4 Ways Technology Has Changed Project Management for the Better

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

Project management is more than just an essential skill to have. Every operation can be seen as a series of small projects to manage, which means being able to manage projects effectively and efficiently is the key to success in this modern economy.

The concept of project management itself has evolved over the years. Agile is now an approach that many organizations prefer, and there are more ways to implement agile beyond common projects and circumstances such as app development.

On top of that, we have technology improving different parts of project management. You no longer have to rely on a whiteboard and sticky notes to keep track of tasks and manage projects. Here are the 5 ways technology has changed project management for the better.

More Automation

From the planning phase, project managers and stakeholders can now identify tasks that can be fully automated. Repetitive and often mundane tasks can consume a lot of resources in a project, which usually leads to inefficiencies and delays. These issues are no longer a concern now that many of the mundane tasks can be automated.

There are tools designed for simplifying automation. For example, you can rely on third-party platforms like Zapier to automate common tasks such as synchronizing contacts, producing reports, and processing data. At the same time, most project management tools have built-in automation features to utilize.

Digital Kanban to the Rescue

Speaking of project management tools, another way technology has changed project management for the better is by enabling the use of digital Kanban boards. Kanbanize, a leading tool for implementing agile and the Kanban system, offers the most flexibility. You can customize your own Kanban board and do a lot on it.

Digital Kanban boards visualize tasks using cards. Each card can have plenty of details on that specific task. The cards also represent how far along the tasks are, so they also represent the overall status of the project.

A digital Kanban board like Kanbanize gives you a helicopter view of the project. Even better, you can run multiple projects on the same platform and manage hundreds – even thousands – of tasks using Kanbanize without skipping a beat. Since structuring work is easy, you can use Agile epics, initiatives, and themes to further streamline processes.

Online Collaboration

In the old days, collaborating on the same project meant being in the same room and working on it together. That’s certainly no longer the case today; in fact, it is far from it. In the era of video conferences and remote working, online collaboration becomes essential to the success of many projects. Fortunately, many online collaborative platforms also make managing projects easier.

You can, for instance, manage versions of a project documentation directly on Google Docs. Multiple team members can edit the same document and make changes in real-time. Once the document is completed, other team members can use it as reference without waiting for hardcopies to be sent. The entire process happens in the cloud.

Some organizations take cloud collaboration to a whole new level. Project managers can manage tasks, track time, and maintain efficiency using tracking tools. The exchange of resources required for completing the project also happens in the fly. Rather than being in the same room, team members can be in different parts of the world and remain effective.

Improved Communication

That brings us to the next thing that makes technology and project management go hand in hand: communication. Communication is crucial to the success of any project and there is no doubt that technology plays a huge role in making communicating easier. As mentioned before, video conferences and remote working are becoming more common these days.

However, communication is not only improved by technology, but also made more seamless. We’re seeing a wider implementation of 5G around the world, and that will soon change the way projects are handled significantly. The lower latency offered by 5G means remote collaboration can break through the digital barrier.

There have been a lot of demos where scientists from around the world perform complex tasks using robotics in real-time. Multiple robots can work on a single sample or material without clashing with each other, all thanks to real-time commands from the scientists. Imagine the same technology being implemented in other industries; the impact will be profound.

Going Forward

These are the 5 ways technology is making project management better. Other technologies also enable decentralization of teams, social collaboration, and better consistency in implementing the Agile method. We are even seeing higher use of data to optimize workflows and improve processes across multiple projects.

Things are only going to be more interesting going forward. New technologies such as Wi-Fi 6 and 5G will certainly make more things possible, so we can all expect to see better, more efficient ways to manage and complete projects being introduced in the near future.