You may feel you can control risk in your organization and construction management team—but what happens when you’re working with independent contractors? Suddenly, the success of the construction project rests on the shoulders of those who are less accountable to you. However, you can minimize and mitigate contractor risks through a process known as contractor risk management.

Just as contract administration, contractor risk is important to understand. It requires screening and protecting yourself from issues that might arise in your relationship with the general contractor and their work on the project. That leads to contractor risk management, a risk register and a risk management plan, which can help you manage contractor risk on your projects.

What Is Contractor Risk in Construction Management?

A general contractor (GC) usually oversees a construction site and manages the work of subcontractors. A GC also manages the vendors and trades associated with the construction project. They serve as a central communication point between all involved parties.

An independent contractor, on the other hand, is also any non-salaried employee that is hired for a job on a temporary basis. Therefore, they are not given benefits and often are paid at a higher rate because of that.

While there are benefits to hiring a general contractor and subcontractors, they can also be a risky venture. Any risk management process should include sharing the risk between the contractor, project manager and construction project management office.

That means the general contractor must have his own risk mitigation process that works jointly with the construction project manager. They must conduct risk identification and analysis throughout the project and have a risk management plan in place.

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Risk Tracking Template

Use this free Risk Tracking Template for Excel to manage your projects better.

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What Is Contractor Risk Management

Contractor risk management is the process of identifying, assessing and controlling the risks associated with an organization’s contractors. It is used to manage the work of general contractors and subcontractors.

Risk is part of any construction project, but managing that risk becomes more difficult when that risk is shouldered by independent contractors, not under the full authority of the organization.

Contractor risk management defines the parameters of the relationship and explains who is responsible for what when it comes to setting up a risk management process. That includes identifying and mitigating risks that may become active issues in the construction project.

In order to manage risk, project managers and contractors have to stay connected to coordinate their work. ProjectManager is online software that connects everyone on the project team in real time. Risks can be created as tasks that are assigned to relevant team members. Add any important documents and determine the ideal response from a dropdown menu. You can track your construction risk from the project menu in real time to keep the lines of communication open and clear. Get started with ProjectManager today for free.

Contractor Risk Management Process

The contractor risk management process is a systematic approach used to identify, evaluate and control potential risks associated with hiring and working with third-party contractors. This process ensures that contractors meet safety, compliance, financial and performance standards before and during project execution. Effective contractor risk management protects an organization’s assets, timeline, budget and reputation.

Contractor Prequalification

Contractor prequalification is the initial screening phase where potential contractors are evaluated for their suitability to perform work safely, legally and effectively. This typically involves reviewing the contractor’s financial stability, safety records, licenses, certifications, past performance and insurance coverage. Prequalification filters out unqualified contractors before any work begins, reducing risk exposure.

Contractor Risk Identification

This step involves identifying all potential risks associated with hiring and working with a contractor. These risks can be financial (e.g., budget overruns), operational (e.g., delays), legal (e.g., non-compliance), or safety-related (e.g., workplace accidents). Early identification allows the project team to anticipate issues that could impact scope, schedule or reputation.

Contractor Risk Assessment

In the risk assessment phase, each identified risk is analyzed based on its likelihood of occurrence and the potential severity of its impact. This prioritization helps determine which risks require immediate attention and resource allocation. Risk assessment may use qualitative or quantitative tools, such as risk matrices, to guide decision-making.

Contractor Risk Mitigation

Once risks are assessed, mitigation strategies are developed to reduce or eliminate them. This might include requiring additional safety training, revising contract terms, increasing oversight or mandating insurance coverage. The goal is to proactively address vulnerabilities before they escalate into costly issues or disruptions.

Contractor Risk Monitoring

Risk monitoring involves the continuous oversight of contractor performance and risk exposure throughout the project lifecycle. It ensures that mitigation strategies are working and that new risks are promptly identified and addressed. Monitoring may include site inspections, performance reviews, compliance audits and real-time tracking tools.

Contractor Risk Communication

Risk communication ensures that all stakeholders—project managers, contractors, safety officers and executives—are kept informed of risk status, decisions and mitigation actions. Clear, timely communication fosters collaboration, supports accountability and enables rapid response when risks change or new challenges emerge.

Types of Contractor Risks

Contractor risks refer to the various threats that arise from engaging third-party vendors or service providers to perform work on behalf of an organization. These risks can impact budgets, timelines, legal compliance and safety. Understanding the types of contractor risks helps organizations implement proactive management strategies and ensures that contractor involvement aligns with project goals and regulatory expectations.

Financial Contractor Risk

Financial contractor risk involves the potential for monetary loss due to a contractor’s inability to manage funds, maintain solvency or complete work within the agreed budget. This risk includes underbidding, cash flow issues or bankruptcy. Such problems can lead to stalled projects, additional costs or the need to find replacement contractors—disrupting timelines and increasing financial exposure for the hiring organization.

Performance Contractor Risk

Performance contractor risk refers to the threat that a contractor may not meet the expected quality, schedule or deliverables outlined in the contract. Causes can include poor workmanship, lack of resources or inadequate project management. These failures can result in delays, rework, dissatisfied stakeholders and potentially damage the reputation of the hiring organization if deliverables fall short of expectations.

Compliance Contractor Risk

Compliance contractor risk arises when contractors fail to adhere to legal, regulatory, safety or environmental standards. Non-compliance can result in fines, legal penalties or the shutdown of a project. Examples include inadequate licensing, violating labor laws or poor safety practices. Managing this risk is essential to maintain project integrity, protect workers and ensure adherence to industry regulations.

Operational Contractor Risk

Operational contractor risk refers to disruptions in day-to-day project activities caused by contractor-related issues such as equipment failure, staff shortages or poor coordination. These operational inefficiencies can hinder productivity and affect timelines and costs. Effective oversight, clear communication and integrated scheduling are key to minimizing this risk and keeping the project on track.

Contractual Contractor Risk

Contractual contractor risk stems from ambiguities or shortcomings in the contract itself. This includes unclear scope definitions, lack of performance metrics, poorly defined change management clauses or inadequate dispute resolution terms. These gaps can lead to disagreements, delays or legal battles. Thorough contract drafting and review processes are essential to reduce this risk and protect project interests.

