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Effective Project Management

by Sandi Batik · Mar 29, 2020

Presentation Notes —  03/29/20 San Antonio WordCamp
How Effective Project Management Helps  WordPress Professionals Improve  Their Bottom Line 

What is Project Management?

  • Project Management is the application of processes, methods, knowledge, skills, and experience to achieve the project objectives.
  • Project Management is concerned with managing discrete packages of work. The way work is managed depends upon the scale, significance complexity of the WordPress project.
  • Project Management helps WordPress Professionals get and stay organized while increasing their opportunity to delight clients.

Project Management Processes 
Fall into Five Phases

Discovery

This first stage of a project discovery defines the business case, the justification for the project, which will be used to ensure the project stays on track. It also states what the project is intended to achieve, how that will be achieved and the scope of the work; this is important for controlling subsequent change requests. During Discovery, those involved in the project will be assigned their responsibilities. The documentation describes the aims of the project in detail including timescales and constraints. These requirements should also define the criteria that will constitute a successful project and will be used to manage the expectations of the stakeholders.
Many projects use an iterative process to reach an agreement on the requirements, although some projects take an ‘agile’ approach to project management.

Planning

The Project Plan includes details about how the project work will be carried out, and how it will be monitored and controlled.  The plan identifies the resources required along with costs, and timelines. All tasks need to be scheduled in the most efficient order to ensure tasks with inter-dependencies are completed when required and to enable several tasks to be performed in parallel. The plan builds the project schedule, by task, and indicates who will be responsible for their completion. This document indicates how critical information will be communicated. Once a project is initiated— the project schedule is where most attention is focused.

Execution

The Project Manager creates a new task board to list all the identified tasks for the Sprint —what the team can accomplish over the next two to four weeks — the average length of a software design/build project. During this time-box, the team builds and tests a clearly defined set of functionality with the goal of completing a useable and potentially shippable increment of work. To successfully accomplish this, the team member assigned to carry out a task will need to know, in detail, what the task involves as well as any dependencies and timelines. Team members will also need to understand the criteria by which each task is deemed complete. During this time the scrum master (team lead under the direction of the project manager) serves as a facilitator and coach who removes impediments, creates an effective working environment, and protects the team from outside interruptions.

Monitoring and Controlling

Agile project management provides more opportunities to monitor what is going on than traditional methods and hence offers more effective opportunities to intervene (i.e. control). The main Agile monitoring technique is to track what software has been incrementally delivered. This is both easier and has much more impact on the customer. The Product Demo at the end of a  Timebox Review Meeting is where the product increment is showcased. Agile project management has other ways to monitor progress. Tracking Velocity (metric for work done) is the closest to the traditional tracking of effort. ‘Velocity’ is a single number for the entire team for the entire Timebox. however, it can be used for planning sprints and measuring team performance. Agile monitoring can come in a variety of forms, frequent delivery, colocation opportunities, daily online or physical team meeting, and timebox review meeting.

Closing

With the Agile methodology, the project is complete when all the must-have features and functionality have been delivered. One of the reasons that Agile projects can terminate relatively painlessly is because they are developed in such a way that the product, in theory, can be delivered as is after each client-approved iteration. Once there is a client-approved end of the project, the final Sprint can be formally closed. During the project retrospective meeting, the team and product owner meet to discuss the overall project and provide feedback to improve the process going forward. This “After-Action Report’ is helpful for both the client and team members, The purpose of a project review is to learn from both the successes and the mistakes and take that experience forward to the next project — not to shoot the survivors. Team members enjoy having their work appreciated. To o celebrate the completion, plan something out of the office, involving spending a bit of thank you cash. 

