Amidst the erratic corporate ecosystem and limited resources, delegating work to a team and keeping workload management frameworks streamlined is no cakewalk. A vast proportion of enterprises are scrambling with failed projects. While blaming competitors, market conditions, and insufficient resources is easy, the real culprit is siloed workload management systems and the absence of intelligent technologies like workforce management software.

The Need For Effective Workload Management

Let’s take a moment to picture the steps for project completion from start to finish:

• A project enters your business pipeline
• You analyze your capacity and verify if you can get it done
• You divide your team responsibilities
• Your team completes the project

Simple as that? No. Although project management sounds simple; it isn’t. 

Workloads change dynamically at the drop of a hat, and in the high-octane business biosphere keeping everyone on pace toward project completion can feel impossible. Whether we are talking about bottlenecked overlapping workforces that are a colossal waste of time and resources, or it’s about obsolete team management and task scheduling systems, there are tons of ways in which projects fail horrendously due to the lack of workforce management software. 

Undoubtedly you can upgrade your siloed workload management system. However, while you are still at it, here are some workload management tips from industry experts. 

#1 Analyze the workload

When you have a heap of tasks and multiple projects on board, making them run simultaneously can lead to operational gaps. If you want to determine the workload of the entire team and the capacity of each team member, you must:

• Enlist the core responsibilities of the entire project and the expertise of internal departments and teams of your company.
  
• Clearly define the scope and timeline for every project. Analyze their size and difficulty level and outline the parts that need to be helmed by different teams. 
  
• Categorize the entire project into distinct pockets of tasks and subtasks. After you scrutinize the total workload, break the work into easily manageable tasks that are easy to delegate and track. 
  
• Set your team’s priorities straight and specify clear roadmaps to achieve the prime objectives. 
  
• Consider the overall bandwidth each team member has. With internal meetings, establish realistic expectations and define a reasonable amount of time according to the time each member is devoting. 

#2 Divide and conquer

After you analyze the nature of the work and the amount of workload, task distribution is crucial. Allocate resources evenly depending on the capabilities of your team members. To allocate your valuable resources effectively:

• Set up a project iteration to specify the high-priority tasks. Check dependencies and plan them out. 
  
• Create an effective strategy that identifies bottlenecks and has a sustainable roadmap to counter bottlenecks along the project cycle.
   
• Depending on the nature or tenure of your project, plan out SCRUMs and SPRINTs daily or weekly to discuss the accomplishments and obstructions tentatively. In these sessions, the team can also give feedback, and you can ensure they have all the tools and resources to complete the work on time. 

#3 Assign/ Delegate tasks effectively

If you finally decide that you can take the project on, ensure to use various ways like a spreadsheet, workforce management software, and new-age project management methodologies to assign tasks directly onto the schedule. With tech-based upgrades, you can filter the schedule by job title, department, or skills and find the right person for the job. 

#4 Measure the Utilization rates

Resource utilization is a key productivity measurement metric that cannot be neglected. When you consider the utilization rates, you can identify if your team is spending its time productively and prioritizing tasks as they should be. The ideal resource utilization rate for a project is around 80% because the other 20% is devoted to meetings as well as other non-billable responsibilities. So, analyze the utilization rates closely to help with forecasting demand, resource management, and uncovering key industry trends. 

#5 Buffers are imperative

Being over-optimistic during a project management cycle is one of the biggest mistakes that one can commit. If you do not want to miss deadlines and set your team up for failure due to your innate predisposition of magnifying your accomplishments, having a 10% bugger on top of your project deadlines is essential. 

Getting started with a workforce management software

Effective delegation of work and development of team productivity is so much more than getting the best of your KPIs. Streamlined workload management is about distributing work equally, giving each employee the fair share, they can deliver. Do you want a strategic approach to planning, estimating, and tracking the work for deriving balanced workload demands across your organization? Do you want to hit your scheduled commitments on time and exceed your client’s expectations without overstressing your employees? Then resource planning software can help you to get the best out of your resources. 

Technology has evolved beyond leaps and bounds, and with interactive workforce management software, you can harness technology’s prowess to increase satisfaction rates, productivity, and efficiency while reducing overworking burnout risks, and stress levels. 

So, are you ready for the big update yet?