How to Automate Project Management

Project management involves a lot of moving parts. From assigning the right people to the right jobs to balancing deadlines and budgets, it’s easy to lose track fast.

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And worst of all, failing to meet the target time-to-market means losing ground to competitors. It’s no wonder that 82% of companies adopt project management software, including automation tools, to avoid costly setbacks.

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So, how do you put your projects on autopilot? It’s time to find out.

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What is project management automation?

Project management automation uses technology to automate any recurring tasks. Things like assigning team members, scheduling meetings, and generating reports may look simple.

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But as these granular tasks stack up, project managers end up losing sight of the bigger picture. The entire project, as a result, is at risk of failure.

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Project management automation can handle all that in one swoop. All it takes is a slight configuration on your end.

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It’s a no-brainer way to reduce manual loads. Rather than spending 5 hours on administrative tasks, put them on autopilot and dedicate more of your time to strategic work.

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Why should you automate project management?

Project management automation can save you time and money, but the benefits far extend that. Businesses that embrace such tools have reported improvements in the following areas:

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1. Team-Wide Productivity. Automation helps set clear standards, such as the deadline, goal, and requirements of a task. Every member not only knows what to do but also how to move forward — pushing the project toward faster completion.

2. Enhanced Accuracy. At times, a line of error, especially if overlooked, can escalate in size and cost. Automation minimizes that tendency from day one. It eliminates any lapses in attention, skills, or judgment.

3. Improved Accountability. Following up on task progress can be tiring, to the point that it distracts you from your real responsibilities. Automation can handle monotonous routines like sending reminders or updating to-do lists. Thanks to those, your team members can stay focused and finish work on time.

4. Huge Time-Saving. It’s no secret that longer projects incur higher costs. By integrating automation, speed up every phase in your project management flow, from the initial planning to final execution and monitoring.

5. Project Tracking. Whether you’re in a small, medium, or big team, it’s easy to get your tasks scrambled. Automation helps bring order to chaos. It organizes all tasks in one hub, where everyone can align and work toward a more efficient process.

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4 phases of automation implementation

Many people are afraid to take the plunge, fearing that automation will be an overkill. Based on the benefits laid out above, though, it’s clear that having automation in place is far better than having none at all. So, if you’re ready to bring in automation for the success of your team, workflow, and project, make sure that you start off on the right foot with the guidelines below.

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1. Analysis

A project requires the collaboration of different functions and roles. Each department has its unique way of working and faces a distinct set of challenges or bottlenecks.

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Automation can solve nearly all the scenarios in your organization, but first, you’ll need to do a deep dive. Frameworks such as the Urgency Importance Matrix or SWOT analysis will come in handy here. They help identify areas that either urgently need automation or are likely to benefit the most from its implementation.

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It’s also a good idea to scour past logs, archives, or documentation. Doing so will give you clues on any teams that have been struggling to meet the key performance indicators (KPIs). At times, the issue does not lie within the people. Without the right technology, even the brightest minds can fall behind due to unsolved inefficiencies.

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Once you’ve noted down the hurdles, time to ask yourself — what end game would you like to achieve with automation? Establish any goals, outcomes, and success criteria.

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Make sure to not only double down on qualitative but also quantitative measurements. Instead of a vague goal like “Finishing a project faster”, go with “Finishing a project 20% faster than the estimated timeline.”

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Once the problems and the solutions are crystal clear, it’ll be easier to determine the proper automation tools that can address your company’s needs.

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For example, if your IT team has a hard time prioritizing which bugs to solve, automation offers a ticketing system with embedded severity scoring. That way, your developers know which critical problem to tackle first.

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2. Design

Now, you’ve figured out which tech stack will streamline your work, but that’s only the first step. However, any solution is only as good as the workflow to support it.

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Therefore, paint a process map. Visualization captures in detail how each step is interconnected and even influences one another through cause and effect.

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From there, you’ll have an illustration of the workflows, along with the business logic and any integration or decision points behind the system. Your next responsibility is to define how tasks will flow in the entire value chain — between team members, the rules and conditions that will trigger certain actions, etc.

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The outcome is to build a solid infrastructure where the current process, from assigning tasks to approvals, works hand-in-hand with project management automation tools.

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Before full deployment, it’s also wise to set up a test environment, validating whether the integrations are the correct solutions to the problems.

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3. Implementation

With the design in hand, it’s time to bring your concepts to life. Use the specifications as your baseline in writing scripts, creating workflows, setting up APIs, or configuring rules and logic that will fuel the automation.

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However, mind that not all members of your team might be ready for automation. That’s why you’ll need to test every automated process in a small, controlled batch before rolling it out at a larger scale. Along the way, you’ll receive feedback on any bumps that need smoothing out.

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Understandably, it’s rather impossible to hope for a one-size-fits-all solution. Still, your approach should receive approval from the majority for it to function at its fullest capacity.