A Simple Project Management Plan will include the following elements:

  1. Project Aims: If the final deliverable of a project does not meet the requirements of the client then it has not been successful. Therefore, you must establish what those requirements are and prioritize them.
  2. Project Deliverables: These are the tangible items that will ensure the needs of the client are met and will include time estimates.
  3. Project Schedule:  A list of individual tasks along with how long they are estimated to take, who will complete them, any inter-dependencies and any important milestones along the way. There are many software packages to help you do this efficiently.
  4. Resource Requirements:  The project schedule will enable you to justify the project’s resource requirements for time, equipment, budget, and people. Identify individuals by name or skill-set along with their responsibilities within the project.
  5. Communications Plan:  Who needs to be kept informed about project progress and how will this be communicated? Typically there will be various reports with differing levels of detail for different stakeholders that cover progress and planned work for the next period
  6. Risk Management: This involves the identification, monitoring and mitigating of risks.
  7. Quality Guidelines: You need to know what level of quality is expected and required so the definition needs to be detailed and measurable. It also needs to take into account the available budget and resources.

Putting together an effective project plan is essential. However, sticking to it throughout the course of the project or, when necessary, adapting it if core requirements change requires a disciplined project manager, clear client communication, and a cooperative team.

Project Plans Can Change

Carefully-planned projects have regular formal reviews. Stakeholders can assess progress, discover new risks and identify issues that might require a change to the project, such as:

  •     Inadequate business requirements
  •     New information coming to light
  •     External changes in the market
  •     Changes in organizational strategy
  •     New technology becoming available
  •     New regulations being imposed

Uncontrolled Changes Can Blow Up the Plan

  • Uncontrolled changes to project scope or requirements can cause chaos and confusion within the project team.
  • Project Managers can accommodate client changes but they must communicate to the Stakeholders that this type of change will affect budget and delivery schedule…something will have to come off the table.

Why You Need to Adopt  Project Management Best Practices

Investment in effective project management has a number of benefits:

  • It provides a greater likelihood of achieving the desired result
  • Ensures efficient and best value use of resources
  • Satisfies the differing needs of the project’s stakeholders

The Role of The Project Manager

  • Analyzes the information from the Discovery document and develops a client-approved, actionable  Scope of Work.
  • Communicates with the client to identify the Known, Unknowns and the Unknown, Unknowns
  • Knows and use the Project Management tools
  • Builds the project Sprint schedule
  • Manages the Stand-ups and SCRUM Board
  • Manages client and team project communications

Skills Every Project Manager Must Develop

Project management consists of various not-so-easy tasks all combined to do one job. The job starts with initiating the project, then planning the strategies, executing them, and finally, controlling and closing the project. The project gets more challenging when the timeline is short and the budget is limited.
To deliver the project successfully, a Project Manager needs a set of various skills.
  • Leadership
    Leadership is all about managing people to move the project forward smoothly and guiding them to achieve a specific goal.
  • Communication
    Effective collaboration can act as a driving force for team members to produce the best results.  A project manager with clear communication skills can negotiate better financial terms with clients.
  • Conflict Resolution
    Project Managers strive to create and maintain harmony among the team and must develop the ability to resolve conflicts quickly to avoid project time lost to distraction.
  • Planning Skills
    Every Project Manager must possess serious strategic planning skills — developing small actionable steps while monitoring the results to achieve the final goal.
  • Risk Management
    Risk management is basically identifying, analyzing, and accepting the process of mitigation when uncertainty happens. Normally, in a project, there are a plethora of things that can go wrong. But if preventive measures are made, the loss can be reduced.
  • Cost Management
    Cost management is the skill to plan and control the overall cost of the project and keep things within the budget. It is one of the most essential project management skills which can help run and finish projects without any delays. By knowing the cost of the project, it will be easy to decide how many resources and how much time should be assigned to each project.
  • Cost Management
    Cost management is the skill to plan and control the overall cost of the project and keep things within the budget. It is one of the most essential project management skills which can help run and finish projects without any delays. By knowing the cost of the project, it will be easy to decide how many resources and how much time should be assigned to each project.
  • Time Management
    Managing time in a project is all about asking the right questions and executing things based upon their priorities. If you can manage the time and divide each element of the project in a chunk of time, you will not miss the deadline. Setting deadlines, making to-do lists, delegating tasks, and getting organized can help project managers deal with project delays smoothly.
  • Negotiation
    One key skill every project manager needs is the ability to negotiate. Every day a project manager deals with clients, team members, and other stakeholders. If negotiation skills are weak this can create problems for the project manager, the team and the project.
  • Expertise
    Every project needs a set of abilities and expertise which can help the team complete the project. A project manager must develop skill-sets across various fields. This can help them understand the scope of the project and deal with their teams in a knowledgeable way. Prepare to be a life-long learner.
  • Adaptability
    Adaptability is about adjusting with the environment to overcome the challenges that come along with the project. Project managers need to understand those project management methods, systems, team expectations are all evolving at an alarming rate. Project managers must be willing to learn, unlearn, and relearn. A good project manager is an embodiment of continuous process improvement.

