As a project manager, ask yourself how much you spend on each of these items:
- Communicating about the project to stakeholders
- Communicating about the project to team members
- Updating your project plan in your project tracking software
Which one of those three do you really think matters to the success of your project? There’s no question that project tracking software and having an up-to-date project plan is helpful, but it is technically possible to complete an entire project without ever touching it. You will never succeed without communication, and lots of it. If you are spending more than 20% of your time on this part of your project, then you’re probably spending too much. If you’re spending more time on it than this, start examining how you’re using the software and looking for ways to improve your efficiency. So many times, because project management software is capable of managing so many details for us, we get lost in the details of using it rather than the details of managing the project. Project management is far more than updating little checkboxes on an electronic checklist. Get up from your desk, shut off your software, and spend some quality time with your team getting things moving.
