management, it project management methodologies, it project management tools, roles in it project management, it project manager job description, is it project management certification necessary, what is an it project.

An information technology (IT) project is a type of project that deals with IT infrastructure, information systems or computers. Examples of an IT project include web development, software development, mobile app development, network configuration, software implementation, hardware installation, database management, and IT emergency recovery.

IT project management (ITPM) is the planning, scheduling, execution, monitoring and reporting of IT projects. While many industries focus exclusively on IT projects, IT is unique in that most, if not all, industries have some level of an IT component.

Since they are often very wide in scope, IT project managers must deal with risk, interdependent integrations, software updates, scope creep and so on. Therefore, IT projects require more than the typical project management tools and skills to complete.

Specialized IT project management software complete with online Gantt charts, kanban boards, dashboards and reports provide the essential functions necessary for successful IT projects.

ProjectManager has everything you need to enhance IT planning, scheduling and rollouts. Learn more.

What Are the Six Phases of an IT Project?

The six phases of an IT project are based on the six phases of project management , which are used in conjunction with the IT phases to manage the project. They are as follows:

During the first phase of an IT project, one must ask “why is this project needed?”—in other words, the objective of the project must be identified. Then, a project proposal , including a business plan, that meets the needs of the project must be written. In addition, a feasibility study might be conducted to ensure the proposal is airtight.

After the project proposal has been approved, the project moves into the definition phase. This is where the objectives of the project are finalized and the requirements for a successful project are identified. The project scope can also be outlined, and a project plan may be created during this phase. Budgets are also set, and resources are determined.

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The design phase of an IT project is when the project team sets out to find the best solution for achieving their goal. This includes creating multiple designs and prototypes. Once a suitable design has been chosen, specifications for the development team are created and shared.

Development

The development phase is when the development team is assigned tasks and project management tools are selected. Additionally, technicalities are outlined, raw materials are requested and so on. The main goal of this phase is to make the entire plan as crystal clear as possible to avoid issues in the implementation phase.

Implementation

The implementation phase is where the final deliverable of the IT project is developed; unsurprisingly, this is often the longest phase of the project. The project team sets out to complete their tasks, while the manager monitors and controls the work , resources, cost, quality and risk.

Finally, once the implementation phase is complete, the final project is delivered to the customer/client/stakeholder. The follow up phase is all the work that comes after the project is delivered, and includes setting up support teams, training the end-users, creating a postmortem and ultimately ending the project.

Most IT projects and their phases are managed with a traditional, structured waterfall methodology. An agile framework, though, can minimize risk when adding functionality. DevOps deployment can be a good fit within an organizational culture. Rapid application development (RAD) is a low-investment, high-quality process.

What Does an IT Project Manager Do?

An IT project manager is responsible for overseeing an organization’s IT department and managing teams to execute IT projects on time and within budget. Some of the duties of an IT project manager include:

• Setting project goals and creating plans to meet them
• Maintaining the project schedule and budget, creating status reports
• Managing resources, including the team, equipment, etc.
• Assigning tasks to team members
• Developing strategy to deliver projects on time and within budget
• Using IT project management tools to track progress and performance
• Assessing project risks
• Developing IT risk management strategies
• Leading regular meetings with team and stakeholders

IT project managers are expected to have advanced knowledge of computers, operating systems, network and service desk administration. They must also be good communicators and be able to clearly explain complex technical issues. Other required skills include experience with scheduling, budgeting and resource planning.

While the skill sets of project managers across different industries are generally the same, an IT project manager is unique in that they’re focused solely on the IT needs of an organization. But like all project managers, the way an IT project manager handles their varied duties and responsibilities is with the help of robust IT project management software.

IT project management software is used by managers to organize and control the processes of their IT projects. Like any software tool, it’s main purpose is to increase efficiency.

IT project management software boosts efficiency by giving users the features they need to monitor and track progress and performance. This keeps their IT projects on track to meet tight schedules and budgets.

Some key features common among IT project management tools include task and time tracking, real-time data, unlimited file storage, multiple project views to support hybrid methodologies, planning, scheduling and reporting. Microsoft Project is one of the most commonly used project management software, but it has major drawbacks that make ProjectManager a better choice for IT projects.

Regardless of what IT project management software you choose, you want one that is going to make your job easier. It should help you organize tasks and schedule their execution over a set schedule budget. You also want a tool that connects your team and stakeholders to keep them all on the same page.

There are many benefits to using IT project management software:

• Plan Waterfall Projects with Gantt charts
• Live Status with Real-Time Dashboards
• Manage Program or Portfolio of IT Projects
• Get Data Rich Reports With One Click
• Guide teams through digital transformation projects
• Track Time Spent on Tasks and Monitor Progress
• Customize Workflow on Kanban Boards

The IT project management software that’s best for you will ideally have at least these six features.

Keep Tasks Organized on a Timeline

IT managers and teams need a visual tool to organize their tasks over a project timeline. Gantt charts help them prioritize, set the duration and even link dependent tasks that could block work later on during the execution of a project.

Make Better Data-Driven Decisions

Managing means constantly making choices. The more data you have, the better those decisions. Reports that pull info on progress, costs, variance, workload and much more can help you gather insightful information. Reports should be easy to generate, filter and share.

Get Live Status Reports

IT systems require that you keep a close eye on metrics, catch irregularities quickly and resolve them even quicker. A dashboard that is always collecting data and displaying it in easy-to-read graphs and charts will give you a high-level view of your IT’s health.

Assign the Right Amount of Tasks

Knowing what your IT teams are doing is essential to keeping them productive. If they have too many tasks, their work suffers. Using a workload management feature will allow you to see who is working on what, and balance that workload to have everyone equally allocated.

Track Your Team’s Logged Hours

Timesheets are more than a payroll tool—they’re another window into your team’s productivity. They allow you to monitor how many hours they’re spending on tasks, and you can reallocate resources as necessary to keep the work moving ahead as planned.

Know Immediately What’s Happening

IT systems are critical business processes. If they go down, money is lost. To avoid any slowdown (or worse), managers need a feature in their IT project management tool that alerts them in emergencies. It’s also helpful to get notified when anything is updated.

While there are many ways to manage an IT project, some aspects are universal. The steps might be slightly different, but the general direction is the same.

We’ll walk you through these steps one-by-one, while illustrating how a project management software can help you along the way.

1. Collect Requirements

Before a project can begin, paperwork is required. You need to define scope, create a budget and determine the stakeholder requirements. All these documents can be attached to the project on our software, which has unlimited file storage.

2. Select Team

Now that you’ve collected the project’s requirements, you can assemble a team with the skills and experience that fit the task at hand. Be sure to onboard them into your project management software, so communication happens in one place.

3. Use a Gantt Chart

Use a Gantt to add tasks to a timeline , link dependencies, set milestones and view the critical path. We offer a fully-featured online Gantt chart for project managers who work in a waterfall environment. The whole team doesn’t have to use this traditional planning tool though, as project data is shared across multiple project views: task lists, calendars and kanban boards.

4. Use a Kanban Board

Use a kanban board to control workflow during project execution. With ProjectManager, you can create workflows, execute sprints and work in an agile framework without disturbing the Gantt plan.

5. Monitor Progress

As the project moves forward, it’s important that the actual progress matches what was planned. Our software has a real-time dashboard that collects data as it’s updated. We automatically crunch the numbers and display them in charts that show costs, tasks, health and more. Project tracking has never been easier.

6. Manage Workload

IT projects require smart workload management. Are team members overtasked or have they too few assignments? To avoid slowing progress, our workload page shows you who’s on holiday and who has too much work: you can even reassign tasks right from the page.

7. Make Changes

Projects aren’t static. You have to pivot fast when there are change requests from stakeholders. Our software gives your plans and your team flexibility. For example, if a date changes, simply drag and drop the task to the new deadline on the Gantt chart. This change is then reflected throughout the software.

8. Get Reports

To track progress and keep stakeholders updated, our software has an in-depth reporting feature . There are many reports, that can be generated to help with IT project management. Make an in-depth status report with just a few clicks to get the information you need.

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IT project management deals with a variety of issues. It ends up interfacing with many other aspects of an organization, such as business administration, human resources, finance and other departments within the organization and entities that are outside of the business. This presents a number of pressing problems with high stakes, for if the technology goes down, then an entire business can become paralyzed.

Changing Technology

There’s the challenge that IT is a volatile industry, with a rate of change that can be dizzying. Technology is notorious for becoming obsolete once it rolls off the assembly line, so IT project management must be prepared for this inevitable change.

Communication

Another hurdle that IT project management has to clear is communication between teams. This is a problem with all projects, frankly, but with IT there are often distributed teams who work remotely, often in different time zones, which only aggravates the situation. Having clear and effective communication channels is key for success on any IT project.

Transparency

Transparency is important, too, as the focus in IT is sharp. Having transparency across the project, with clear deadlines, helps teams better incorporate new technology or respond to change quickly and effectively.

Lack of Agreement on Methodology

But one of the biggest issues is that many organizations aren’t applying IT project management to their projects, which is like sailing a ship without a rudder. Without a process or methodology, whatever that might be, projects go off-track and over budget. Having an IT project manager who defines process, roles and tools is the first step to the success of an IT project.

There seem to be as many project management methodologies as there are projects. They break down into two larger camps, though: traditional and nontraditional methods. Let’s start with the traditional waterfall method, which breaks down the tasks in a project into a line of sequential project phases, and each of these phases depends on the delivery of the one before it.

Waterfall Methodology

Waterfall is the go-to methodology for most IT projects. While it is a project management method found in large projects outside of IT, it also lends itself to IT projects and has been proven a successful approach for formal and linear projects.

