Workload Management: How to Manage Your Team’s Workload

工作负载管理: 如何管理团队的工作负载

2022-07-08 06:50 project manager

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Workload management is a critical part of executing any project. That’s because projects are executed by people and as a project manager you must make sure that your team members’ workload is balanced. Project teams look to you to clarify what they should be doing and when. But they don’t want you hovering over their shoulder as they check off every task in their project management software. There must be a balance between controlling their tasks and giving them room to work. What Is Workload Management? Workload management is the process of assigning tasks to keep the team working while monitoring their progress over the course of the project. It provides a framework of what tasks need to be done and who on the team is supposed to be working on those tasks. ProjectManager is a cloud-based project management software that’s equipped with workload management, task management and resource management tools to help you manage your team’s workload in minutes. Get started for free. Why Is Workload Management Important? Workload management is a way to keep your teams busy and productive. It’s a strategic way to distribute the work throughout your team. This boosts performance. However, managing workload isn’t only about efficient resource management but reducing team stress, burnout and errors. Workload management not only helps organizations deliver projects successfully, it’s also beneficial for capacity planning, resource utilization, employee performance, among other positive business impacts. How to Manage Your Team’s Workload To manage your team’s workload, you’ll need to create a workload plan. To create a workload plan, you must first know your resources and the business priorities or tasks to be done. Then using a project calendar or a resource management dashboard, you can assign resources to the execution of each task. Most project managers use a project management software equipped with workload management tools such as ProjectManager for the workload planning process. What Is a Workload Plan? A workload plan or workload management plan is simply a project calendar or dashboard that tracks an employee’s working hours on a timeline. A workload plan is used to determine resource utilization, calculate team capacity and track employee performance. Workload plans can vary to show more or less detail, such as percent complete, deliverables, constraints and milestones. The more details, the more task management information you’ll have to better assign work to your team. ProjectManager’s workload chart, dashboard and task management tools are ideal to create a detailed workload plan. Workload Management Steps The workload management plan must be reviewed and revised continuously as the project moves forward and changes. Therefore, you need to actively manage your team’s workload during the project execution, which brings us to the following five-step workload management process. 1. Review the Current Team Workload If you are a project manager starting to develop a workload management plan from scratch then you need to start by reviewing what’s currently going on. Perhaps this has been initiated by someone in the team saying they have too much work to do, or perhaps another team manager has called you to say that your guys aren’t keeping on top of their work and are behind schedule or have missed a deadline for him. Remember, you can only manage what you know. In a matrix structure, you might have some people who are only available to work on your tasks for a portion of their week, so be sure to get clarity on that. These days, “Who is in my team?” is definitely not a stupid question! The fastest way to find the answer is to use task management, capacity planning, or resource management features from your project management software to show you who is working on which tasks. In ProjectManager you’ll find that on the Workload management tool tab. ProjectManager works as a workload planner and tracker thanks to its project workload and resource management tools. These tools let you see the