Keep track of your projects before they get out of hand

Is your project follow-up optimal? Are you using effective project management methods and tools ?

Coordinating and monitoring the progress of your project guarantees productivity and profitability. It's what adds value to your project.

Would you like to set up a more consistent project management system? The formula is simple: method + interpersonal skills + pragmatism = 360° vision.

Follow the guide to become a project management leader! 🧑‍🍳

See all software Project Management

The 4 stages of project management + our tips for successful follow-up

From scoping to follow-up: manage your projects step by step

The project management approach covers the organization, planning and control of a project, from conception to completion. Both strategic and operational aspects are taken into account, estimated and scheduled. It covers :

1. Defining project objectives

• The project's most important or priority deliverables;
• Breakdown of the project into sub-assemblies for finer estimation and easier responsiveness;
• The tasks required to achieve each deliverable and sub-deliverable.

2. Analyze and estimate task workloads

To get the best estimate of workloads, consider :

• prioritizing tasks
• assessing their interdependence,
• anticipating risk factors,
• scheduling them over time.

3. Allocate the necessary resources to each task

• Human resources (staff);
• Financial resources (budget);
• Material resources.

4. Monitor the project

• Visualize objectives achieved or delayed, and actual progress in relation to forecasts;
• Communicate with all stakeholders, whether the internal project team or your partners, customers and suppliers. Propose corrective actions if necessary.

Best practices in project management

To effectively manage and monitor a project, it is essential to :

• plan the project on the basis of a well-thought-out preliminary study,
• list risk management criteria to better anticipate potential imponderables,
• demonstrate leadership and manage your team using collaborative work methods such as agile or Scrum,
• control at all levels and phases of the project.

Why and how should you monitor your project?

Scrupulously manage tasks, from definition to assignment. Detailed and global progress tracking allows you to: to track progress of a project:

• measure the progress of an operation in relation to forecasts, the allocated budget, and the material and human resources available;
• anticipate, visualize and correct deviations in real time, thus limiting resource constraints and delays.

To achieve this, the project manager can rely on various tools:

• specifications, drawn up when defining objectives and deliverables,
• the project schedule, defining actions over time,
• dashboards and diagrams, graphically representing objectives achieved, work still to be done, successes and problems encountered,
• regular follow-up meetings, to get concrete feedback from the project team on progress and bottlenecks,
• project management or planningsoftware.

The right tools for project tracking

We've just touched on the tools for tracking a project succinctly, but it's in your best interest to know them in detail. 👇

Project specifications

The purpose ofthe project specification is to set down in writing all the requirements of the customer or of management for in-house projects. Its purpose is to serve as a frame of reference for the objectives to be achieved.

In project management, it is absolutely essential, as it provides a framework for :

• determine deadlines and deadlines to be met,
• monitor expenditure and cost allocation
• meet quality objectives.

Reports and minutes

In the age of mobility and dematerialization, it's impossible to overlook the need for reporting, especially for projects requiring field intervention and site monitoring, for example.

With software like Kizeo Forms, your mobile teams can enter their reports to keep track of their progress in real time. The interface also allows you to export and analyze this data, for optimal, geolocalized tracking, whatever your sector of activity.

Follow-up meetings

The agile method favors short-term planning, and therefore quick, regular, face-to-face meetings. The aim is to prioritize tasks and corrective actions.

This short-cycle project management reduces the "tunnel effect" and provides greater visibility and responsiveness to unforeseen events. All project stakeholders are aware of the overall progress of the work and of each other, and at what stage they are.

Communication tools

On a day-to-day basis, however, communication (which is essential to all good project management) doesn't just have to take the form of meetings. If there are too many of them, they quickly become time-consuming!

That's why specific tools need to be deployed internally. We're thinking in particular of the use of company chat rooms, useful for resolving bottlenecks in real time, dealing with emergencies, spontaneously exchanging views on a subject, keeping abreast of project progress, and so on.

Some tools go even further. With inmind, Gryzzly is an ideal tool for streamlininginternal communication. With a Chatbot that can be integrated with Slack, this software reinvents the way workloads are estimated. Indeed, it's up to the employee to declare his or her working hours, and to do so in a fun way. All this data is then entered into a dashboard to track the consumption of customer budgets and the time spent on each of their projects.