Waterfall has been around since it was codified in a paper published in 1970 by Dr. Winston W. Royce. The waterfall model has six stages:

• Requirements: First, the requirements are identified, analyzed and written up in a requirements document, defining what is being done and how it is to be done. This will be reviewed by stakeholders.
• Design: The next step is to document what was decided in the first stage in a design document, which notes everything needed to complete the project.
• Implementation:  The IT project manager and team execute the design document, sticking to specifications, procedures and timelines.
• Testing:  This is when deliverables from the project are measured against the standards set in the design document and stakeholders, like a quality check. If not met, then the process starts again. Our test case template can help with this process.
• Installation: If the tests are passed, then the project is ready for release to the end-user. The product should be fully operational at this point.
• Maintenance:  Most IT projects don’t end with delivery: they often require support after installation, whether updates or upgrades, though often this is tasked to a separate team.

Agile Methodology

Software development has introduced an agile framework to projects, a more iterative approach that works in short sprints and open to pivoting throughout the project, rather than being rigidly aligned with the plan. Some IT teams have incorporated agile or some of its implementations into their own projects.

Hybrid Methodology

More popular than agile with IT teams is hybrid methodology , which combines waterfall and agile, creating a more flexible and yet structured approach that can lend itself to IT projects. This “best of both worlds” approach it can be the right path forward depending on the parameters of the project.

ProjectManager is the ideal IT project management software for waterfall or hybrid methodologies. It features online Gantt charts for waterfall enthusiasts and kanban boards for agile lovers. Plus, the real-time dashboard keeps the IT project manager updated on progress through metrics that can be filtered to show the data you want and then shared.

Other Methodologies

Less used in IT projects, but worth mentioning, is the critical path method and critical chain project management. The critical path method categorizes the tasks that must be completed to fulfill the project objective. This is done with a work breakdown structure (WBS) , which is then mapped across a project duration or Gantt chart, with task dependencies linked to avoid blocking teams. This helps to know which tasks need to be done when.

The critical chain project management works backwards, recognizing deliverables and using past experience to map the tasks needed to complete the project. This is a very efficient way to use resources, while staying focused on the end-goal. However, delays can be common, and it’s not suited to work on a portfolio of projects.

The right IT project management tools will overcome the challenges of IT projects and give project managers better control and teams the features they need to collaborate and be more productive. Fortunately, ProjectManager is a project management software designed with IT project management in mind.

Gantt Charts for Waterfall Plans

The feature that fits with IT project management like a hand in a glove is ProjectManager’s online Gantt charts. Most of the methodologies above work on the timeline of a Gantt chart, and ours will allows you to link tasks that are dependent and even assign.

Teams love our online Gantt chart, especially IT teams that tend to work collaboratively and with autonomy. That’s because they can comment at the task level. Tasks can also have documents attached or images to add supporting materials and even sign-off once they’re completed.

Dashboards for Live Reporting

Because ProjectManager is a cloud-based project management software, status updates are instantly reflected throughout the program. That means your real-time dashboard is giving you project details as they happen.

The various metrics measuring cost, workload, time and more, can be filtered to show just the amount of data you need. Then these easy-to-read colorful graphs and charts can be shared to teams and stakeholders or printed out for presentations.

Roles and responsibilities in IT project management mostly mirror those projects in other disciplines. There are stakeholders, who are those who have an interest in the project; teams, who are those with skills to execute the project plan ; and the IT project manager, who is the person that is responsible for the planning, procurement and execution of the project.

Types of IT Teams

Where roles differ from more traditional projects is in the teams themselves. While more project management is executed by teams, whether remote or on site, they are largely part of the overall organization that is implementing the project. However, with IT project management there are three types of teams.

• First, there is the traditional project management team that is tasked with an IT project. These teams are not exclusive to IT and are led and staffed with a formal project management methodology.
• Second, there are professional services teams , who deliver technology to external customers. This is usually done with the implementation of software or installation of hardware. They are often led by a project manager, but can be headed by a services vice-president or director. However, they also use formal types of project management.
• Thirdly, there are internal IT teams . These are the teams that manage the delivery and maintenance of the technology in an organization. They roll out new systems, set up computers, monitors, phones and other devices for employees and manage the systems. They can be led by a project manager, though that person is usually defined within the company as a director or vice-president of IT.

The IT Project Manager

The IT project manager, due to the breadth of IT project management, has a wider range of responsibilities than most other project managers. They are not only dealing with leadership, resource allocation, scheduling and planning, monitoring and reporting, but must know about technology beyond the tools that they use to manage projects.

IT project managers are responsible for understanding firmware and being able to implement software integrations. They often build websites and databases, and manage these technologies as well. This includes building networks and maintaining security for data risks .

However, the basic structure of the IT project manager’s job remains being a clear communicator, setting realistic goals and applying the right methodology to achieve them. They must motivate and inform both teams and stakeholders, manage change and set the project schedule. The triple constraint of any project is still present. Therefore, the IT project manager, like any project manager, is concerned with setting deadlines and keeping to a budget. This is all managed through methodology.

An IT project manager can make a salary that ranges from $55,000 to $125,000, depending on industry and region. The more senior the position, however, the more compensated the person will be.

Responsibilities of an IT project manager are similar to any project manager, in that they lead the planning, execution and monitoring and reporting of the project. They are responsible for making sure resources are managed and the project comes in successfully, meaning on time, within budget and of the expected quality. They also report to upper management, stakeholders, clients, etc., while managing the IT staff.

The IT project manager is also responsible for staying updated on the latest technology and changes to the organization’s technology, through research and studying similar organizations and their IT structure. They make sure that the technology complements the organization’s overall goals, strategies and practices.

They also work to preserve the IT assets by implementing disaster recovery and back-up procedures, including any IT security and control structures. The IT project manager is responsible for the quality of all IT projects.

Skills and Qualifications

Some of the skills and qualifications of an IT project manager include:

• Technical management
• An understanding of technology
• An ability to stay on top of the ever-changing field
• Ability to analyze data
• Communications
• Problem-solving
• Data center management
• Strategic planning
• Quality management

One way to stay up-to-date on all the skills and qualifications required of an IT project manager is certification. Certification is done by an outside agency that notes a standard of excellence, understanding of the discipline and experience.

Most IT project managers have at least a bachelor’s degree in business management or a more specific area, such as marketing, engineering or computer science. To further differentiate yourself, there are certifications, but they’re mostly general project manager certifications.

Types of Certifications

The Project Management Institute (PMI) offers a couple of industry-recognized project manager certifications, such as the Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) and the Project Management Professional (PMP). PMI also offers a PMI Professional in Business Analysis (PMI-PBA), Program Management Professional (PgMP) and Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP).

More technical certifications are The Open Group’s TOGAF 9 and OPEN CA certifications, as well as the IASA’s Certified IT Architech – Professional (CITA-P). These enterprise architect certifications merge a knowledge of technology with business goals.

IT governance certifications is offered by ITIL and ISACA, which have Certified in the Governance of Enterprise IT (CGEIT) and Certified in Risk and Information Systems Control (CRISC).

IT Project Management Resources

• Emerging Trends in IT
• Project Management Trends (2022)
• The 10 Project management Knowledge Areas
• IT Governance: Definitions, Frameworks and Planning
• 7 Steps for Effective Problem Management in IT
• IT Audit: Definition & Quick Guide
• Technical Project Manager
• IT Portfolio Management Software
• 15 Free IT Project Management Templates for Excel, Word & More
• IT Project Plan Template
• IT Risk Assessment Template
• How to Become an IT Project Manager

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How IT project managers succeed with project management software

Let’s face it: IT projects are notoriously complex. So is managing them.

With shifting client requirements, unknown endpoints, finicky development languages, and the constantly evolving nature of technology itself, information technology projects face more potential hurdles and pitfalls than their analog counterparts.

To overcome these challenges, IT project managers have specialized training and often more experience. But they also leverage project management software to simplify their workflows and iron out some of the inevitable wrinkles.

This post covers the responsibilities of an IT project manager, the types of projects commonly assigned, the most common challenges faced, and — most importantly — how project management software can help overcome those hurdles.

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IT project manager responsibilities 

The IT project manager is a vital role for agencies with sufficiently complex IT needs. A subset or variety of a technical project manager , this role combines the knowledge and responsibilities of conventional project management (including possible PM certification, expected by more than 50% of companies that employ project managers) with the subject matter expertise needed to understand and succeed in tech and IT.

Because of this dual focus, these professionals are frequently more highly trained — and more highly compensated — than entry-level PMs. They often have a bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field — if not a master’s degree — and may already have years of experience under their belt as a non-specialist project manager.

Typical responsibilities for an IT project manager include (but aren’t limited to):

Daily IT operations (servers, software, operating systems, cloud technologies)

IT budget planning and oversight

Testing and troubleshooting

Hardware installations and ongoing maintenance

IT risk management (including data backup and disaster recovery)

IT compliance

Oversight of specific IT tasks

As agencies grow larger, it’s common for some of these responsibilities to move to other roles or departments (IT compliance, for example, typically employs numerous specialists and managers in an enterprise). 

Additionally, larger firms usually make a distinction between IT managers and IT project managers, with the former handling broader IT management, vision, and goals, while the latter focuses on individual assignments within IT.

• Stages an IT project manager will follow for successful projects

Projects following IT project management best practices will adhere to five standard phases:

1) Initiation

Project initiation is where the objectives are created and defined. A detailed proposal is a key deliverable for this phase. For IT-related projects, it will be more technical in nature.

Reading and understanding the proposal might require a basic understanding of IT language and concepts. 

That means the person who writes the proposal (usually the project manager) must have a thorough understanding of the technology involved.

2) Planning

The planning phase includes:

Determining scope

Refining a budget

Assigning resources

Building a schedule

Because IT projects rarely exist in isolation, IT project managers may also deal with planning for integration, adoption, and/or training once the task is complete.

3) Executing

The deliverables are created during this phase as development teams and project personnel follow the project schedule and complete their tasks. Here, the IT project manager shifts into a technical advisor role in addition to schedule-keeping, task tracking, and so forth.

4) Monitoring

IT project managers monitor progress throughout the execution phase. Cost and quality are two factors to track, as is schedule adherence.

