Every project has two sides:
- The project that fulfills the client’s vision
- The project management engine fueling the project
When your project management engine becomes too heavy and complicated, it can feel like you’re working on TWO projects instead of one!
Bureaucracy from poor management slows down your momentum and steals energy from your team’s productivity. This guide outlines quick ways to improve operations on your active projects and escape from process sludge.
1. Establish a regular project huddle
Spending time “talking about work” is time spent not working (and lost revenue), but that doesn’t eliminate the need for frequent coordination. Since you have to get everyone on the same page anyways, you might as well do it efficiently.
One way is to establish a regular huddle – an extremely quick get-together for your team to review your project on a short-term basis.
Here’s the agenda:
- What is our primary goal this week?
- Is there anything we need from the client?
- Is the client waiting for anything from us?
- Has anything changed with scope/timing/pricing that needs to be addressed?
You can do these virtually or asynchronously, but in-person gatherings tend to capture everyone’s attention and spur ideas more effectively. These are usually weekly events, but your project’s complexity will tell you how often to meet.
2. Clarify the requirements for each task
You should already be using a task management system for outlining project work.
Every task your team needs to work on should answer the following:
- When is an item due?
- Who is responsible for it?
- What does “done” look like?
Don’t include HOW something should be done – that’s usually handled best by the person working on it. Your team has incredible skills and expertise – don’t waste them by telling them how to do their job. Inspire them to love the sea, but let them build the boat.
Spend extra time – but not too much – describing a task’s requirements to limit the number of questions your team might have about it. The investment almost always returns your value.
How many questions can you eliminate if your team spent extra time clarifying requirements?
Finding the balance of planning and eliminating questions becomes a little bit of “napkin math,” but there’s some wisdom in the idea. Additional investments in planning and writing the tasks can prevent confusion and create profit, especially if you’re billing based on value.
If a task starts to have an unruly amount of requirements, break it into smaller chunks that can be managed easier.
Complicated tasks complicate planning.
3. Streamline your communication channels
Lots of communication is a good thing until your wires start getting crossed.
Every team should create an expectation for when to use which communication channel. For example, how should email be used instead of chat? If your project management tooling offers comments, how are those handled? How do you circle back about resolved items in person when other teammates weren’t there?
If you’re not intentional about your strategy, you’ll end up with water cooler spaghetti. Missed messages turn into missed deadlines.
However, the most important communication channel is the one you have with your client.
Best practices suggest you have a single point of contact with your client.
This person handles all outgoing and incoming messaging with your client – meeting coordination, updates, and everything in between. While this is usually the project manager, it doesn’t really matter as long as it’s simple and clear.
As a bonus, try and establish a similar protocol with your client. Having one person to go to simplifies your process, builds a protective “chatter” forcefield around your team, and clarifies expectations for everyone involved in the project.
If you’re in the middle of a project right now where communication is a problem, it’s never too late to pull the ripcord and re-establish your process. The efficiency will pay for itself, and everyone will be happier for it.
In summary:
- Meet frequently to talk about the project
- Add details to tasks to clear up confusion
- Be clear about how information moves around your team
Collaborating well requires enough process to improve productivity, but not so much that you’re drowning in bureaucracy.