Risk Tracking Template

This free risk tracking template for Excel allows you to list project risks, their priority level, assign them to your team members and track risk mitigation strategies.

More Free Contractor Risk Management Templates

A risk tracking template is only one of over 100 free project management templates for Excel and Word that cover all aspects of managing projects across multiple industries. Below are a few of those templates that relate to risk management.

Risk Register Template

Download this free risk register template for Excel to systematically record and track potential risks associated with a project, process or organization. It serves as a central tool in risk management, helping teams identify, assess, prioritize and monitor risks over time. The template includes fields for each risk’s description, category, likelihood, impact, risk owner, mitigation strategy and current status.

Risk Management Plan Template

Use this free risk management plan template for Word to outline how risk will be identified, assessed, monitored and controlled throughout a project or organizational process. It provides a consistent format for documenting the strategies, roles, responsibilities, tools and methodologies used to manage potential threats or opportunities that could impact project goals.

Risk Matrix Template

This free risk matrix template for Excel is used to evaluate and prioritize risks based on their likelihood of occurrence and potential impact. Formatted as a grid, the matrix helps teams quickly assess the severity of risks and determine the appropriate level of response or mitigation.

Why Is Contractor Risk Management Important?

A contractor’s risk management process is vital to the success of a project. For one, it provides safety guidelines for workers, which is important for those who work in the dangerous field of construction.

Using a contractor risk management system also streamlines your operations. You can apply the work you do on your present project as you plan future projects. It also gives your teams the tools they need to make the right decisions to avoid risk.

Having a contractor risk management plan in place will boost the overall confidence of the project team. It’s like working with a safety net and helping them to balance risk factors. That saves time and resources, which can lead to an increase in profits.

5 Simple Steps for Better Contractor Relationships

There are always ways to improve your contractor risk management. Once you start setting up a risk management process, you’ll find that, when issues arise, you’re ready for them. But regardless of how prepared you are, there is always room for improvement when managing contractor risk.

1. Construction Contractors Are Not Employees: You have set up a temporary partnership with your contractors. They are not employees, but you do want contractors to feel part of the project and that their participation is appreciated.
2. Stay Consistent: One of the most important is to keep things consistent. Having different management processes with different contractors, consultants and freelancers is bad business. Payroll, onboarding and offboarding should be consistent across external and internal workers.
3. Set Expectations: Contractors need to know what they are supposed to do. Not setting expectations is poor communication, and leads to contractors going off-track. Managers should have regular meetings with contractors and get status reports from them to make sure things are moving forward as planned.
4. Create Chain of Command: You want your contractor to report on their status regularly. But you don’t want that process to be overly complex or confusing. This will frustrate your contractor, which leads to poor productivity. Be clear about who the contractor should report to and when they need to report to them.
5. Keep the Lines of Communication Open: Communication ties all these tips together. Lack of communication is a killer on any project and more so when you’re dealing with contractors. Make sure your communication plan is clear with contractors.

Contractor Risk Management Best Practices

The contractor life cycle goes: prequalification, pre-job task and risk assessment, contractor training and orientation, monitoring of job and post-job evaluation. Following this cycle is a great framework for your contractor risk management.

Third-party companies can do prequalification, which looks at contractors’ safety statistics. They will include metrics to grade the contractor on. A passing grade provides security that you’re working with a professional.

Of course, the job task and risk assessment phase is the meat of any contractor’s risk management.  It’s good to have an internal risk matrix when starting this phase. Insurance liability, type of work and equipment used and so forth will also factor in here.

Most organizations use on-site skill and safety orientation and training. This phase can also include special permits. In order to work, the contractors must complete this training, which adds to the overall safety and reduces risk on the job site.

Contractor risk management doesn’t end once the work begins. There must be inspections, which might include a daily checklist, monthly assessment or weekly walkthrough. You should also evaluate contractors after the job for organizations to learn what went right and what went wrong. This way they can improve their contractor risk management going forward.

Things to Avoid in Contractor Risk Management

Ironically, one of the worst things you can do when managing contractor risk is hiring too many contractors. Outsourcing can get you into trouble. Whose opinion on the work is the one you should listen to, for one?

The issue is you might favor one contractor over another. This is not going to sit well with the others. It also shows a lack of leadership on your part. Managers are decision-makers. Make a decision on how to manage the project and then carry forth with it.

When you have a path forward and have clearly communicated it to the contractors you’ve selected, everything will run more smoothly. Another thing to remember is the importance of reporting. That’s how you stay in touch with the work your contractors are doing.

You need to monitor and track their progress and performance to make sure they’re meeting the benchmarks you’ve set up for the project. Tracking more than one contractor can be more difficult, but that issue is resolved with the help of project management software.

How ProjectManager Helps Manage Contractor Risk

ProjectManager is cloud-based software that allows you to monitor and track contractor risk in real time. Our tool not only captures issues as they arise but allows managers to plan how to resolve those issues before they become problems that sideline the entire project.

Create Risk Management Plans on Gantt Charts

In order to mitigate contractor risk, you need to identify risk and have a plan in place to respond quickly and effectively. ProjectManager’s online Gantt charts can create risk mitigation plans that you can share with contractors. You can determine resources and budget, too. If the issue arises, you can set the plan in motion.

Track Progress on Dashboards

The Gantt will show the percentage complete, but for a high-level view of the progress and performance of your contractors use ProjectManager’s real-time dashboard. Unlike other tools, you don’t have to spend time configuring the dashboard, it’s all set up and ready to go. The live dashboard automatically captures status updates and calculates the data, which is then displayed on easy-to-read charts and graphs.

Generate Reports With a Single Click

Managers need to report to the leadership team and stakeholders. They also need more than a high-level view of the project they’re managing. That’s where one-click reports come in handy. Get detailed reports on time, cost and much more to better monitor the project. You can filter every report to show just the information you or your stakeholders want to see. Then, you can share the reports in a variety of formats to help keep everyone in the loop.

