Back to the basics on Job Management

In the past 15 or so years, I found myself walking into installation after installation repeating the same basic rule: "Find where your productivity leaks are and continually correct them!" In reality, if solid project management practice, including measuring success and improvement, isn't in place before a project management software gets installed, not much will change... er... except you will be able to make the same mistakes much faster and more frequently.

Truth is, job management software follows the same age-old rule as ALL other software... 'Garbage In, Garbage Out'. In the end, its up to the human element to determine how effectively you use data from cool toys like Job Central.Most companies are simply not that far away and the good news is, software can help you get back on track as you re-engineer your work process to a more effective level. First off, lets look at the end goals:

- Budget properly and accurately
- Develop a timeline that is accurate and one that you can follow
- Track all time and expenses
- Bill accurately
- Examine profit and/or loss
- Make corrections

Obviously I have simplified all this, but, in a nutshell these need to be your principal goals. Where many fail is simply by not improving... there in lies the importance of the final goal... corrections. When job management is in place, there is no end to the metrics you can collect and measure on. You should always put yourself and your production in a position to be able to report on all flaws in your process. A software can do this. A software can also report these findings... or, it should be able to.

From there, it is up to you. Job Management 101 says: Measure, correct, Measure, Correct... repeat always! This is also the primary principals behind the ISO and CMMi standards we see floating about. One program that works well, especially with Job Central, is a practice of continual review with your teams at regular productivity meetings. Don't mix these in with production meetings. Separate improvement from customer delivery as both are worthy of their own focused attention. Each month, revisit each project, examine budgeting vs actuals with the staff, work together to find where your time or expenses were over or under. Make a definitive plan to correct or keep practices. Revisit all changes each month to see if they had any effect, positive or negative and document them in a production manual for new employees to review. The more you involve your staff, the more they are aware of what costs you as a company.

The process of continual measurement, review and improvement is a very healthy one. It will streamline your production, involve your staff and cut much of the fat off you and your customer's costs. You need the proper tools to do so, if it gets too complex, or if calculating all this gets to be part of the burden... call us. Job Central does most of this for you.

About James McBeath

James McBeath is the former Director of Production for Compuware's Professional Services division and now an industry leading consultant, specializing in productivity in the creative workplace.