How to help ensure your project meets its deadline

Managing a project is not for the faint hearted, as there is potentially so much that could go wrong and many things you will need to monitor – some of which will be entirely out of your control. In situations like this, nobody would blame you for throwing in the towel and not bothering – but all is not lost.

By using certain tools and services, you can sidestep some of the pitfalls that could easily cause you to fail – and instead finish the project on time. However, there are a great many alternatives, but not all of them will be a good fit, so you will have to choose carefully.

Make full use of communication software

Communication with a team can be difficult, but when members of that team are working remotely and possibly in different time zones from each other, it can get complicated. Finding the right communication software is vital so that information is not lost and those not part of the normal office routine don’t feel excluded.

What you are looking for might not be one of the industry leaders, so some trial and error might be needed to find the right one. However, whatever you decide is likely to be much more effective than communicating via email or setting up a project WhatsApp group.

Effective API management

Any sort of project is going to heavily rely on developers not being overloaded with work if it is going to be completed on schedule. Failure to do so will either cause it to be delivered late or delivered on time but error-strewn and unusable. To get around this, you need to make sure your developers are not tied up doing things they don’t have to.

By using an API gateway open source solution, you can make your developers more productive and easier to onboard any new developers you need to keep the project on track. With this aspect of the project easily managed, you can concentrate on other areas that are often overlooked.

Scheduling and project management software

This can include overseeing the whole project, which can be difficult if you keep getting sidetracked by issues. If you use project management software, you can still see what is meant to be happening, and so can everyone else. This is important if a specialist in a key area can see a possible overrun you hadn’t been aware of.

Scheduling software is also useful here, especially if you have people working in different time zones. Having your team waiting for an answer from someone who is not going to be active for another 12 hours is time wasted, and a firm knowledge of who is working and when can mean they can work on something else in the meantime rather than sitting idle for an answer that isn’t coming.

To wrap everything up

Project management can be a thankless task, but using the right tools can still deliver your project on time. API management is key, as this can be a drain on your developer’s time, and by scheduling everything and everyone, you can see what is happening. This allows you to communicate with everyone involved about what is going on, which is no mean feat when you could potentially have a team that is distributed around the globe.

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About the Author:

I am a cybersecurity and IT instructor, cybersecurity analyst, pen-tester, trainer, and speaker. I am an owner of the WyzCo Group Inc. In addition to consulting on security products and services, I also conduct security audits, compliance audits, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. I also teach Cybersecurity Awareness Training classes. I work as an information technology and cybersecurity instructor for several training and certification organizations. I have worked in corporate, military, government, and workforce development training environments I am a frequent speaker at professional conferences such as the Minnesota Bloggers Conference, Secure360 Security Conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, the (ISC)2 World Congress 2016, and the ISSA International Conference 2017, and many local community organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, and several school districts. I have been blogging on cybersecurity since 2006 at http://wyzguyscybersecurity.com

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