PROJECT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE

Project Management Software: Find out how project management software can help your team stay on top of a project from the start through execution to the wrap-up.

Project Management Software: Start with HEART

Getting started is the most crucial step in a project. A good project kick-off ensures everyone is bought in, understands the goals, and is ready to deliver. As a project manager, a great acronym to remember is HEART. See how “hearting” a project can help get your team started and move forward.

• Hear
• Encourage
• Alert
• Record
• Transition

Hear

People want to be heard, not told. Before the project, take the time to listen to your team’s initial ideas and concerns. Project management software makes it easy for your team to share ideas, research, and collaborate.

Encourage

Only some people on your team will jump into the fray with their ideas. Project managers should encourage participation and gather viewpoints from those who feel intimidated or uninvested. Encourage conversation through inline comments within your task management software. Identify areas where you want your team’s expertise and resolve comments after feedback.

Alert

Great project managers alert the team when there’s a misalignment. If someone needs more critical information, unclear objectives, or has a blocker, use @mentions to let them know something needs their attention. Project management software is a great way to bring people in at the right time.

Record

A single source of truth for a project will save you (and everyone) time. Online project management tools, like Confluence, allow you to record and organize your project’s essential details – meeting notes, product requirement docs, research, project scope, milestones, and everything in between.

Transition

Get your team up and running on the project as quickly as possible. Online task management solutions like Jira Core and Confluence allow you to assign tasks and transition quickly to execution and tracking.

Using project management software for execution and tracking

Now that you’ve started the project, it’s time to start executing and tracking. Project management software lets you assign tasks and lets you and your team stay on top of due dates and statuses. Although tasks are assigned to individuals, it takes a whole team to provide feedback and manage approvals. Use a project management tool like Jira Core to prevent delays and deliver projects on time.

How does Jira Core help track projects?

Managing projects and tasks in project management software starts with a workflow. Workflows define your process and enable your team to track tasks. Visualize your process so your team knows how projects and tasks are progressing.

Here’s an example of a Jira Core workflow your team can follow.

1. To-do
Assign tasks that need to be completed.

2. In progress
The assignee has begun working on the task.

3. Under review
The task is almost completed and is waiting for approval.

4. Reject
If the task is not approved, it returns to “in progress.”

5. Done
The task is approved and complete.

Each task in Jira Core has all the relevant project and task details in one place, including which team member is working on it, collaborative comments and feedback, and due dates. As a result, each team member has visibility on the entire project.

With Jira Core dashboards, you can get a high-level view of the whole project. Now, project managers can be armed with the tools they need to orchestrate the project and ensure that things get done on time. Project management software, like Jira Core, helps you ensure that your plans turn into tasks and projects that get done.

Workflow management

Defined workflows let everyone know the steps from to-do to done so that no tasks are left behind.

Reporting
With information all in one place, teams can report on their project and task progress and ensure everything is clear.

Task details
All the task information and feedback are tracked so everyone knows what’s happening.

Integration
Confluence and Jira are designed to work together by adding the context of the project, which is housed in Confluence, and the execution status, which is in Jira Core.

Wrapping up your project
So you’ve started with HEART, executed and tracked your work, and finally shipped your project. The hard part is done, but wrap everything up and store it in your project management software. By linking files, assets, and, if appropriate, results, you ensure that everything is searchable and future teams can find and benefit from your work.

Summary

When project management software is used correctly, it can help you deliver your projects on time with minimal emotional scars. We’ll call that a win. Spend less time hunting things down and more time making things happen with Confluence and Jira Core.