Project management is the process and activity of planning and organizing resources to achieve specific, measurable goals. How can this make a difference for your local government agency?
Properly managing projects is the essential component that separates a great agency from a bad one. The best way to have a successful project is to plan properly and thoroughly, which is why project management naturally starts with the planning stage.
Planning is the crucial part when your organization must put an outline in place at the beginning of the project to determine final outcomes and goals. It will involve discussing what steps are needed to get there, what resources are necessary, the timeline of the project, and the costs associated with the project.
When considering what resources to utilize in ensuring the success of your project, it’s essential for stakeholders to lean in on how potential technologies can help better support and expedite the project process and empower staff in their roles. Let’s begin by talking about an integral part of a project’s success: staying on schedule.
The most significant part of project management is that it helps organizations stay on schedule with important deadlines and goals.
For example, a SMART goal for an organization’s project centered around 311 initiatives might be to address resident service requests within 72 hours (whether that means acknowledging the request or resolving the request). There are technologies available to assist with tracking this measurable goal, like a CRM (constituent relationship manager).
Local governments know that with limited time and resources, it’s imperative to have solutions that automate tasks and help stay on schedule for project completion.
As a local government agency using resident taxpayer dollars to back core community projects, tracking expenses is paramount for public transparency. Tracking expenses helps residents and stakeholders see the outcomes of their investments and also helps organizations internally plan and scale for the future.
For instance, if a local government spends 1,000 dollars on a community fundraiser event for Breast Cancer and the threshold was $2,000 for the event, stakeholders may have a conversation about which purchased items at the community event performed best (bracelets, water bottles, food items) and then invest in that for next year’s event.
Staying on budget is mission-critical for organizations to show the ROI value of projects.
Circling back to the beginning when we discussed the planning stages of project management for local government, roadmaps and outlines help organizations reach clear goals backed by information.
One local government agency might take control of the outcome of their project by implementing weekly “team check-ins” to ensure that roles in the processes are clearly defined and staff members are contributing to the timeline of the project. Many local government organizations use communication platforms like Teams and Slack to get the ball rolling with team collaborations.
Bottom Line: When organizations move toward clear and concise project management, outcomes are reached more successfully and efficiently.