There’s so much our software does beyond planning and tracking. Email and in-app notifications keep you updated on what’s happening in the project. The collaborative platform allows contractors and the rest of the project team to stay connected. There are even streamlined timesheets, which are secure and provide further data on how long it’s taking contractors to complete their tasks.

ProjectManager is award-winning software that plans, monitors and reports on contractor risk. Use real-time data for better contractor risk management and keep your project issue-free and on track. Try ProjectManager today for free!

The post A Quick Guide to Contractor Risk & Contractor Risk Management appeared first on ProjectManager.

The marketing management process is used to streamline the job of a marketer and help them reach their customer base to respond quickly and accurately to their target customers’ demands.

What Is Marketing Management?

In short, marketing management is the process of planning, executing, and tracking the marketing strategy of an organization. This includes the marketing plan, campaigns and tactics used to create and meet the demand of target customers to drive profitability.

To ensure you’re making the right decisions, market research is necessary to understand the marketplace and determine what needs are not being met, or how to exploit opportunities that are currently not being served. Market research includes competitive research, key demographics, pricing and the best promotions for attracting customers.

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Marketing Plan Template

Use this free Marketing Plan Template for Word to manage your projects better.

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Marketing Management Key Elements

To better understand how marketing management is accomplished, it’s necessary to know the key concepts that make up the discipline. Here’s an overview of the elements that build the marketing framework of a business.

Marketing Mix

Marketing revolves around what’s called the four Ps:

• Product
• Price
• Place
• Promotion

The four Ps are the marketing mix that holds up any marketing plan. If you follow them, you combine the soft science of psychology with hard physical factors to influence customers. Psychological elements unearth what the customer wants and influence their buying habits to select your product or service. Physical factors make your product or service better, such as streamlining your channel of distribution or improving the product’s quality.

Marketing Strategy

A marketing strategy is a long-term plan that defines how a company will approach its customers, including the aspects of the marketing functions such as market research, branding, distribution channels, advertising and pricing. A marketing strategy is a high-level view that encompasses the marketing plan, budget and campaigns. It’s advisable to use a mix of pull and push marketing strategies.

Marketing Plan

A marketing plan is a document that outlines the overall marketing strategy of a company. It explains in further detail how that marketing strategy will be executed. It also includes the marketing budget that will cover the costs of these activities. Our marketing plan template is ideal to get started.

Marketing Budget

A marketing budget describes the amount of money needed to cover the marketing activities of a company. It’s important to do a thorough cost estimation of those activities such as advertising before defining a budget to avoid cost overruns in your marketing campaigns. Our marketing budget template is a great tool to kickstart the marketing budgeting process.

Marketing Campaign

A marketing campaign is a set of activities or tactics that go into a marketing plan. There can be different types of marketing campaigns with varying scopes and budgets. A marketing campaign can be developed to promote a corporation, brand or simply a product.

A marketing campaign can be made up of a mix of any of these marketing activities. These are just some examples of the marketing tactics you can use.

• Digital Marketing: The term digital marketing refers to an umbrella of activities such as content marketing, social media marketing, SEO, and SEM. These digital marketing areas rely on data analysis and metrics to gauge success.
• Paid Advertising: This is any advertising you pay for, such as print media or digital placement, which can include PPC (pay per click).
• Email Marketing: A component of digital marketing, email marketing, as the name suggests involves engaging potential customers by sending emails at scale and doing A/B testing.
• Account-based Marketing: Account-based marketing is a type of marketing strategy in which marketing and sales departments jointly identify high-value accounts to launch personalized marketing efforts.
• Cause Marketing: Link your good or service to an issue or social cause to resonate with your target audience.
• Relationship Marketing: Build a relationship with your customer and enhance those existing relationships to build and improve brand loyalty.
• Undercover Marketing: A stealth approach, where consumers aren’t aware that they’re being marketed to.
• Word of Mouth: One of the most important marketing strategies, but a hard one. That’s because it relies on people giving positive impressions of your good or service, which builds sales and loyalty.
• Internet Marketing: Create a content strategy to use the internet and other digital platforms to advertise your goods or services.
• Transactional Marketing: Use coupons, discounts and events to facilitate sales and attract your target audience through promotions.
• Diversity Marketing: When you have a wide range of consumers, you need to diversify your marketing in order to respect cultural and religious views.

Project management software can help you organize your research and build effective marketing plans. ProjectManager lets you plan and collaborate in multiple project views like the Gantt chart, task list, calendar or kanban board. Try it free today.

The 7 Marketing Management Functions

The seven marketing functions are the pillars of marketing management. That’s because these are seven key areas that group all marketing management activities. Handling all these seven areas can be overwhelming, that’s why it’s suggested to use project management tools for marketing.

1. Promotion

Refers to all the marketing activities that promote brand awareness. Promotion can be focused on a brand or a single product or service. There are many types of promotion such as digital advertising, content marketing, PR and events. Making a creative brief is a good way of putting together your promotion efforts.

2. Selling

Marketing and sales are closely related. Typically, marketing departments build a marketing funnel strategy that generates leads and sales for an organization. It’s then important to keep a marketing calendar and customer relationship management (CRM) system in place to maintain profitable relationships with customers.

3. Product Management

Marketing management also involves working closely with product management departments. Both teams must give each other feedback to develop a product that meets both the company’s and customers’ requirements. Product development teams are concerned with the functional aspects of the product as well as keeping costs down, while marketing managers must provide guidance to develop products that are tailored to the target customer’s needs.

4. Pricing

Marketing management professionals must develop a pricing structure for a business. There are several factors involved in the pricing decision-making process such as demand planning, costs and the brand’s competitive landscape.

5. Market Research

Market research is the process of analyzing customer data such as demographic information to develop a marketing strategy that satisfies their needs. Market research will allow you to understand the buying behavior of your target audience, and from there, you can figure out what the most appropriate marketing strategy is to reach your target customers.

6. Financing & Budgeting

Securing financing, estimating costs and creating a marketing budget are important areas of marketing management. Without financing and budgeting, marketing strategies can’t be executed.

