One of the most challenging aspects of running a successful company is meeting project deadlines. With multiple players on a project and clients throwing new due dates at you, developing strong practices for on-time delivery is difficult at best.
Meeting due dates is crucial to the growth and success of your business. You will build trust with clients so they turn to you for future projects. When you are more productive, you will also get more work done and be able to take on new clients.
Fortunately, making a few changes to how you approach projects can make all the difference. Here are the top ways of meeting project deadlines on time.
1. Get Input From Staff
Gartner reports 82% of employees want their organizations to understand them as a person, but only 45% feel their employer tries. Before embarking on any big process changes or productivity improvements, gather everyone together.
Ask workers for ideas to improve time management. Most of them probably already have hacks they use and everyone can learn from one another. Also, ask for feedback for project managers on the things that might need improvement when it comes to dispersing work and setting deadlines.
2. Set the Foundation
Come up with a template you can utilize that defines the scope of the project and the end objective. Knowing the typical milestones for projects of a similar type enables you to streamline the process of setting up the job.
You can use tools such as online project management to make the process easier and save other workflows. With a plug-and-play type system, you simply add in the specific details for the exact project of the moment.
3. Use a Paper Planner
When you are first laying out your projects, put everything on paper. You never know when third-party software might go down. With a paper copy, you can pull out the original notes and keep moving forward until systems come back online.
Studies also show writing things out in hard copy improves retention. People will not have to continually refer to online notes if they better remember the next task. Although it is an extra step to mark off completed work and change things along the way, it is minimal compared to the headache you might have if a digital copy gets hacked or the server goes down.
4. Be Smart About Project Deadlines
It is tempting to make deadlines extremely tight to encourage staff to strive for better productivity. However, the stress of meeting impossible due dates could have the opposite effect and cause people to feel like failures.
Consider what a reasonable deadline is and how difficult the task might be. Something simple — such as emailing the client — might only need a few minutes to complete. On the other hand, creating a style guide is much more intensive and requires multiple hours of work that often must be broken down to avoid burnout.
5. Assign Tasks to the Right People
The creation of a website or app should go to your best web developer staff members. If you begin assigning tasks and realize you do not have enough people to complete highly technical or skilled work, you will need to hire someone or allow time for other team members to train.
Look at what is time sensitive and push those jobs to the people you know meet deadlines without fail. At the same time, get those workers to mentor others who might not be as adept at finishing tasks when they should.
Although meeting deadlines and working productively are important, your employees are learning from each project. Factor in time for education and building new skills so each project becomes a bit more efficient.
6. Rate Tasks by Priority
For any project, some tasks are more crucial than others. If the marketing department is waiting on a graphic design, they cannot schedule advertisements.
Look at which elements impact other elements when choosing the priority of tasks. Then, rank the most vital things so the team knows they should complete them first. Make it a daily habit to organize things a second time as milestones change and different variables enter the picture.
7. Conduct Frequent Progress Checks
As the project progresses, take the time to see if you are meeting major milestones and what deadlines might fall behind. If you are having a hard time coordinating everything or need a professional set of eyes on a job, hire one of the estimated 781,400 project management specialists in the U.S. You might want to get their input on how well your plan is working and any tweaks that would make the process more efficient.
8. Say No
It is common for clients to throw a bunch of new tasks or widen the scope of a project after you begin. You have to learn how to manage such requests without overwhelming your staff or not meeting crucial deadlines.
You do not want to tell a customer no constantly. However, sometimes you must explain why something is outside the original agreement, and additions will require more time and resources.
Deliver Quality Projects on Time
Clients expect you to meet specific deadlines but keep the lines of communication open and assure them you understand what they want from the experience. Setting goals before you begin a project helps keep things on track. If you run into problems, go back to the objective and strategize. When you focus on the project as a whole and then break it down, you will be better able to manage project deadlines and keep your clients happy.
Eleanor Hecks is editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine. Eleanor was the creative director and occasional blog writer at a prominent digital marketing agency before becoming her own boss in 2018. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and dog, Bear.