As disagreements or technical hurdles arise, the IT project manager leverages both management skills and IT subject matter expertise to problem-solve and determine the path forward.

At the completion of all deliverables, the project manager informs stakeholders and ensures deliverables reach their proper destination. An IT project manager may also oversee initial support and training related to the software or assignment just completed.

• Types of projects an IT project manager oversees

IT project managers are in charge of a wide range of IT-related projects, including:

Web development

IT project managers navigate the intricacies of web development projects, from defining goals to coordinating cross-functional teams. The broad strokes of schedule building may be something a standard project manager could handle, but any problem-solving or stakeholder interaction requires a level of technical proficiency.

Web development projects could include:

An internal website

A consumer-facing website designed for the agency (or its client) to promote its goods and services

An ecommerce website

A web app or service accessed through a web portal

Individual landing, service, and product pages

Execute web projects faster and focus on the most important tasks

Whether you're working on a new website or a redesign, use our template to streamline the process from beginning to end.

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Software development

Software development projects tend to dive even deeper into coding and programming, to the degree that a freshly-minted project management professional with no IT background may not know what a single task on the next sprint is. 

That’s why software development projects tend to require an IT project manager, someone who can “speak the language” well enough to build intelligent schedules, keep devs on task and on track, and make sure everything is finished on time and on budget. 

Software development projects run the gamut from small internal tools that handle agency functions to business- or consumer-oriented retail software products.

Mobile app development

Mobile app development faces similar challenges to software development, so an IT project manager’s role looks similar here. 

However, there are a few differences: app store platform compatibility is its own complex system, and many mobile apps require rapid iteration cycles and ongoing maintenance and updates. 

Network configuration

IT project managers play a critical role in network configuration projects because without a functioning computer network and IT infrastructure, you won’t have an operating agency (or at least not for long). 

They plan and implement IT system changes in a way that maximizes performance while minimizing downtime, keeping the agency online and on task.

Network configuration projects could include:

Cloud migrations and integrations

Upgrading capacity

Server upgrades

Standardizing to a common set of network providers and software tools

Software implementation

Agencies must implement new software to keep up with current capabilities, but doing so at scale can be complex.

IT project managers are instrumental in the successful rollout of new software systems; they gather requirements, lay out customization needs, and oversee user training. 

Software implementation projects could include building an implementation plan for a new operating system or a modern replacement for an industry-specific software tool. Or they can involve integrating a new cloud or SaaS tool with an existing tech stack.

Data projects

IT project managers also keep a handle on data-centric initiatives such as data migration, data warehousing, and intelligence initiatives. They help ensure data accuracy, accessibility, visibility, and alignment with business objectives.

Data projects could be: 

Moving data from a data warehouse to a data lake

Migrating data to or from the cloud

Cleaning and using data to produce business intelligence

• Common challenges faced by IT project managers

IT project managers must navigate numerous challenges and stress points. Some overlap with the hurdles all project managers face, but each has its own flavor or unique attributes in an IT context.

Resource allocation

Resource allocation is a responsibility for all project managers, but it can be especially challenging in IT project management. 

The process of distributing people, finances, and technology is tough enough when the deliverables are tangible and the parameters known from the outset. But often in IT projects neither is true: the deliverables are ones and zeroes, and the final outcomes may not be known at the start. 

IT project managers, then, must navigate the complexities of resource allocation with agility, making adjustments and reallocations throughout the course of the project.

Time management

Maximizing team efficiency is an ongoing challenge in IT project management: IT PMs must grapple with the constantly changing nature of software development. 

Iterative development, ephemeral feature sets, and a need to begin building without every detail settled all complicate efficiency and time management on software teams.

Managing remote teams

Remote teams are becoming more common across all industries where the practice is possible, but IT teams remain the most likely to be partly or fully remote. To give just one example: Flexjobs rounded up 20 companies that have shifted to permanent remote work , and every single one of them was in IT and software. 

Remote teams may be possible, but they aren’t always working well together.

PMO Advisory CEO Te Wu, speaking to CIO , comments on the challenges brought on by a lack of in-person collaboration:

“People are spending more time to get to the same net effectiveness, and I think human relationships are starting to fray.”

Remote teams can face additional difficulties with communication, mutual understanding, and team-building. The IT project manager must navigate this environment, helping team members get to know and trust one another despite physical distance. 

Handling project scope changes

Because the end goal is often not known at the outset of software development projects (and several other IT categories), scope changes are inevitable. Still, they can be a significant threat to project success if not managed. 

IT project managers must navigate a delicate balance between stakeholder and client requests with the project’s objectives and constraints (time, budget, and resources).

• Key features of project management software that aid IT project managers

Many IT project managers turn to PM software to alleviate some of the challenges inherent in their work. These are some of the key features they look for — and that you should prioritize in your own search for the right software solution.

Task assignment and tracking

Task assignment and tracking features in a PM software can help IT project managers and their development teams understand who’s responsible for what and when. 

It’s a great help going into a project meeting or sprint and already having a clear picture of:

Where tasks are in their workflows

Where they are stuck or bottlenecked

What’s going smoothly and according to plan

Teamwork.com is perfect for assigning and tracking tasks across a wide range of project management methodologies. Its easy-to-use interface makes task assignments clear and easy to see, both for the project manager and the assigned team member.

Track every detail so nothing slips through the cracks

Manage complex client projects with ease. Break work down into tasks and subtasks so everyone know's what to do and when it's done.

Time tracking and timesheets

In a field with so many unknowns, it’s nice to have data to pull from. Historical details on how much time a previous, similar project took can serve as a strong starting point for planning the next deliverable.

Of course, to get this data, teams must track their time. Some project management suites omit this capability, requiring agencies to add yet another piece of software to their stack.

Others, like Teamwork.com, include powerful native time-tracking features that are already integrated with the rest of the project management platform.

Budget and expense management

All projects have a budget (or at least, they should to keep things on track and as profitable as possible). The project manager’s job is to measure progress against that budget, ensuring there’s enough expense room to reach the finish line. 

Here again, IT project managers can benefit from budget and expense management features in their PM software, helping them tie work and time directly to costs. 

Collaboration tools (chats, file sharing)

Numerous collaboration tools, including video conferencing, chat and instant messaging, file sharing, and collaborative spaces, can enhance the way IT teams work together.

Keeping communications centralized also helps the IT project manager by providing a single source of truth and a searchable “paper trail” for tracking down random bits of information. 

It’s helpful when these collaboration tools integrate with an agency's chosen project management solution, too. Teamwork Spaces and Teamwork Chat are impressive additions to the project manager’s toolkit, giving teams dedicated collaborative spaces, instant messaging, video chat, and more.

Risk assessment and mitigation features

Lastly, IT project managers can benefit from risk assessment and mitigation features, either as a part of a broader security or business intelligence suite, or as features within project management software.

These tools can help identify the most likely risks and point project managers toward solutions that eliminate or lower them. 

• Streamline your IT project workflows with Teamwork.com

IT project management is a strategic way to plan, execute, and monitor projects from start to finish. The discipline faces many of the same challenges other PMs face, but with the added wrinkle of especially complex subject matter that requires everyone on the team — including the PM — to have significant technical expertise.

Teamwork.com helps IT project managers simplify and streamline the project management aspects of their work, bringing task management, resource allocation, time tracking, budgeting, and more into a single portal.

By lessening the load of project management, Teamwork.com enables IT project managers to focus on moving assignments forward with confidence and speed.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

• IT project manager responsibilities

Ben is a Senior Content Marketing Specialist at Teamwork.com. Having held content roles at agencies and SaaS companies for the past 8 years, Ben loves writing about the latest tech trends and work hacks in the agency space.

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The Impacts of ICT Support on Information Distribution, Task Assignment for Gaining Teams’ Situational Awareness in Search and Rescue Operations

• Conference paper
• First Online: 25 December 2015
• Cite this conference paper

• Vimala Nunavath 8 ,
• Jaziar Radianti 8 ,
• Tina Comes 8 &
• Andreas Prinz 8  

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 425))

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Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has changed the way we communicate and work. To study the effects of ICT for Information Distribution (ID) and Task Assignment (TA) for gaining Teams’ Situational Awareness (TSA) across and within rescue teams, an indoor fire game was played with students. We used two settings (smartphone-enabled support vs. traditional walkietalkies) to analyze the impact of technology on ID and TA for gaining TSA in a simulated Search and Rescue operation. The results presented in this paper combine observations and quantitative data from a survey conducted after the game. The results indicate that the use of the ICT was good in second scenario than first scenario for ID and TA for gaining TSA. This might be explained as technology is more preferable and effective for information sharing, for gaining TSA and also for clear tasks assignment.

• Disaster management
• Smartphones
• Walkie-Talkie
• Indoor fire games
• Coordination
• Information Distribution
• Task assignment
• Teams’ Situational Awareness
• Quantitative analysis

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Vimala Nunavath, Jaziar Radianti, Tina Comes & Andreas Prinz

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Sabu M. Thampi

Machine Intelligence Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

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Department of Electrical, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Sri Krishnan

Providence University, Taichung, Taiwan

Kuan-Ching Li

Computer Engineering Department, Vladimir State University, Vladimir Region, Russia

Sergey Mosin

School of Electrical, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

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Nunavath, V., Radianti, J., Comes, T., Prinz, A. (2016). The Impacts of ICT Support on Information Distribution, Task Assignment for Gaining Teams’ Situational Awareness in Search and Rescue Operations. In: Thampi, S., Bandyopadhyay, S., Krishnan, S., Li, KC., Mosin, S., Ma, M. (eds) Advances in Signal Processing and Intelligent Recognition Systems. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 425. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28658-7_38

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• Project management |

What is IT project management?

IT project management is the process of managing, planning, and developing information technology projects. Project managers can use software to move through the five phases of the IT project management life cycle and accomplish complex tasks more effectively.

IT project managers are adaptable and resourceful leaders. Carrying complex projects over the finish line isn’t an easy task, but the right leader does it time and time again. 