number of assigned work hours to each team member. The box is green if the team member has a good number of hours; it’s orange if they are over or under-assigned. In that very same view, you can click the box and instantly reassign tasks to adjust the workload. This adjustment is automatically reflected in any project plans on the Gantt chart, the team workload dashboard and elsewhere in our project management tool. 2. Identify Over Allocated Staff Look for team members who are over-allocated. That just means that they have been given more work than they can actually do in the time available. A good rule for work management is that employees should be allocated to specific tasks only 80% of their time. The remaining 20% will be for answering phone calls, attending team meetings, dealing with the customer who calls with an urgent problem and so on. The 20% should be spread out across the week to maximize productivity; it’s better to fill people’s time for, say 6 hours per day, then give them every Friday with nothing to do apart from catching up on the things they weren’t able to finish earlier in the week. You should use a work management tool to help you keep track of your employees’ time. 3. Identify Under Allocated Staff You are also looking at your resource reports and work management dashboards for employees who don’t have enough work to do. Keep your team motivated by ensuring they have meaningful tasks to fill the day. In reality, your team members will always look busy. They will find things to work on, perhaps taking on tasks of their own accord or helping out one of their colleagues. Your time management system will help you understand if they are working on tasks that you deem to be their priority. You can also pick up clues about whether your employees are over or under-allocated from them directly. They may ask for more work or point out that they can’t take on another assignment. This is where your professional judgment comes in: are they genuinely too busy or just working on the wrong tasks? Or incredibly unproductive? A workload tracker will give you the information you need to help you answer these questions. The better you know the strengths and work patterns of your team the easier it will be to figure out how to improve productivity and interpret what your timesheet system is telling you. 4. Account for Skills and Absences You can manage your team’s workload better if you know when they are going to be around. Talk to them about upcoming holidays and include those in your workload planning so you don’t assign them work while they are away. Equally, check in with your team to make sure your knowledge of their skills is up-to-date. Your employees may be able to work on more projects than you expected if they have developed new skills. 5. Adjust the Team Workload Finally, you’ve got to put those over and under allocations right. Start with the employees who have too much work assigned to them. Split up the big tasks into smaller chunks and assign someone else to help them out. Or make the task stretch over a longer period so they have fewer hours to work on it each day. Using a team workload management tool like ProjectManager makes managing workload easier. You could also move some of their work to another member of the team who doesn’t have enough to do. Boost someone’s workload by asking them to take on another project, develop their skills or involve them in planning for next year. If you are going to change an assignment in your resource planning system, don’t forget to speak to the people involved first! That’s one of the key ways to make sure that you are keeping your team happy. You can explain that you are shifting resource requirements around to balance out the work and that it is not a reflection of their performance. In fact, as a result of your workload planning, they may end up with even better assignments. Things can become additionally complicated when you’re onboarding employees into your remote work software, so be sure everyone is kept informed on the changes you’re making. Using ProjectManager to Manage Workload ProjectManager is an award-winning software that gives you a number of tools to balance the workload across