Time is not lost in the core business, it is lost in coordination.
The working day today
Leading happens in meetings, documenting happens in between. Keeping tasks, deadlines, reports and documents up to date is what the day actually consists of. The steering itself happens on the side.
Time sink 01 — Pulling tasks out of meetings
Meetings, e-mails and project documents keep producing tasks. Spotting them, assigning them and recording them is done by someone by hand, or by no one.
Hours per week: varies from client to client.
Time sink 02 — Watching deadlines
Deadlines, milestones and dependencies sit in plans, e-mails and people's heads. Anyone who wants to keep track of them checks them regularly.
Hours per week: varies from client to client.
Time sink 03 — Building status reports
Project status sits in different systems. For every report it is pulled out, brought together and formatted all over again.
Hours per week: varies from client to client.
Time sink 04 — Hunting documents
Project papers, decisions and minutes exist, but they are scattered. The searching takes longer than the reading.
Hours per week: varies from client to client.
Time sink 05 — Spotting deviations
Delays, open points and budget deviations show early, but only if someone looks. Usually they are noticed in the next report, not before.
Hours per week: varies from client to client.
What can be automated
Tasks · Dates & deadlines · Reporting · Documents & knowledge · Risks & deviations
01 Tasks & ownership — Capture tasks from meetings, e-mail and project documents automatically and assign them.
02 Dates & deadline management — Watch deadlines, milestones and dependencies, and automate the reminders.
03 Status reports & reporting — Bring project status together from several systems and prepare it automatically.
04 Document & information management — Structure project papers, decisions, minutes and relevant information centrally.
05 Risks & deviations — Spot delays, open points or budget deviations early and make them visible.
What stays with people
Approvals, negotiation and judgement. How a deviation is handled and what priority an open point gets is decided by you.
How SAITS automates these five processes: Project management in construction.
Whether one of them is worth it is shown by four tests. How the first workflow comes about: How a first workflow goes live in four weeks.