Imagine this: 

You are enthusiastic and eager to tell the clients about your new project management tool that is a great alternative to keep everyone on board and delight them with the work in progress.

You conduct a proper session to show them how their project will flow and how they can log in to see the status of the project anytime, anywhere. You have thoughtfully used traffic lights signals to direct clients using colored light, red for on hold, green for moving or WIP, and yellow for proceeding with delays.

While we are on this topic, we would like to air a pet peeve of yours, i.e., your clients are not using your project management tool. Clients crawl through your stack of services by dropping in mails and calling for regular project updates. And, now you have to spend another hour to dig through email threads and look for assertive feedback. It only ends up making you frustrated, and we understand the situation.

Projects break down for many reasons, and some of them are increasing competition and facing pressure to give discounts. We understand the hindsight is 20/20, but you have to provide them a project management tool that is seamless, saves time, and proves your value. After all, it is crucial to be ahead of the curve in all sorts of ways.

You need project management such as Agile management to help you break your working process into several stages to overcome the littlest issues faced.

Here are three reasons why your current tool is failing your clients and how to tackle these problems with the right solutions in project management steps for beginners.

Your project management tool is setting unrealistic expectations while running multiple project timelines

• PROBLEM

You know, what is a terrible business practice? Miscommunicating your ability to end up with unrealistic expectations from the clients. No one wants to do that, but it happens all the time. It is your responsibility to keep the projects on track and meet the timelines without giving false information about the progress of the project. If you are experiencing project delays, then you are not alone. Everyone in the industry experiences project delays to some extent.

While a delay might be common, setting high expectations can be dangerous to your bottom line. No matter how well-prepared your team is, they need to sprint to manage multiple project timelines.

If your current management cycle only displays a linear view of the work, then despite being agile, your team will not be able to cover up the delays that will subsequently end up over delaying the subsequent projects.

• SOLUTION

What is the top reason for setting unrealistic expectations? You do not want to lose your client. So, you assure them timely deliveries even if they are asking for the same day. What happens next is you get a last-minute requirement from the client, and you end up delaying again. This will leave your client unhappy and unsatisfied.

Using a project scheduling tool such as a Gantt chart will help you move a task that is depending on other tasks in unison at one simple click. This way, you are able to quickly switch gears and reprioritize as needed while staying aligned with your client.

Your project management tool is working without purpose

Building a project management cycle just for the sake of utilizing a project management tool is not enough.

• PROBLEM

Clients churning due to the unrealistic timelines is not the only threat to the business. Many survey reports state that about sixty percent of personnel spend up to three hours of their week on sending emails and generating reports. Often, they inadvertently delve on something that is not on the clock, either. If your project management tool is not sharing loads by cutting down your time, here is what you need to know:

“Even if your project management tool is all over the map but working without any purpose, it is of no good use.”

• SOLUTION

First thing first, you will have to understand the need for a management cycle and believe it is something worth building. To build the trust of your clients and stakeholders, you will have to add features like view real-time progress, project status, and automated notifications in your tool.

Moreover, you will also have to understand that less is more. Therefore, instead of running behind different features simultaneously, you must look for options that are relevant to your project. This way, you will be able to keep track of your clients and vice versa.

Your project management tool is overpromising in terms of security

Any good relationship is based on trust and transparency. There is nothing more damaging to your client than breaking their trust. After all, you have no right to intrude into their personal information.

• PROBLEM

Your project management cycle promises to win the trust of your clients, where it does not guarantee underlying security to keep the client’s data safe from intruders.

Let us understand this better with an example:

Suppose you are a financial agency working for providing financial security to your clients. How will you guarantee that your client’s data is safe with your project management tool? Does your project management tool have the power to keep your client’s information confidential and cannot be sent to the wrong person?

• SOLUTION

By introducing a proofing and approval process into your project management tool, you will be able to provide a safe platform to your clients where they can share any sensitive information confidently.

Utilize agile management that focuses on simultaneous project updates internally to get proper customer feedback from the clients as well. Blend all the self-organizing cross-functional teams to help you present a flawless process for the end-user.

END NOTE

Any project management software is “no magic button” for your business and clients. You will have to provide visibility, security, transparency, and flexibility with your project management tool. It will keep your projects on track and your clients happy.