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4. Maintenance

At the end of the day, automation is an investment, and it’s only natural to expect some returns on it.

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Have you seen any uptick in productivity? Is your bottom line well-protected against potential delays? These are some surefire signals that indicate how automation is working in your company’s favor.

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But of course, even with automation, no process is bound to be perfect. Automation should help clear out any roadblocks getting in the way, but you’ll still need to fine-tune the machine. 

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For instance, if you’ve achieved a 5% improvement in productivity, what’s stopping you from pushing that to 25%? Just like AI or any other technology, automation benefits from constant learning to unlock its highest potential.

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6 ways to automate project management

Most people think that automation can only help with one or a couple of small tasks. The truth is that automation can streamline every stage of your workflow. 

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From turning the spark of an idea into action to managing day-to-day operations, here’s how automation can be of great help:

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1. Auto-assign tasks based on the project stage

Every task has a leveling up. Think of a marketing team working on a campaign. A junior staff member would develop the core ideas. The supervisor will review it, either returning the draft for polishing or greenlighting it for the next step.

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However, delays inevitably occur. This is caused by a gap in communication inside a team. The junior staff member, while occupied with another deadline, might not realize that there’s a revision needing immediate attention. The supervisor has communicated the feedback but has forgotten to follow up. In the end, the campaign gets pushed back.

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The solution to this communication loop is automation. In a clutter-free workspace, every team member has transparency on what they need to do. Plus, you can move the tasks to a specific status, such as “To Review” or “In Revision”. Nothing slips through the cracks, and your project continues moving at full speed.

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2. Send deadline reminders

Spreadsheets are great, but they require constant manual updates. Team members still have to manually monitor tasks that are due or overdue. Not to mention, you’ll still have to send gentle reminders to the person responsible.

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And if the needle doesn’t move, there’s an extra step of making a cautionary nudge. But as tasks and problems pile up, critical things tend to go under the rug.

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So, instead of humans sending out reminders, let automation take the grind. This tool can automatically trigger a reminder via the most frequently used channels, like Slack, email, or even WhatsApp. Nothing gets left behind.

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3. Generate weekly status reports

Most people will agree that reports are stressful. From collecting raw data to turning it into neat charts and graphs, the process can take anywhere from a few days to well over a week.

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Sometimes, too many stakeholders are involved in the review of a report. Revisions begin pouring in, adding even more time and pressure. No one gets their work done.

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Thankfully, you can now automate reports, such as project summaries. This tool will generate the following critical metrics in the snap of a finger:

• % complete
• Overdue tasks
• Budget used
• Etc

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Instead of wasting time adjusting reports, you’ll use your energy to identify what to improve and the actions to take.

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4. Turn form submissions into tasks

Forms are your source of truth. However, deriving insights and organizing them into actionable steps requires significant resources. Too often, form results are only gathered, but then, they sit untouched.

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Automation, fortunately, can instantly translate form submissions into tasks, delegating them to the right teams and roles.

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Whether you’re submitting a client brief or reporting bugs, an automated project management tool records all the requirements to eliminate any guesswork.

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Best of all, it’ll also set a hard deadline like a manager would, encouraging your team members to complete work on time.

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5. Sync tasks between tools

It’s easy to get lost in tools. Your team might use Gmail for email, Slack for communications, and Zoho for customer relationship management. All of a sudden, 10 applications are running simultaneously in the background, straining your resources.

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There’s a stress-free way to manage all of these. Enter Boltic, one platform that can connect you to all the necessary tools, whether they’re on your browser, device, or on the cloud.

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In one harmonious move, you can transfer HubSpot form submissions into organized Google Sheet rows, or update your Google Calendar based on the schedules or events saved on the webhook. There are a hundred more possibilities you can tap into.

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All it takes is your sheer creativity, with some tinkering on Boltic, to make tool integrations low-maintenance and workflows less complex.

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6. Auto-archive or close completed tasks

I’ve tested various project management tools in the market. Whether I used Notion or Jira, I constantly hit the same brick wall: a workspace clogged with completed tasks. At times, team members would change turns in tidying up the mess, but that time and energy is better allocated for more important work.

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A project management automation tool like Boltic understands how distracting it is to see such a clogged view. Once a project is finished, it’ll automatically go into the archive board. It’s never gone, so you can go back to it for future reference.

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Advanced marketing automation techniques

Any first step requires inspiration. Here’s a template of an automation workflow, applicable for any in-house or remote marketing teams:

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STEP 1: Use Boltic to import customer data from your CRM (Zoho, Hubspot, etc) or online store (Shopify) into Spreadsheets. Use Streams to track customer behavior and other custom-defined events like cart views in real-time.