The Project Management Team

A WordPress project team often includes people who don’t normally work together. Team members can come from different organizations and across multiple geographies. Team members must be expertly managed to deliver the on-time, on-budget result.

Project Team Collaboration

The good old “White Board” only works when everybody shares the same office. Online Project Management systems make remote team collaboration possible. Some Project Management systems restrict interactions to your team, however, some project management software systems will allow you to invite outside clients into the collaborative process.

Managing and Archiving Team Communication

Clear communication is the key to effective collaboration. Managing a project means you have to track and archive all client and team conversations. Slack is convenient for immediate, interactive communications. It also tracks discussions or decisions. Collapsed email windows are notorious for lost ‘end-of -string’ messages. Gmail is the enemy of effecting client communications and should be avoided. However, GoogleDocs is an effective tool for sharing project management plans. Chat windows in some SaaS Project management tools offer immediate gratification— but tracking down a specific conversation after the fact can be a pain.  Depending on your operations budget some high-end project management systems archive conversations and decisions in one place.

Managing Client Communications

Clients appreciate regular communication about the status of their projects. A good project management system gives the project manager the information needed to update the client or direct reports to the client. Critic information should be delivered by phone with a dated, written followup delivered electronically and noted in the weekly progress report.
NOTE: Bad News Does Not Age Well — Report it to the Client ASAP!!!

Project Management Methodologies

The two project management methodologies most Design/Build teams will use are Waterfall Project Management and Agile Project Management.

Agile Project Management is a framework and a working mind-set that helps respond to changing requirements. It focuses on delivering maximum value against business priorities in the time and budget allowed, especially when the drive to deliver is greater than the risk.

There are three principles which are typically used to highlight the difference between agile and traditional waterfall approaches to project management:

  1. Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
    • In an agile environment, how a project is delivered, is driven by a team working with end-users, the focus is on a core deliverable and iterating over time
    • User to drive the design of a project can make a significant difference to project outcomes
    • Agile favors benefits and innovation through collaboration with a particular focus on customer satisfaction, quality, teamwork and effective management
  1. Individuals and interaction over process and tools
    • Agile Project Management emphasizes a shift from a control to consensus — focusing on people achieving benefits through engaged, accountable, high performing teams with a focus on sharing data, openness, team communication and learning from feedback.
    • This often requires behavior change — team management roles become both serving and leading to create commitment and accountability to an end goal.
    • Responding to change over following a structured plan
    • Waterfall Project Management uses an agreed scope to create a time and resources plan.
    • Agile Project Management team establishes the resources and time which ultimately drive scope.
    • There will be a number of time and cost delivery windows, sprints, through which the project will evolve.
    • An agile environment establishes a minimum viable product (MVP); the core project deliverable to trigger the start of delivery.
    • This is likely to change as the project team realizes other opportunities or benefits that become available throughout each sprint.
  1. Prototyping/working solutions over comprehensive documentation
    • The team owns the MVP, working together to develop the product;
    • what they will deliver and how they will deliver it.
    • The delivery team is ‘cocooned’ to focus on the solution to the problem they are dealing with.
    • The team will make constant adjustments to the scope of the product.

