Let’s stop for a moment and think about what a typical team looks like. There are, say, ten people working together on the same project but at the same time each of them has an individual specialized role and is in charge of covering a particular part of the project. Sounds like a normal modern team dynamics but it also seems like it’s not that easy to coordinate all the team members. Add a pinch of flexible working hours and (regular or occasional) telecommuting and the situation gets even more complicated.

If only you could take charge of your team in a non-intrusive yet effective manner, letting everyone do their part of the work in peace while being aware of what’s going on with the project at all times. The easiest way to achieve this is with a software for staff tracking.

Project and time tracking software can be used for working hours compliance because it tracks attendance, it can be used for performance evaluations since you can measure employees’ efficiency, and you can also see which apps and websites your workers are using. But this simple ‘manage my time’ app can also be a lifesaver when it comes to improving team collaboration on projects.

So let’s see exactly which challenges of project management and employee collaboration staff tracking can help you solve.

Task Overview

One of the potential problems with team collaboration could be the lack of clear overview of all tasks within a project. Since, as we’ve mentioned, everyone does their specific part of the job, it could be difficult to keep track of who does what and how far along they are.

This is where staff tracking can really help you out in a very accurate yet unobtrusive way. In other words, you’ll be able to know who does what at any given time without bothering your employees with questions that disturb their workflow.

Project time software will give you real-time overview of employees’ activities. You’ll be able to know which task they’re working on, which software they’re using, whether they’re away from their computer (which is super useful if some of your team members are working remotely) and whether they’re being productive or wasting time on social media. On top of this, you’ll also get to see how long they’ve been at the task.

Coordination

Once you get some practice at using staff tracking software to oversee task allocation and progress, it’s pretty easy to apply those insights to your efforts to improve task coordination.

But first, what do we mean by coordination? Above all, it’s the way you orchestrate employees to work together and have all the tasks merge into a single project streamline. Two important aspects of this process are timing and delegation. We’ll talk more about the latter in a bit, but for now, let’s focus on getting the team time management right.

As we’ve said, now that you track time spent on projects as well as who’s doing which task, you can easily see who’s finished with one task and ready for another, and what needs to be done next. You can also see if someone’s struggling and needs support with their task as well as who’s available to jump in and help them out.

Work Delegation

As promised, we’ve come to probably one of the most important aspects of project management - delegating tasks appropriately.

The first facet of proper delegation is taking competency into account. This doesn’t just include giving tasks to any employee who’s qualified to do them, but also trying to assign them to the one who’s most efficient in doing them. Since project timesheet software records how long each employee generally takes to complete each task, you can use this data to help you delegate with maximum efficiency.

Another facet of work delegation that’s inseparable from this process is fair and equal work distribution. More precisely, this means making sure not to overburden one employee (who is, tragically, usually the most competent and productive one) while letting others sit idle. Project time tracking will give you an overview of everyone’s assignments and how long they’re productive each day, so you’ll know immediately when you’re crossing the line.

Planning

Finally, getting all these different aspects of project collaboration in check gives you a unique opportunity to plan every project according to what can realistically be expected of your team and also based on your employees’ natural collaboration dynamic.

Use your project time management software to map out all the tasks and figure out the best way to collaborate in the process. Divide the project into segments, set milestones and realistic deadlines, assign tasks to the most fitting employees (but also make sure you distribute the workload equally among everyone) and track your progress along the way. This way, everyone knows what they’re supposed to do and the team is in sync.

Conclusion

Team collaboration is arguably the single most important aspect of project management. You should accept every bit of technological help you can get in making sure it runs smoothly, and staff tracking is one of the best and easiest. Following these simple tips on getting your team to work together effectively will make the whole process just a matter of habit before you know it.

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