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STEP 2: The Spreadsheets will automatically categorize leads based on their levels of intent. You can then use Boltic Email Action to trigger a personalized welcome email for each new prospect.

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STEP 3: Send WhatsApp direct messages by connecting Interakt to high-intent leads (those who have submitted a form or added to a cart).

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STEP 4: Schedule a follow-up email or WhatsApp chat based on specific intervals (every 3 days or every Monday) to leads who didn't reply your initial message. 

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STEP 5: Initiate a simple and quick API call with Facebook for retargeting ads that you can also publish on Instagram.

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STEP 6: Attach a Monitor to let your team members know when a certain action is successful or failed. Send alerts via email or Slack to accelerate troubleshooting.

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STEP 7: Log CRM records into automated reports. Analyze clicks, conversions, email opens, and other business or marketing metrics at a glance.

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STEP 8: Use Boltic Email Reports to compile and present statistics in a digestible format for the stakeholders.

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Case studies and real-world examples

Automation is not a far-fetched gimmick. Many global brands, such as DHL Group and VODAFONE, have transformed their project management process using this technology.

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1. DHL Group

DHL Group is an international shipping and logistics company. Managing one of the world’s most expansive and intricate supply chains, the company has a complex mix of software, apps, and everything in between — from SAP to Oracle.

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There are thousands of employees performing a multitude of tasks across a range of platforms on any given day. Everything is in disarray, and only a few people have transparency on who does what.

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DHL uses end-to-end automation to track and unite all these systems. The tool standardizes any complex workflow, so the employees always know the logical course of action to fulfill their goals.

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2. VODAFONE

VODAFONE is a multinational telecommunications company based in the UK. Being a globally spread corporation, each team at VODAFONE follows different management practices.

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This diversity in work styles is both a blessing and a curse. On one side, members can learn from varied perspectives. On the other hand, it creates inefficiency at scale. Projects and tasks become hard to manage. With so many people on board, it becomes hard to maximize human resource allocations.

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Automation comes to the rescue. It starts with a harmonized guideline to unify all project and portfolio management processes across regional operations. The software further enhances visibility by granting every member red carpet access to the project’s progress, budget usage, and resource management.

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Thanks to centralized reporting mechanisms, senior managers no longer have to be stuck in a rut of monotonous routines. Equipped with real-time insights, they’re ready to deliver meaningful business impact with data-driven decision-making.

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3. McDonald's

For every company in today’s tech-forward era, including food and beverage businesses like McDonald's, the IT team is the company’s bread and butter. However, it is also a sprawling department that’s especially difficult to control.

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Since McDonald’s frequently holds limited-time promotions and seasonal offerings, the IT team needs to be quick on its feet. They need to make sure that McDonald's website and apps can adapt quickly and smoothly to constant changes.

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To deliver projects on time, the IT teams, external vendors, and store managers have to collaborate. Or else, they’ll risk losing their loyal customers.

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Thankfully, collaboration between all involved parties is made easy with automation. McDonald’s relies on project management automation to synchronize workflows, align priorities, and maintain top-notch quality across digital touchpoints.

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Key challenges in project management automation

Introducing new technology isn’t simply plug-and-play. Many team members might feel confused and lost, and that’s perfectly normal. Here are some quick solutions to some of the common problems you’ll likely come across:

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1. Automation Resistance. A team usually consists of members from different generations. Not everyone will be ready to welcome sophisticated tools with open arms. The key is to invest not only in technology but also in the people who will interact with it. Make sure to conduct regular training, mentoring, and Q&A sessions.

2. Lost Human Touch. Automation is technology, and it’s not capable of emotions as humans are. And yet, some lines of work, like marketing or customer service, require automation for customer-facing interactions. It’s important to find balance — team members should actively prompt the engine to add personalized engagement.

3. Failed Integrations. Only a few project management automation tools, like Boltic, are compatible with multi-field solutions, be it from messaging to enterprise resource planning (ERP) software. Even removing one application can be a significant loss to your workflow. Make sure to choose the right platform to avoid last-minute regrets.

4. Rushed Implementations. Automation is meant to solve problems and not create new ones. Monitor the implementation process, from start to finish, without overlooking even the smallest details that can bring technical issues the day after.

5. Failed RoI. Technology does not come cheap. And yet, many companies neglect to evaluate how much they manage to save or gain from automation. A thorough financial analysis is crucial for sustainable and scalable results.

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Automate your entire project workflow with Boltic

Project management is the difference between taking control and losing your grip. And yet, when you’re managing tons of people, tools, and projects, things can soon turn in the wrong direction.

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So, how do you keep on track? Project management automation tools like Boltic seamlessly connect you to the most needed platforms. Think Slack, email, or even complex ERPs like Oracle. Any task, no matter how big or complex, can be divided into manageable chunks.

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No more disarray. Instead, confidently move your entire team toward clarity, efficiency, and transparency.