Building an Effective Project Management Tool With Gridfox

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is you’re the pilot.”

The idea that time flies seems a daunting concept. However, the idea that we are the pilot of this abstract flying vessel should be reassuring. We cannot control time, but we can control how we manage our time. 

This is a lesson worth reiterating when it comes to project management, where time planning can make (or break) your project. With research showing that only 34% of organisations mostly or always complete projects on time, some flying lessons are definitely in order. 🛫

Project management software (or its absence) may be at the root of the problem. Just under half of all organisations use project management software, while the rest are stuck working with spreadsheets or scrappy task lists - neither of which have the capacity to scrutinise dynamic data. 

Here at Gridfox, we satisfy those recurring pain points by providing features that allow you to measure the progress of your project and analyse project-critical data. Users can get to work immediately with one of Gridfox’s handy project management templates. Those feeling creative can, alternatively, build their powerful project management tool from scratch with no prior coding experience. Just sign up and you’ll be good to go! 

So fear not aviators and innovators, this article gives you everything you need to build an effective project management tool. 

Planning makes perfect 

Any good project begins with planning. Not only what you want to achieve from the project, but also who will be responsible for certain areas of work, how the budget will be managed and a proposed timeframe — to name a few essential areas. 

Chances are that as you plan your project and begin assigning responsibilities, you’ll begin getting a sense of when each stage of the project needs to be completed. Best advice in this case is to not get too attached to these tentative dates; think of them as guiding signs on a long road trip to success, rather than fixed pit stops! 🛑    

Research shows that some of the top reasons surrounding a project’s failure revolve around the changing of an organisation’s priorities (39%), a project’s objectives (38%) or an inaccurate gathering of requirements (35%).

For these reasons, it’s important that your plan takes into account any pesky roadblocks and bottlenecks that may emerge throughout the project. Finding a tool (like Gridfox) that can adapt to these changing requirements is crucial when choosing project management software.

For example, you could add further fields to your records so that you can distinguish any more tentative tasks and deadlines from those that are more set in terms of resources.

The build 

Planning polished off, you’re ready to start creating your project management tool! While you have the option to build your tool from scratch, Gridfox’s template library can give you that helping hand in getting started. 👷‍♀️

Templates such as customer success, project planner and, of course, project manager, set the foundations for successful project management and customer experience. Each template is designed with the intention of making it easy to manage your data and customise your screens as required. 

For example, the project manager template covers all bases of project management, from planning, to implementation and execution. With the ability to track forecasts and actual time spent on work, you’ll be able to iron out any issues before they escalate. 

The tasks board provides a visually accessible overview of all active tasks, while added filters allow users to focus on tasks at different stages of completion, providing a neat map of the project’s components. 

The calendar view is at-hand, too, so that you can see whether your team is on track to meet deadlines. Amending these dates can be done quickly, by clicking on a record and editing the due date from there. 

All mentioned templates come complete with dashboards to get a high level view of your project’s progress. Then you can drill down into tables, calendars, and Kanban boards to see your data in any way you choose. 

Accessible for all 

Whether you’re starting from scratch or using a template, all users will benefit from Gridfox’s highly customisable interface, which allows you to create, adapt and scale your platform to fit your team’s specific needs.

Providing team members with access to the right features as the project develops will ensure optimum functionality and decrease bottlenecks. In addition, the ability to customise visual elements such as gantt charts and data dashboards means users have the flexibility to view data in a variety of ways.📊

Viewability and accessibility go hand-in-hand when it comes to project management software, so having interactive data is a great way to get your team on-board with your project. 

Controlling who has access to this data is easy too. Gridfox gives project admins the ability to control users and permissions. Whether you want a user to be an admin, edit or simply view the available project data, this can all be controlled via the users tab at the the top of your project. 

Configuring these permissions gives project managers and teams visibility over their work and reduces the risk of any overlap when it comes to assigned duties. 

Gridfox: the secure option

When it comes to managing your project data, we’ve shown how Gridfox is a secure, accessible and powerful choice. 🦊

Using this article as inspiration, you can begin planning and implementing your project plan with the confidence that Gridfox has all the features that your team needs to succeed. 

Want to find out more? Get started today for free here.