7. Distribution

Deciding which are the best distribution channels to sell your product is a critical part of marketing management. You can choose a brick-and-mortar location, online channels or a hybrid model.

Marketing Plan Template

This free marketing plan template for Word helps you define your target market, describe the marketing efforts of your team, set goals and establish KPIs to measure the success of your strategies.

Marketing Management Roles

Now that we’ve learned about the elements that make up the marketing management discipline, let’s review two of the most important roles in marketing management, the marketing manager and director of marketing.

Marketing Manager

A marketing manager is the leader of a marketing department. It might be referred to as “head of marketing” or similar titles, but the responsibilities are essentially the same. A marketing manager is in charge of overseeing the campaigns and tactics that are taken to apply the marketing strategy that’s been defined by a company.

VP of Marketing

This role is mostly seen in larger companies. The VP of marketing is the liaison between the CMO or leadership team and the marketing, sales and other departments. Its main responsibility is to make sure the marketing strategy of the company is correctly applied throughout the organization.

Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)

A chief marketing officer (CMO) is an executive who’s responsible for developing a marketing strategy that achieves the business goals of an organization from a high-level view.To do so, they collaborate with other executives and multiple teams to understand what are the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of an organization.

Once the CMO and the leadership team define a marketing strategy, then the CMO will collaborate with the VP of marketing or marketing director to develop a marketing plan that’s actionable.

Why Is Marketing Management Important?

Some might feel dismissive about marketing. There’s a reason why marketing budgets are often the first to get cut when a company is in a financial downturn. If you’re honest with yourself, however, you’ll realize how marketing has influenced what you buy. In reality, marketing does work and advertising can be incredibly persuasive.

Of course, your organization isn’t the only one that knows this. Your competitors likely have marketing management processes in place and are looking to take your market share. That’s another reason why marketing management is important; you need to stay competitive. Complacency is the death knell for any business.

Marketing management is relevant to both small and large/established businesses. It can drive success by opening up avenues that best reach your customers. That’s how you grow sales. Plus, engaging positively with your audience is how you build a brand strategy. The data you collect allows you to analyze your target customers (and their buying habits) to tweak your marketing plan and make it even more effective.

Free Marketing Management Templates

Marketing management involves overseeing many activities at once. To help you with this process, we’ve created blogs, guides and free marketing templates like these.

• Creative Brief Template
• Marketing Budget Template
• Marketing Campaign Template
• Marketing Calendar Template

ProjectManager & Marketing Management

Marketing management involves creating and implementing a marketing plan. That means creating tasks, as well as monitoring and tracking the progress of your marketing strategy as it unfolds. ProjectManager is work management software that delivers the real-time data needed to make insightful decisions.

Keep Teams in the Loop

The marketing team answers to executives in the company, who want to stay updated on the campaign. Our tool has multiple project views that give managers and teams the tools they need to monitor their work. For example, ProjectManager’s Gantt charts turn marketing plans into a visual timeline, where everyone can see the progress. As the marketing plan is implemented, managers get real-time data.

Monitor Progress in Real-Time

Use ProjectManager’s live dashboard to capture status updates and automatically calculate metrics, which are displayed in easy-to-read charts and graphs. For deeper insights, create one-click reports on time, cost and workload. They can be filtered to show only the data you want.

Manage Multiple Plans at Once

Most marketing pushes involve more than one campaign. ProjectManager’s portfolio management features give you an overview of all the projects you’re working on so you can find synergies and share resources to streamline costs. We help you plan, organize and execute your marketing management from start to finish.

ProjectManager is award-winning software that gives marketers the tools they need to manage their campaigns and advertising pushes. Automated notifications keep everyone on the same page, while our collaborative platform helps teams work better together. Get more out of your marketing strategies by trying ProjectManager free today.

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As these hybrid teams become more standard, cross-team collaboration is the key to connecting these different groups and increasing their productivity.

What Is Cross-Team Collaboration, or Cross-Functional Collaboration?

Cross-time collaboration, also known as cross-functional collaboration, is about getting different departments to work better together. These different departments, such as designers, developers, marketers and sales, are all tasked with a common goal, but each is responsible for a different stage of that project.

Getting these different teams, who likely have unique ways of working and preferred tools for doing that work, to act as a single group can be difficult. Cross-team collaboration is the bridge you can build to connect everyone. That’s the strength of cross-team collaboration. It takes everyone’s strengths and combines them for a better deliverable.

If you need to implement cross-functional collaboration at your organization, equip your team with a work management tool that let’s everyone work how they want. ProjectManager is a project and work management software with five different views, so each department can be productive and work at their best. Plus, you can track progress along the way with dashboards and reports. Get started with ProjectManager for free today.

Benefits of Cross-Functional Collaboration

The benefit of cross-functional collaboration is that it creates synergy and efficiency in a cross-functional project. A project manager will want to get their teams working together on the same project, even if they’re all coming to it from different perspectives.

When you have teams that are united in the delivery of a project, but all work in isolation, you’re asking for trouble. A critical part of effective team management is communication. Communication across hybrid teams ensures everyone is working towards the same goal.

Cross-functional collaboration creates faster project progress and makes sure that nothing is neglected. The more departments you have working together, the more eyes on the project to catch anything that might have been mistakenly overlooked. They also come up with better ideas, because they can bounce them off others and determine what’s best for the project.

The company also benefits from having teams that feel more connected to the business. Plus, teams will benefit from working with a larger pool of talent that they can learn from. Stakeholders are invested in the project, and team-driven results can only make them happier as the project delivers success.

Related: Free RACI Chart Template for Excel

Challenges of Cross-Team Collaboration

Yes, there are many benefits to cross-team collaboration. But that doesn’t mean it will all come easy. There are several bumps in the road that you’ll have to smooth out before you can reap the reward of team collaboration.

The first thing you have to build is trust. Lack of trust is a collaboration killer. But even if you’ve got a business where every department fully trusts each other, there can be a problem with communication. Departments can operate as silos, and that means no communication comes out or goes in. Project managers must work to create communication channels that flow back and forth freely.

