As someone who’s coordinated many product launches, website updates, marketing campaigns , and sales training programs, I know firsthand the challenges involved in keeping global teams, along with outside agencies, in sync. Similar challenges confront our HR team when they’re coordinating recruiting, our Tech Ops team when they’re rolling out systems updates, and our Sales team when they’re working on major account plans. In fact, these challenges are pretty universal across most companies today – you’re working on multiple projects at once, with multiple people, most often in multiple locations, and under pretty intense time pressure. Lifting some terminology from the sailors out on the nearby San Francisco Bay, everyone on the team has to be fully onboard and pulling their weight.
That’s where Mindjet ProjectDirector, introduced today, can help. It keeps the whole team in sync right from the beginning all the way through successful completion. It gives us all a better way to work together and overcome the common challenges that teams face:
- Completed projects miss the mark due to a mismatch on expectations: There are few things more painful than working really hard to deliver what you think is needed, only to find out you didn’t understand the objectives or requirements. ProjectDirector’s virtual whiteboards and live co-editing let everyone actively participate in brainstorming, prioritizing and planning, so you can share and validate a clear picture of goals, scope and expected outcomes. By explicitly mapping out project details in a format everyone can understand, you can identify issues and resolve them upfront, saving everyone a lot of time and heartache.
- Tasks don’t get done on time, leading to bottlenecks and resource conflicts: Sometimes all it takes is one person not completing his/her work on time to derail a schedule (and completely annoy everyone else). Automatic deadline reminders, along with shared visibility on dependencies and progress, help everyone stay on track.
- Inability to make timely changes: Even the best-drawn plans often need revision, but if you call too many meetings people stop attending. The alternative isn’t much better. Long email trails don’t usually lead to crisp decision-making as they inject lag times and invite opportunities for missed information. ProjectDirector’s threaded comments means everyone can track requests for changes and make decisions based on the most current and complete information.
- Wasting time looking for information: It’s hard to find what you need when files are stored in multiple systems or are simply buried deep within nested folders. In addition to project folders that consolidate relevant files, embedded links in ProjectDirector maps easily and quickly guide team members to all relevant files, regardless of location.
Ultimately, success today is about teamwork. When it works, you win big. And Mindjet’s ProjectDirector can help you and your team be more successful. Mindjet ProjectDirector will be released soon. To be the first to experience the latest project management software from Mindjet click here and sign up. Spread the news on Facebook and Twitter for insider access.