I have been a Project Management Professional (PMP) and an executive for many years (more than I will admit to). Having managed all types and sizes of projects and programs, I have had to deal with every question you might think of. One of the most common questions I have heard and actually asked of my clients is “Do you know what projects your staff is working on?” I know you may be thinking to yourself, “That is a ridiculous question, Bruce,” but I ask you to read a bit more before you rush to a hasty conclusion.

Many organizations use a “projectized or project staffed” business method. Look at groups in engineering, IT, product development, software, construction or professional services if you want to see an example of this. These project-oriented organizations succeed and fail based on the success of their projects. So why do many of them fail? I contend that it is mainly because the project tasks are not assigned to specific people or tracked to see what is happening. Oh, I have heard many project managers tell me that they do assign a person to each task in the plan – only to shrug when I ask if those tasks are tracked by hours worked. We all know that estimating work is very difficult and tracking it can be even harder. Curt Finch, a good friend of mine who has coached me in the value of time tracking, says, “To allocate and manage any resource, it must be seen clearly and then tracked carefully. Time tracking should be a fundamental part of any business.”

Okay, so back to the big question: “How do you know what projects (and tasks) your staff is working on?” The simple answer, according to the project management world, is called resource management. To those not familiar with this term, I’d like to quote Curt again and say that it is “valuing time as a business resource.” You have to put processes in place to begin projects by assigning work in tasks and conclude by looking at the tracked effort (in hours) that was needed to complete the project. This is the only way you can learn from past projects and be more accurate on future estimates.

There are plenty of tools that help with tracking tasks and effort of resources, and though they are necessary, tools alone will not solve this problem. You also need the other two ingredients for good projects: people and processes. So take a look at your organization and see if you can answer the question, “Do I know what projects my staff is working on?”

I would welcome comments or stories about your experience with managing assignments and projects.

Bruce McGraw is the CEO of Cognitive Technologies, and his blog can be found at FearNoProject.com.