How to Create An Efficient Project Management Workflow?

Did you know 56% of companies use only one project management software? 

Is it common for your initiatives to lack a sense of overall direction? 

Are you frequently perplexed as to what you should do next? 

You should include a project management process in your business to be more productive and efficient. This can assist to bring order to chaotic situations and boost your team’s overall productivity.

While most people equate project management with a “project manager,” everyone handles projects. Even the simplest job, such as writing an email, is technically a “project,” and the difference is just one of size. This is why project management workflow should be a priority for all members of the company, not just the project manager.

Why? Simply said, without a project management workflow, you will not be able to reach your goals effectively and successfully.

Project management ensures that the project stays on schedule and under budget, allowing you to focus on the most important responsibilities. You won’t be able to manage your teams and employees if you don’t have strong project management workflow processes in place, which will result in low productivity and excessive expenses.

What is Project Management Workflow?

A Project management workflow is an essential part of any efficient business. If you are serious about achieving your goals, you must standardize procedures. This is one of the effective methods for increasing production and efficiency. When you’re attempting to handle enormous tasks, it’s easy to become disoriented.

A project management workflow is a “orchestrated and repeated sequence of activity.” Thus, a project workflow outlines the sequence of actions, responsibilities, and data that must be exchanged or performed to move a project ahead. Project workflows are often defined as a series of repetitive, well-structured operations, rather than as one-time initiatives.

Consider it a more complex form of a checklist. A checklist is merely sequential, but a workflow uses complicated if-then logic to establish the correct order of actions.

Consider your most recent grocery shop trip to help you understand processes. A checklist may say, “Buy two dozen eggs and a loaf of bread.” “However, if bread is less than $2, purchase two loaves.” Because it involves many logic-based phases, “You may purchase only two dozen eggs.” is an example.

Workflow exists in the company as both an internal and external procedure. The following are examples of internal and external processes:

• Internal: Procedures allow you to compare how much the team completed yesterday to what it should have accomplished based on the plans. This necessitates an examination of what generally occurs and the areas that are experiencing issues for the team to take remedial action.
• External: Customers fill the team’s calendar with their demands as well, sometimes regardless of whether the team has room in its schedule. External workflows need that the team accepts these modifications from the client while keeping the process flowing smoothly.

Why is Project Management Workflow Important?

A project management procedure increases project visibility and efficiency while decreasing mistakes. A workflow is also necessary for the following reasons:

Workflows reduce risk and error

A well-planned workflow guarantees that the team completes duties appropriately at all stages of the process. “Inefficiency tends to perpetuate itself as an unintentional result of inefficient workflows.” This means that the longer an inefficient process continues, the more faults it produces, and the less likely management will be able to notice these problems before it’s too late,” explains Cohen.

Stabilizing processes across departments and projects

When you create a workflow, you foster collaboration across departments. When you use the same approach to collect and report information, for example, the data is easy to reference and compare.

Ensure Task Completion to Company Standards: 

By implementing a workflow, you can avoid uncertainty regarding how to accomplish jobs. To guarantee that the tasks are executed appropriately, adhere to the process as specified.

The Secret to Visibility

The process must be established for the project to be visible. A process allows stakeholders to readily see the project’s progress, as well as completed and upcoming tasks.

Benefits of Project Management Workflow

A well-established project management workflow offers several benefits, including enhanced productivity and accountability. Strong processes also make project managers’ jobs easier.

Project management workflow also contributes to the following benefits:

Improved Productivity and Efficiency

Outlining a process can help you see the broad picture and identify the proper individual or team for the job.”Having a procedure helps us pick who is in charge of particular duties,” Kane says.”We ensure that every product is of high quality by assigning work to employees who have the requisite skills rather than distributing projects to anybody whose schedule is open at the moment.”

The procedure simplifies everyone’s job

Outlining procedures reduces ambiguity, allowing team members and supervisors to spend more time working and less time interrogating team members. “We built an effective process by specifically identifying three major aspects: responsibilities, deliverables, and expectations,” Kane adds.”By reducing back-and-forth questioning, managers may save time since everything an employee needs to do is laid out.”

Organizations

Workflows that are consistent and efficient keep your processes structured and predictable. When processes are well-organized and established, it is much easier to make changes as needed.