It was stressed earlier that having a shared vision is key to building cross-functional team collaboration. Therefore, the project manager must be sure that those goals and priorities are aligned across all departments. The goals and objectives must be clearly stated, communicated and shared across the whole company.

Then, there are the teams themselves. Engineers tend to use language differently than salespeople. And everyone has different personalities, some that don’t easily mesh with others. Even remote teams can suffer because online communication is easy to misread. Collaboration tools can help, but mostly this is a soft skill that project managers must master to get individuals to act as a group.

Cross-Team Collaboration Best Practices

There are best practices to apply when working with cross-functional teams on a cross-functional project:

• While there is a project manager responsible for coordinating work between all departments, it’s helpful to have team leaders take responsibility for leading their individual departments.
• A team charter will help with team collaboration and team communication. We’ve mentioned getting everyone on the same page, sharing the project goals and objectives, but how exactly is that done? Many ways. One of the best is having a team charter that everyone can refer to understand what the project’s key performance indicators are.
• The team charter will include the mission statement and project goals and project objectives. It will define team roles, who is on which team and what they’re responsible for. Expectations will be outlined on the team charter as well. It’s best to deliver this team charter at a meeting with attendance from all departments where you can explain the team charter and hand it out.
• Speaking of meetings, there should be regular ones throughout the project. There will be department meetings, of course, but there must also be inter-departmental meetings that allow the entire project team to get together, pass on updates and field questions and get feedback. Transparency helps with collaboration. Meetings can be a turn-off to many, so keep them targeted with a tight agenda.
• Getting members of departments to coach or mentor others is another way to connect teams in a powerful way that exchanges skills and builds morale and trust. Project managers can define the goals of these coaching or mentoring activities. These shared team objectives will connect different departments and facilitate their collaboration together.

Tips to Improve Cross-Team Collaboration

One of the most important things to do when working with cross-functional collaboration is to get buy-in. You can’t spring the idea on the business and expect them to take the ball and run with it. That buy-in is not only for the team, but the whole company. If there is no executive support for cross-team collaboration, then it’s not going to succeed.

Another tip for better cross-team collaboration is to have one central source of truth. That is a central channel where all teams can communicate and share files no matter where they are or what department they’re in. Cross-functional communication is critical for cross-functional projects to meet company goals. This information must be updated across all departments in real time so that no one is working with old data.

Finally, use project management tools, especially ones that are cloud-based and give you real-time data for better collaboration and cross-functional communication. The type of collaboration software you want will foster communication, regardless of where or when the team member is working, and give project managers transparency to monitor and track without getting in their teams’ way.

How ProjectManager Helps With Cross-Functional Collaboration

ProjectManager is work management software for distributed teams. Real-time data keeps cross-functional teams collaborating no matter where they work or how they work. Multiple project views allow each department to work how they want while project managers can get detailed reports on their progress and performance.

Work in Multiple Project Views

Multiple project views mean that managers who work in a more planned-out manner can use Gantt charts, which organize tasks in a structured and sequential fashion, linking dependencies, prioritizing and adding milestones. They can then set a baseline to capture the project plan, so when it’s executed, they can monitor the project variance and stay on track.

Manage Production on Kanban Boards

The kanban view is more for the agile worker in your project. This visual tool has the same data as what was planned on the Gantt but broken up cards that are tasks placed in columns that define wherein the production cycle it is. Team members can manage their backlog and plan sprints. Project managers get visibility into their work and can reallocate resources as needed to keep them working at capacity.

Track Teams’ Progress on Tasks

Knowing who is working on what gives managers better insight into assignments. They can look at the team section of ProjectManager to get details on everyone’s tasks and then use resource management tools, such as our color-coded workload chart to balance work and keep everyone happy and productive. There’s a real-time dashboard too that tracks progress as it happens.

Teams can comment and attach files to tasks, which automatically triggers email and in-app notifications to keep everyone alert of changes and updates. No matter where you are or when you work, everyone is on the same page.

ProjectManager is award-winning software built for hybrid teams. Our tool is designed to help everyone work better together, no matter where they work, how they work or what their skill sets are. Join the 35,000-plus users already delivering success with our tool at organizations as varied as NASA, Siemens and Nestles. Get started with ProjectManager today for free!

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Ad-hoc means that it’s specific—something that will not be repeated. Ad-hoc projects and ad-hoc requests will occur in project management and you need to know how to deal with them.

What Is an Ad-Hoc Project?

An ad-hoc project is one that happens unexpectedly, usually in response to a problem. Projects are almost always scheduled in advance, but an ad-hoc project is sprung upon the team without time for any prior planning.

That’s one of the things that differentiate an ad-hoc project from a traditional project in project management. Another is that an ad-hoc project usually includes a quick turnaround. Ad-hoc projects also focus on one goal (or group of people) and tend to use fewer resources, including team members.

To sum up, an ad-hoc project is when something comes up that requires an immediate response. Like any project, there’s only a limited amount of time to complete it, but the timeframe is almost always tight.

How to Manage Ad-Hoc Projects: 5 Best Practices

Because an ad-hoc project seems to come out of nowhere, it’s often not given the attention that a more deliberate project would receive. However, you still need to track and report on progress to meet your strategic initiatives.

One best practice for managing ad-hoc projects is using project management software. ProjectManager is a cloud-based software that allows you to plan, schedule and track your projects in real time. Monitor resources and your team’s time with the live dashboard. No setup is necessary. ProjectManager collects and calculates the data and then displays time, cost, variance and more. It’s like an instant status report for your ad-hoc project. Try ProjectManager free today.

1. Don’t Neglect Risk

It’s easy to cut corners when time is of the essence. Ad-hoc projects tend to have less red tape, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore a risk assessment. Any financial analysis will tell you risk can ruin a project. While you won’t have time for a full risk management plan, you must prioritize risks that are likely and could have a negative impact on the project.

2. Stay Flexible

Regardless of what methodology you apply to your projects, you’re not going to have the time for the advanced planning of a waterfall structure. An agile project approach is better suited to ad-hoc projects. They are more iterative, allowing you to quickly pivot as needed, and tend to work with a smaller group on smaller-scale sprints.