your team. With our Gantt charts, you can map out all of your tasks in phases and assign them to team members. The assignee’s name appears next to the task so you can view who is working on what at what time. And since it’s an online Gantt chart, all the data is updated in real time, and the entire team gets updated on their new tasks in an instant. Multiple Views for Optimal Efficiency You can assign and reassign work in more views than just the Gantt, however. Our task list and kanban view give you just as much power when it comes to managing your projects and teams. Simply click on a task and choose which team members you want assigned to it. You can add a whole number of team members, or just yourself if you need to. Team members are even organized by department so you can quickly identify the best person for the job. Resource management software makes the workload management process easy, especially when it’s integrated into your project management solution. Updating your workload plan automatically updates the resource reports in ProjectManager so you quickly see who has time to take on additional tasks. Start your free trial today.
工作负载管理是执行任何项目的关键部分。这是因为项目是由人执行的,作为项目经理,你必须确保团队成员的工作量是平衡的。 项目团队希望您澄清他们应该做什么以及何时做。但是他们不希望您在检查项目管理软件中的每个任务时徘徊在他们的肩膀上。必须在控制他们的任务和给他们工作空间之间取得平衡。 什么是工作负载管理? 工作负载管理是分配任务以保持团队工作的过程,同时监视他们在项目过程中的进度。它提供了需要完成哪些任务以及团队中应该由谁来处理这些任务的框架。 ProjectManager是一款基于云的项目管理软件,配备了工作负载管理、任务管理和资源管理工具,可帮助您在几分钟内管理团队的工作负载。免费开始。 为什么工作负载管理很重要? 工作负载管理是一种使您的团队保持忙碌和高效的方法。这是一种在整个团队中分配工作的战略方式。这提高了性能。但是,管理工作负载不仅与有效的资源管理有关,还可以减少团队的压力,倦怠和错误。 工作负载管理不仅可以帮助组织成功交付项目,而且还有利于容量规划,资源利用率,员工绩效以及其他积极的业务影响。 如何管理团队的工作量 要管理团队的工作负载,您需要创建一个工作负载计划。要创建工作负载计划,您必须首先了解您的资源以及要完成的业务优先级或任务。 然后使用项目日历或资源管理仪表板,可以为每个任务的执行分配资源。大多数项目经理使用配备有工作负载管理工具 (例如ProjectManager) 的项目管理软件来进行工作负载计划过程。 什么是工作量计划? 工作量计划或工作量管理计划只是一个项目日历或仪表板,用于跟踪员工在时间轴上的工作时间。工作负载计划用于确定资源利用率,计算团队能力并跟踪员工绩效。 工作负载计划可能会有所不同,以显示更多或更少的细节,例如完成百分比,可交付成果,约束和里程碑。详细信息越多,您将需要更多的任务管理信息来更好地将工作分配给团队。ProjectManager的工作负载图表、仪表板和任务管理工具非常适合创建详细的工作负载计划。 工作负载管理步骤 随着项目的推进和变化,必须不断审查和修订工作量管理计划。因此,您需要在项目执行过程中主动管理团队的工作量,这将我们带入以下五个步骤的工作量管理过程。 1.查看当前团队工作量 如果您是一名项目经理,开始从头开始制定工作负载管理计划,那么您需要从审查当前正在发生的事情开始。也许这是由团队中的某个人发起的,他们说他们有太多的工作要做,或者另一位团队经理打电话给你,说你的人没有继续他们的工作,落后于计划,或者错过了他的最后期限。 记住,你只能管理你所知道的。在矩阵结构中,您可能有一些人只能在一周的一部分时间内完成任务,因此请务必对此进行澄清。如今,“谁在我的团队中?” 绝对不是一个愚蠢的问题! 找到答案的最快方法是使用项目管理软件中的任务管理、容量规划或资源管理功能,向您展示谁在处理哪些任务。在ProjectManager中,您可以在工作负载管理工具选项卡上找到它。 由于其项目工作负载和资源管理工具,ProjectManager可以作为工作负载计划器和跟踪器。这些工具可让您查看分配给每个团队成员的工作小时数。如果团队成员有很多小时,则框为绿色; 如果分配时间超过或分配不足,则为橙色。 在同一视图中,您可以单击该框并立即重新分配任务以调整工作负载。此调整会自动反映在甘特图上的任何项目计划,团队工作负载仪表板以及我们的项目管理工具中的其他位置。 2.确定分配过度的工作人员 寻找分配过度的团队成员。这只是意味着他们得到了比他们在可用时间内实际能做的更多的工作。 工作管理的一个好规则是,员工应仅在80% 时间内分配到特定任务。其余20% 将用于接听电话,参加团队会议,与有紧急问题的客户打交道等。 20% 应该分散在一周内,以最大限度地提高生产率; 最好把人们的时间填满,比如每天6个小时,然后给他们每个星期五除了赶上他们本周早些时候无法完成的事情之外什么都不做。你应该使用工作管理工具来帮助你跟踪员工的时间。 3.确定分配的工作人员 您还在为没有足够工作要做的员工查看资源报告和工作管理仪表板。通过确保您的团队有有意义的任务来填补这一天,来保持团队的积极性。 实际上,您的团队成员总是看起来很忙。他们会找到工作要做的事情,也许是自己承担任务,或者帮助他们的一位同事。您的时间管理系统将帮助您了解他们是否正在处理您认为是他们优先考虑的任务。 您还可以直接从员工那里获取有关员工分配是否过度或不足的线索。他们可能会要求更多的工作,或者指出他们不能承担其他任务。这就是您的专业判断来源: 他们是真的太忙还是只是在执行错误的任务?还是令人难以置信的无效? 工作负载跟踪器将为您提供所需的信息,以帮助您回答这些问题。你越了解团队的优势和工作模式,就越容易弄清楚如何提高工作效率,并解释时间表系统告诉你的内容。 4.说明技能和缺勤情况 如果你知道你的团队什么时候会出现,你可以更好地管理他们的工作量。与他们讨论即将到来的假期,并将其包括在您的工作量计划中,这样您就不会在他们离开时分配他们的工作。 同样,请与您的团队联系,以确保您对他们的技能的了解是最新的。如果你的员工已经开发了新技能,他们可能会从事比你预期更多的项目。 5.调整团队工作量 最后,你必须把这些放在分配的上下。从分配给他们太多工作的员工开始。将大任务分成小块,然后指派其他人来帮助他们。或者使任务延长更长的时间,这样他们每天的工作时间就更少了。使用像ProjectManager这样的团队工作负载管理工具使管理工作负载变得更加容易。 你也可以把他们的一些工作转移到团队中没有足够工作要做的另一个成员。通过要求某人承担另一个项目,发展他们的技能或让他们参与明年的计划来增加他们的工作量。 如果您要更改资源计划系统中的任务,请不要忘记先与相关人员交谈!这是确保您保持团队满意的关键方法之一。您可以解释说,您正在转移资源需求以平衡工作,这并不反映他们的绩效。实际上,由于您的工作负载计划,他们最终可能会得到更好的分配。 当您将员工入职到远程工作软件中时,事情可能会变得更加复杂,因此请确保每个人都随时了解您所做的更改。 使用ProjectManager管理工作负载 ProjectManager是一款屡获殊荣的软件,它为您提供了多种工具来平衡整个团队的工作量。使用我们的甘特图,您可以分阶段绘制所有任务并将其分配给团队成员。受让人的名字出现在任务旁边,因此您可以查看谁在什么时间处理什么。 由于这是一个在线甘特图,所有的数据都是实时更新的,整个团队在瞬间就会更新他们的新任务。 优化效率的多个视图 但是,您可以在更多视图中分配和重新分配工作,而不仅仅是甘特图。在管理项目和团队时,我们的任务列表和看板视图为您提供了同样多的功能。 只需单击一个任务,然后选择要分配给它的团队成员。您可以添加整个团队成员,或者如果需要,可以添加您自己。团队成员甚至是按部门组织的,因此您可以快速确定最适合该工作的人。 资源管理软件使工作负载管理过程变得容易,尤其是当它集成到您的项目管理解决方案中时。更新工作负载计划会自动更新ProjectManager中的资源报告,以便您快速查看谁有时间承担其他任务。今天就开始免费试用。

以上中文文本为机器翻译,存在不同程度偏差和错误,请理解并参考英文原文阅读。

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