Having the right IT management software can be the key to project success. Our guide outlines what IT project management is and provides tips for managing IT projects.  

IT project management is the process of managing, planning, and developing information technology projects. IT projects exist within a variety of industries, including software development, information security, information systems, communications, hardware, network, databases, and mobile apps.

IT project developers deliver a product or service, while managers handle IT project management. Managers are in charge of communicating expectations and keeping projects on track and on budget to ensure the IT projects run smoothly.

What are the 5 phases of IT projects?

As an IT project manager, you can accomplish complex tasks more effectively using the five phases of IT project management. Each phase has different milestones that drive the project life cycle forward. Whether you’re managing sprints for an Agile project or process rollouts—map out your next project using the five phases below.

1. Initiation

During the initiation phase , determine the need for the project and create a project proposal. The project must also be viable for the team and the company at large. During this phase, make sure to also confirm the project is worth the allotted time and resources before moving forward.

2. Planning

The planning phase is a collaborative effort between you as the IT project manager and your team. Planning for the project involves setting budgets, identifying risks, and creating clear goals for what you hope to accomplish. 

A roadmap template can help you plan goals that you can then refer to throughout the project life cycle. 

3. Execution

The execution phase is when the team sets deliverables for the project. IT project managers play a crucial role by delegating tasks to hit milestones and keeping communication open among all team members. 

Use team collaboration software to ensure everyone is on the same page about who’s doing what by when. You may need to revisit the project plan during execution, as projects often experience changes during development. 

4. Monitor and control

During the execution phase, use IT project management software to track your team’s progress in real time. This involves monitoring the time, cost, scope, quality, and risk of the project itself. Using your project roadmap , you can evaluate whether the project is on track with your project proposal and goals, or course-correct if necessary. 

Once the project is complete, the closure phase begins. In this phase, ensure all work has been completed, approved, and moved on to the appropriate team. It’s also important to take some time to review any lessons learned during the project and determine what went well and what didn’t. The closure phase is crucial because it empowers your team to review and improve future methodology. 

What does an IT project manager do?

As an IT project manager, you must know how to communicate with everyone in your organization. You’ll be working closely with members of the IT department but you may also be in charge of discussing your team’s work with other teams.

Ensure the product functions: The goal of every IT project is to deliver a functional product that meets the customer’s needs. IT project managers are the first point of contact if things go wrong with a project, which is why you must prioritize functionality above all else. 

Assign tasks to team members: A project manager is a team’s go-to person when determining what their roles and responsibilities are for the project. As an IT project manager, take some time to understand IT teams so you can assign tasks effectively.

Track progress and performance: Once each project begins, project management professionals must track team performance, the project timeline , the budget, and how well the project is meeting its goals. IT project managers can use project management software to assess competencies and assist with professional development.

Lead Agile meetings with stakeholders: A stakeholder is often influenced by the outcome of the project. This could be senior management, a customer, or a product tester. As IT project manager, you’ll communicate with stakeholders and give them frequent status reports on the project.  

Challenges faced by IT project managers

You’ll face a fair number of challenges in your role as IT project manager, but with the right management tools, you can feel confident in your ability to address issues quickly. 

Time and budgeting

Time and budgeting are some of the biggest challenges you may face in IT project management. Without realistic deadlines for a project, you risk delivering a product or service that is of lower quality than it could be. 

Not having the resources to complete the project can also make teams and customers suffer. You can reduce time and budgeting challenges by prioritizing these items in the planning phase. 

Scenario: Senior management would like your team to perform a company-wide software migration within one month, but you’ll need an additional month because your team is too small and inexperienced to complete the migration in the allotted time frame.

Solution: Use IT project management software to keep senior management informed about your team’s availability and experience. That way, management can prepare a more realistic timeline when assigning IT projects.

Scope creep

Scope creep occurs when the original goals of the project become overshadowed if stakeholders continue adding new requirements and deliverables. It can potentially derail a project and requires constant maneuvering. 

To reduce the frequency of scope creep, set strong project objectives from the beginning, have a change control process in place, and do your best to communicate with stakeholders every step of the way. 

Scenario: Your initial project goal was to improve outdoor Wi-Fi at your company’s headquarters so employees and visitors can work from anywhere. During project execution, stakeholders ask you to expand the outdoor Wi-Fi reach to the operations center across the street and also allow download capabilities. 

Solution: IT project management can give clear project objectives at the start, so your stakeholders will know what can be accomplished during this project. For example, they would understand that requesting an extension of the outdoor Wi-Fi reach is reasonable, while requesting download capabilities is too extensive.

Miscommunication

Because IT project managers function as the go-between among team members, departments, and stakeholders, miscommunication can become a challenge if there isn’t an organized process in place to keep everyone informed. Prioritize communication using IT project management tools to lead your team to success. 

Scenario: Your company agrees to work with a local school and improve their learning spaces with increased access to technology. The project involves installing Wi-Fi and donating 100 computers to the school, but your senior manager thought you were only donating 10 computers.

Solution: Prioritize communication at the beginning of a project. Sharing frequent project status updates with IT management tools can ensure everyone is on the same page through the project life cycle. 

Risk management

Managing the risks of an information technology project is a necessary step in the initiation phase. During this phase, you must come up with alternate plans should your initial goals fall short. If you don’t manage risk on the front end, you’ll have a hard time picking up the slack when things go awry in real time. 

Scenario: Your team creates an online scheduling portal for patients at a hospital. You predict everything will run smoothly, so you’re shocked when a bug in the program causes cardiac patients to see gynecologists and neuro patients to see urologists.

Solution: With proper risk management, a plan is in place to quickly and effectively resolve the bug. Fixing the bug also means reassessing and identifying potential new risks raised by the fix. Risk analysis is an essential part of IT project management—try using a risk register to identify risks before they occur. 

Changing technology

Complex IT projects can take months or years to complete. One challenge in IT project management is keeping up with transforming technology as a project takes place. The project scope of your initial IT project must be flexible in case the needs of your customer change while your project is in development. 

Scenario: Your team takes on a long-term project to improve the GPS systems in cars. While working on this project, GPS phone apps come out allowing drivers to see traffic in real time. Your GPS system doesn’t include traffic, and including this feature would considerably extend your project length. 

Solution: Changing technology can’t be stopped, so your IT project must be flexible. In this example, your team would need to decide whether pivoting the project is a good business strategy to compete with advanced GPS phone technology.

Types of IT project management tools

IT project management tools can keep your project team organized and informed from project initiation to closure. These tools help visualize each team member’s role in the project and show the project’s progress in real time.

For all types of IT projects:

RACI chart: RACI stands for Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. Using a RACI chart , you can clarify the roles and responsibilities of your team members when working through projects. For each task or deliverable, designate which team members or stakeholders are Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, or Informed. These charts can be useful in all types of IT projects, as there’s always a need for clarification among team member responsibilities.  

For projects with task dependencies:

Gantt chart: A Gantt chart —named after Henry Gantt—is a horizontal chart used to illustrate a project timeline. Each bar on the chart represents tasks in the project, and the length of each bar represents time. Gantt charts help teams visualize what work needs to get done and how tasks affect one another, like a waterfall. If your project involves many dependent tasks (in other words, tasks that rely on one another), then this is a great tool because your team members can see if and where tasks overlap. 

For projects that require tasks with small, incremental changes:

Kanban boards: Kanban boards show the work breakdown structure of what stage each task is in. Using Kanban boards in IT project management can help your team balance their work responsibilities and see other team members’ available capacity. Kanban boards work well when your project requires tasks with small, incremental changes. These task boards allow teams to break down tasks into checklists and progress stages. 

What is an example of IT project management?

An information technology team is developing a new iPhone application to help employees clock in at work. When putting together the project proposal for the iPhone app, the IT project manager consults with the app creator while also considering the needs of the end user. 

In this IT project example, we’ll use the five phases of project management to bring the iPhone app through development.

Initiation phase : The first step is to ask questions. Dig deep into how the app will help solve a problem. Consider how this iPhone app can provide a solution for employees and employers. Is creating this app viable for your team given the designated time and budget?

Planning phase : Next, you begin the planning phase. To do so, determine the budget it will take to make the app and assess who on your team can handle the coding of the app.

Execution phase: The most important part of executing the plan for your iPhone app is to identify your overall project objectives. In this example, your project objective is: “The goal of this time-tracking application is to provide an easily accessible way for employees to clock their work hours and to help employers keep track of their team’s productivity.”

Monitor, control, and closure phases: Use IT project management tools to monitor your team’s progress. With effective project management software, you can look back at the data during the closure phase. 

Streamline IT projects with project management software

A strong IT manager will ensure that your IT projects run smoothly, stay on track, and budget. Looking for a way to automate tasks as an IT manager? 

With Asana, get Gantt chart-like views, tools for managing team responsibilities, stakeholder sharing options, and real-time project updates to help you hit your project deliverables on time.

Related resources

Critical path method: How to use CPM for project management

15 project management interview questions, answers, and tips

Unmanaged business goals don’t work. Here’s what does.

How Asana uses work management to drive product development

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Assignments Are Critical Tools to Achieve Workplace Gender Equity

Work assignments can be a powerful means of propelling employees’ growth but — unless managed deliberately — they can also undermine efforts to build a diverse workforce.

• Workplace, Teams, & Culture
• Organizational Behavior

Facing unprecedented levels of employee burnout and historic quit rates , how can companies lead with a model that attracts and retains talent? This period of transition, and the lessons learned from the pandemic, offer organizations a unique opportunity to improve and refine their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategies. 1 It is imperative that leaders consider the landscape of work assignments at their companies as a foundation for greater workforce equity.

“Assignments” can comprise work tasks, activities, or projects. Scholars have long identified a gender gap in access to the kinds of assignments — large in scope, highly visible, and strategically important — that are seen as essential to career advancement. An estimated 70% of leadership development occurs through experiential learning , especially the kind offered by these challenging stretch assignments.

