Project management calendar: why it’s important for effective project management

Have you ever used the traditional calendar at your home to jot down an important meeting, a friend’s birthday, or any other important thing that you wish to keep in mind? Probably, yes. A calendar can make it visually easier to plan your day / week / month ahead. Well, the aim behind using a project management calendar is somewhat similar to using a traditional calendar but in a broader aspect.

There’s no denying that aligning your project plans in a way that can be completed within the stipulated time frame, and ensuring the distribution of work in the right hands can be a struggle. But if you are using a project management calendar, then you can lessen the chaos and support your project in a well-organized manner.

In this guide, we are going to tell you about how a project management calendar proves useful for project managers and others who wish to keep a track of their and team members’ work.

What is a project management calendar?

As the name suggests, a project management calendar is a tool that aids in planning and organizing a project. It helps you to keep a track of the timeline of a project. In addition, it helps you to plan out milestones based on the requirement of the project to ensure that you can ensure timely delivery.

How does a project calendar help in project management?

A project calendar can benefit in the following ways for effective and efficient project management:

a. Schedule tasks

A project management calendar allows you to line up tasks one after another. Thus, it helps you to stay informed about what you are required to do at the next step. Having a project calendar sets task management in autopilot mode so that you can relax without stressing about the next task(s).

b. Make timely deliveries

A project management calendar helps in keeping a track of the project milestones at every step as you go ahead. It also proves to be life-saving as you can predict any loopholes or roadblocks that could come in between during the completion of the project. Accordingly, you can chalk out strategies and work to deal with the challenges. This will ensure that you are able to get things completed on time or plan the timelines as per the roadblocks.

c. Efficient management of resources

A project calendar gives you a quick sneak peek into what your project team has to cater to in the upcoming days and weeks. It showcases your schedule in the days ahead which helps you create a project plan as per the available resources. There are chances that a specific team member, executive, or any other resources may be available only on specific days, or they may be occupied with other project(s).

To make the best use of resources on the days they are available, it is imperative to have a schedule right in front of your eyes to chalk out an effective plan. With the help of a project management calendar, you can quickly see what each team member is up to, manage the schedule & tasks according to their availability, and assign them tasks when they are prepared to take them on.

How to build a project management calendar?

You can create a basic or as complex a project management calendar as you would like. But the key is to ensure that all the tasks are mentioned so that you can understand the macro view. Here is how you can create a project management calendar:

a. Create tasks

When you have a project, you have a task to complete that is broken down into small bits. The first step of task creation is a process wherein the project managers are required to get their ideas transferred to the calendar.  In this step, every individual is assigned their specific job roles and the time frame in which the tasks need to be completed to achieve the milestones set.

b. Prioritize the tasks

While you move ahead to complete the project, there are high chances that you might have to shuffle in between the tasks. Even if you plan out things in advance, things may not go in the same way as you may think. Hence, it is essential to stay all geared up for any such issues that may come your way. Setting the tasks according to their importance or priority — high, medium, or low — will enable you to switch between them as needed without missing deadlines.

c. Review

Despite all the hard work, efforts, and timely submissions, there are chances that your cards may not be in your favor. So, you should be ready for facing such hardships by regular review and monitoring the project to find out any delays and any other factors that can pull your team back from achieving project success.

Available tools that you can leverage

It is evident that project management calendars lay down a complete project plan and timeline in an easy & straightforward format to share information among the team members. So, are you too interested to manage your project in the most effective manner? Well, we would suggest you start using Flow, the best-in-class project management software out there. And you would be able to see the difference it can bring for driving success for your upcoming project beyond just offering a project calendar view. Whether you’re looking for task management, team collaboration, or project management, Flow can be your one-stop solution.

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