Once upon a time we worked on one project at a time. The whole team would sit together in the office and eat lunch together in the local pub.

Not many of us have that luxury today.

Most of us juggle many projects at once, working with people who are down the road, at the other end of the country or maybe even on the other side of the world.

How can we run successful projects in this way? Don’t we need to be able to chat constantly about the project, or look into someone’s eyes when we ask them when that report will be delivered?

Yes we do – and there’s no need to compromise on these essential elements. However, even in the old days, a project could lose its way, no matter how strong the camaraderie. That’s because the only guarantee of a successful project is a structured approach.

Technology means more options

When your team is geographically spread it’s all the more vital that a good structure is created and put in place.

And we’ve got a modern luxury to help us – the flexibility given to us by technology.

The relationships built during a project remain very important. At 54 degrees we love nothing better than a face-to-face project planning or update meeting, where we can really SEE who we can rely on.

However, we do not need to sit at opposite sides of the same desk for this to work. Sarah, 54 degrees’ founder, has run many successful projects from her laptop and iPhone.
A professional at your fingertips.

It’s great for the customer, because you get access to your project manager five days a week. This doesn’t mean all of every day, but they will, on a daily basis and maybe even at weekends, check in on the project and follow up on calls for you.

And instead of paying a project manager to join your team for a few weeks or months, you only pay for the time they’re actually working on the project.

All of a sudden, that project which was going nowhere has a professional watching over it, keeping you on top of your plan, updating you on whether you’re on schedule and helping you see off any problems.

To see how this can be done look at this case study of work done for North West Employers.

You can do this too – have a look at 54 degrees’ free milestone reporting template to see how we can keep you informed of your project’s progress.

And when the project has been safely delivered – you can still celebrate with lunch in the pub.