Advantages of Agile for Project Management

Agile Project Management  provides project teams, sponsors, project leaders and customers many project-specific benefits, including:
  • More rapid deployment of solutions
  • Reduced waste through minimization of resources
  • Increased flexibility and adaptability to change
  • Increased success through more focused efforts
  • Faster turnaround times
  • Faster detection of issues and defects
  • Optimized development processes
  • A lighter weight framework
  • Optimal project control
  • Increased focus on specific customer needs
  • Increased frequency of collaboration and feedback

WordPress Agile Methodology

Agile project management is a continuous process that tracks, monitors, analyzes and improves the production cycle of website development.

For the WordPress Professional managing several contiguous projects, the benefit comes in the form of improved estimates for project deliverables and adding value to the development process.

The Agile methodology gives you a clear way of managing the deadlines of individual deliverables that make up the project.

Agile divides each deliverable into a discreet ticket with a realistic time estimate. This ensures proper time utilization and deadline management.

At the completion of each project sprint, the time utilization and the achievements of each deadline can be analyzed in detail.

The outcome of this analysis is used to tighten up the time estimates, create more effective deadlines and ensure that clients have a good idea of project deliverables schedule.

Agile Project Lifecycle 
1. Understanding the client’s requirement
  • The project is initiated by gathering a part of the information about the project from the client.
  • The initial requirements are identified, prioritized and the necessary resources are selected.
  • An estimate is calculated for the entire work.
  • A demo is created or selected as to how the work will be demonstrated.
2. Sprint Planning
  • A sprint is nothing but a period during which the task is completed and ready for review.
  • Based on input from the design/build team and end-user requirements the project manager determines the duration of the sprint.
  • The shorter the sprint, the more flexible and frequent the working version becomes.
  • Regular client’s feedback helps in debugging and fixing minor problems before launch.
  • The Sprint needs to long enough for design/build team to have efficient throughput
3. Site Design/Build
  • With project initiation, the Project Manager moves the Sprint Tasks to the “TO-DO”  Column on the KanBan Board  This list of tasks moves from “To Do” to “In Progress” as they are assigned to the design/build team members.
  • Some of the benefits of agile project management include receiving customer feedback faster and addressing issues before they become problems.
  • As each part of the site is completed, it is pushed to Testing.
4. Testing
  • The web development agency is involved in content and navigation right from the beginning.
  • Web development entails the small delivery sets to the client.
  • The client gives rapid feedback. The designs are tested simultaneously, and the results are demonstrated immediately.
5. Feedback and preparing for the next set of work
  • Once the feedback is received from the client at each stage, the results are discussed within the team.
  • How the development process can be improved and what further steps can be taken, becomes the deciding factor for the next set of work.
Benefits of Using Agile Methodology
Consumes Less time
With frequent client feedbacks, bugs are fixed quickly and the project is completed on time.
Client satisfaction
Demonstrating each sprint of work to the client gives you huge flexibility and visibility in the progress of their work.
Reduced Risks
Agile methodology eliminates the chances of complete project failure. It is a highly collaborative approach to working with the end-user.
Increases Business Value
The Agile WordPress Professionals takes special effort to understand what is important to the client and delivers business value to that relationship.
Maintains Transparency
Direct communication with the client creates a high level of transparency and makes work much simpler.
Adaptive Approach
There is a regular adaption to changing circumstances and late changes suggested by the client are also proved successful. NOTE: We adapt — but if the change is out of the original scope — we charge. This is why having open communication is so important.
There are many ways to accomplish a project. But Agile methodology proves to be the best and creates a win-win situation for clients and WordPress Professionals.
Agile project management has been a value-added process for defining our internal workflow and improving client communication.