The dashboard

The dashboard is a proactive, methodological tool for closely monitoring the progress of your projects. It provides an instant view of all key data, objectives, constraints, current phases and resources, and enables you to anticipate potential problems.

Ultimately, it also serves as a reporting tool for understanding management's areas for improvement.

To draw it up and opt for realistic, measurable and time-defined key performance indicators (KPIs ), ask yourself the right questions, for example:

• Will the project be completed or delivered on time?
• Has the allocated budget been exceeded?
• Is the project progressing satisfactorily?
• Are resources being used as agreed?

Performance indicators are essential to project management, helping you to assess the situation at any given moment, so you can make the right decisions.

Create dashboards to manage your project portfolio more easily with PPM software like Project Monitor.

With this software, you can create dashboards based on standard, configurable templates, and monitor your progress by defining the key indicators that interest you (risk, resources, planning, budgets, etc.). Qualitative or quantitative, all data is updated in real time. And since many companies need to keep track of a large number of projects, you can benefit from a single or multi-project view.

The Gantt chart

The Gantt chart is another popular visualization tool. It enables you to plan, monitor and analyze the activities and workload of each member of your team.

How do you use it? By graphically presenting the progress of tasks and their deadlines, with a list of activities (on the ordinate) and time units (on the abscissa).

Each task can be linked to :

• resources (human or material resources),
• connections (with other tasks),
• dates (start and end).

The Kanban board

Widely used in agile methods, the board is used to represent the workflow (task handling process), based on the principle of post-it notes on a board. Each task goes from "scheduled" to "in progress" to "completed".

Project management software

A management or planning tool for project management is a decision-making and anticipation aid.

An Excel project tracker is certainly an option for small-scale projects.

But cloud-based solutions have the advantage of enabling real-time tracking, whatever the deadline, budget, complexity or number of participants. They also facilitate communication. In a collaborative approach, teamwork is eased, with everyone's tasks clearly defined and accessible.

Gladys

Gladys is a highly intuitive Made in France project management software that lets you monitor your projects in real time, using a variety of display modes (dashboard, Kanban, Gantt, list, etc.). You can identify the indicators you need and track the progress of your projects wherever you are, on mobile, tablet or computer. You'll also benefit from a task and document manager, instant messaging, a shared agenda, pre-configured and customizable project templates, and a tailor-made support program!

monday.com

Monday.com is an intuitive work management platform that simplifies project management for managers. It features highly visual dashboards, including the Gantt chart and Kanban view. This enables managers to monitor overall project progress from a single platform. Ultimately, they can estimate the workload and assess the budget continuously, at every stage of the project.

Zoho Projects

Zoho Projects, an all-in-one project management tool that lets you track the progress of your projects in an efficient and organized way. You create tasks and assign responsibilities while communicating in real time with your team. Zoho gives you a 360° view of your projects so you can make quick, informed decisions to maximize productivity.

And if you need to manage the tracking of multiple projects, there are PPM ( Project Portfolio Management)tools for you, such as :

• Clarizen, which enables collaborative monitoring of multiple projects, even for dispersed teams, including tracking of problem resolution, workload plans, time and expenses.
  
  
• z0 Gravity, which provides real-time visibility on the achievement of all your objectives, thanks to a 360° workspace and augmented visualization modes.

Benefits of project management software

The benefits of project management software are numerous, and it would be a shame not to take advantage of them.

Would you like to take a look at the advantages? 👇

• Incomparable time savings in invoicing;
• Centralized data entry in a single collaborative workspace, for greater productivity. No need to switch from one platform to another;
• The same level of information, for greater visibility and teamwork;
• Time-based analysis to prevent time overruns and estimate margins per project.

See all software Project Management

Keep a close eye on your project

The success of a project depends on controlling time, budget and available resources.

But strategic management (or monitoring) also involves capitalizing on your project team's knowledge and rigorous follow-up, both of which enable you to bounce back easily in the event of a problem.

The benefits are obvious: time savings, financial savings, competitiveness, productivity, customer satisfaction, but also the satisfaction of your employees, which leads to motivation and a stronger commitment to your side, for future projects!