Time is one of the most precious resources for agencies or organizations. The various business processes are dependent on one another, and timely completion of each is vital to meet project deadlines. As a business leader, your most difficult task is probably scheduling your team’s time effectively. Without time management, it is all too easy to under-utilize resources and under-perform. The right resource management software development tools can empower your agency by increasing the efficacy of your workflow and raising productivity. The right time scheduling software will help organize your team, create better workflows, increase productivity, and ensure superior project delivery.
Research on productivity in businesses shows that over 60% of managers find resource scheduling to be the most challenging. Similarly, 40% of team members feel their work is not scheduled efficiently enough. Even experienced project managers or team members can get bogged down by loaded schedules and tight deadlines. What is needed is to work smart along with working hard. A smart team management software will help you better manage your resources and construct strategic time schedules for your team.
What is Time Scheduling?
Time scheduling involves the optimal allocation of time amongst tasks for more productive results. It isn’t about monitoring each minute of your creative team’s working hours. Instead, it’s about creating a schedule to help them work more productively and in sync with others to achieve the desired results and meet deadlines within the budget.
Projects have limited allocated budgets and resources, and these need to be organized and prioritized. While time schedule doesn’t increase the number of hours available for a project, it does plan and manage that time in a smarter manner.
Time scheduling in project management entails listing:
- Start and finish dates
- Project milestones
- Deliverables
- Tasks required to achieve these deliverables
- Workflow of the tasks
- Effects of the completion of the tasks on the milestones
- Resources required and their allocation (including team members assigned to each task)
- Deadlines, duration of various tasks, and expected time frames
Putting all this in a calendar format makes it easy for your team to visualize their assigned tasks, the expected time frames, and scheduled due dates. You can also keep track of the progress of the project and ensure that you are working within the project budget and utilizing your team optimally. At the same time, your agency can deliver the expected results on time.
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Get Planning with a Time Scheduling Software
Time scheduling software like the eResource Scheduler allows agencies to have more control over the calendar and workflow of their team, thus leading to more effective project management. It allows you to maximize your agency’s calendar. Once the project dates, milestones, and deliverables have been finalized, it is time to plan the actual execution. Using resource scheduling software will most definitely improve your time management. Before you start putting everything on the calendar, here’s what you have to do:
#1. List all Tasks and Assignments Required
This ensures that no detail, however small, is missed or overlooked. It will also serve as a reminder to check with other teams whose work may affect your project.
#2. Prioritize Each Task as Per Its Relevance to the Project
Define and segregate tasks into important, urgent, not important, and not urgent. Each task will fall into two of these categories and needs to be prioritized accordingly. This will decide the deadlines and resources allocated to that task.
#3. Side-line Tasks That May Slow or Hamper Your Project
Keep them on your calendar to be completed at a later date.
#4. Estimate the Resources and Size of the Team Required for Each Task
List out the resources available as well as the ones required. This includes the team members as well as the equipment, software, etc.
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#5. Discuss Goals, Priorities, and Expectations with Your Team
They can visualize their roles and prepare themselves to take on the allotted tasks. Assign specific tasks and responsibilities to each team member.
#6. Forecast the Time Required for Each Taskper the Deadlines and Milestones
Break each task into smaller tasks to make time estimates easier and more accurate. Keep a buffer for unpredictable situations and missed deadlines as well.
#7. Set Aside Adequate Time for Creative Work
So, what do you need to determine enough time for creative work? This typically needs more flexible deadlines so that some thought can be put into how to provide a creative solution.
#8. Keep in Mind Other Demands on the Team’s Time
Day-to-day administrative tasks, meetings, training, day-offs, personal time, etc. Audit team processes to better manage time spent on non-urgent meetings and tasks. This will help the team members manage their time effectively, and schedule focused work.
Once the above steps have been taken, you can start using your time management calendar to effectively boost your team’s efficiency.
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How Time Scheduling Software Can Help Optimize Your Agency’s Task Calendar?
- Lists out tasks as per priority
- Assigns responsibilities smartly
- List work schedules, milestones, and deadlines
- Allows team members to track their progress and deadlines, and submit completed tasks directly to their supervisors
- Also allows employees to prioritize between their various tasks and projects. Time scheduling calendars can help them schedule more challenging tasks during peak productivity hours, set reminders and visual cues.
- Enables managers to track the overall progress of the project, and to plan ahead to meet upcoming deadlines and schedule meetings accordingly.
- Encourages better working between various teams as it’s easy to know which stage each task is at. Employees across teams can also communicate easily with each other.
- Motivates employees to work more effectively, and at the same time achieve a healthier work-life balance.
- Enables the agency to use the rostering calendar to monitor staff, optimize costs and increase productivity while providing a conducive work environment. Managers can also identify training needs and help employees achieve their developmental goals.
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Keeping Workflow on Track with the Right Time Scheduling Software
Cloud-based time scheduling software integrates into the agency’s existing calendar, CRM tools, and working systems. It helps in project planning at the macro- as well as the micro-levels. A must-have for organizations to succeed and remain competitive in the business world, the software helps increase productivity, encouraging employees to put their best foot forward. One such product is Enbraun’s eResource Scheduler that takes into account varying work schedules and timings across global locations and helps manage multiple working hours by creating working calendars for each unique working pattern. Their user-friendly time scheduling software uses these calendars to automatically calculate resource capacity and update schedules, which are accessible to all authorized team members. eRS Cloud is designed to help agencies utilize resources effectively by efficiently scheduling qualified resources on the right projects.