Data-Driven Decision-Making in Project Management
Data drives everything today. And if this isn’t true for your company, it should be. Project management is a good example of how crucial this is in today’s information age. Managers need to know where resources are before, during, and after a project is over.
Data places this knowledge at their fingertips so they can plan, help staff perform, and learn what worked and what didn’t after the project is done. Gut-feeling decisions are over, and the epoch of data-driven decisions is now.
If you are not used to using data to back your project management decisions, you will quickly see the benefits of data for project management. It increases decision speed, accuracy, and predictability to help you finish projects fast, reduce waste, and keep C-suites happy.
This article covers why data-driven decisions matter in project management, data types, and fintech’s role. By the end of this article, you’ll know why you need to switch to data-driven project management decisions.
Why Data-Driven Decisions Matter in Project Management
The age of using your human brain alone to make decisions about resource allocation and other types of decisions in project management is over. You need data to compete because your market peers use it to improve predictability, speed, and outcomes.
One of the best ways data helps project management is the way it uses real-time tracking. In the past, data might have appeared at the end of each week, which delayed the movement of resources where staff needed them most. Now, everything has changed.
Real-time tracking of resources like materials, staff, and the time employees take to complete tasks can completely change how managers oversee and strategize on projects. And the best part is that all the data is on record, making it easy to use the data from one project to plan the amount of resources and time the next project takes in the planning stage.
During projects, real-time data is essential for making several decisions every day and predicting the outcomes of these decisions based on how the project is currently progressing.
This data supports budgeting, deadlines, and resource use in real-time, to reduce waste and finish projects on or before schedule with better outcomes than ever before.
Key Types of Data Project Managers Should Use
Project management is not simple or easy. One of the reasons is that there are several types of data that managers must be aware of to ensure they know how to collect, make sense of, and use it for the best decisions.
Task progress and timelines
These timelines show project managers what jobs all their employees are doing and if they are completing them on time. It helps everyone see what they’ve completed, what’s late, and what they still have to complete to get the project done on schedule. Managers use this type of data to keep the project moving and make sure staff finish everything as planned.
Team performance and workloads
This is a useful data type because it indicates how well each team member works and how many tasks they are doing. It helps managers see if someone needs help or has too much to do and provides the manager with the data they need to help ensure they allocate the right jobs to the right people, so the work is fair and efficient, and nobody is doing something outside their role, which can cause frustration.
Resource availability and usage
Resources are things like tools, machines, or people that the project needs to be successful. Data that shows what resources are essential and what is available includes what is being used, what is free, and what might run out. Project managers need this resource data to plan better and avoid delays or missing things the team needs to finish the project.
Budget tracking and cost forecasting
This shows how much money the project is using and estimates how much it will need later. Project managers watch this closely to stay within the budget. If spending goes too high, they can make changes to save money and keep the project from costing too much.
Risk and issue logs
This is a list of problems that might happen or have already happened. It helps managers plan how to stop bad things before they cause trouble. If something goes wrong, they can fix it faster because they have already written down ideas on what to do.
Fintech’s Role in Data and Project Finance
Fintech touches every aspect of business. Or it should do so if you know how to invest in the right tools and implement them effectively.
Budgeting deals with a significant part of project management success: finances. And fintech tools can provide, manage, and analyse budgeting data to drive financial project decisions and ensure project payments happen on time and on or under budget.
This point is especially important when it comes to how managers pay international contractors. Remote working is so standard these days that workers are often not in the same state, not a separate state, but even on a separate continent.
But these workers are just as integral to project success, so fintech like international payment services that work across many currencies and countries are essential for keeping talent satisfied and productive.
The final important feature of these tools is that they automate reports to give better visibility into project costs and spending.
Conclusion
Data is essential to drive decisions in project management. Managers need to know this point and how to use the right data for the right decisions, whether it’s timelines, team performance, or resource availability, it all feeds into the success of the project and can be the difference between a positive or negative outcome.
However, teams should learn to walk before they run, and they must make tiny, incremental changes, never significant transformations, especially not halfway or beyond into a project. Careful data-driven decisions can put a company’s project management successes beyond competitors, driving revenue, a positive reputation, and positive outcomes for every project.