The Tools and Processes for Implementing Agile

Ten to 15 years ago SCRUM and KanBan represented two separate methods of Agile project management. American software developers synthesized what worked from each system to form a blended Agile project management process — ScrumBan — the daily SCRUM stressed individual responsibility for our expected work product, the KanBan board helped us visualize the various stages of our work product, and the KanBan workflow management method maximized the development team’s efficiency.
When design/development teams actually worked in the same office, we used to gather around a physical festooned with posits for our daily 15-min SCRUM (now called a “Stand-UP)
Today, most design/development teams work remotely. Our 15-minute Timeboxed Stand-ups are managed via video conferencing software where we share screens exchange files and review digital KanBan boards that allow teams that do not share physical office space to use kanban boards remotely and asynchronously.
Trello
This App offers a generous ‘no-cost’ level. Trello is a fast and simple way to make a digital KanBan board. The setup involves just a few clicks to create digital lists, which represent the stages of your Kanban process, on a board view that your whole team can access and manage.  There are great training videos to help your team get the most from this tool.
Slack
Our team was an early adapter and Slack has replaced email, text messaging, and instant messaging. It is my one place to look at and track communication.
We assign a Slack Channel to all our clients as part of our on-boarding process. We stress that Slack is their primary communication channel for the project manager.
Every New Project has two channels
The “Client Channel” —communication between the client and the project manager.
The “DevChannel”  project related communication between PM and the team.
Some of our clients may have several projects in process at any given time — each project has its own Slack Channel
NOTE:  The Project Trello boards organize information and tasks so you can manage any project and see exactly what’s getting done. The Trello app for Slack makes it easy to manage cards on your boards, change due dates, and attach conversations to cards —  directly from Slack.
Google Drive
Gmail is why I love Slack so much- ‘enough said.  However, Gooogle drive is a viable way to move project documents.
When Agile Project Management Can Bite you in the Butt
Agile may not work as intended if a customer is not clear on goals. The project manager or team is inexperienced, or if they do not function well under significant pressure.  Agile favors the developers, project teams and customer goals, but not necessarily the end user’s experience. Due to its less formal and more flexible processes, agile may not always be easily absorbed within larger more traditional organizations where there are significant amounts of rigidity or flexibility within processes, policies, or teams.  An Agile project might be problematic for customers who similarly have rigid processes and policies.
Agile Billing Cycles
  • Agile Billing is based around “sprints” —a fixed block of time when a number of features are implemented.
  • The typical billing cycle is a two-week period with a defined start and end date.
  •  During every cycle your team  endeavors to:
    • implement a number of identified features
    • be available at certain times, e.g. Monday to Friday, from 9 am to 1 pm.
  • Avoid committing to a full 40-hour week — you’ll need time for side tasks such as administration, inquiries and other client projects.
  • There’s only so much you can achieve within each cycle — so development estimate margins of error are reduced.
  • No other features are normally considered during the cycle so client interruptions are minimized.

