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The 4 Best Digital Tools for IT Project Management
IT project management is tedious. After all, there are five phases of project management, including project conception and initiation, project implementation, and project closeout. In the IT industry, such phases can take longer and more difficult to complete since they deal with software, different information systems, and computer networks. Backlog Pluralsight Flow Jira KeyedIn
Moreover, a lot is expected from the project manager, as they’re responsible for keeping the project together. They’re in charge of planning, organizing, and executing the IT project from start to finish by creating long and short-term plans, delegating tasks, and making effective decisions that will aid in the project’s success. This is crucial in a company’s IT department, as many people rely on hardware and software systems to do their jobs and complete tasks.
While such a significant responsibility may feel burdensome, many digital tools can aid IT project managers with this task. Here are a few:
One of the first things an IT project manager must do is start planning the project, organizing the necessary resources, and delegating tasks. To streamline this process, they should take advantage of cloud computing software. This set of technologies allows people to access files, data, and other project resources on a single platform.
Backlog is a cloud-based project management solution that assists the project manager in working with design, development, and IT teams. Its key features are project and issue management, subtasking, and bug tracking. With this, IT project managers can more easily oversee the whole process.
Another responsibility of an IT project manager is to ensure that the project follows a timeline and is completed on time. One way they should do this is to set realistic project deadlines by estimating the timeframe needed to accomplish the initial steps, prioritizing more critical tasks, monitoring project progress, and getting project members’ insights.
Pluralsight Flow is a cloud-based productivity analytics solution that can aid these tasks by getting insights regarding project progress, productivity, and workflow and presenting them as graphs. This helps the IT project manager see which tasks are nearing completion so that they can assign another task to a member or team. It also enables them to see the tasks behind schedule, so they can implement the necessary actions to assign more people to reach the deadline.
The main goal of IT project management is to release a product or procedure that will benefit the company, such as software development, hardware installation, or database management. This part is the execution, wherein the members enact the project plan to create the deliverables.
Process management tool Jira can help with this by tracking and releasing software. It can be used to create roadmaps to monitor the project’s execution, allowing the manager and members to control every detail and make any necessary changes to steer the project in the right direction.
The IT project manager’s job doesn’t end upon the completion of the project. They still need to aid in project portfolio management (PPM), which is the analysis and optimization of the costs, resources, and processes for the projects within a portfolio. This helps the organization determine the project's benefits or its role in helping achieve the company’s goals.
PPM software KeyedIn supports the transition from project delivery to portfolio value. This enables IT project managers to present the project’s value to the project management office or other interested parties by showing the process and its outcomes.
IT project management can be a difficult job. Fortunately, IT project managers can utilize many digital tools to achieve success.