Related: Agile vs Waterfall and the Rise of Hybrid Projects

3. You Still Need a Plan

There’s not enough time to go through all the due diligence, such as cost estimates, that would get a more traditional project off the ground. But even an ad-hoc project needs direction. Not having some plan or request management in place to manage your resources, set deadlines and prioritize and assign tasks is going to backfire and create a longer timeline than you can afford.

4. Standardize Work Requests

There’s a lot of methods to speed workflows, such as email, text, voice messages or a quick exchange in person. These methods might feel as if they’re expediting the process but in fact, they create problems. Create a workflow that follows a set pattern that can be centralized, accessed by all, prioritized and even commented on to foster collaboration.

5. Facilitate Transparency

Every aspect of the project should be visible to everyone on the project team. This means updates and any changes. There must be a central source of truth that gives hybrid teams, whether they’re remote, in different departments or using different tools, the visibility they need.

Tools for Managing Ad-Hoc Projects

Project management software has features that let you control projects and ad-hoc projects alike. You can use them to assemble a team and assign them tasks, with deadlines, descriptions and priorities. This lets you get the ball rolling fast and quickly onboard your team.

Teams need a collaborative tool to let them communicate and work better together. This can be part of a project management software or chat and messaging apps that connect teams no matter where they are.

Finally, you need a tool that generates reports, both to manage the project and keep stakeholders updated on its progress. These reports should be able to filter data so you can deliver the details project managers need as well as more general reports for stakeholders. The easier to share these reports, the better.

What is an Ad-Hoc Request?

An ad-hoc request or ad-hoc task is a request that has not been planned for. An ad-hoc project is a larger endeavor, but the definition is basically the same. They are outside the project scope.

Another way to look at an ad-hoc request is as an interruption and team productivity-killer. They pull you away from the project and can cause delays and cost money. The worst-case scenario: an ad-hoc request can derail a project and lead to failure.

An ad-hoc request can be anything from a meeting that’s called at the last minute, pulling you away from deadline work. It can be paperwork, again assigned at the last minute, or re-delegated tasks. Even answering emails could fall under the ad-hoc request. Anything that you didn’t know was coming that takes you away from the main thrust of your job is an ad-hoc request.

How to Manage Ad Hoc Requests: 5 Best Practices

Just as you would manage an ad-hoc project, ad-hoc requests can be controlled with project management software.

Having a work management tool is going to help you prioritize, collaborate, monitor and report on the progress of your ad-hoc requests. Here are some other things to keep in mind when managing ad-hoc requests.

1. Plan

Yes, plan. While you can’t have a plan for something you don’t know will happen, you can set up enough of a cushion in your day to let you respond to ad-hoc requests without negatively impacting your schedule. Use a work breakdown structure to map the ad-hoc request.

If you permit an agile project management approach to your work it allows for greater flexibility so you can pivot from one task to the next by knowing how to prioritize that work and keeping in collaborative communication with the rest of your team. Having ad-hoc tasks managed in an ad-hoc system is one way to keep on track.

2. Filter Ad-Hoc Requests

There will always be ad-hoc requests and some of them must be dealt with immediately, others can wait and there might even be some that you could ignore. But they’ll come sometimes with great frequency and can be overwhelming.

The team leader should be the point person for all ad-hoc requests to keep the team focused on their tasks. Then the team leader can prioritize the ad-hoc requests and assign the work to the team member who has the capacity to take it on.

3. Have a Process

You need a process for the planned work and you need one for the ad-hoc requests, too. Just because it’s an ad-hoc request doesn’t mean it can’t be in the system and tracked. Make sure all ad-hoc requests go into whatever work management tool you’re using.

These requests should also be delivered in the tool, but sometimes that won’t be the case. Regardless, wherever they originate, the ad-hoc request must live in the tool to make it manageable.

4. Track Progress

Without a tool to track your progress, you’re working blind. You need to manage ad-hoc requests, which means knowing your team’s workload in real time so you can assign the ad-hoc request, and then being able to track their progress on the work.

Therefore, you want to work with a cloud-based tool that gives you live data so you know exactly where the task and the team are now and not yesterday.

5. Allocate Resources

Being able to manage ad-hoc resources requires resource management tools that allow you to reallocate resources as necessary to get the work done without impacting the other work that’s already in progress.

Sometimes that might mean requesting additional team members to handle the ad-hoc requests. Having the resource management tools that can show your team’s current allocation will better help you sell your case.

How ProjectManager Helps With Ad-Hoc Projects

ProjectManager is a cloud-based work management tool that is flexible enough to manage ad-hoc projects. Automated notifications by email and in the tool standardize the ad-hoc request process and then teams can be assigned and collaborate in real time with the transparency managers and stakeholders required to track their effort.

Intake New Requests on Kanban Boards

Ad-hoc requests can be added to the kanban boards so they can be integrated into the larger workflow. Managers can set the priority, add descriptions and assign the task to team members. The team can then manage their backlog and plan the sprint together by commenting at the task level. Meanwhile, the project manager has transparency into the process and can see any bottlenecks up ahead and reallocate resources to resolve them.

Allocate Resources Effectively

In order to know who on the team has the capacity to take on the ad-hoc request, ProjectManager has real-time resource management features, such as a workload chart. The workload chart is color-coded to make it easy to see who has too many or too few tasks assigned to them. The project manager can then balance the workload and make more insightful assignments.

Generate Progress Reports for Stakeholders

The stakeholders who made the ad-hoc requests will want to know how the work is going. That’s where ProjectManager’s reporting feature comes in. Generate a variance, timesheet and other reports with one click. All reports can be filtered to show only the data you want to share with stakeholders and then passed on as a PDF or printed out.

ProjectManager is designed to manage any kind of project, including ad-hoc projects, whether your team is under one roof or distributed. With secure timesheets, you always know the status of your team’s work on their tasks, regardless of location or department in the organization. Having this kind of control and visibility keeps ad-hoc requests from sapping your productivity.

