Your business relies on teams to keep everything moving forward. This is especially true with development teams, as they not only help define the future of your business, they also make it happen by creating the software and services your business and customers depend on.
As your business expands, so too will the projects your teams will help build. As those projects continue to grow, they’ll become harder and harder to manage. However, with the help of a project management solution, those teams can run exponentially more smoothly.
If that alone isn’t enough to sell you on the idea of a project management solution for your development teams, we have a few very important reasons to consider. Each of these reasons doesn’t depend on your teams working with a specific language or framework. So your developers can work with JavaScript, Java, C++, Python, or .NET and can still dramatically benefit from a project management tool.
For those that don’t know, Project Management tools come in all shapes and sizes, from Gantt Charts to Kanban boards to Scrum. Which you choose will depend on how complex your project is and how much control you want to exert over your teams.
With that said, let’s dive into the reasons why your teams need a project management solution.
Better Planning
It doesn’t get more upfront than this. When you employ a Project Management solution for your teams, you vastly improve every aspect of the project planning. This applies from the early stages of planning all the way to release planning. You might already assume your current spreadsheet/mind map solution works just fine, and if you’re trying to manage a small project that may be the case.
However, as your projects get larger and more complex, you’re going to need the enhanced planning that comes along with Project Management software. This also makes it considerably easier to schedule everything for the lifecycle of your project—from early idea stages to development to testing to release.
Easier Collaboration
The larger your team gets, the more collaboration will happen. And when your project needs to involve more than just the development team, you’re going to want to enable reliable, simple collaboration. That’s yet another shining example of how a Project Management platform can improve your project.
Many Project Management solutions even include built-in collaboration tools, such as communication and file sharing. With those features in place, your teams won’t have to be working with multiple tools to get the job done. That’s efficiency done right.
Budget Management
Your project has a budget, and you know those in charge of spending will be watching that project like the hawks they are. The last thing you need is to go over budget, which could not only send the wrath of those in charge of the purse strings down on you, it could legitimately endanger your project.
With the help of the right Project Management software, you can better manage your project’s budget, so you don’t have to ever worry about not meeting the numbers laid out by those in charge.
Resource Management
Resources come in all shapes, sizes, and forms. There are employees, time, code, files, APIs, software, hardware, and budget. As your projects continue to expand, resource allocation will become increasingly more challenging.
With the help of a Project Management solution, you can take control of all resource management, so you can drastically improve the workflow and keep tabs on absolutely everything that goes into creating the project.
Project Reporting
How well is your project coming along? Do you know? Are you able to gain quick insight into the progress of your project at a glance? Or do you spin your wheels, completely clueless as to what’s going on with it?
A good Project Management solution will include plenty of reporting tools that keep you, the teams, and management in the know as to how the project is progressing. If the project falls behind, you’ll know it. With really good Project Management solutions, you’ll be able to get very granular with your reporting, so you don’t just know a project is behind, you could easily discern why. Once you have that information, you can act accordingly.
Less Paperwork
Let’s face it, everyone hates paperwork. Not only is it time-consuming, but it’s also really not good for the environment. Why not go paperless? That’s yet another outstanding benefit of using a Project Management solution—you no longer have to rely on paper copies of reports. Instead, all you have to do is log into the system and view the reports.
This also saves you from losing paperwork, which happens. So, instead of going the old-fashioned route, hop onto a newer, more modern path that can make the reporting of your projects more reliable, it’ll be far cheaper in the end (because you’re not buying and wasting paper).
Conclusion
There’s a reason why Project Management solutions are one of the hottest commodities at the moment. With so many amazing projects happening around the globe, many of those developers and companies have found a good Project Management tool is just as important as having a reliable, knowledgeable project manager.
