Organizations now have to constantly strive to achieve their annual goals and targets in the current competitive world. Fortunately, there’s a way to do that without panicking and biting off your fingernails every other day.
And it starts with understanding work management.
Work management is a process that helps a business manage both its workflows and workloads simultaneously.
It’s like a corporate superpower that can even leave the Avengers awestruck!
In this article, we’ll cover everything you need to know about work management, including its key benefits and process. We’ll also highlight the best work management tool you can use today.
Let’s dive in. 🏊
What Is Work Management?
Work management is a system that helps businesses create an efficient workflow structure that works for every level in the organization. It aims to streamline several business processes so that in-house and virtual teams can work efficiently to maximize profits.
And for this, you carefully assess current operational work to identify the shortcomings within the existing structure.
Work management also integrates procedures that help organizations align their work and execute it with perfection.
Ultimately, all of this contributes to (drumroll, please…)
- Boosting organizational performance
- Eliminating redundancies within the system
- Fulfilling client expectations (and looking uber cool while doing it 😎)
- Utilizing resources efficiently
- Excellent team collaboration
Now, most people confuse work management with project management because both practices share some common ground.
However, they aren’t the same.
So let’s get our facts straight and quickly understand their differences.
Work management vs. project management
Sure, work management involves streamlining tasks, improving resource utilization, etc.
It’s basically stuff that you perform with your go-to project management process too.
But there’s a massive difference between the two when it comes to their scope.
Here’s how work management and project management are two different concepts:
| Work Management | Project Management |
|---|---|
| Helps you organize and execute duties related to multiple projects and ad hoc tasks | Helps you plan and perform duties for an individual project |
| Lets you accomplish long-term goals focused on business efficiency and success | Lets you achieve short-term goals related to a project |
| It’s a repetitive process with an evolving, flexible structure | It usually has a rigid structure with a set timescale and budget |
| Involves all the teams within an organization | Only involves the project team members associated with a particular project |
| Helps you achieve business goals | Helps you meet project expectations |
With that sorted out, let’s explore the different stages of the work management process.
The Work Management Process
The work management process consists of six steps that help you take a coherent and structured approach towards managing work:
- Work identification
- Work planning
- Work scheduling
- Work execution
- Work follow up
- Work analysis
The final objective of all these steps is to deliver quality deliverables that meet stakeholders‘ expectations and align with the approved budget.
Fortunately, with a work management tool like ClickUp, you’ll be able to automate and streamline all six steps.
But before we see how ClickUp makes enterprise work management a breeze, here’s what happens during each stage in the work management process:
1. Work identification
This step involves identifying the task at hand.
You define exactly what the work is, how to go about it, and when to complete it.
It’s also essential to document this information to ensure everyone’s on the same page.
2. Work planning
Work planning involves identifying the resources needed and creating time estimates to ensure that you get things done on time. Once you combine all the relevant data, you need to devise a plan of action.
One that is executable, unlike all your 2020 vacay plans… 😐
Luckily, since work management apps have built-in Gantt charts, you won’t have to rely on spreadsheets for work planning!
3. Work scheduling
In this step, a team leader or project manager maps out the work across days, weeks, or even months.
And with these project management timelines in hand, you inform the team about their responsibilities in detail.
4. Work execution
With everything scheduled and mapped out, it’s time for some action.
Team members start working on the task by following the pre-defined plan of action discussed in the initial stages. You also prioritize any urgent work (and coffee refill breaks) to ensure that you meet your objectives on time. ☕
5. Work follow-up
We all know how frustrating it can be when an important deadline is missed…
But plans don’t always go as planned, and that’s okay.
That’s why it’s essential to follow up on the work and check if all team members are working according to schedule.
If something doesn’t seem right, you can brainstorm together and create backup plans to help you inch closer to your deliverables.
6. Work analysis
What were the roadblocks?
What could you have done better?
In this stage, you refer to the collated data and documentation to assess the work quality. It’s useful for making a note of all the key takeaways to refine your processes.
How to Streamline with Work Management Software
For successful work management, you’ve got to plan, schedule, track, and organize several different aspects to improve your team’s efficiency.
Doing this for a single project is tiring as it is.
Think about doing it at an organizational level!
Don’t worry. With the right work management software, this can be a piece of cake.
No matter the industry you’re in, the software can help you in some, if not all, of these areas:
- Process management (Check out these business process management software!)
- Resource management
- Time management
- Client relationship management
- Project management
- Business intelligence
Let’s take a closer look at three key reasons why you need to use work management software.