Visibility

Projects are more likely to succeed when they are more visible. When you outline the procedures involved in a project, everyone knows what to anticipate and when to expect it.

Accountability

Delegating and assigning specific duties is essential for accountability. “With a workflow in place, every team member knows which activities they must do, who is accountable for completing them, and when those tasks are due,” Stacey Kane adds.

How to Create An Efficient Project Management Workflow?

A project management workflow process may be divided into five stages:

Project Planning

We should start with an idea of what the project is about. The project is most likely the result of a customer brief, or it is your concept.

Nonetheless, we should begin by conducting a preliminary study on how the project will be done, brainstorming with key team members, and pitching the proposal to higher-ups to secure clearance for implementation.

The major goal of this planning stage is to determine whether the project is viable in terms of your organization’s (or your client’s) goal. It’s pointless to design and execute a project if it’s not going to be useful.

There will be four stages for proper project planning:

1. Preparing a preliminary plan
2. Estimation and planning for risk management
3. Specifying goals
4. Putting the strategy together

Mapping the project workflow

Now that we have a project strategy, the following step is to translate it into a process diagram.

When creating a project process diagram, keep in mind that projects are “one-time” in nature. It is preferable to map a “to-be” diagram (e.g., how you want the project to be completed in its ideal condition) rather than an “as-is” diagram (how the workflow is currently being executed).

Nonetheless, there are a few key rules to keep in mind before we begin laying out the project workflow:

1. Identifying the beginning and ending points
2. Completely and precisely describe the process.
3. Identify the information that is necessary for decision points.

Assessment of Workflows

Now that we’ve established the process, we can do workflow analysis to ensure that the project workflow is already optimum.

This will entail three fundamental steps:

1. When it comes to project duties, we may divide them into four categories: urgent, important, great to have, and redundant. Determine whether or not redundant work may be removed.
2. Look for bottlenecks and inefficiencies.
3. Look for ways to automate workflows.

Once the adjustments have been implemented, we should re-involve stakeholders to confirm whether the improvements have had a good impact. Obtaining input from stakeholders will also aid in confirming the accuracy of the workflow diagram.

It is critical to note that the process will not be flawless even after the enhancements, and we should anticipate consistently studying and improving the workflow diagram in the future.

An Overview of the Project

We are now ready to begin the project once you have streamlined the project procedure. Begin by holding a project start meeting. This is where you will meet with your team members and stakeholders to distribute project-related tasks, roles, responsibilities, timeframes, resources, and information.

This is also where you should describe the project’s objectives, which we discussed before. This launch meeting is critical to ensuring that your team knows the project’s aim and why they should care about its success.

Managing projects

Based on the established project process, we also need to design a system for controlling the project and measuring the state of the workflow. This phase should take place across the course of the project, from its inception to its completion.

This is often accomplished by assigning key performance indicators (KPIs) to the various stages of the project. While KPIs may vary based on the project’s objectives, there are four main measures to consider:

1. Progress against objectives: specifically, determining if a project is on time and under budget per the objectives.
2. Work quality: if tasks are executed to the appropriate degree of quality.
3. Resource utilization: whether or not your project is on budget and on time.
4. Performance: is defined as keeping track of how many problems have occurred and how these problems have been resolved.

How can You Improve Your Project Management Workflow?

Aside from cash, an organization’s most precious asset is time. If you can identify ways to decrease the amount of time spent on projects, you will be able to devote more time to other elements of the business that may be overlooked. When a company starts utilizing StartingPoint, they are purchasing time. For a workforce, this is the ultimate time-saving tool.

Workflow procedures should be designed to meet the demands of your consumers. Fortunately, with StartingPoint, you can simplify customer interactions inside a centralized center where all staff can effortlessly help. It is more rational and effective to maintain everything in one location than to employ various SaaS solutions to suit consumer demands.

Is Your Project Management Workflow Process Broken?

A flawless project management workflow process may make or break your team when it comes to delivering outcomes. Unfortunately, far too many people are accustomed to working with mediocre, if not subpar, project management workflow processes. According to the Standish Group, a lack of good processes explains why roughly two-thirds of projects are not finished on time or within budget.

If you haven’t previously worked with a successful process, you may be unsure where to begin changing your existing project management workflow, even if you’re missing deadlines or irritating your team. Fortunately, there are things you may do to address such concerns. This book will assist you in identifying what is faulty in your process and teaching you how to fix it.

