While it’s true that project management software and project management certification make managing projects easy and improve productivity, it won’t really help unless your employees know how to use it effectively.
Aside from choosing the right project management software, it’s really important that you make sure your employees learn to use it right. Often, employers complain about workers hesitant of using the allocated software or certain features of it.
Here, we will deal with a couple of handy tips that’ll help you get the most out of your project management software:
1. Choose The Right One
Project management software programs come in all shapes and sizes; there are literally hundreds of these to pick from. Choosing the one that’s just right for your organisation—and within your budget—is important.
Determine your needs, and choose your software accordingly. There’s no point in investing in a complicated project management solution when you just need basic software that can manage tasks and share files.
Extra-flashy features may look overwhelming to your employees, and lead to a lack of confidence as they make their way through complicated software manuals. If you’re on a tight budget, look for free PM solutions on the web that can meet your goals and objectives.
2. Mobility Is The Key
Make sure you choose a PM tool that is mobile-optimised; this is sure to make your team more productive and efficient.
Employees will be able to collaborate easily, using their smartphones to access documents and files and carry out team discussions. Mobile optimisation can get your team to work and collaborate remotely. You can get your work done easily no matter which part of the world your employees are stationed.
3. Easy To Use
The software you choose should be user-friendly; it should be intuitive and in line with the way your organisation works. It’s best to invest in project management software programs that can be customised to a certain extent—at the very least, you should be able to rename categories and fields according to your needs.
4. Software With Seamless Integration
An important criterion while selecting project management software is to ensure that the it offers easy integration with other key applications, like email or file-sharing tools.
When you consider a cloud-based solution, this is something that you won’t have to worry about. Your team members will be able to access the system from anywhere and get system upgrades delivered automatically, but that’s not all; you’ll also enjoy easy integration with a host of applications.
5. Avoid Unrealistic Expectations
Remember, project management solutions are available to support your organisation’s project management process—not to replace it completely.
Many PM software programs fail to deliver due to unrealistic expectations. You can’t really expect software to perform complicated tasks like data management and acquisition, graphing and reporting, and decision support. All these are tasks for your team members.
6. Employee Inputs Matter
In the end, it comes down to your employees who are going to use the software. Include your entire team in the software selection process, and get feedback from your them.
Each department might have different expectation from the software; one team might want it to do something other than what it’s been doing. Plus, employees get more involved with the working of the software if they’re made a part of the selection process.
7. Hire An Expert
High returns on your investments are assured only when your entire team adopts the project management solution completely.
There should be at least one expert within your organisation who knows the program in and out. They should ensure that the team has access to the required training and other resources. Your software expert also needs to ensure proper adoption by the team, and understand the working of the tool—for subsequent management reviews and future upgrades.
8. Look For Good Community And Vendor Support
The vendor you buy your project management software from should have a rich user community, so you can turn to fellow users for help and advice when required.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Look for vendors who offer excellent customer support and have dedicated teams to help customers use their products to their full potential. These teams often offer one-to-one training, along with ideas on how to use an app and get the most out of it.
9. Adequate Training
Make sure you arrange multiple training sessions. Every last employee needs to be a part of these; at the end of a session, ask them to create their own account, login credentials, and a password.
Set up a project in such a way that employees learn to use the system and its various features. Arrange for follow-up training sessions a couple of weeks later, to reinforce what team members already know. Supply them with online and video tutorials; your vendor will probably sell these as well.
Many vendors offer a free trial for a specific period, and it’s best to start with one of these. Project managers need to track projects in real time, and correct any issue before it comes to a head. Make sure they also keep in touch with the entire team, to ensure that every employee is comfortable using the software.
About the Author:
Madarapu Nagaraju is a Co-founder and Director at KnowledgeHut. With over seven years of experience, he possesses a bias for innovation and has an ability to connect the dots between thinking up strategies and executing them on the ground. He has played a pivotal role in building international alliances and expansion of the learning business overseas from one centre in Bengaluru to over 90 countries. A strong proponent of the lean practices, he strongly believes in the quote: “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”