When it comes to completing jobs at a shop or delivering projects faster, good project management is the secret to success.
And most times, you shop owner, are responsible for managing the projects at your shop.
Whether you’re installing countertops, working in a shop, or handling a multitasking team, your job as a project manager is to keep things on track and to ensure deadlines are met.
But what makes a good project management? How to measure if you’re doing a good job when handling your team or not?
In this post, we’ll talk a bit about the key characteristics, common problems that might happen when these characteristics pass unattended, and simple ways to improve each one of them.
Tag along, and let’s explore them together!
1. Clear communication
Why it’s important:
Good communication means everyone knows what to do and when to do it. It also helps avoid mistakes that can cost time or money, or even bring you a bad reputation in some cases.
Common problems if you don’t communicate clearly:
If the instructions aren’t clear, workers might not know their tasks, materials might not arrive on time, or the job might not meet customer expectations.
Note that it is important not only to communicate with your team, but also with your suppliers, and even with the customers.
Yes, we know sometimes the customer might get angry and upset, mainly if their expectations are not met. To have more tools on how to handle them in these cases, we suggest you read this post about 7 ways to deal with unhappy customers and how to make them happy.
How to improve your communication:
- Daily meetings can help you understand how each project is going and how everyone is handling their tasks.
- Taking 5 to 10 minutes with your team to have insights on general problems and solutions can help you speed up the production process.
- Feedback messages are great! Check that everyone understands. You can ask them to repeat the plan and see if they do it right.
- Software tools are great so that even if the employee misses the information when it is said, he can consult it later on if necessary.
And how SlabWare can help:
SlabWare allows you and your team to keep a history of comments in your orders, ensuring everyone is on the same page.
You can also send the quotes and project layouts directly to your customer by e-mail, so he knows what you’re talking about when describing your project.
Just to reinforce: that can avoid many costly misunderstandings!
2. Good Organization
Why it’s important:
A well-organized project has a nice flow, which will help you save time, and avoid wasted effort and re-working.
Simplify processes and try to understand what works better for your team in each step of each project. The organization we refer to here is not only for you but also for everyone involved.
Common problems if you’re disorganized:
If the project is disorganized, workers might be waiting too long for tasks that don’t depend on them, or waste time searching for tools during production, ordered materials might go missing, or deadlines may not be met.
How to improve the overall organization:
- Make a checklist of tasks before the project starts.
- Keep tools and materials in one place and label them clearly.
- Plan out the day in advance, and adjust as needed.
- Use SlabWare’s Job Tracker to ensure everyone is doing their respective tasks.
And how SlabWare can help:
With our Job Tracker feature, you can make sure everyone is on the same page. You can define a workflow for new quotes and invoices, so when you create one of those, the system will automatically create all the tasks and send them to each responsible’s calendar.
That way, everyone has their to-do list on the app, and you as the project manager can see what each of your workers is doing, what they have done, and what they have to do!
You’ll surprise yourself with how much time you can save, and how much you can increase your productivity simply by organizing your team’s schedule.
3. Solution of setbacks along the project
Why it’s important:
Things don’t always go as planned. A good project manager knows how to solve problems quickly and keep the project moving, despite the setbacks along the way.
Remember that this point can highly affect whether the deadlines will be met or not.
Common problems involving unforeseen situations:
If small problems aren’t fixed when they appear, they might grow into bigger issues. For example, a delay in one task might push the whole project back – and even other projects, since your worker will be busy solving the setback and won’t be able to move forward.
Check out this blog post about the 7 most common mistakes countertop installers make. We know you’ve lost money with one of those, so check it out!
Better safe than sorry!!
How to improve your team’s problem-solving skills to handle these cases:
- Stay calm when things go wrong. Getting mad at your workers, suppliers, customers, etc will only make them feel bad or angry, and make the problem worse.
- Break big problems into smaller steps and solve them one at a time. If you need, call a worker to help you with that – but try to keep the project going and unaltered as much as you can.
- If you’ve run out of ideas or are not sure which is the best one, talk to your team to find the best solution together.
And how SlabWare can help
We offer free onboarding and training to your employees and yourself.
Making sure everyone knows the platform you’re working with as much as they know their own job can help them to have ideas and assist each other in their functions – solving situations that could lead to problems before they even reach you.
A well-trained team matches perfectly with a team that possesses good communication among its members.
And if you’re still in doubt considering software implementation, we suggest this post about 7 big problems companies have when implementing software. Knowing what you’re looking for can always save you time.
4. Time Management
Why it’s important:
Organization and time management often go together. After all, the main reason to organize your shop is to better manage your time.
There are details that can help you not waste so much time on your projects, and the best tip possible is: talk to your team! Understand the difficulties your workers face in each step of your production process and work together to achieve the best solution for the entire team or to make that step easier.
Common problems that come as consequences of a badly managed time:
Without time management, tasks can take too long, workers might get bored, and deadlines might be missed – again leading to a bad reputation for your shop and yourself. The worker that makes the cut might be wasting a lot of time to find the document with the cut measurements, or using a saw that is not working as it should.
Talk to your team to figure out what problems they might have.
How to improve:
- Set clear deadlines for each task and each part of the project. Make sure everyone gets their part and works to meet those deadlines.
- Track time as the day goes on to stay on schedule.
- If one task takes longer than expected, adjust the plan to make up for it. Maybe another worker available that finished his own tasks? Another project that is ahead of time and can miss a worker to the one that is late?
And how SlabWare can help:
Job Tracker is the tool you need to control your worker’s progress in their tasks. You see what each one is doing, each task’s deadline, and how they are going.
If you’ve ever had problems with time management, this is the solution you need!
5. Building a Strong Team
Why it’s important:
A team that works well together gets the job done faster and with fewer mistakes. Take chances to motivate your team, that will take the job ahead.
Common problems when the project doesn’t have a strong and united team:
If workers don’t get along or don’t feel supported, they might not give their best effort, leading to delays or poor-quality work.
Motivation is the keyword here.
How to make your team more motivated:
- Treat every worker with respect. If you can praise someone, do it publicly – on the other side, if you have critics, do it privately where only you and the involved people can hear.
- Encourage teamwork by asking for ideas, giving feedback to them, and giving credit for good work.
- Solve conflicts quickly and fairly.
Final thoughts: do you feel you’re a good project manager?
Good project management involves several key factors.
You as a shop owner will be constantly in charge of managing the projects, and you can perfect your skills with time – by knowing what you’re doing wrong and working on your weak points to make them strong.
When you manage a project well, everyone wins—your team, your customers, and your business.
In all parts of the process, SlabWare is your best friend.
Being a complete all-in-one system, it makes it easier for you to find information, manage your orders, inventory, and products, and handle all your team and their production.
Job Tracker is our scheduling feature, with the plus that it has been specially designed for the processes in your countertop shop, and is tailored for it!
Try SlabWare for free now or schedule an online demo with our team!