By Zack Devin
Mapping a successful project takes time, a lot of effort from many people, and some handy project management tools. First, a project plan should be created to map out every single task that must be performed, no matter how small. From knowing who the relevant team members are to identifying the costs and risks involved, mapping out a project is best done before any task is undertaken.
Online sticky notes have been around for a little while but not many people know the extent of how useful they can be for various business functions. Whether you want to create a flowchart for the project or brainstorm creative ideas, these five tips will help you to map out any project of any size.
Identify Responsible Team Members
In any project, the team members are the glue that holds everything together. Some projects may be so large that dozens of people are required to carry out tasks successfully. The bigger the project, the more complicated it becomes to allocate specific tasks to the right people. Your team members may forget what they are supposed to do or perhaps they aren’t clear on the task. Sticky notes can be integrated into any platform to designate which team members are needed for which aspects of the project.
Create a space where you can organize the responsible team members into categories with online sticky notes. You can even link different people and teams together if they are responsible for more than one aspect of the project and allocate leaders for different teams. This way everyone knows what their job entails and who the managers and directors are that they must report to.
Overviews and Summaries
Most projects will have tons of documentation detailing every component of the project, such as specific technical requirements or budgetary constraints. It can be daunting for your team members to have to read and memorize what needs to be done. In this scenario, online sticky notes are effective for creative summaries of important areas. For example, detailing specific objectives that need to be achieved can be summarized by using a sticky note with a message where you tell the team to refer to the main document for further details.
Another way that online sticky notes can help with mapping out a project is to provide an overview of the biggest aspects of the plan and how it relates to everything else. These overviews and summaries should be short and to the point, only giving the most vital pieces of information that are needed for the team to understand what is required.
Scope Out Each Phase of the Project
A project cannot be started until the scope has been identified, the project requirements have been detailed, and the relevant budget has been set up. A successful project is achieved by mapping out specific phases of the project in the logical order in which they must occur. This essentially means that the budget, for example, cannot be decided until you know every cost that will go into the project. These costs also cannot be determined until the full scope of the entire project has been clarified. This includes employee payroll, hardware, software, and other resources to complete the plan.
Online sticky notes can be useful to create timelines and deadlines of when certain aspects of the project need to be completed. Use color-coded online sticky notes to identify which tasks must be completed first and use bold fonts for project deadlines. It gives the rest of your team an idea of what needs to be tackled first and what aspects of the project come next.
Communicate Updates As Phases are Completed
When many people are collaborating on a large project, there will be some miscommunication or even things that are overlooked. It is the nature of any business to move at fast speeds, and sometimes you just cannot keep up with every new piece of information as it arises. Take, for example, the technical team members who have encountered a problem that affects every other aspect of the project. Important updates such as this need to be communicated in a way that everyone on board knows what is going on.
Again, this is where sticky notes are extremely useful. When anything needs to be communicated with the team, either add text to the existing online sticky note with the text in bold red font or create a new note underneath the original one. As soon as anyone logs onto the project plan, they will instantly see the updates as they occur.
Customize Sticky Notes
Apart from digital sticky notes being much bigger than the traditional paper ones, you can also choose your colors and font. When your team has to look at the project as a whole, it becomes a very daunting task, however, if you use specific designs for certain aspects of the project, then your team only has to focus on their main tasks. It is also a good idea to code tasks that are in progress differently from ones that are completed or haven’t even been started yet.
Use common colors like red, yellow, and green, similar to traffic lights. Red can indicate to the brain that there is a problem or something that needs to be attended to. Yellow is useful for everything that is still being processed, and green can be used for aspects set aside because they are finalized.
Mapping out a project using online sticky notes is simple and by far the best way to stay on top of everything that needs to be achieved with your latest project.
