Practical Project Management

Managing projects involves coordinating limited resources and teams of diverse expertise toward achieving objectives and results. Project managers face a variety of challenges and obstacles in this process that include:

• Unclear, and ever-changing requirements
• Lack of communication that leads to misunderstandings
• Missed deadlines due to an inadequate task distribution
• Scattered information across multiple tools

With some tips and the right app, teams can wrap up projects on time, avoid burnout, and keep stakeholders happy.

What is project management?

Project management is the process of applying techniques and using tools to help teams deliver projects successfully and timely. To pull this off, project managers need to:

• Set up a system that ensures clear communication,
• Choose methodologies that fit the project,
• Plan resources and schedule milestones,
• Assess risks and think of a plan B for every project phase, and
• Define benchmarks and measure results.

In this guide, you’ll find all the necessary knowledge to improve your project managing skills and get years of experience summarized in value-packed pieces.

Core concepts and processes

Every project manager holds a great deal of information up their sleeves and is familiar with concepts that are not common knowledge.

• Organizing project activities
• Defining deliverables and making sure they’re up to standard
• Setting up every project milestone

Learn all the core terms and definitions to stay on top of the game and expand your vocabulary. Here’s a sneak peek into what you can discover:

Find more information about core concepts and processes on our blog and in our knowledge hub.

Project manager’s roles & responsibilities

If you’re looking into switching careers and becoming a project manager or simply wondering what a project manager does, you’ll find all the info here. From the necessary certifications for this role to the project management books you’ll want to read, discover all about the responsibilities of project managers.

Project management activities

The path from taking on a project to closing it successfully is paved with an array of steps the project manager takes with their team and other stakeholders. It all starts with a project proposal and budget planning. After that, the team focuses on:

• Gathering requirements — identifying and documenting objectives
• Working on the project
• Delivering it within the deadline.

Traditional & Agile methodologies

If you think there’s only one way to manage your project — think again. You can figure out your own style, or use one of the well-known and tested project management methodologies and frameworks, such as:

You’ll also learn the main differences between Lean and Agile management approaches and their underlying philosophies.

Find more information about different methodologies in our knowledge hub.

Risk management & scheduling techniques

No one can predict the future, but you can assess threats — their likelihood and how to overcome them if they occur. Here’s what the process looks like:

• Map out your project using the project network diagram or the Critical Path Method (CPM)
• Define how upcoming activities depend on each other
• Plan how to manage risks instead of doing damage control later

With this system in place, stakeholders will be reassured, the manager will have backup plans, and the team will know what to do if anything goes wrong.

Project financials & performance metrics

How is the project performing? You should always have an answer ready for your stakeholders. Gathering data in real time isn’t easy but it can help you spot issues early on and prevent costly mistakes and project failure.

Find out which project metrics to track so that you can follow the project’s development closely and accurately and reallocate resources if necessary. Plus, you’ll learn how to save time and money to keep everyone happy.

Task and workflow management

Tasks are the building blocks of every project and are far more complex than a mere to-do list. Managers have to learn how to distribute assignments across a timeline and different team members, so that everything is done right and on time.

All in all, you don’t want to wing task management, especially if you’re managing multiple projects. Don’t risk failing a project or overwhelming your team — instead, find out how to best manage the workload and optimize your project processes.

Team management and collaboration

Have you ever heard of the silo mentality in the workplace? Having specialized departments is great on the one hand because it lets teams focus on their expertise. But, on the other hand, these teams tend to isolate themselves and stop communicating with each other.

This blocks cross-functional collaboration and prevents your company from achieving its full potential. But, that’s not the only way poor communication can affect your team.

Informing the right people at the right time about updates or exchanging crucial information that can affect upcoming tasks are steps you don’t want your team to miss. Even as technology evolves and team management tools become smarter every day, missed messages and vital details left unspoken are still very common.

Find more information about team management and collaboration on our blog.

Why spreadsheets and email fail

Managing teams and projects with tools like spreadsheets and email will fail every time because they’re not meant for managing projects or teams. If you’ve been trying to organize information through spreadsheets and maintain communication via emails, you already know that this system doesn’t work.

And, if you’ve just started out your business or taken over a team and plan to keep things running with these 2 tools, you’re about to walk into a trap. Here’s what no one told you about spreadsheets:

It doesn’t have to be this way — learn how to avoid bottlenecks, prioritize effortlessly using the RICE framework, and apply Gantt charts when managing projects.

Rather watch than read?

Learn about the history behind project management and the best practices of the trade in our videos:

If you’re looking for bite-sized tips and tricks on managing projects, you’re in the right place. We’ve digested everything you need to know about project management in a series of short videos: