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In project management, work is a maelstrom. Your team is receiving requests from a dozen different directions. Answer one email and there’s already three chats waiting for you. Every meeting generates four new projects. As project manager, you are the captain and you need to steer away from the storm. Incorporate some practical steps to manage things. Emily Bonnie over on the Wrike blog recently gathered together five best practices to help you steer clear of catastrophe.
Tips for Handling Incoming Requests
Have one gatekeeper
Be it the PM, the team lead, or the department head, one person handles all the decisions. This person reviews incoming requests, prioritizes them and assigns the work. As Wrike points out, a gatekeeper is essential to aligning work with goals. This will also reduce conflict and confusion on the team.
Write it down
Wrike refers to this as the line in the sand. Coworkers will make requests in meetings, informally in the hallway and hand you stickies. Make it clear that your team will only do work requested in writing. Wrike Request is an excellent tool for this purpose. Requests come in on a template. Once you start work, everything you need is in easy reach.
Keep all your requests in a single place
Sticky notes, spreadsheets, emails are a recipe for disaster. You can’t afford to lose any work. Sort work into folders. Track and prioritize the work and know immediately who is working on what. Get rid of duplicate requests. Wrike is a brilliant solution for this, funneling all your work into one place.
Organize request as they come in
Be proactive. Don’t wait for you current project to complete. Grab the requests as they land and assign them priority. Knowing what’s next keeps things moving. As Wrike points out, this will keep your team focused. A clear focus guarantees your team produces at it’s best.
Map incoming requests to strategic goals
Help your team work with a purpose. Wrike suggests using weekly, monthly or quarterly meetings. Provide a top down view of the work and how it ties into goals – at team level, a department level, and a company level.
How Project Management Software Solutions Help in Handling Requests
Responding to emails or answering calls, while at the same time having to attend discussions to accommodate all requests coming from different places is never easy, but there are tools that can help you keep up with things. There are several free project management software tools that are equipped with features such as time tracking, task management, and general planning capabilities that help project managers deal with requests faster and more efficiently.
If you don’t have a system in place yet, try using Wrike Requests to keep all your incoming work requests organized and your team running smoothly. Founded in 2007, Wrike is a powerful, collaborative PM platform. They understand what it takes to produce at the highest level. With Wrike, you have a simple solution to incorporate these best practices.
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