So many things to do and so little time. Focus on these 8 activities on a daily basis and you’ll help your project succeed.

E-mails, phone calls, tasks, conversations, messages, etc. You have an important project in your hands but the day-to-day tasks don’t let you focus on what’s really important. In this article we’ll show you the 8 main activities that a project manager should do to see their project succeed.

Main activities of a project manager

1. Log into your project management software / platform / tool
2. Take a look at the project’s dashboard
3. Check up on team members
4. Identify and manage overdue tasks
5. Plan your day
6. Check your e-mail
7. Execute tasks
8. Monitor the project’s advance at the end of the day

1. LOG INTO WORKEP (OR YOUR PM SOFTWARE OR PLATFORM)

Let’s face it: if you’re a project manager you most likely need a software, platform or tool where you can keep all the project’s information: tasks, timeline, documents attached, etc. A good project manager turns on his computer in the morning and logs into his/her PM software to start the day. If you’re still working without a software/platform, try Workep for free:

2. TAKE A LOOK AT THE PROJECT’S DASHBOARD

A software or platform allows you to centralize the information of a project so you can track the progress and be easily aware of any delay on the project. Before starting to work on your own tasks, start by monitoring the advance of the project/projects you own. Remember you’re the project leader, so if something is not going as planned you need to find out and decide what to do to get back on track.

3. CHECK UP ON TEAM MEMBERS

As the project leader you need to make sure everyone is working on their own tasks, but most important, that everyone has what they need to finish those tasks. Talk to the team members and make sure everyone understands their role and what’s expected from them on that day.

4. IDENTIFY AND MANAGE OVERDUE TASKS

After talking to the team members take a look at the existing tasks to make sure everything is on time. If you see an overdue task, talk to the responsible to understand what happened and what is needed to finish that task. Remember, in a project, some tasks depend on the evolution of a previous task, so, if there’s an important task that’s overdue this could delay the progress of the whole project. Taking care of the overdue tasks will help the project’s compliance.

5. PLAN YOUR DAY

Now that the project is on track, and everyone has what they need, it’s time to plan the rest of your day. Do you have execution tasks? Meetings? Create reports? Prioritize your tasks and start working on the more important one.

6. CHECK YOUR EMAIL

You’re the leader, and people at your team will go to you when they have any problem/issue with a task. It’s very important that you’re available to answer rapidly to these kind of requests, because not answering on time could affect the progress of the project. Try to use the e-mail as your main channel so that people know how to best reach you, and you keep all the conversations centralized to have more control.

7. EXECUTE TASKS

Project managers usually manage and execute, so you obviously need time to work on your individual tasks. This is the moment to do so. If, at some point, you see that you’re not having enough time to execute, delegate these tasks to someone else. As a project manager, leadership is always going to be more important than execution. DO NOT postpone management tasks to execute, because you’ll lose control of the project.

8. MONITOR THE PROGRESS AT THE END OF THE DAY

Define a time at the end of the day to monitor the progress of the project and make sure everything is going on as planned. This is the moment to rearrange tasks, change due times or responsible. Doing this at the end of the day, will facilitate your work (and your team’s work) on the next day.

Project managers have lots of things to do, but as you see the most important one is leading. Make sure you and your teammates have everything they need to work on the tasks assigned, because if every task is taken care of, the whole project will advance as it should.