The concept of start-ups is a rage, as witnessed in the last few years. People are becoming more risk-friendly and bearing the flags of an entrepreneur. However, even with a group of innovative designers, engineers, marketers, and salespeople, 90 percent of start-ups fail miserably and end up shutting down their enterprises, as per reports by Forbes.

Based on the US Census Bureau, the survival rate for start-ups has been estimated to be 51.3 percent. If the enterprise doesn’t sink in the first five years, chances are high that it will make its way to the future. That said, there’s an excess of reasons as to why a start-up can fail.

One of the most common: The lack of an organized and systematic approach which then creates chaos in the company’s underlying operations. One of the other biggest reasons is due to the mismanagement of running projects. If you manage the projects in an organized way, chances are high that the entire system will become more efficient, resulting in a lower chance of failure. In fact, we believe that a project manager can help sustainably lead the company if he or she knows a few helpful hacks.

To help ensure better project management and smooth business workflows, we’re sharing a few tips and tools that can help:

Ways to Improve Your Start-up Project Management:

Effective project management works on three essential factors, also known as the project management triangle, which depicts the various aspects of managing projects. Some would argue that the success of start-up companies is also constrained by these points or hurdles. To have a clean scope, let’s perform a suitable requirement analysis before initiating the project development.

The triangle shows factors of constraints such as scope, cost, and schedule that decides the quality of project management. Let’s talk in detail about five fruitful ways that can improve your start-up’s project management and avoid future errors, too.

1.   Create A Well-Thought Out Plan 

As per the report posted by the Project Management Institute, ” Only 41% of organizations with an enterprise-wide project management office (EPMO) report that it is highly aligned to the organization’s strategy.”

As an entrepreneur/project manager, you’re responsible for understanding the entire plan and its scope before starting any project — in addition to driving the alignment across the various teams. To help with this, it’s essential to have answers to specific questions before mapping out the workflow of a project. You can begin with questions like:

• What are your objectives and goals?
• What are the necessary aspects of your project?
• What are your final expectations from the project?

You must be able to successfully cast light on these questions while choosing the methodology that will guide your project journey.

[source: cb insights]

2.   Track Your Project Performance (and Spend)

Every successful start-up believes in tracking the performance of their ongoing projects. Tracking task completion estimated delivery dates, and results are key for business learnings. You must also create milestones to meet so you can know if you are moving on the right track or not. Some of the best ways to achieve project goals are:

• Identify and estimate the risks of your project
• Break the project into different segments of deliverables
• Estimate your success or progress rate
• Set clear and measurable goals for the future
• Highlight important events and dates
• And always work as a team

This goes without saying that you must keep a watchful eye on the budget and data collection. As reported by Fundera, about 82 percent of start-ups fall flat due to budget and cash flow plights. Remain aware of how much money you plan to spend on each part of the project as well as actual dollars spent.

The more you keep track of your project performance, the better you can identify and manage the unforeseen risks that can derail your project or budget.

3.   Equip the Company with Advanced Tools 

There are scenarios when employees work collaboratively, and yet sometimes still find flaws in the process or hassles in solving a backlog of work. In such cases, most companies eventually seek the assistance of useful and advanced project-management tools that better sync your team and company’s objectives in a parallel lane. Most product management tools work best for improving visibility and enhancing productivity across the project team.

With the help of a high-powered PM tool, you can find assistance with:

• Planning and ongoing management of the tasks
• Repository of files and relevant documents
• Arranging and or prioritizing project lists/backlogs
• Filing bug reports
• Tracking budget and spend
• And more

4.   Evaluation is Key

Evaluation is one of the best assets for any company, be it a start-up or a developed enterprise. It’s believed that frequent evaluation of the project management enhances the productivity of your start-up and quickens the entire process of project management. As an entrepreneur, seek suggestions from your team members and assist them in analyzing and adapting when required.

At times, the people who work at the frontlines know better than the spectator stakeholders; therefore, it’s essential to be reasonable when taking suggestions and adapting to new aspects of the project.

As you work towards more effective project management practices, adopt a culture of open communication as it allows for more honest and direct feedback. You can even host conferences or open chat sessions to do help in this effort.

5.     Stay Alert On Changing Project Management Trends:

It’s imperative to follow trends that assist in workload management and adds to company productivity. Opening the field for teams to test and track the success of new trends drives better employee engagement and also helps share the vision of what’s ahead so they can look for opportunities to implement new techniques.

[source: financesonline]

Start-ups are often flashy and exciting — packed with new ideas, innovative working environments, and exciting opportunities for the employees. If, as a newly-born entrepreneur, you wish to work towards improving your project management efforts while boosting teamwork and output, consider these five areas we’ve discussed and you’ll be well on your way.