Billzone Blog

Why Basic Project Management Tools Are Good

Ok, you own a small business with several projects on the go at any one time. Why bother with keeping project records? I mean, you've got it all organized in your head, right? Besides, you looked at project management programs and found that they were overkill and wasted a huge amount of your time. Well, there are some very good reasons to use at least some basic project management tools in your business.

Try answering these questions:

- If your customer calls you and asks how much time you've burned to date on her project items, can you tell her right then and there? Or do you have to compile a bunch of information (and phone people) before you can tell her?

- Is your business relatively free from costly bookkeeping mistakes?

- Do all of your bills go out on time, all the time?

- Can you measure your success over the past few years? Can you see how often you've been on time for delivery of your projects?

If you answered no to any of these, you need some basic project management tools. Forget complex project plans, you just need to set up your project with a good list of deliverables on it. Make sure your people can access it and update it in real time, so that you or your bookkeeper don't have to spend as much time on it. You'll know how much you've burned and what the item completion status is at any one time, for all your projects, across your whole business.