Engineering is a highly technical field that involves the construction of roads, buildings, airports, tunnels, bridges, sewage systems, and more. Not only does the complex nature of such projects make it difficult to reach goals on time and within budget, constantly changing requirements from clients, extreme weather conditions, and immense pressure from stakeholders make it even more difficult to manage time, money, and resources. Hence, the success of these projects goes beyond the hands-on technical skills. It requires excellent project management.
The project manager of a construction project is responsible for planning and meeting deadlines as well as building relationships between the clients and crew. They also oversee all the processes, delegate tasks among teams, and ensure that projects are delivered in a timely and efficient manner. If it’s your responsibility to manage a construction project, you’re likely familiar with the stress of making sure everything goes according to plan as well as the multitude of factors in the design process, from construction costs of a project to government regulations and environmental hazards such as earthquakes, tornados, and hurricanes.
There is no possible way you can keep all this in your head, and spreadsheets and calendars will only slow you down. A project management software like Nutcache simplifies estimating and billing, expedites planning and scheduling, and improves communication and collaboration.
Efficient Communication with Task Management Software
As a project manager, it is vital to keep everyone involved on the project on the same page including clients, vendors, contractors and regulators. Whether on-site or on the move, you should be able to provide a stakeholder with an estimate of costs and the completion time at a moment’s notice. Nutcache’s task management feature allows you to see the progress of your project at a glance, enabling you to provide quick and accurate updates on budget and timelines no matter where you are. You can also source specific information, like how long a certain task is taking, as well as send reports and invoices to clients with a single click.
Organize Engineering Projects with Interactive Charts
1. Kanban Method
The most challenging part of managing a construction project is keeping everyone on the same page. One way to solve this problem is through the Kanban method. Kanban is a framework that helps team members have access to ongoing work as well as upcoming tasks. Essentially, it is a board that is divided into three columns: “To do”, “Doing”, “Done”. Works tasks first placed under the “To Do” column and then delegate to employees under the “In Progress” column and move through the board until completion. This method also limits the number of tasks performed at the same time.
The major benefits:
- Visualize workflow: A kanban board will give you a clear picture of your project status at a glance. You can see which developers have enough work and which can take on more. You can also determine which tasks are taking longer than intended and in turn uncover roadblocks and pain points.
- Limit work-in-progress: Multitasking is a major reason why things fall through the cracks. Even the best engineers can work only on one job at a time. Limiting work-in-progress prevents employees from switching to another feature. As a result, concentration, focus, and performance is improved.
2. Gantt Chart
Gantt charts are a type of bar chart, similar to a timeline. They allow you to easily plan every step of your project, break down and prioritize tasks, and detail the work to be done by adding tasks. Most commonly, gantt charts are used to illustrate the dependency relationships between work tasks and the current schedule status. Nutchache’s gantt charts allows its users to visualize their tasks and projects in a variety of ways. For example, users can also customize their gantt chart to highlight tasks or indicate status levels with different colors.
Reinforce Collaboration with Scrum Project Management
Another methodology that helps team members work together is called scrum. Scrum is a subset of the agile framework that centers primarily on sprints. Sprints refer to a workflow process that focuses on quick development in two-week increments. To ensure accountability and open communication, scrum also includes daily team standup meetings where team members ask the each other the following questions:
- What did you do yesterday?
- What will you do today?
- Are there any impediments in your way?
The scrum method can work in conjunction with kanban and gantt charts to reinforce the main objective of keeping the project moving forward smoothly.
Learn more
Careful project planning and collaboration between engineering teams and external stakeholders and clients are the key factors that make construction projects advance. Nutcache can help keep projects, resources, and teams organized and on track with the ability to quickly have an overview of who is working on what and how the project is progressing. Find out what works for you and your team and get started with a free trial of the complete project management and time tracking software by Nutcache.
