Your Online Spot for Project Management Resources

Project Manager Job Description

Welcome to Project Manager Job Description! We have everything you need to help you learn about Project Management, Project Management Tools, Resume Writing , Project Management Training and Certification, People Management Skills Articles

project time management

Project Time Management

How Good Project Time Management Can Work For You

Good project time management knowledge, skills and abilities could make the difference between someone who gets jobs completed on time and under budget vs someone always running behind schedule and consistently going over budget. Obviously it is much better to be the person with the good project time management knowledge, skills and abilities so that you are able to perform well both for you and your boss or your customers.

Many people make the mistake of neglecting the importance of good project time management practices, thinking that it is too much trouble or just not worth the extra effort. When in reality it could very well be the key step in increasing the likely hood of all of your current and future projects being completed better and more efficiently as well.

What Is Project Time Management :

In its most basic terms good project time management consist of having the knowledge, skills, abilities and a system in place for the timely and effective management of all of your projects, tasks or goals so that they can be completed within an expected or agreed upon time frame.

This could be a software based system or pencil and paper as long as there is a way to identify all of the key elements of the project, plan and track progress and results, then it should be able to perform the necessary functions required for an effective project time management system.

A good project time management system is very beneficial when two or more people are needed to collaborate on a specific project. It will allow them to effectively focus and manage their efforts and resources in such a way as to be able to successfully complete their task and the entire project on or before schedule and in a cost effective manner.

Using a project time management system does not mean that what ever the initial time and budget amount is, that it will definitely be completed to meet those requirements.

However it does serve as a tool that can be used to make changes in your original estimates of cost or time and then inform all of the affected participants so that they can re-adjust their expectations based on the new information or timeline.

Project Time Management Basic Steps :

The basic steps for good project time management are as follows :

Step 1.) Defining the Scope of the project - This is where you focus on what the end result should be. This should include all of the tasks, milestones and other activities that will need to be involved as well as a rough estimate of how long each task should take.

Step 2.) List the order in which the task will need to be completed. This is especially critical when one task requires the completion of a prior step. For example if you are managing a project which involves launching a new website you would need to list the steps in order so that you do not have someone working on the website content before the keyword research has been completed.

Step 3.) Estimate the time needed to complete each task or activity. This will be the most challenging aspect of your responsibilities. It may not always be possible to accurately project how quickly or how long it may take a person to complete a task. This is where you may need to make a best guest estimate and it is usually better to build in a small margin for error as a safety net.

Step 4.) Track, Monitor and Manage - This is where you may need to make adjustments to your original estimates due to unexpected cost or delays. If either of these two things happen you will need to adjust your timeline and inform everyone concerned that the original estimates have changed.

Good project time management is a very effective way to help mange your time and resources so that you are able to get the most amount of work completed in the most timely way possible.