Payment Terms

If you’ve ever struggled with cash-flow you’ll like this part:
  • the client pays for your time in full at the beginning of every cycle.
  • If they don’t pay, you don’t provide any work and they must wait until your next available billing cycle.
  • The charge is non-refundable, although some flexibility should be considered.
  • Understandably, the client will still want to know how much the whole project will cost.
  • A rough estimate of the number billing cycles can be provided but the client should appreciate that it will be revised and become more accurate as the project evolves.
There are several benefits to the client:
  • There’s less risk. If they don’t like your results, speed, processes, attitude, etc. they can stop at any point.
  • They need only commit to the current cycle.
  • Clients know what to expect and when it will be delivered in smaller, manageable chunks.
  • They can view and assess progress at the end of every cycle, not just at the end of the project.
  • It’s not possible to over-pay for work. When a feature is deemed good enough, development and associated costs can be ceased.
  • If necessary, clients can buy extra features or improvements as their budget allows.
How much you charge per cycle is up to you.
  • You could base it on your typical hourly rate but vary it according to cycle availability, i.e. the earlier a client books you, the less they pay.
  • That said, your cash flow should improve because clients are unable to withhold payment and their delays cost them, not you.
  • You’ll discover clients have a renewed urgency to make decisions.
The Agile Unicorn
Although we have been lucky enough to catch the occasional  “Agile Unicorn” —  projects where we have been truly able to do agile billing. These clients know our rates, we give them a ballpark estimate for the work or the features they’re requesting, with the expected charges per Sprint, sign an MOU get to work.
Most of our clients are accountable to boards or funders who have to review and approve their budgets ahead of time. Managing estimates and budgets in a way that works for our clients has been a series of Lessons Learned.
Fixed bid Request For Proposals (RFPs) are still a fact of life.
Recovery Project Management —Techniques and Tactics For Reversing Failing Projects
The causes of project failure can be sorted into three broad categories:
Management mistakes:
These are due to a failure in stakeholder management perhaps by allowing too many unnecessary scope changes, failing to provide proper governance, refusing to make decisions in a timely manner, and ignoring the project manager’s quest for help. This can also be the result of wanting to gold-plate the project. This is also the result of not performing project health checks.
Planning mistakes:
These are the result of poor project management, perhaps not following the known best practices — not having a timely “kill switch” in the plan, not planning for project audits or health checks, and not selecting the proper tracking metrics.
External influences:
These are normally the failures in assessing the environmental input factors correctly. This includes the timing for getting approvals and authorization from third parties and a poor understanding of the host country’s culture and politics.
Early Warning Signs
Projects do not become distressed overnight. They normally go from “green” to “yellow” to “red”, and along the way are early warning signs that failure may be imminent or that immediate changes may be necessary.
Typical early warning signs include:
  • Business case deterioration
  • Different opinions on the project’s purpose and objectives
  • Unhappy/disinterested stakeholders and steering committee members
  • Continuous criticism by stakeholders
  • Changes in stakeholders without any warning
  • No longer a demand for the deliverables or the product
  • Invisible sponsorship
  • Delayed decisions resulting in missed deadlines
  • High tension meetings with team and stakeholders
  • Finger-pointing and poor acceptance of responsibility
  • Lack of organizational process assets
  • Failing to close life cycle phases properly
  • High turnover of personnel, especially critical workers
  • Unrealistic expectations
  • Failure in progress reporting
  • Technical failure
  • Having to work excessive hours and with heavy workloads
  • Unclear milestones and other requirements
  • Poor morale
  • Everything is a crisis
  • Poor attendance at team meetings
  • Surprises, slow identification of problems, and constant rework
  • A poor change control process

The earlier the warning signs are discovered, the more opportunities exist for recovery.