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Yet women are largely overlooked for challenging work assignments. One factor is that women typically have fewer ties to influential decision makers who connect people to assignment opportunities . Biased performance evaluations also may play a role, with women seeing no gains in their performance scores for the very behaviors (such as “taking charge”) for which men are rewarded. 2 One study showed how promotability depends on having had challenging past projects — setting up a vicious cycle in which women never get ahead. 3 Women of color, tasked with the additional burden of “fitting in” at predominantly White organizations, may find channels to career-advancing work blocked entirely. 4

Historically, companies have not tracked assignment processes. In one 2010 report, when HR leaders were asked the percentage of “business-critical/important” assignments held by women, the top two responses were “1% to 10%” and “not measured.” Both career-advancing work and meaningful work are cornerstones of positive professional experiences. But leaders may know little about who has access to significant assignments, or they may be unaware of how a lack of access drives burnout, turnover, and dwindling diversity on the leadership bench. 5

These many unknowns about assignments drive an information gap that grows riskier as countless organizations head into new hybrid work arrangements. To quantify this risk, our team at the Stanford VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab ran a study of assignments, using data that many companies collect and managers review at least yearly: employee engagement survey (EES) data.

About the Authors

Erin Macke is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at Stanford University and a graduate research assistant at Stanford’s VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab. Gabriela Gall Rosa is a research data analyst at the VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab. Shannon Gilmartin is a senior research scholar at the VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab. Caroline Simard is managing director of the VMware Women’s Leadership Innovation Lab.

1. “ Hybrid Working Is Here to Stay Post-Pandemic: Stanford’s Nicholas Bloom ,” Bloomberg TV, Dec. 30, 2020, video, 6:34, www.bloomberg.com; and J.M. Barrero, N. Bloom, and S.J. Davis, “ Why Working From Home Will Stick ,” working paper 28731, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Massachusetts, April 2021.

2. S.J. Correll, K.R. Weisshaar, A.T. Wynn, et al., “Inside the Black Box of Organizational Life: The Gendered Language of Performance Assessment,” American Sociological Review 85, no. 6 (December 2020): 1022-1050.

3. I.E. De Pater, A.E.M. van Vianen, M.N. Bechtoldt, et al., “Employees’ Challenging Job Experiences and Supervisors’ Evaluations of Promotability,” Personnel Psychology 62, no. 2 (May 2009): 297-325.

4. T.M. Melaku, “You Don’t Look Like a Lawyer: Black Women and Systemic Gendered Racism,” (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2019).

5. P.T.Y. Preenan, I.E. De Pater, A.E. van Vianen, et al., “Managing Voluntary Turnover Through Challenging Assignments,” Group & Organization Management 36, no.3 (April 2011): 3088-344; C. Maslach and M. Leiter, “Early Predictors of Job Burnout and Engagement,” Journal of Applied Psychology 93, no. 3 (June 2008): 489-512; and J.M. Hoobler, G. Lemmon, and S.J. Wayne, “Women’s Managerial Aspirations: An Organizational Development Perspective,” Journal of Management 40, no. 3 (March 2014): 703-730.

6. This EES data was collected in 2015 from over 4,000 respondents at this company.

7. For this analysis, we calculated predicted probabilities (57% for women and 67% for men, p<0.0001) from a logistic regression in which the dependent measure, agreement with “having opportunities,” is dichotomized into levels of agreement: “great/very great” and “very little/some/moderate.” A series of ordinary least squares regressions on a nondichotomized dependent measure yielded similar results.

8. L. Babcock, M.P. Recalde, L. Vesterlund, et al., “Gender Differences in Accepting and Receiving Requests for Tasks With Low Promotability,” American Economic Review 107, no. 3 (March 2017): 714-747.

9. It is worth noting that we could not conduct our case study analyses by employees’ race and ethnicity because this information was not collected on the company’s EES, so our analyses cannot speak to both gender and race assignment inequities. While legal and privacy considerations in different geographies may constrain what can be measured, companies should strive to examine such data by race and ethnicity, geography, and other social dimensions based on their diversity strategies.

Acknowledgments

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How To Assign Tasks To Team Members Effectively? Our Full Guideline

How can I effectively assign tasks to people?

Why is it that despite assigning tasks, some groups reach peak productivity and project success, while others grapple with conflicts and burnout?

And how can I address and solve issues related to task assignment?

In this article, we’ll provide answers to all of these questions.

Ready to elevate your task assignment skills and boost your project success? Let’s dive right in!

I. Assigning Tasks: Quick Overview

1. What is task assigning?

Task assigning is the process of allocating specific duties to team members to achieve a common goal.

2. Why is assigning tasks to team members important?

Effective task assigning is crucial for achieving team goals and maintaining productivity because it improves:

• Fair workload distribution.
• Resource efficiency.
• Seamless team collaboration
• Simplifying project progress tracking.

There’s more.

As everyone knows their role, responsibilities, and how their work contributes to the bigger picture, they feel less confused and more accountable for their assigned task.

II. How to assign tasks effectively in a project?

Below are the best strategies, practices, and tips for assigning tasks to others effectively.

Stage 1: Before assigning tasks

• Understand the project & your team members

Ensure you get a clear understanding of:

• Project’s objectives, scope, desired outcomes, and any deadlines.
• Team members’ skills, strengths, weaknesses, and preferences.

This step allows you to match the right tasks with the right team member, which helps allocate tasks efficiently, increase productivity, and maximize project success.

• Break down the project into individual tasks

Follow these steps:

• Identify major components of the project based on its goals.
• Break components into smaller tasks.

This makes it easier for managers to allocate responsibilities and track progress while helping team members better grasp the overall process.

• Prioritize tasks

Prioritize tasks based on 3 factors: 1) urgency, 2) importance, and 3) complexity. Here’s how:

• Identify time-sensitive tasks.
• Address tasks contribute to your long-term goals and should not be neglected.
• Categorize tasks based on difficulty levels, and time and resources required.
• Create a priority list of tasks based on the combination of all three criteria.

This valuable step helps managers make informed decisions on which tasks to tackle first and find the right people to work on each task.

Stage 2: While assigning employee tasks

• Match the right person to the right task

Assign tasks to the most qualified people.

Start by allocating high-priority tasks to the first available person with the matching expertise. Schedule low-priority tasks.

Straightforward tasks can be assigned to less experienced members, while complex tasks may be given to those with advanced skills.

• Be mindful of your team’s availability.
• Set realistic deadlines. Ensure to give members sufficient time to complete their assigned task.
• If someone shows interest in a particular task, consider assigning it to them.

If you know your employees well enough, then make a list of dependable people who are ready to take on a little more duties.

Give them low-priority yet important tasks with authority.

• Communication

To avoid disputes, constant clarification, or errors, it’s important to help your team members understand:

• Project’s goals, desired outcomes, and deadlines.
• Tasks’ requirements and priorities, plus how they contribute to the overall project’s success.
• Who is responsible for which task and what is expected of them.

Tips: Use clear and concise language when communicating. Encourage employees to ask questions and seek clarification on the project and their assigned tasks.

Stage 3: After assigning tasks

• Monitor Progress & Offer Help

Check-in with team members regularly to see how they are doing and if they need any help.

Encourage them to open up and transparently communicate their concerns and challenges.

On your side as a team leader or project manager, be available to offer assistance if they encounter challenges.

This helps resolve issues and improve the task assignment process.

• Provide Necessary Resources

Ensure that team members have the necessary resources, tools, and information for their task completion.

Stage 4: After the task/project is completed

• Reflect on Past Assignments

After each project or task, take time to reflect on what worked well, what didn’t, and where certain tasks weren’t up to par.

Address any issues and offer feedback on completed tasks. Use this feedback to refine your approach in future assignments.

Recognize and reward everyone’s efforts and contributions. This helps keep employees excited and motivated.

• Continuous Learning and Improvement

Invest in training and development opportunities for your team to enhance new skills and knowledge.

Extra tips for assigning tasks effectively:

• Use project management software to help you manage workload, make time estimates, performance reviews, etc.
• Be flexible. Things don’t always go according to plan, so be prepared to adjust your assignments as needed.
• Don’t be afraid to experiment. Try different approaches to see what works best for your team.

III. How to assign tasks in Upbase?

In this section, I’ll show you how a project management tool like Upbase helps simplify task assignments, improve morale, and increase outcomes.

Quick info:

• Upbase organizes and manages projects by lists.
• Members of a list can’t see and access other ones except those lists’ owners allow them to.
• Upbase offers unlimited free users and tasks.

Sign up for a free Upbase account here , follow this guide, and take your task assignment process to the next level.

1. Break down projects into smaller tasks

Create a new list:

• Hover over “Lists” on the left sidebar to open the dropdown menu.
• Select “List”
• Edit the list’s icon, color, name, and description. Then, add your employees.

Add new tasks to the list:

• Navigate to the Tasks module.
• Create and edit sections.
• Add tasks to sections by clicking “+” or “Add task”.

Add new tasks via emails : Open the dropdown menu next to the list name, select “add tasks via emails”, and follow the instructions.

Add task details:

You can add specific instructions, priorities, deadlines, and other attributes to individual tasks and subtasks.

Keyboard shortcuts : Hover over a task card and press:

• “S” to set high priority
• “D” to open the Due date picker
• “C” to open the Tag picker

Upbase Tip : Use task tags to categorize tasks by urgency, importance, and complexity. This makes it easier to match the right tasks to people for later.

2. Assign tasks

Check your employee availability:

Go to the Members page, and click on the team member you’d to assess their workload.

You’ll be driven to a separate page that shows that member’s assigned tasks, along with their due dates, priorities, etc. You can also filter tasks by one of these attributes.

Use this page to check each employee’s availability and identify who can complete additional tasks.

Assign tasks:

Open the desired task, click “Assignee”, and choose the right team member(s).

Keyboard shortcuts : Hover over the task and press “A” to open the Assignee picker. Press the space bar to assign yourself. This way makes assigning tasks easier and quicker!

