“I love flying blind! Oh look, we’re about to fly headfirst into a mountain.” And it’s a mountain of misplaced expectations, lost brains, and absolute disorder.
We all like and need certainty in our lives. And when it comes to scaling an agency, knowing where we’re winning and where we need a little bit of help is vital to agency growth.
Hardly anything happens in a vacuum and effective project management is another one of those things. You need to make sure you’ve got the right tools and processes in place for scaling and growing.
Because bottom line? You can’t scale chaos.
So, how do you define KPIs for project management? It’s ScaleTime to the rescue to right your flight and steer you clear of the Mountain of Chaos.
Check out our top growth KPIs for measuring project management tools to see just how well (or not) your current project management processes are working.
Hold up — what makes a good KPI anyway?
KPI stands for Key Performance Indicator.
Every internut (typo and it stays) guru and their uncle will throw a million KPIs you must measure or else!!! at you. But I want you to focus on KPIs that are:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Realistic
- Time-bound
Anything less, and you’re going to get overwhelmed. So let’s focus on the following to keep us on track.
Growth KPI #1: Project Run Rate
Gotta keep an eye on that budget. Success isn’t just about right deliverables, although that’s vital too. You also need to keep an eye on expense efficiency.
Unforeseen issues can and often do occur during the course of a project. Project Run Rate can help you see how, why, and where budget shifts need to happen.
Projects that keep running over budget are going to raise an eyebrow when it comes to your agency’s integrity. So, track the Cost Performance Index, or CPI KPI (catchy, right?) to measure how well you’re doing.
Project Run Rate = Earned Value/Actual Costs
Earned Value is how much work’s gotten done at a specified cost. Actual Costs are pretty straightforward — they’re the money that’s already been spent on the project.
If CPI is high (over 1), then you’ll finish the project under budget. Too low (below 1), and you’re about to go over. This KPI is vital to understanding your project’s health – whether it’s a one time project or retained services.
So, you’re 2 months into a 6 month project budgeted at 5k, month, you look at your data and you’ve spent 14k through two months. Houston, we have a problem. Time to look at managing your team’s time to get back on track.
Growth KPI #2: On Time Deliverables
Delivering on time is just as critical as staying on budget. Schedule Performance Index (SPI) helps you measure how well your team is sticking to the schedule.
SPI = Earned Value/Planned Value
Planned Value is the planned percentage of work you’re aiming to complete within budget.
Say you’ve got a 10K budget and 40% of the project left to do. Planned Value is 4K.
Use SPI to compare your actual costs and time and tweak the budget if you must.
We often underestimate our timelines and how long a particular task is going to take. You usually can’t identify a creeping scope down to the last detail.
This KPI will help you see where you have some leeway with timelines without jeopardizing the budget.
You have a client who wants copy for their next email campaign. But oh yeah, could you just add in a few A/B split tests while you’re at it, too? For copy and subject lines? You’ve got the time for that, don’t you?
Dutifully measure this KPI, and you’ll know if it’s, “OMG, hair on fire! Must get done ASAP!” Or if you can breathe a sigh of relief. SPI helps you figure out your project management priorities and if you have some breathing room in the schedule.
Growth KPI #3: Resource Capacity
Resources are finite.
Does your team have the time needed to hit milestones by their due date? What about changes in scope? Does your team have the bandwidth to accommodate?
You must have the right amount of resources (people and their time) to complete your projects on schedule and within budget. That way, you’ll have a happy customer, and happy employees, at the end.
When you’re short of crucial resources, projects are painful.
You’ve might have been here before. You didn’t adequately onboard your client (no worries we’ve all been there, done that). Now they’re asking for “little” extras that are really adding up, resulting in an out-of-control, ballooning project and stressed employees.
You have to measure your resource capacity to prevent these kinds of problems.
So project managers, measure your resource capacity KPIs for maximum performance and resource efficiency.
When you set this KPI, make the target realistic. No one goes full-throttle, 100% productive throughout the whole day. We all need a coffee break (or five) at times.
Measuring this KPI has several different benefits:
- You can allocate resources properly
- Determine any hiring needs
- Set an accurate schedule for deliverables
- Determine an accurate project completion timeline
Resource Capacity = # of Project Team Members X % of Time Team Members are Available to Work
Use Growth KPIs and Go from Good to Gold
With the measurables of project management, you’ll:
- More quickly and easily scale your agency
- Increase your business integrity
- Become more efficient, lean, and mean
Use these top three project management KPIs to keep your project’s on track, within budget, and your clients happy.
Are you having trouble measuring KPIs and optimizing for growth? Reach out to us today.
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