If you’re in charge of a project, you probably know what it feels like to be in the hot seat when it comes to keeping stakeholders in the loop. You have a lot of questions coming your way, and when the pressure is on, it can be difficult to keep track of everyone on your team and what they’re up to. Your saving grace? Work collaboration tools with reporting features.
As project manager, you can expect to get asked certain questions all the time, and you need to be prepared. Stay calm and collected, and be ready with an answer anytime, anywhere with the help of some crucial reporting tools. Let’s take a look at some questions you’re likely used to getting, and how certain tools can help you out.
Who’s working on what? Who can take on more work and lighten someone else’s overflowing platter?
These types of questions are much easier to answer when you have a bird’s eye view of your team’s goals and each individual’s workload. What you need here is a tool that allows you to see everyone’s progress and reallocate assignments if necessary. This will take a whole lot of stress off your team’s back – and lead to confidence in your answers when you’re in the spotlight at a meeting.
What is the status on this week’s deliverables? Are there any bottlenecks you can work to remove?
When it comes to team progress, visual dashboards are a great way to keep an eye on smaller tasks that may be related or even dependent on the completion of one another. If you know what’s going on, and your team knows what’s going on, then there won’t be any unnecessary confusion or stress. Keep it simple!
Can you put this information into a report and send it over?
Stakeholders like confident, quick, easy answers. By using a tool that quickly exports any report in a clean, visual manner, you take what could easily turn into one or two hours of work for you and convert it into a quick reply and a happy stakeholder.
The right reporting tools will not only keep you in the loop and prepared for any pressing, out-of-the-blue questions, but the opportunity for open communication and workload transparency will also help your team move efficiently towards their goals. Learn more about the benefits of work collaboration tools by downloading the whitepaper, How work collaboration tools can help you report to the business, and let us know in the comments what works for you.
Content contributor: Rositsa Gencheva
