What is Project Management?
Project management is the systematic way of getting things done. The problem in most businesses is that they lack an efficient process to get work done effectively.
As small business owners, we often think that because we're just “small,” we don't need to develop processes, which is simply not true!
Even if you are an entrepreneur who manages just a 5-person company, you still need to have a standard way of dealing with projects.
Every business, whether big or small, is composed of day-to-day projects. And every small venture holds on to the hope of becoming a big corporation someday.
Smart business owners know that the only way to get there, to the top, is by delivering on their promises. To do that, a systematic way of approaching projects has to come into play.
A project doesn't have to have a huge budget associated with it. It can be any activity in your business that requires a deliverable and has a clear beginning and end.
We all have a lot of those either in our offices or our homes.
In business, this means creating and selling great products and providing exceptional services. It also means continuously improving and optimizing their processes.
How does effective project management help small businesses?
Effective project management in small businesses ensures that project goals are achieved on time while sticking to the budget.
Many small businesses turn to implementing agile project management practices since these allow them to respond to issues as and when they arise throughout the course of the project.
Making the appropriate changes to a project at the right time can save resources and help deliver a successful project that's within the schedule and the budget.
Apart from this, investing in tools that streamline collaborative practices and information sharing also does wonders in delivering successful projects.
Aided with a combination of frequent and effective reporting, small organizations find themselves yielding positive results in their quest to becoming big corporations.
Effective project management can help your small business in the following ways:
1. Planning and organizing projects and work teams
Successful project management in small businesses is one that has been well-planned from the outset. This may include simple acts such as setting goals, naming key deliverables, identifying resources, and even evaluating risks. Managing projects requires you to be able to see both challenges and opportunities.
This means that you also know how to allocate your resources properly, especially time, money, and human resources. Knowing how to manage project resources in a small business can go a long way in growing your management skills.
Moreover, by using project management tools, you make sure that everyone in your team is on the same page, literally. There are no lost emails, papers, multiple copies of documents, or misunderstandings due to poor communication.
Bitrix24, for example, makes collaboration and document sharing a breeze with members having access to the files. With its real-time collaboration feature, updates can be shared within the group activity feed. You can even bring in the conversation to your outside contractors or collaborators.
When everyone is on the same page with well-planned strategies and workflows, working towards a common goal becomes a lot easier.
2. Staying on budget and on schedule
Project management in small businesses has little to no room for error. That is why it’s important that you meet your project budget and schedule goals.
Good project management ensures timely completion of all the tasks involved in order to make sure that the project stays on schedule and no amount of money is wasted.
There are numerous softwares available that can help you keep tabs on the project’s progress. They allow you to break down each stage of the project into smaller actions, which makes it easy to track your progress. Even better, some tools offer a time tracking feature, which allows you to know where you are spending your time and whether or not you are spending it on the right things.
Apart from offering free time-tracking, Bitrix24 also allows you to create a Gantt chart that provides a visual timeline of the project. Having this visual guide enables you to quickly assess the status and progress of any of your projects.
3. Keeping control of your business
A project that is cost-limited and time-bound requires a manager who is keen to keep control of the business. For project management in small businesses to be successful, you need to have controls that allow you to prevent major incongruities at the outset.
Projects that spin out of control can tie up business resources and interfere with other crucial tasks because you have fewer employees to readily fill in the gaps. If you want to avoid constant disruptions to your business, implementing project management is a good way to go.
4. Establishing accountability and unlocking key insights
Project management in small businesses isn’t exempt from accountability problems.
You might often run into phrases like: "You were responsible for that, not me." Hence, without clearly defining the roles, critical tasks fall by the wayside.
With a project management software, you can readily assign an impeccable-defined workload to any member that fits the role.
Not only this, good project management often includes seamless documentation and thorough data accumulation.
Once the project is over, you can go back, assess performance, see who does the job assigned to them and who doesn’t, make educated guesses about what went wrong or right, and make adjustments to future projects.
Without these functionalities, you will just flail in the dark, doomed to repeat mistakes in the next projects.
5. Increasing the chances of success
The fine line between project failure and success often comes down to the project manager.
Were they able to draft a thorough project plan at the outset? Did they closely and timely monitor the project milestones and make adjustments when unforeseen obstacles pop up?
Small businesses often neglect the tiny “planning” part of any project and then wonder why they fail to achieve objectives.
With project management softwares, you are sure to have everything covered before the project even goes into action.
Also, with tools such as those that Bitrix24 freely provides, your team gets the empowering effect that they need to brave the process. Not only does this boost their confidence, but this also allows them to be able to work both individually and as a team.
When each member of your team understands fully the processes behind certain actions, it increases the chances of finishing them either on time or earlier. Thus saving your business both time and money.
6. Effective Evaluation
When it comes to effective project management in a small business organization, learning from experience creates a great impact.
This means learning from each member’s mistakes without playing the blame game. Hence, securing a culture of collaboration and effective evaluation.
This evaluation also implies that each team member has the freedom to express their individual grievances and have them addressed.
With this evaluation system, your small business can go a long way in strengthening team dynamics and uplifting organizational morale.
Moreover, the beauty of using a project management software, such as Bitrix24, is you have everything documented.
This includes a complete reference for future projects that allows you to determine where you made mistakes, where you went over budget, where you got delays and what caused them, where you can make improvements, and so on. This is especially important for small businesses that require the same team of people to work on any future projects.
As a small business owner, project management will help you reach your goals faster - and efficiently so.
Not just that, it will also provide you an incredibly valuable resource for future references on your business processes.
Isn’t it time you consider how project management software can transform your small business?