Project management can be the cornerstone of success for an organization. When they are over budget or behind schedule, it can severely undermine the success of the project and the organization itself. There are factors that are out of your control; however, challenges from ineffective work scheduling are preventable.
In the project, the management schedule is part of the planning process. Work scheduling creates a plan for the tasks and the milestones of the project, which makes it easier to track the project's progress. But scheduling can be quite challenging. Did you know ineffective scheduling can prove to be detrimental to a project’s success? And ineffective scheduling is most often the result of non-data-driven decisions.
The workers in the US are facing a significant crisis in the name of flexibility. A majority of the workers report that their schedules change with less than a week’s notice. 50% of the employees are expected to work shifts with less than 11 hours of gap between the two. Even though part-time workers want to work for more hours, since they don't control their hours, they are unable to do so. 75% of workers report that they would like a more stable schedule.
While scheduling a project, managers don’t only discuss the time and duration of each task and milestone. Resource scheduling also includes schedule management, defining the activities, sequencing them, identifying the resources required for the same, estimating their durations based on data, and lastly developing the project schedule.
5 Ways of Measuring Project Success
Review Project Specifications - Setting explicit goals and objectives before starting the project helps in reviewing the progress of the project. The project specification document includes specific details regarding the budget for each phase of the project, the scope of the project, and the deadlines for the same. While measuring the success of the project, you need to remember that each project's success criteria are different. So, it is important to measure the relevant metrics.
Review the Budget - Similar to the challenges of scheduling; budgeting can also create significant challenges for the success of a project. Upon completion, you need to analyze the budget to see if it has exceeded the predetermined budget or not. Companies often allocate specific funds to project managers, and the managers set a budget depending on the costs of the resources and so on. The project can be considered a success if the budget has not been exceeded. Partial success is when the target budget has been crossed yet the stretch budget hasn’t. A stretch budget is the wiggle-room, project managers leave upon deciding the budget for a project for unforeseen expenses.
Review Client Satisfaction - Upon completion of a project, sending customer or client satisfaction surveys is common practice. There are several survey samples available on the market which allow project managers to develop an in-depth understanding of the client's input. Many companies value active involvement in their projects; a comprehensive client survey allows you to determine the project's success in terms of client satisfaction.
Review Schedule Requirements - Alongside budget compliance, schedule compliance is also an indicator of a project’s success. Oftentimes, the document with project specifications has detailed guidance related to the project’s scheduling requirements. After the completion of the project, you need to assess whether all necessary work scheduling requirements have been fulfilled. It is also one of the easiest metrics to measure; during the project, it can also alert you regarding your inefficiencies in terms of resource management and allocation resulting in scheduling delays.
Assess Quality - Even after the delivery of a project, it is important to provide quality assurance services to retain high-ticket clients. Therefore, quality assurance is often an ongoing aspect of project management, which continuously provides support from the back end to ensure project success. The quality of the project can also be determined by a comprehensive survey of the involved stakeholders like the clients, customers, and team. Team satisfaction is often a yardstick of a project's success, especially in terms of resource allocation and scheduling.
In Summation
All in all, the success of a project is often measured through its budget, schedule, quality, stakeholder satisfaction, and reviewing project specifications. Scheduling is a significant metric that can influence the success of a project regardless of its nature and scope. If a project is unable to adhere to its schedule, it is bound to exceed its budget thereby resulting in a loss of resources and finances for the organization.
There are multiple digital technologies and mobile applications available in the market that not only help you to assess your project needs. But also guide resource allocation, schedule development, and more. Such platforms help to make data-driven decisions pertaining to estimated project schedules; based on project specifications, scope, and deliverables; as well as past data.
Now that you know the little-known ways of measuring project success; ready to implement effective work scheduling to ensure the same?