1. Delegate like a boss!
Task management and delegations are way trickier than they sound (we’re sure any manager would agree with us).
Fortunately, task assignment becomes a cakewalk with a work management solution. Managers can assign tasks in a few clicks and stay updated on the progress in real-time. It also helps you set priorities and manage deadlines in a jiffy!
2. Collaborate with ease
Ever gotten lost looking for relevant info in a long email thread?
It’s like asking if you’ve ever felt like skipping work on Monday?
Yes, of course! #MondayBlues 😰
Well, that’s not gonna happen when you use work management software. A work management platform lets you store and share all the relevant files so that they can be easily accessed by team members.
3. Effective workload management
With workflow management software, managing your team’s workload becomes super easy. You can get a quick rundown on what’s on everyone’s plate! 🍽
Effective resource management also lets you identify who’s overburdened and reallocate those resources to an employee with fewer tasks.
How to choose the right work management tool
Work management software is pretty useful, right?
But choosing the right tool can be as difficult as understanding the plot of a Christopher Nolan movie. 😵
The work management tool you choose should match your organization’s existing workflow and business objectives.
So here are a few things you should keep an eye out for:
- Analyze your existing processes and see which departments contribute immensely or who needs that extra push (and perhaps a pep talk!).
- Based on your organizational structure, determine what features you need to streamline work management
- The larger the team and work volume, the more sophisticated a software solution an organization should be looking for. Your team can even use a cloud-based enterprise work management solution
- If your existing workflow is labor-intensive, organizations should consider an automated work management process with automatic data syncs, updates, and alerts
- Is the primary goal to increase employee efficiency? Or scale business growth? Identifying key business targets can help companies spot the software that’ll enable their workforce to achieve those targets
P.S. The bigger your achievement, the bigger the annual work party. 😁
Discuss these aspects with your team and you’ll be able to decide on the most appropriate work management software for your needs.
And to help you make that decision right now, let’s formally introduce you to ClickUp.
The Best Work Management Tool in 2022
So how can you and your team skyrocket productivity levels and create an unmatched workflow?
By partnering with the best work management software out there, ClickUp!
ClickUp is like Yoda, giving virtual teams the much-needed Force to unlock their full potential.
With custom-built templates and innovative features like Mind Maps and a kanban board, ClickUp helps organizations establish a sane, stable work structure. 😇
Here’s a quick overview of some of the best ClickUp features that make it the ultimate work management tool:
- ClickUp Views: manage work in a List, Box view, Agile Board view, or any other project style of your choice
- Assign tasks: assign a task to a single assignee, multiple assignees, or team depending on the job requirement and deadline
- Comments and Assigned Comments: comment about a required change or desired information and assign it to the employee to ensure they take up the task right away
- ClickUp Dashboards: get a high-level view of the project with real-time Dashboards. Use customizable widgets to attain valuable insights on tasks, projects, and people
- Profiles: keep tabs on your employee’s to-do lists and get a better idea of their work activity
- Time estimates: add time estimates to tasks to help team members understand if their work is on track
- ClickUp Automations: automate routine tasks with pre-built, customizable automation recipes. ClickUp takes care of these tedious tasks so you can focus on the important things
- ClickUp Task checklists: welcome to the future of smart yet simple to-do lists! It also comes with simple subtasks and nested checklists to help your team remain more thorough and efficient
- ClickUp Gantt chart view and Dependencies: manage time, schedule multiple projects, and track work progress. Build elaborate project timelines, so no deadlines are ever missed
- ClickUp Chat view: use this view for impromptu brainstorms and Money Heist discussions. Keep all these conversations alongside your work and never lose sight of them
- Email ClickApp: send and receive emails directly from ClickUp without switching tabs or cluttering your virtual screen further
- Mobile apps: view tasks, create reminders and view your notes using your iOS or Android mobile device while on the go
Work Your Way Up
Work management software not only boosts an organization’s performance but also improves business communication and productivity. It helps companies allocate and manage resources efficiently while motivating team members to achieve a lot more within a given timeframe.
So what’s the next step for organizations looking to scale their growth?
Becoming BFFs with a work management system with enhanced functionality like ClickUp! 💁
With a comprehensive yet user-friendly Dashboard, ClickUp helps you monitor work progress and manage time effectively.
On top of that, your team can collaborate on project ideas, meeting minutes, and more with Docs.
So join ClickUp for free today to ace every task confidently and #WinAtWork every day.
Questions? Comments? Visit our Help Center for support.