ProjectManager is award-winning software that organizes work and connects hybrid teams. It has the flexibility to handle ad-hoc requests and keep you and your team working productively. Join the tens of thousands already using our software at organizations from NASA to Nestles and Siemens. Try ProjectManager today for free!

The post How to Manage Ad-Hoc Projects and Ad-Hoc Requests appeared first on ProjectManager.

Agile release planning, also known as scrum release planning, is an alternative to the traditional waterfall approach. Instead of planning everything at once, teams can instead break down their process into staged product releases, hence the name.

In software development, things rarely play out exactly as planned. From this grew the agile methodology and with it agile release planning.

How does that fit into an agile project? Why is it a better way to work? How do you create a scrum release plan? And how can project management software help? These are a few of the questions we’ll answer.

What Is an Agile Release Plan?

An agile release plan is part of a larger product management plan that aims to stay flexible to respond to the inevitable changes that occur in software development. It lets teams incrementally release features an iterative agile sprints, which are short periods of usually no more than two weeks.

Related: Agile Sprint Planning Template

The power of agile release planning is that it gives project managers and product managers time to adapt to changes imposed by project constraints, challenges or evolving needs.

Because the release plan moves forward in phases, there is always a period to reassess and adjust the plan to meet the needs of the product.

Key Elements of Agile Release Planning

The agile approach is all about flexibility, being open to change and pivoting as needed. Agile project planning is almost the complete opposite of structured planning in a waterfall methodology. But don’t be fooled. There is some structure to agile and scrum release planning.

It’s carefully crafted for the agile team, and while they are a bit different from organization to organization, they mostly share these elements:

• Proposed release for the project
• Plan for the release
• Iterations (agile sprints) for the release
• Plans for each iteration
• Product Features development
• Tasks needed to deliver product features

Related: Agile vs Waterfall and the Rise of Hybrid Projects

What Is the Purpose of Agile Release Planning?

Managing a software development or product development project with an agile mindset means working with an iterative approach. This lets projects pivot and adapt rather than follow the linear path of traditional project management methodologies.

That’s why release planning fits so comfortably into that agile or scrum format. It’s a project planning method that’s both iterative and incremental. By planning in short agile sprints and not making far-reaching plans, the product development project can stay agile and open to change.

Agile seeks to release the benefits of the project throughout its life cycle, not just at the end. Agile release planning is how that objective is realized in product management.

Being open to change is one thing, being able to observe the project in real time in order to see when constraints require you to adjust your time, cost or scope is another thing. ProjectManager is a hybrid work management software that gives product and project managers real-time data to make better decisions. ProjectManager’s live dashboard doesn’t have to be configured—it’s set up and ready whenever you need it. Try ProjectManager today for free!

Benefits of Agile Release Planning

Project success comes from going in the right direction. Release planning lets software development teams plan better, direct their efforts more effectively and release projects incrementally, which helps the customer experience. Release planning is a great way for scrum teams to plan their sprints when working in product development.

Scrum teams can take the feedback they received from previous scrums and use that information to inform their next scrum. This is one of the most important aspects of scrum release planning and it directly impacts the success of the project.

Release planning lets project managers and scrum teams review and revise. They can change course if necessary. The feedback gives agile teams a chance to align the next sprint more closely with the current project roadmap. That leads to a better chance of success.

Project Managers and Release Planning

As noted, release planning is part of a larger agile framework. Scrum is a means to execute a project in an agile environment. Therefore, it is usually the product manager who outlines the base release plan or product roadmap.

This agile release plan will include the goal for the sprint, as well as a release target date. Also, includes are the appropriate user stories, which are descriptions of the features from the end-user’s perspective. But prior to defining the user story, goal and date, the product manager will consult with executives and stakeholders to make sure everyone is on the same page.

The scrum team will be brought in after you create the release plan. There will be a planning meeting that will include everyone on the team and the stakeholders. The release plan will then be reviewed and revised as necessary so that your team members know what product features and user stories they should work on.

5 Tips for Better Scrum Release Planning

The product owner owns the release plan, and it’s their responsibility to make it the best it can be. In order to have the best release plan possible, follow these five tips:

1. Identify Task Dependencies: Dependencies are tasks and user stories in the product backlog that can’t start or end until another starts or ends. If you’re not aware of the dependent user stories in your release plan, you’re going to suffer delays and block your team. By identifying these user stories beforehand and making sure you stay aware of them, you’re going to keep the scrum team working without unnecessary interruption.
2. Keep the Focus on Goals: There’s a lot to take into account when developing the release plan. You can easily get lost in the weeds. Mitigating risk and optimizing marketing opportunities are other things that you want to be aware of when you’re agile release planning. While these are of varying importance, you want to keep your eyes on the priorities: goals, benefits and results. Features contributing to a goal. Focus on the goal and the feature will follow.
3. Release Done Work: It might sound obvious, but often work in the product backlog is moved forward through production without being completed. These incomplete user stories can involve a lot of time and money to fix. That will take away from your main goal, which is delivering value to your customers. Have a definition of done for your user stories and product deliverables and stick to it.
4. Continuously Improve: Yes, you have to deliver product features and functionalities but you don’t want to set the bar at status quo. Good enough isn’t good enough. Part of a product owner’s job is to always be looking at areas of improvement. That means collaborating with your team, running tests and getting feedback on user stories. There will always be room for improvement, but like release planning these improvements should be applied incrementally, not all at once. Give them time to prove themselves.
5. Release Often: The mandate of any release planning is to release your product to customers. Only then will you be able to determine if the user stories you released were of value to them. Therefore, release often. Don’t get tied down with running a few more sprints. Release, get feedback, refine. Smaller releases are easier to digest for customers than having a couple of big ones per year. But don’t release just to release. That will backfire on you and potentially erode your customer base.

How ProjectManager Helps With Release Planning

Creating a release plan, connecting your team and keeping stakeholders in the loop involves not something you can do on an Excel spreadsheet. ProjectManager is a cloud-based software that organizes release planning, gives hybrid teams the tools they need to succeed and delivers real-time data to keep you on track.

