Large projects are complicated, with multiple teams and stakeholders involved from initiation to completion. Efficient project management systems take this complexity into account, running like an ocean liner where input from all parts of the ship is routed through the bridge in order to guide the ship to port. If all the people on a ship kept their own counsel, things would go badly for everyone.
When it comes to project tracking, traditional methods like manual entry journals, spreadsheets, and email chains may address individual issues, but ultimately, they muddy the waters and make top-level decision-making more difficult. When management is distracted and data is buried beneath irrelevant details, no one is taking the long view. And that’s when you risk hitting an iceberg.
Luckily, modern CRM project management platforms provide centralized, real-time project tracking along with all the tools you need to handle both hands-on and high-level management concerns.
Why Traditional Tracking Methods Fail
The truth is, old-school project tracking methods can still work for simple projects. But when faced with the rapid pace of modern projects, older tools just can’t keep pace. They eventually buckle under their own weight, becoming black holes of information where nothing can be extracted.
Spreadsheets? They’re static, and the constant manual input required to update them is a recipe for errors.
Email chains? There’s no consistency. If a single person forgets to hit ‘reply all’ or replies to an email farther back in the history, the chain splinters. With no version control or foolproof way to organize the flow of information, each split makes it twice as hard to locate key details and documents.
Another issue with these disconnected traditional systems is that there’s no easy way to get a project overview. Without the ability to check the status at a glance, it’s too easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees.
When each stakeholder is pulling slightly different information from various systems, everyone involved begins to have their own conception of the project status. Imagine a construction company where the management team believes a foundation hasn’t been poured because of supplier issues, while the field workers believe the holdup is in permitting. Both teams may attempt to fix the issue, but they’ll be working at cross purposes. This lack of a single shared truth leads to miscommunication, missed deadlines, and—worst of all—mistrust.
If your workers don’t trust the system, they won’t invest the time to keep it updated with the latest data. This lack of data makes the system less reliable, which makes workers even less likely to use it, and so on. If not stopped, this negative feedback loop can create a project planning death spiral that devours profits and mires projects in inefficiency.
How CRM Enables Real-Time Project Visibility
Modern CRM solutions allow multiple users to simultaneously access and update project details. This open flow of communication lasts throughout the project life cycle, delivering essential information to both workers and managers.
In a manufacturing environment, for example, administrative workers can input updates into the project management software, instantly alerting production workers about potential shortfalls. And information can also flow the other way, with production workers flagging quality concerns for management to immediately review and track.
Of course, all this communication has a potential downside: information overload. Workers installing taillights shouldn’t be blasted with notifications about an issue with seat cushions, since an issue five steps down the production line won't affect them. Quality CRM software has dashboards and views tailored by specific roles, letting team members focus on essential tasks without excessive distractions.
Automating Task Assignments and Status Updates
Modern project management software doesn’t simply share information passively. CRM can also automate task scheduling to keep workers focused on the next mission-critical task. And if a project has consistently predictable steps, CRM can automate resource allocation too.
Once a key milestone has been marked as complete, the rollout of the next steps will be assigned to pre-designated teams or the workers who show as available in the system. All the while, stakeholders will be notified of these automated next steps, so they can intervene if needed.
Optimize Project Tracking
Managing large projects is often stressful, to say the least. With so many moving parts and shifting statuses, it can be hard to keep track of the big picture. That's why it's essential to pick the right project-tracking tools.
Real-time CRM tracking lets your team members focus on what they do best. For some, that’s delivering hands-on expertise in the field; for others, it’s tracking the project as a whole and making sure it comes in on time and under budget.
If your projects are struggling, it may be time to ask if your current project tracking software truly supports real-time collaboration. Ask the tough questions and find the right solution now, before your project turns into the next Titanic.