Finding the ideal project management workflow

Before you can fix a faulty project management workflow, you must first understand how a good one operates. To enhance clarity and communication, an effective process relies on project management best practices. At a basic minimum, an effective project management workflow produces products that regularly fulfill defined standards and are delivered on schedule.

Why bother bringing your process this far? Clients are pleased with consistent outcomes. Similarly, consistent outcomes please the development team, as members collaborate to generate deliverables effectively. Team members understand what is expected of them and are given the authority to complete their tasks. The project management workflow method assists in removing any barriers that the team may experience, hence reducing work pileups.

Remember that the perfect project management workflow may be achieved via many approaches. It doesn’t matter if your team uses agile, Waterfall, or another approach entirely—what matters is that your project management process is a suitable fit for your team. Whatever approach you employ, a project management workflow chart may help you ensure that everyone in your team is on the same page and knows their responsibilities.

Spotting a broken project management workflow

Were there any inconsistencies between the ideal procedure mentioned above and your present project management workflow approach? Even if your procedure hasn’t ground your team to a standstill, it may be lowering productivity. A faulty project management process can be identified if:

1. Your crew completes items after the deadline.
2. The given product does not satisfy the stated specifications.
3. Throughout the production process, the needs change.
4. Projects continue to build up, overburdening a single contributor or department.
5. The project is stalled due to roadblocks.

Any technique can operate as an ideal procedure for your team, but it can also break—especially if you haven’t properly integrated it. So, if just switching techniques isn’t always the solution, what can you do to repair your broken process?

Fixing problems with your project management workflow

The fact is that there is no one simple solution that can solve all of your project management workflow issues. You may, however, consider making changes to your process that will enhance workflow.

If your team consistently misses deadlines

To begin, assess if the issue is with your procedure or your deadlines. Are the deadlines you’ve set realistic, or are they the result of wishful (or uninformed) thinking? Rather than just giving a deadline, create a project management timeline at the start of your project. A reasonable deadline will keep your staff engaged and prevent clients from becoming disappointed.

Once you’ve established deadlines, work on perfecting your handoff plan so you don’t waste time finding out who receives what and when.

If your products fail to meet the requirements

Examine your project management workflow lifecycle to start resolving this issue. Do you appropriately identify the project’s scope and deliverables during the beginning phase? Are they distinct and well-defined?

Confused requirements slow down projects and make team members uncertain, causing them to waste time seeking clarity rather than working. Furthermore, your team cannot be expected to achieve criteria that have never been explicitly defined.

Do you successfully communicate with your team members during the execution phase, particularly with product requirements, project timetable, and task details? Proper documentation will facilitate this communication. Document all criteria and make them available to your team.

In case projects keep getting stuck

Projects frequently stall due to insufficient bandwidth management. Consider implementing certain guidelines, such as restricting the amount of work in progress at any one moment. This method prevents team members from delaying projects by multitasking, and it encourages other team members to step up and assist in moving projects ahead when they become stuck.

You should also go through your process and figure out who is in charge of what parts of it. Is it the responsibility of team members to remove roadblocks? Is there a Scrum master in charge of dealing with issues? More importantly, are these positions understood by everyone participating in the project? Clearing out the fundamentals of your process may assist your team in addressing bottlenecks immediately, preventing projects from being stalled.

Wrapping It Up

When done appropriately, project management workflow may increase overall efficiency in project execution while increasing transparency in cooperation. Finally, this guarantees that the project stays on budget and on time while producing high-quality deliverables.

Project management workflow may be thought of as the “what” – what needs to happen and in what sequence it needs to happen. Project management workflow is also concerned with the “how” – how it will be planned, managed, and carried out. But, in the end, these two diverse and extremely productive methods complement one other.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What exactly is a workflow example?

A workflow is a method through which you complete tasks. It is the order of tasks from beginning to end: The procedure. Here’s a simple example of a workflow involving numerous people: A freelancer creates and sends an invoice to their customer.

What is a PID in project management workflow?

This is performed through the creation of a Project Initiation Document (PID) — the top-level project planning document. In it, you gather all of the information required to get your project started and convey it to the project’s stakeholders.