If you want multiple people to work on a particular task, consider dividing it into subtasks, give time estimates for each, and then assign them to the right team member(s).

Communicate tasks:

Use the Messages and Chat modules to communicate with your team.

Messages is best suited to show the big picture, like project goals, desired outcomes, everyone’s duties, and how their work contributes to the whole.

Make use of the comment box to encourage everyone to ask questions and seek clarification about the project or their assigned tasks.

Chat supports both 1:1 chats and group chats. It’s perfect for quick discussions about issues, task deadlines, etc.

3. Track progress

Upbase offers an array of tools for project managers to track the workload of other employees.

To track a project’s progress:

From the Tasks module :

Here, you can view tasks in a List or Board format.

The List format provides an overview of tasks, deadlines, priorities, and employees working on them, while the Board visualizes the project’s progress.

Besides, you can group tasks by due date, priority, assignee, or section. View tasks filtered by one or multiple tags. Or create a custom filter.

From the Calendar module:

It shows all the scheduled tasks within a project by week or month. It also allows you to create a new task or reschedule overdue tasks.

To track the progress of all projects in a workspace :

Filters : In addition to filtering tasks within a project, you can create custom filters across multiple or all projects in a workspace.

Schedule : It functions similarly to the Calendar module. The two main differences are:

1) Schedule is to track the progress of tasks from all projects while Calendar is to track the progress of tasks within a project.

2) Schedule offers an additional view, named Daily Planner.

Other tools for progress tracking:

My Tasks : A private place where you can get an overview of all the tasks you create or tasks assigned to you.

4. Encourage collaboration and provide support

Use Upbase’s Docs, Files, and Links to provide employees with resources, information, and tools they need to complete tasks.

These modules are available in each list, making it easy to manage project data separately. Plus, they all provide collaboration features like watchers and comment boxes.

• Docs : You can create native documents, share a doc’s public link, embed Google Docs, and organize documents by folders.
• Files : It allows you to upload/download files, manage file versions, embed Google Drive folders, and show files by Grid or Board view.

• Links : You can save URLs as cards, and then add descriptions, watchers, and comments.

5. Providing feedback

On the Tasks module, you can create a section, named “Review”.

When a task is completed, the assignee will drag and drop it here. Then, you, as a project manager will leave feedback on it via the comment box.

So, why wait? Sign up for a free Upbase account now and experience it yourself.

IV. Common mistakes to avoid

For successful task assignment, remember to avoid these common mistakes:

1. Fear of Assigning Tasks

Some people, particularly new or inexperienced managers, may hesitate to allocate tasks to others due to concerns about:

• The quality of the work
• Fear of losing control
• Lack of trust in team members

This fear can hinder productivity and personal growth within a team or organization.

2. Lack of Clarity

This means that the instructions and details regarding a task are not transparent.

Team members may not have a clear understanding of what they are supposed to do, what the goals are, or what the expected outcomes should be.

This lack of clarity can lead to confusion and misunderstandings.

3. Poor Communication

Poor communication can contribute to misunderstandings and problems in task assignments, too.

However, it addresses different aspects of the overall process.

Poor communication means that there might be a lack of information sharing or ineffective communication methods. This could include:

• Not providing updates
• Failing to ask questions when something is unclear
• Not actively listening to others.

Even with clear instructions, if there’s poor communication, the information may not be conveyed effectively.

2. Overloading

Assigning too many tasks to a single person or team can overwhelm them and negatively impact the quality of their work. It’s crucial to distribute tasks evenly and consider each individual’s capacity.

3. Ignoring Skills and Strengths

Neglecting to match tasks with team members’ skills and strengths can result in subpar performance. Assign tasks based on individuals’ expertise and abilities to optimize results.

5. Micromanagement

Hovering over team members and scrutinizing every detail of their work can stifle creativity and motivation.

Trust your team to complete their tasks and provide support when needed.

6. Inflexibility

Being rigid in task assignments can prevent adaptation to changing circumstances or new information. It’s essential to remain open to adjustments and feedback.

8. Unrealistic Deadlines

Setting unattainable deadlines can put unnecessary pressure on your team and lead to a rushed and subpar outcome. Ensure that timelines are realistic and allow for unexpected delays.

10. Lack of Feedback

Forgetting to provide constructive feedback or failing to seek input from team members can hinder growth and improvement. Regularly discuss progress and provide guidance when necessary.

In summary:

Successful task assignment relies on clear communication, matching tasks to skills, flexibility, and a supportive, accountable, and feedback-driven environment.

Avoiding these common mistakes will help ensure that tasks are completed efficiently and effectively.

1. What’s the difference between assigning and delegating tasks?

Task delegation means you give someone the authority to make decisions and complete tasks independently without constant supervision.

Task allocation, on the other hand, means you assign specific duties to someone, often with clear instructions, while retaining overall control.

A delegated task gives the team member more freedom to make decisions and determine how to produce the desired results. An assigned task is more limited because it’s based on instructions and under supervision.

In short, delegating tasks typically involves a higher degree of trust and empowerment than allocating tasks.

2. What’s the difference between tasks and subtasks?

Tasks are generally larger, more significant activities that need to be completed, while subtasks are smaller, specific components or steps that contribute to the completion of a task.

Subtasks are often part of a broader task and help break it down into manageable pieces.

3. Who is the person assigned to a task?

The person assigned to a task is called an “assignee”. They’re responsible for completing that specific job or duty.

4. Who should you delegate a task to?

Delegate a task to the person best suited for it based on their skills, expertise, and availability.

Choose someone who can complete the task effectively and efficiently, taking into account their experience and workload.

5. What is the best way to assign tasks to team members?

The best way to assign tasks to others is by considering each member’s strengths, skills, and workload capacity, and aligning tasks with their expertise and availability.

6. Why is it important to assign tasks to your team members?

Assigning tasks to team members is crucial because it ensures clarity, accountability, and efficiency in achieving goals.

It helps prevent duplication of efforts, enables better time management, and allows team members to focus on their strengths, ultimately leading to successful project completion.

7. How do you politely assign a task?

To politely assign a task, you can follow these steps:

• Start with a friendly greeting.
• Clearly state the task and its importance.
• Ask if the person is available and willing to take on the task.
• Offer any necessary information or resources.
• Express appreciation for their help.

8. How do short-term goals differ from long-term goals?

Short-term goals are specific, achievable objectives that you aim to accomplish soon, typically within days, weeks, or months.

Long-term goals are broader, more substantial objectives that you work towards over an extended period, often spanning years.

Short-term goals are like stepping stones to reach long-term goals.

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how to effectively assign tasks to team members to increase productivity?

Picture this: It's Monday morning, and your team is buzzing with excitement, ready to take on the week. But wait! Who's doing what? Does everyone know their roles and responsibilities? Ah, the perennial challenge of assigning tasks . If this rings a bell, worry not. We've all been there. Have you ever felt the sting of mismatched roles? Like trying to fit a square peg into a round hole? Assigned tasks play a pivotal role in the smooth functioning of any team. And guess what? There are methods and tools that make this process easier. Let’s dive in.

As a leader in the workplace, it is essential to ensure that everyone in the team gets the appropriate amount of work. Sometimes, it's tempting to give an employee more tasks than others, especially if he/she finishes the tasks faster. But keep in mind that as managers, you must be fair. You must learn how to effectively assign tasks to your team members . 

Although it may seem like a simple management function, assigning tasks to your team is actually challenging. As said by Liane Davey, cofounder of 3COze Inc. and author of  You First: Inspire Your Team to Grow Up, Get Along, and Get Stuff Done , You are “juggling multiple interests” in the pursuit of optimal team performance.

Task distribution among various departments might vary from person to person. For efficient delegation, it is vital to consider guidelines while distributing duties to team members.

Tasks that are delegated effectively move your people, projects, and the entire business forward. It increases management and staff trust and accountability, helps in refining and teaching new abilities, enables personnel to become acquainted with various groups and areas of employment, and is an excellent foundation for performance reviews, etc.

How do you assign tasks to your employees? 

Assigning tasks is typically perceived as a time-consuming activity that focuses on removing items from task lists in order to keep the project moving forward. Task assignment, nevertheless, ought to be a more employee-focused procedure that calls for extra commitment and work, which produces excellent outcomes. 

Here are some tips to effectively assign tasks to your employees:

1. Delegate Positively

Don't just throw work at someone and expect them to deliver when they might not be qualified for that particular assignment. Maintain a mindset of doubting every assignment you gave and go over your personnel roster to see whether anyone else is capable of completing it as effectively as you can. They will be more likely to believe that they can do the assignment in the manner that the leader desires if they have a positive outlook. Employees won't feel inspired to start their assignment if you adversely assign them or have doubts about their competence. A little encouragement will make their day happier and encourage them to confidently do the tasks given to them.

2. Set Clear Goals and Objectives

To understand how your team performs, you should set clear goals and objectives before entrusting them with any responsibilities. When goals and objectives are not defined, it'll be harder for your team to see the big picture and perform tasks in a particular manner. 

3. Assign the Right Task to the Right Employee

This is the key to productivity. Who has the most expertise and experience should be given priority, but don't give that individual too much work. You should also think about who needs to develop their sense of responsibility. Also, take into account the passage of time and their eagerness to seize the opportunity. To do this, the manager should create a delegation plan that considers the various skill sets of each employee and assign tasks that are properly suited to each individual. On the other hand, when a task requires an extraordinary employee and there is a talent shortage, the leaders themselves should do the assignment in an emergency or without a workforce.

4. Obtain Inputs from Your Team and Set Up Meetings if Possible

Get suggestions from your team on what should be modified, who you could include, and how outcomes should be defined. Engage with the specific managers of the sub-teams if you are in charge of a large team or organization. A meeting with the entire team is necessary before assigning tasks to team members. You may obtain a clear picture of who is responsible for what and how purposefully they can do the assignment. Getting suggestions from your team members ensures that each of them will contribute to the task's accomplishment.

