How to dump project ballast in five steps

Most project managers know or at least suspect that there are many activities in the daily project routine that are necessary but do not generate any added value. We call this "project ballast". Some studies say that 90 percent of all office work remains without added value. Increasing efficiency in these areas usually leads to positive effects and has an enormous impact on overall performance.

Step 1: Realize the importance of the work without added value

Project ballast is not the exception, it is the rule. Tasks without added value consume many more resources in the project than the work with added value: a ratio of 90 to 10 is quite realistic. So if project management wants to improve overall productivity in the project, project ballast is the ideal target. A simple calculation example: if you double the efficiency of the value-added project work, you have reduced the workload in the entire project by 5 percent. If, however, you succeed in doubling the efficiency of the non-value-added work, you reduce the workload in the project by a whopping 45 percent. The simple insight: Reducing project ballast saves the most resources.

Step 2: Create a central database

In some organizations, there is no formal, centralized repository for project-related information. As a result, project managers and team members spend up to 40 percent of their time searching for information, only to enter it manually and condense it into reports. By contrast, when project templates, metrics, and financial data are centralized, direct access is a matter of a few clicks. A centralized repository acts as a "single source of truth," whether it's project planning, project data and documents, or best practices, templates, and reports. Such centralization makes life easier for everyone.

Step 3: Standardize reports and processes

Once the data is centralized, it is relatively easy to generate and share standard reports and dashboards with the appropriate stakeholders. Of course, access should be controlled via a suitable rights concept. The reports access the data from the central repository in real time and have a standardized format so that they can be easily processed further and serve as a meaningful basis for decision-making.

Step 4: Automate workflows and tasks

Many project management tools include at least basic project tracking tools. This makes it relatively easy to automate tedious tasks with no added value, thus reducing project ballast. Efficiency increases very significantly when formerly manual tasks are eliminated: such as administering timesheets, handling task assignment communications, tracking progress and approvals, and triggering associated alerts and notifications. With the right software, you can easily automate all of this.

Step 5: Increase data quality for better decision making

As long as you and your staff have to manually gather information from disparate applications, it's not only time-consuming - it also increases the likelihood that you'll be dealing with redundant, unavailable, or outdated data. This deprives you of the basis for robust decision making and management. For many companies, this is why data visibility and data integrity are critical challenges in their projects. Many companies that eventually purchase project management software do so to avoid having to re-enter lost data over and over again. Either way, it's worth tackling the issue of increasing the efficiency of project work - especially when it comes to the multitude of tasks that don't add any value. Discarding project ballast always makes sense.

Author:
Uwe Eilers is Director Sales at Sciforma GmbH in Taunusstein, Germany. www.sciforma.de. Even more information on increasing efficiency in project management is provided in an e-book by Sciforma entitled "Free yourself from project ballast - avoid tasks without added value". It can be downloaded here free of charge: https://www.sciforma.com/de/info-center/aktuelles