A project is an accumulation of various tasks. Your entire team works together to complete each task in order to complete the project. As the team leader, you have to be an expert in task management. While it might seem overwhelming at first, your project will be ready long before the deadline if you use the right techniques.
To get you started, we have a concise but comprehensive guide to project task management.
7 Steps to project task management
1. Choose a good task management tool
You can keep track of every project separately by picking a task management tool. This way, you won’t confuse one project with another or feel overwhelmed with the amount of work to be done. Clovine is a great tool for this.
Since every project could have a separate task section under it, you can single out each task. Not to mention, the entire team can access the same project. This helps everyone keep track of their assignments.
2. Make a list of tasks
Once you have the perfect task management system and a project ready to go, it’s time to make a list of tasks under the project. Write down every task you need to do.
Then, choose a board view for the project. The branch-like system in the map view makes it easy to understand which tasks are urgent.
The Gantt chart is for projects with a strict deadline. It sorts the tasks according to the due date and in order of priority.
The Kanban view is the most convenient option. It is also made for the entire team. Since it is a modern post-it board, tasks are divided into three categories: those that are complete, those pending, and those in progress.
Once you have decided on a board type, assign a due date for each project.
3. Allocate resources
Once the names of the tasks and their due dates are out of the way, it’s time to allocate the resources. Link the relevant resource to each task. Your team will immediately know what to refer to if they run into a problem.
This way, they don’t have to ask you for help often. They can finish their tasks at their own pace.
4. Use the compare feature
If there are two files in the same task with startling similarities, you can use the compare feature from Clovine. It will highlight where the files differ so that you know which version is better.
This would help you and your team get on with the task faster.
5. Allocate tasks
Once the tasks are done and it is clear to everyone what the task requires, assign team members to the task. You could choose team members by yourself or discuss it with them.
By the end, everyone should be clear about which task belongs to them. For projects with a Gantt view, you can’t work on the next task until the previous one is done. So, a team member might have to wait a while to get to their part. However, as long as everyone is clear on their job and does it within the assigned time, it should be a successful project.
6. Monitor and rectify
Once everyone knows what to do, it’s time to sit back and focus on your task. Once the due date for a task comes closer, check in on your teammates to know how far they have gotten.
Halfway into the project, hold a team meeting and discuss everyone’s progress. The task summary report is a great way to stay updated with the tasks and gauge the amount of work that is left. You can decide whether your team needs to speed up the process or not.
You can also see the time each team member is taking. If a particular task has errors, you can mark it in red. The team member will take another look at it and rectify the problem.
7. Closing the project
This is the simple part. Once everyone has gone through every task, it’s time to close the project. This is when you show the result of the project to your clients.
Final Thoughts
Project management can appear overwhelming at first, especially if this is your first time managing a team. However, if you have the right project management system, completing a project on time is an easy feat. The crux of it is determining the order of the tasks and who is fit for which one. Once you can figure this out, everything else falls into place.