5. Conduct Training and Supervision

A project's completion necessitates the blending of various delegation techniques, a high degree of team member commitment, and effective planning and execution. It is essential to teach the team members and meet with the team every day in order to produce a skilled workforce. The training includes free access to resources for developing skills, such as courses from Upskillist ,  Udemy , or  Coursera . Following the training phase, the work must be supervised by a professional to ensure that the team learned from the training provided. Before and throughout the task assignment and execution among several team members, training and supervision are equally crucial.

6. Communicate Constantly

It doesn't mean that when you're done delegating the tasks, everything's good. No, it doesn't work that way. Constant communication is also the key to unlocking productivity. You need to collaborate with your team . Professionals at work must keep a close watch on their team members to learn about any challenges or issues they may be having.  For the task to be completed and the status of each team member to be tracked, communication is essential. Following up on tasks you assign to your employees helps them manage pressure and boost job productivity since problems like stress and pressure may tangle them and slow them down. Employee burnout is a result of micromanagement, which is not a good concept. It is best to let staff go free by following up casually.

7. Know who to Handover Authorization and Control

Decentralized power relieves employers of job management. Make sure to provide your staff some authority when you delegate tasks to them using management apps such as Trello , Asana , Edworking , Slack , and the like. Employees become empowered and responsible for completing tasks as a result of the control transfer. Giving them too little authority can cause issues because they lose interest in their work while giving them too much control might overwhelm them and cause them to forget basic responsibilities. The key to the team's success is giving each member the authority they rightfully deserve while also soliciting input.

8. After the project, assess the results

Ask yourself how you as the manager could support the success of your team members more effectively. Give constructive criticism and accept it in return.

The most vital phase in job completion is assigning tasks to team members. Due to the frequent mistakes made while delegating duties, it is imperative to use management tools when giving your team responsibilities. Project management solutions provide better work allocations by incorporating features like marketing automation. Employee development and time tracking are made easier by the task assignment guidelines, which also help keep workers interested. 

Allocating Vs. Delegating Tasks 

Now that you've learned about some tips to properly assign tasks, you may also have questions like, "what's the difference between allocating and delegating tasks?" 

As stated by Abhinav in a published article on LinkedIn, "The imbalance of responsibility and accountability is the main difference between Delegation and Allocation." What does it mean? Delegation gives a real opportunity for your team to upskill, grow, and develop. Allocating tasks is merely assigning tasks without the goal of helping your team grow.

Although assigning tasks has its merits, delegating tasks offers significant advantages in terms of employee growth and engagement. Because delegation when done well delivers diversity and other intrinsic motivational incentives that make work so much more meaningful, it will be even more rewarding for the manager and team members.

Task Tips and Best Practices 

In order to accomplish our objectives and SMART goals, we define a particular number of tasks that we must do each day. We frequently take on more than we can handle in the fight to remain at the top of our game and maintain our competitive edge.

Even while everything appears to be of the utmost importance, something is off in your struggle to finish everything while maintaining your composure. Some of us have a lengthy list of things we want to get done before a given age or period. Others devote so much effort to honing a particular skill that by the time it shines, it is no longer relevant.

Time management and balancing workload are not just skills of project managers or superiors. In reality, these abilities should be embraced at every level, particularly when working in a team. Research by Cornerstone found that when workers believe they don't have enough time in the day to do their jobs, work overload reduces productivity by 68%. What tips and best practices should you do so you don't only allocate tasks but delegate them effectively?

1. Prioritize. Make a to-do list according to the order of priority

Even if to-do lists are classic, they are still more efficient and effective than ever. People used to keep handwritten notes for ideas and tasks back in the day.  There are smart to-do lists apps and software that provide notifications and reminders prior to the task's due date. 

2. Maximize productivity and minimize procrastination

To start, delegate the tasks to the right people. Don't do it tomorrow or the next day. Do it today. Having a lot to accomplish may be stressful, which is sometimes worse than the actual task. If you struggle with procrastination, it's possible that you haven't come up with a good task management strategy. You might express your lack of starting knowledge by procrastinating. It could not be laziness, but rather a matter of setting priorities.

3. Be motivated

Procrastination and a lack of motivation are closely correlated. When you lack motivation, you tend to get distracted. If you want to meet milestones and deadlines, be motivated.

4. Delegate and be involved

The reality of being overburdened can have a negative impact on productivity if it is not properly managed. At the end of the day, we're still just humans. When it comes to having patience, resilience, working under pressure, or finishing a task quickly, each one of us possesses a certain set of skills. So, delegate the right tasks to the right person in your team, and don't just stop there. Be involved. Leaving the stadium just because you're done delegating is a big no. Keep in touch with them and follow up on the progress of the tasks assigned.

Task Vs. Subtask 

Tasks and subtasks are quite similar. The only difference is that a subtask should be completed as an element of completing a larger and more complex task.

For example, the task is to increase your company's social media presence. So, what should you do to accomplish those tasks? That's when you have subtasks such as creating optimized posts and content on various social media platforms, scheduling them, interacting with your audience in the comment section, etc. 

The additional stages that make up a task are called subtasks. They are essential while working on large projects with a wide range of tasks. In some task management tools, You may create as many subtasks as you need in the task view, but you must first choose the parent task before you can create a subtask.

Why You Should Assign Tasks Effectively to Team Members

Enhance team productivity.

Efficient task assignment can work wonders for your team's productivity. When each team member knows their role and is well-suited for their tasks, they can focus on delivering high-quality results. Imagine a well-oiled machine, with each cog spinning smoothly and in harmony - that's your team at peak productivity!

Consider these points:

• Match tasks to individual skills : Ensure tasks align with your team members' unique abilities and expertise.
• Set clear expectations : Be transparent about deadlines, deliverables, and objectives.
• Foster collaboration : Encourage communication and collaboration among team members.

Nurture a Sense of Ownership

Assigning tasks effectively helps to in still a sense of ownership and responsibility within your team. When individuals understand their role in a project, they are more likely to take pride in their work and strive for excellence. It's like planting a seed - with proper care and attention, it'll grow into a strong, thriving tree.

Key elements to foster ownership:

• Encourage autonomy : Allow team members to make decisions and take charge of their tasks.
• Provide feedback : Offer constructive feedback and celebrate successes.
• Support development : Invest in your team members' growth through training and development opportunities.

Reduce Work Overload and Burnout

Nobody wants to be buried under an avalanche of tasks. By allocating work effectively, you can prevent team members from feeling overwhelmed and burned out. Just as we can't run on empty, neither can our team members - so, let's ensure they have a manageable workload.

Strategies to avoid overload:

• Balance workloads : Distribute tasks evenly and consider individual capacities.
• Encourage breaks : Promote a healthy work-life balance and remind your team to take breaks.
• Monitor progress : Regularly check in with your team members to assess their workloads and stress levels.

Boost Employee Engagement

An engaged employee is a happy and productive one. When you assign tasks effectively, you're laying the groundwork for increased engagement. Think of it as a dance - with the right choreography, everyone knows their steps and performs in harmony.

Steps to enhance engagement:

• Align tasks with goals : Ensure tasks contribute to the overall goals of your team and organization.
• Offer variety : Mix up tasks to keep things interesting and provide opportunities for growth.
• Recognize achievements : Acknowledge hard work and accomplishments.

Improve Overall Team Morale

Finally, effective task assignment can lead to a happier, more cohesive team. When everyone feels valued and supported, team morale soars. Imagine a choir, each voice blending harmoniously to create a beautiful symphony - that's a team with high morale.

Ways to uplift team morale:

• Empower decision-making : Encourage team members to contribute their ideas and be part of the decision-making process.
• Foster a positive atmosphere : Cultivate an environment of open communication, trust, and support.
• Celebrate successes : Acknowledge both individual and team achievements, and celebrate them together.

Tools to Simplify Task Assignments in Teams

Microsoft outlook: not just for emails.

Yes, you heard that right. Beyond sending emails, Outlook has task features that allow managers to assign work to team members. You can set deadlines, prioritize, and even track progress. Think of it as your digital task manager. How cool is that?

Google Docs: Collaboration Made Easy

A favorite for many, Google Docs allows real-time collaboration. Need to distribute tasks ? Create a shared document, list down the tasks, and voila! Everyone can view, edit, or comment. Ever thought of using a simple shared document as a task distribution board?

Trello: Visual Task Management

For those of us who are visual creatures, Trello is a game-changer. Create boards, list assigned duties , and move them across columns as they progress. Remember playing with building blocks as a kid? It’s pretty much that, but digital and for grown-ups!

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Assigning tasks effectively is a skill that every leader must master to ensure team productivity and employee satisfaction. While the tips provided earlier can help you get there, being aware of common mistakes in task assignment is equally crucial. Avoiding these pitfalls can save you from derailing your projects and hampering your team's morale.

1. Overburdening Skilled Employees

It's tempting to give the bulk of the work to your most skilled team members, but this can lead to burnout and decreased productivity in the long term.

2. Lack of Clarity in Instructions

Vague or unclear instructions can result in misunderstandings, leading to poor quality of work or project delays. Always be specific and clear about what is expected.

3. Micromanaging

While it’s essential to oversee the progress of tasks, hovering over your team members can undermine their confidence and create a stressful work environment.

4. Failing to Prioritize Tasks

Not all tasks are created equal. Failing to prioritize can lead to poor allocation of resources, with less important tasks taking away time and energy from critical objectives.

5. Ignoring Team Input

Ignoring suggestions or feedback from your team can result in missed opportunities for more effective delegation and stronger team cohesion.

6. One-Size-Fits-All Approach

Remember that each team member has unique skills and limitations. Assigning tasks without considering these factors can lead to ineffective results and frustrated employees.

7. Neglecting Follow-Up

Assigning a task is not the end but part of an ongoing process. Failing to follow up can result in delays and could indicate to your team that the task wasn’t that important to begin with.

8. Fear of Delegating

Sometimes managers avoid delegating tasks because they feel that no one else can do the job as well as they can. This not only increases your workload but also deprives team members of growth opportunities.

A significant aspect of a leader's duties is delegating assignments to team members effectively. The secret to a manager's team functioning like an efficient machine is wise delegation.

Because of delegation, you won't have to spend hours on work that someone else can complete more quickly. Trying to handle everything on your own can quickly wear you out, regardless of your knowledge or expertise. Effectively delegating tasks enables you to keep on top of your own work while assisting team members in acquiring new abilities and developing a sense of comfort with taking ownership of tasks. 

Proper delegation of tasks also provides managers and team members with a learning opportunity since it enables everyone to build trust and become accustomed to exchanging comments and showing each other respect and appreciation.

Less is more when attempting to boost your team's output. Your team may become burned out if you try to increase their production too rapidly. In contrast, if you're too aggressive, your team can lose interest in their work and productivity might drop. Keep in mind that everyone will be more productive if they are part of the decision-making and execution process.

If you want to delegate tasks with ease and convenience, go for Edworking . This management tool lets you assign tasks and oversee your team's progress in a specific task. You can also conduct meetings to meet your team.`

Know that productivity greatly matters. With the right knowledge of assigning tasks to your team members, you can maximize productivity. Thus, achieving the goals and objectives of your organization.

What is the best way to assign tasks to team members?

Recognizing and understanding each member's unique strengths and expertise is paramount. Instead of assigning tasks randomly, it's always better to match each job with the individual’s skill set. Consider open dialogue, seek feedback, and ensure the assigned tasks align with both team and individual goals. It's a bit like giving everyone their favorite role in a play; wouldn't they shine brighter?

How do you assign tasks to a team in Teamwork?

In Teamwork, tasks can be assigned effortlessly. Start by creating a task list, then add individual tasks. Within each task, there's an option to 'Assign To.' Simply choose the team member you wish to assign the task to. Think of it as passing the baton in a relay race – each person knows when to run and when to pass it on!

Why is it important to assign tasks to your team members?

Assigning specific tasks helps in streamlining the workflow, ensuring accountability, and reducing overlaps or gaps in responsibilities. It also empowers team members by giving them ownership of their work. Have you ever seen a football team where everyone runs after the ball? Without clear roles, it's chaos!

How do you politely assign a task?

Start by acknowledging the individual's capabilities and expressing confidence in their ability to handle the task. Then, clearly explain the job's scope, expectations, and its importance in the overall project. Think of it as offering a piece of cake, not dumping a plate on their lap!

How do short term goals differ from long term goals?

Short-term goals act as stepping stones towards achieving long-term goals. While short-term goals focus on immediate challenges and tasks (think weeks or months), long-term goals look at the bigger picture and can span years. It's like comparing a sprint to a marathon. One's quick and intense, the other's about endurance and the long haul.

How technology can assist with workforce planning

As the old saying goes, those who fail to plan, plan to fail. This is especially relevant for business leaders who must not only keep their eye on strategic, long-term horizons and the risks and opportunities associated with that, but also keep day-to-day operations ticking over smoothly. As COVID-19 demonstrated, it was those organisations that could quickly adapt their processes that survived and even thrived – proving that while plans are important, they also need to be adaptable and flexible.

Workforce planning is one of the most critical functions undertaken by HR teams, but it can be likened to fitting multiple jigsaw pieces together. It can be overwhelming without the right tools. Fortunately, technology can help.

What is workforce planning – and why is it important?

At the simplest level, workforce planning is the process an organisation uses to analyse its workforce and determine the steps it must take to prepare for future staffing needs. In a candidate-driven market, it’s a way of future-proofing your organisation and has multiple strategic and operational benefits. For example, workforce planning can:

Assist with employee engagement and retention, as staff resources are optimised and there’s less likelihood of employees either not having enough work or – even worse – having too much work, leading to burnout

Optimise the composition of the workforce – i.e. the mix of full-time, part-time, casual or contractor

Assist with identifying training needs and providing suitable career paths for employees. Bolstering the capability of teams while giving people opportunities to grow their skillset and ensuring they have a future in your organisation makes this a win-win scenario

Help HR professionals anticipate and stay ahead of change, while providing structure and certainty to the workforce

Provide a framework for making workforce decisions that align with meeting the strategic goals of the organisation – for example, expansion into new geographic markets, or merger & acquisition activity

Identify how future staffing and skill needs will be met – that is, via recruiting, development, internal deployment, succession planning, etc.

Workforce planning in deskless workplaces

Effective workforce planning is perhaps even more critical for roster-driven, shift-based (or “deskless”) workplaces such as hospitals or retail stores. Indeed, although it helps at a strategic level in terms of budget and resource allocations, it also helps at a functional, day-to-day level. Ensuring you have the right person/role in the right place at the right time, receiving the right pay, form the building blocks of successful workforce management in deskless workplaces.

Workforce planning enables HR and managers to be proactive with staff rosters or schedules to ensure talent surpluses and shortages are avoided. It’s also important to be able to react, communicate changes and deploy resources – both human and otherwise – in real time. This is vital in care industries, which may have mandated staff-to-patient ratios and other regulations that ensure employees have appropriate and fair breaks between shifts. Other industries may require at least one employee in a designated work shift hold a certain qualification.

A workforce plan and the associated activities of organising rosters, schedules and leave management can help HR build a better understanding of employee qualifications and experience, where and when they prefer to work, preferred non-work days, and so on. Building a “profile” of each individual worker is crucial for understanding how to motivate, develop and retain them in the long-term.

Finally, a workforce plan can help HR identify the most effective channels for sourcing talent. With talent shortages seriously impacting certain industries, having multiple talent pipelines will be important, including leveraging immigration options or taking on less experienced trainees.

What’s typically involved in a workforce planning exercise?

Regardless of industry, the same steps generally apply. These include:

Understanding the organisation’s strategic direction and its impact on the workforce

Analysing the current and future workforce needs and competencies

Analysing the gap between current and future needs

Developing strategies to address workforce gaps

Implementing strategies to align the workforce with future business needs

Evaluating the success of the workforce planning strategies in meeting objectives

For a detailed breakdown of each of those steps, and for more handy hints on how to optimise talent usage in your deskless workplace, download Humanforce’s workforce planning checklist .

What role does technology play in workforce planning?

Technology can help you schedule and manage your resources – including your staff members, rooms, equipment, and more. It can help you optimise the mix of full-time, casual and contract employees. Artificial intelligence can even help with forecasting, identifying employee flight risks and mapping out career paths – and the skills required – for high potential talent.

At an operational level, quality rostering software tools enable your organisation to create compliant rosters – on time and on budget – irrespective of staff location and work hours. They can also help you manage demand ebbs and surges.

Humanforce’s rostering and scheduling solution , for example, takes all your staff requirements, leave, staff availability and qualifications into consideration when building out rosters. This reduces the reliance on agency staff and the likelihood of being caught understaffed due to multiple people being on leave. Our templates allow for the creation of a base roster with a standard pattern of shifts, while Gantt charts make it easier to view who’s working where and when, ensuring shifts are never under- or over-staffed. The end result is seamless, compliant rostering, no matter the industry.

Compliance is another key consideration for effective workforce planning. The ability to manage employee qualifications is critical. For certain sectors such as health care or child care, employers must keep records relating to whether employees hold a range of qualifications to ensure they are eligible to work and that operational requirements are being met. This may include working with children checks, police checks, education qualifications, CPR, first aid and asthma management. Holding qualifications in Humanforce enables not just tracking and reporting but also the ability to send alerts when qualifications expire. Employees can be prevented from being rostered or clocking on for work – ensuring compliance is enforced.

Empowering workers is also crucial to their ongoing engagement. The Humanforce mobile app gives staff the ability to view their rosters well ahead of time and bid for extra shifts, ensuring you’re always covered and reducing reliance on agency staff, but also allowing staff to align their work schedules to their own circumstances. Managers can also use the app to stay in touch with one-on-one and teamwide messaging.

Using metrics and analytics for better workforce planning

A workforce plan is never static; it’s constantly evolving as resources change, company objectives shift, and the make-up and needs of the workforce evolve. In order to adapt and ensure your workforce plan is working effectively, tracking key metrics and analytics is vital.

This initially might seem overwhelming, and indeed, research from Gartner indicates that 58% of organisations say that a lack of relevant metrics to track progress is one of the top barriers to effective strategic planning.

It’s best to select three to five key metrics that matter the most for your organisation. Prioritise those areas that have the most scope for improvement, and then track them over time. Examples might include metrics associated with employee productivity, absenteeism, engagement, and health and wellbeing.

If you use just one metric, ‘scheduling match’ is the ideal metric for shift-based businesses such as restaurants and retailers. It can help you determine whether or not the number of hours worked is in line with the number of hours scheduled, giving you a measurement that relates to overstaffing and understaffing.

How to calculate:

Most technology platforms will have reporting functionality. One of HR technology’s strongest attributes is its ability to track and analyse large amounts of data. When it comes to workforce management, this means you can spot trends, such as late starts or cost overruns, and use these findings to improve your processes.  Humanforce’s Workforce Analytics features robust,  integrated metrics  that allow you to instantly see what’s really happening in your business, in real-time. With inbuilt reports including project costs, tardiness reporting, hours worked to hours rostered ratios, causes of unauthorised timesheets and more, you can make data-driven decisions aligned to your organisational and revenue goals.

Get in touch

If you want to speak to us about how Humanforce can improve the critical operational elements of workforce planning, including rostering & scheduling, time & attendance and leave management,  schedule a demo  or  contact us here .

Humanforce solutions

Humanforce is a leading provider of shift-based workforce management solutions that simplify onboarding, scheduling, time and attendance, employee engagement, and communication. Customers in more than 23 countries use Humanforce to optimise costs, realise compliance confidence, empower their team, and drive growth. Humanforce was founded in Sydney in 2002, and today has offices across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the UK.

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