Plan Work on Gantt Charts

Product managers will gravitate to the online Gantt chart project view. It lets them create the sprint on a timeline, link dependencies to avoid bottlenecks and then filter for the critical path. They can also set the baseline, capturing the release plan and allowing them to then compare that to the actual progress once the sprint is executed. It’s perfect for long-term roadmaps, too.

Work Effectively on Kanban Boards

Meanwhile, the team can work on any of the multi-project views available on our software. They can set up a robust task list or use the kanban board that visualizes the workflow. This lets teams manage their backlog and collaboratively plan sprints. Best of all, the data is shared from tool to tool, so everyone is working on the same view.

Track Progress on Real-Time Dashboards

The real-time dashboard gives you a high-level view of the progress, but if you need more detailed information to keep agile there’s one-click reporting. It can instantly generate reports on project variance, costs, time and much more. That data can then be filtered to zero in on what you want to see. Then share it with executives to keep them in the loop.

ProjectManager is award-winning software that organizes tasks, creates plans, monitors progress and reports on performance. Our multiple project view is great for hybrid teams, working on different aspects of the project, in different places and skill levels. See how ProjectManager can help your release planning by trying our software free today!

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Getting your project plan into action requires an implementation schedule. A project implementation schedule takes all your tasks and organizes them into a tactical, actionable schedule. Having a well-thought-out project implementation plan helps bring in your project successfully.

What Is an Implementation Schedule for a Project?

A project implementation schedule is a chart that maps every task required to complete a project, each with a specific deadline. This is a cornerstone of any project plan because you’ll use it during execution to monitor and evaluate the project’s progress.

Begin with a list of all the tasks necessary to reach your final deliverable. This list needs to be thorough, which is why we recommend you use a work breakdown structure (WBS).

On your implementation schedule, you will rank the priority of each task and identify any tasks that have dependencies. Knowing the dependent tasks when creating an implementation schedule is how you can avoid delays later on in the execution phase of the project. The visual representation of a project implementation schedule is usually done on a Gantt chart. Gantt charts can be complicated if there are many tasks associated with the project, but using project management software like ProjectManager makes it easier to use. Your Gantt chart will update automatically as changes occur, and your project implementation schedule can be shared easily with stakeholders.

Why Are Implementation Schedules Important?

Use an implementation schedule to ensure that everyone on the project team stays on track while keeping to the schedule and budget of the project. The groundwork for project success is laid out during the planning phase, when you create the project implementation schedule.

In short, an implementation schedule is how you take an idea and make it a reality. Projects have greater success when they have an implementation schedule.

Implementation Schedule Example

To help you understand what an implementation schedule is, we’ve provided the following example using ProjectManager’s free implementation plan template.

You’ll notice that our implementation schedule example is broken up into project phases. In this Gantt chart, three of those phases are detailed: gather requirements, develop the schedule and design the solution. Under each of these phases are the tasks and subtasks that must be completed in the phase.

For each task, there is a planned start date and a planned finish date. The percentage complete is calculated on the Gantt chart as teams update their status. Priority and milestones are set and task dependencies are linked, in order to avoid bottlenecks from blocked team members.

Tips to Create a Project Implementation Schedule

Projects often fail. You can miss deadlines, go over budget or fail to meet quality expectations. No one wants a project to deliver anything less than success, and to do so, you need to have a project implementation schedule. Here are some tips on how to make one:

• Start by defining what project success is: Communicate what project success is and make sure everyone involved in the project is aware of how it is defined. This helps the team know what’s in scope and what’s not. Having a shared vision creates unity and that’s the definition of a team.
• Define the structure of the project: Define the roles and responsibilities of the team members working on your project. Implementation is a team effort, and your team needs to know what they are doing—and where their authority starts and ends. The clearer you are, the better the project implementation plan.
• Communicate well: A project implementation schedule lives or dies on how well you communicate. Team communication is not a one-way street. While a project manager should direct their team, a project manager should also be open to feedback. Your team is your best resource.
• Keep resources in mind: We’ve already mentioned how important it is to identify task dependencies to keep things running smoothly. But it’s equally critical that you know the resources needed to execute tasks and ensure they’re available when you need them.
• Know who does what: While we mentioned having roles and responsibilities of the project team defined, it’s also important to know the hierarchical structure of the project’s chain of command. That is, who has governance over certain aspects of the project? Know who the decision-makers are, who signs off on what deliverables, etc.
• Be flexible: Implementation schedules are a balance between scope and timeline. As things change, you need to be flexible. Compromise is important, as is being able to see what must be done and what can be put aside. That involves calculating the critical path of your implementation schedule. It can be a complex equation, but it’s worth the effort.

Related: Project Scheduling Templates

How ProjectManager Helps with Implementation Schedules

ProjectManager is cloud-based project management software that organizes tasks, connects teams and provides real-time data on your projects. Making an implementation schedule is part of any project plan, and ProjectManager helps you plan, track and report on progress and performance. See how to create a schedule on our tool by watching this short tutorial video.

Create a Schedule on a Gantt Chart

ProjectManager’s online Gantt chart helps you prioritize, link dependencies and set milestones. We also make it easy for you to find the critical path of your project implementation plan. Then, set a schedule baseline, which lets you compare planned effort to actual effort so you can see if you’re on track.

Communicate Easily with Your Team

ProjectManager fosters team collaboration and keeps the lines of communication open. Team members can log on, whether they’re in the office or remote, and can comment and add files to tasks. Changes to task status trigger automatic email and in-app notifications to keep everyone on the same page.

Monitor and Report on Progress to Stakeholders

Monitoring progress is crucial to keeping to your implementation schedule. You can get a high-level view with the live dashboard. while one-click reports can be shared with stakeholders. Resource management tools, such as the workload chart, help you make sure your team’s workload is balanced to keep them productive.

ProjectManager is award-winning software that helps project managers, teams and stakeholders stay informed. Manage your project with features that help with plans, resources, timesheets and more. Join the tens of thousands of teams at organizations as varied as NASA and Ralph Lauren who use our software to manage their projects. Try ProjectManager today for free.

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