7 Productivity Hacks for Project Managers

Project managers are expected to be the most productive people on Earth – even when that request is entirely unreasonable. Productivity can be easier, and even stronger, when you make a few changes to the way you manage a project. A little optimization has the potential to change everything.

1. There’s an App For That

Scheduling apps, communication apps, and project management apps can all work in synergy to make your life easier. If you and your team are all using the same apps for scheduling and synchronicity, you’re less likely to find that misunderstandings and errors in communication will come up. One hand will always know what the other is doing, and everyone will be unified in moving forward.

2. Delegate Wisely

Giving the wrong tasks to the wrong people will significantly prolong a project. It’s your responsibility to delegate, but how you delegate is the most important aspect of that process. Make sure you’re paring people with the appropriate task. You wouldn’t want someone who is a wiz with numbers sending off your emails and someone with a degree in English calculating a budget. Match people to tasks appropriately.

3. Get Rid of Clutter

Putting together everything you need to work on a project is part of the time it takes to complete that project. If you have a wealth of paperwork and a bunch of useless equipment cluttering your workspace, it’s only going to take longer to get organized. Consider storing things you won’t need in the immediate future through community storage, such as Spacer. You can easily pick them up if you need them, but in the meantime, they won’t make navigating the workplace any more complicated than it needs to be.

4. Keep Everything Digital

If all relevant paperwork is digitally stored and organized, it can quickly and easily be accessed by any member of the team. It’s also convenient for both security and consistency when you have people remotely working, such as team members who needed to go off on a business trip or an important meeting as a part of the project. Anyone can access anything from anywhere. You won’t waste time printing off unnecessary copies or digging through file boxes.

5. Become Work Friends With Your Team

In order for a project manager to be truly successful, he or she needs to develop a great relationship with their team. Distance and firm authority makes trust and comfort difficult. You want your team members to feel open enough to come to you if they need help, rather than attempting to wing it or do things the hard way because they feel isolated from you. Great friends make great leaders . Tell funny stories over coffee once in a while.

6. Turn a Project From a Meal to Some Snacks

Excellent project managers know what to isolate and how to isolate it. Think of the expression “a lot on your plate”. It’s terrible, awful, and grueling to have to eat all of it at once. However, snacking on each individual piece intermittently over the long haul makes the plate an efficient source of sustenance. Break your project down into snacks, and give everyone a few snack sized tasks to do every day. They won’t feel overwhelmed and burned out, and they’ll have the time and energy to pay attention to small details.

7. Give All The Details

Making sure everyone knows what they need to know in order to complete a project is important. While they’re working on the fine details, you also want them to have a firm grasp of the big picture. How do the parts of a project correlate? How does their work affect the work of everyone else? Making sure everyone is equally informed about details that affect everyone’s individual responsibility leads to more cohesive work, and most importantly, less revision later on.

As a project manager, your life is busy. Productivity will always improve when you take smart shortcuts or workarounds that help you save time. Always be thinking about the future.

Emma Lewis is a loving mother, a devoted wife and a part of the team supporting Spacer – a company helping you find storage space whenever you need it. Emma is also a staunch supporter of the sharing economy and often mentions its benefits.