Managing Projects Efficiently Using Teamwork
LeanForward recognizes that effective project management is the key to meeting our clients’ expectations and delivering their projects on time and on budget. As part of our continuous improvement process, LeanForward evaluated several leading project management software applications to determine which would provide the best outcomes for us as well as for our clients. Teamwork was the clear winner.
Implemented over 4 years ago, Teamwork has proven its value by helping make our eLearning design and development process even more efficient. Our clients also love it because it promotes effective collaboration. Teamwork establishes the project’s timeline, defines clear milestones, designates the responsible party/individual(s) for each milestone, and provides all stakeholders with easy access to the project’s status. Teamwork not only ensures that we consistently provide our clients with excellent eLearning, it also helps us establish a great working relationship, further boosting our already high level of client satisfaction.
LeanForward uses Teamwork to collectively house all documentation, files, and messages related to a project. We track project plans, shared links and review documents, internal messages, client meeting notes, issues needing follow-up, and project summary documents. The Notebook feature has a built-in editor with version control so it’s easy to track documents created and edited in Teamwork. We can track conversations by project, task, or by file which ensures the entire team is receiving the most recent information. It has not only helped us improve and capture all internal project communications but has also enhanced our collaboration with our clients.
Tracking the multiple and sometimes overlapping tasks associated with online training development can be challenging. Teamwork makes it easy by providing the means to identify project milestones and the associated tasks required to meet those milestones, as well as capture estimated and actual time to complete tasks. Project Managers appreciate the time tracking feature which helps everyone stay within scope and on target. Through the application, LeanForward has implemented a best practice Task List template associated with each phase in our project development life cycle which we use as a consistent starting point across all projects. We can easily track a project’s progress and the reporting capabilities and analytics that result from this tracking help us make continuous improvements to our project life cycle.
The Dashboard view within Teamwork allows team members to identify and access current projects, upcoming milestones and activities, important messages, set reminders, and log time on specific tasks. This helps each team member stay organized with their current workload. In addition, the ability to review the history of completed projects provides valuable insight when planning additional projects while also supporting our ongoing continuous improvement process.
As Teamwork adds new features and functions, we continue to evaluate how it can further enhance our eLearning design and development process to ensure that we continue to exceed our clients’ expectations.