Project Rescue Tools
Rescues of failing projects are a regular part of the project manager’s job.
The most important early decision you make is what project rescue tools to use.
Here is a set of project rescue tools that will let you gain control of the disaster and fix it.
Project Rescue Tools: Identify Failure Causes
The symptoms — rapidly approaching due date and budget overrun  — everyone is frantic
Scope Creep
  • The project scope is loosy-goosy and new deliverables have crept in.
  • You need to tighten up the scope so there is no more scope creep
  • During that process, you may be able to find some unnecessary deliverables to delete.
Weekly Status Report
  • Without an early warning system, pop-up problems are a surprise
  • Stop surprises by tracking progress and issues upfront.
  • You can’t just look at last week’s work.
  • Team members must give you weekly progress reports that include the percent complete and estimates to complete their tasks.
Project Trade-offs
  • Somebody did not consider trade-offs between the 4-corners of the Project  — Scope, Cost, Duration and Risk— and their strategic issues of change.
  • There is no such thing as a free lunch.
  • You need to spend time developing and explaining some strategic choices for them that may let you deliver what they now want, not the original scope.
Project Rescue Tools: Estimate to Complete
  • The team members’ weekly estimates to complete (ETC) are invaluable.
  • They let you continuously monitor your project’s schedule and cost.
  • Estimates to complete are an essential part of all effective rescues.
  • They are key to turning your project around and managing the expectations of the team and executives.
  • Each of your team members turns in a status report with the actual hours they worked on all their tasks during the past 7 days.
  • They also give you an estimate of how many hours of work they think they have left on each task.
  • You will use that data in your project schedule and give yourself early warning on tasks that are slipping.
  • It lets you address these problems while they are small and more easily solved.
  • ETC can help the work attitudes of your team — people hitting their assignment due dates and receiving recognition of a job well done.
Project Rescue Tools: Tighten Project Scope
  • You need scope and deliverables that are defined by the metrics the sponsor(s) will use to judge their acceptability.
  • That means you need to convert the original scope and deliverables to measured achievements.
  • For example, “Faster system response time” becomes “Customer Service Reps can access customers’ 12-month history in 9 seconds 90% of the time.”
  • That is understandable and measurable; not wishy-washy like the prior deliverable.
Tightening the deliverables’ definitions always do the following:
1. It identifies deliverables that are not needed
2. It identifies deliverable expenses that can be reduced with a savings of time and money.
Project Rescue Tools: Develop Trade-offs
Quantifying the project scope and developing metrics for all deliverables lets you offer the executives tradeoffs between the “4-corners” of the project scope, cost, duration, and risk.
Here’s an example,
  • You might offer a trade-off on the response time metric of “access customers’ 12-month history in 9 seconds.”
  • Your Dev team says that changing the response time from 9 seconds to 12-seconds might net a software development savings of 8-days in duration.
  • That’s the trade-off you show the clients for them to make a decision.
Project Rescue Tools: Summary
These tools get the project rescue effort started. They also begin the executives’ training on the correct way to sponsor projects.
WordPress Project Management  
SaaS and Plugin Tools
Providing reliably effective customer support helps to ensure your clients’ experience remains positive. A support ticket system is a convenient and effective contact option for customers to reach out when there is a problem on their site. A team member trained to analyze client site support requests can suggest possible upgrades or changes in site structure to mitigate trouble spots.
One of the great things about a support ticket system is that it enables you to:
  • Handle a high quantity of inquiries simultaneously
  • Create priorities and manage accordingly
  • Respond within a specific timeframe —but not have to drop everything to manage it — so you can also remain focused and productive
  • Delegate based on the type of issue as well as your team members’ expertise
  • Offer consistent and on-brand responses — especially if you have canned messaging you can use when answering common questions and issues.
Support Ticket Plugins
SupportCandy
https://wordpress.org/plugins/supportcandy/#description
This plugin adds to WordPress the features of a complete helpdesk ticket system. Easy to configure and easy to use is our first priority.
JS Help Desk
https://wordpress.org/plugins/js-support-ticket/
JS Help Desk is a trusted open source ticket system that is a simple, easy to use, web-based customer support system. User/Guest can create a ticket from the front-end.
  • Awesome Support — WordPress HelpDesk & Support
https://wordpress.org/plugins/awesome-support/
Awesome Support is a versatile and feature-rich support plugin. It is the only helpdesk & support ticketing plugin that can match the feature set of a SAAS solution such as Zendesk or Helpscout.
WordPress Project Management Tool

WP Project Manager

https://wedevs.com/wp-project-manager-pro/features

No Usage Limit — Create limitless tasks, projects and add unlimited co-workers or teams. Unlike other project managers, it doesn’t cost you on per user basis.
Time Tracker — Track the time spent on a task with a built-in timer. Keep a log with start, stop, pause and custom entry. Easily calculate the charge for hourly works as well.
Gantt Chart — Track the time spent on a task with a built-in timer. Keep a log with start, stop, pause and custom entry. Easily calculate the charge for hourly works as well.
KanBan Board   —  Use board-style task management for all projects and tasks. Create tasks, drag and drop them among different boards and work more efficiently.
Interactive Calendar — Get daily, weekly, or monthly view of task timelines with drag and drop features. Filter them by projects or users if necessary

 

Filed Under: Project Management Tagged With: Agile, Project Management

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