Traditional v Modern: Finding the Right Project Management Style for Your Business
What is traditional project management?
If you’re part of the professional service sector, then you’ve probably heard of the term ‘waterfall’ which refers to the traditional project management style still used in many businesses today — where one task has to be completed before the next one can begin.
While the waterfall approach works well for projects with a fixed budget or deadline, it can become quite problematic when unexpected disruptions occur — like staff changes or software issues — and timelines need to be changed accordingly.
But, by implementing smart technology to run your business and projects, things would adjust as they need to, automatically
Here’s how to use a smarter business operation platform to manage your projects in a more flexible manner — so that you can work efficiently and adapt to change more effectively.
3 advantages to modern project management are:
- Juggle more projects at once
- Minimize risk and human error
- Be more flexible with your time
1. Juggle more projects at once:
Instead of having all of your tasks fully outlined at the start of each project (as they are in true, waterfall fashion), use smart technology to create a more flexible method that allows you to start a project without having a complete idea of the end result. This way, you can easily make adjustments to your project as the vision or needs of a client change (without having to go back to the start every time).
2. Minimize risk and human error:
With a smart platform that offers increased visibility over your team and projects, you’ll be able to see when a certain task in your project is going over budget and address it before any real damage is done to your bottom line or client relationships.
The right smart platform will also automatically save client data, calculate billable hours and budgets, and update timelines for you automatically — so that you don’t have to do any manual busywork at the end of the day when you’re exhausted, short on time, and more likely to make mistakes. Just imagine how much more time you’ll have to work on projects when you no longer need to add up your timesheets at the end of every month — the beauty of smart automation!
3. Be more flexible with your time:
With a traditional approach to project management, you’d usually be allocated a fixed amount of days or hours to complete a task. But — what happens when you suddenly get assigned a high priority project, or when you have to work from home for personal reasons?
If you’re working with smart automated software that logs time and tracks utilization, this won’t be an issue. Why? Because you’ll be able to see (in real time) who is available on your team to take on more work and reassign tasks to them. Or better yet, work remotely on your projects with a true cloud-based platform that lets you share files with your team and communicate with your clients from one interactive dashboard and integrated system- so that you never have to extend a deadline just because you can’t make it into the office.
To learn more about the benefits of using a modern, project management style that combines the agile method with the traditional waterfall Gantt chart — check our why agile project management might not fit your business. Or find a business management software that works for you and your business.
