Productivity in project management refers to the efficiency with which resources (time, money, human effort) are used to achieve project goals and deliverables. Measuring productivity in this context involves evaluating how effectively tasks are completed relative to the resources consumed.
Project managers are well-used to managing the resources that they have available on a project but it’s important to focus on productivity to make sure those resources are delivering value-for-money.
Projects in some industries are notorious for going over budget or over-schedule (or both) and failing to deliver on promises (project scope). Just think HS2 if you want an example. That means project managers tend to focus on those three project constraints: Budget, Schedule and Scope. The perceived wisdom is this will deliver a successful, good quality project. This can be true, but without a focus on productivity the project may not have delivered good value, which would not suggest a “successful” project. That’s just one of the reasons that productivity must be measured and factored into every project during it’s lifecycle and into the final assessment of a successful delivery.
Here are some of ways productivity can measured within the field of project management:
Task completion metrics
These metrics focus on the progress and completion of tasks within the project’s defined scope. They include the Percentage of Tasks Completed which indicates progress toward project completion as a broad measure. This is not a perfect metric because it doesn’t factor in the complexity of individual tasks but is, nevertheless, useful in tracking progress. It is simply calculated as:
(Completed Tasks / Total Tasks) × 100
It is also useful to measure the Milestone Achievement Rate so you can assess the percentage of milestones achieved on time, according to the project schedule. Cycle Time is another important task completion metric as this is the time taken to complete a task or deliverable. Again, this is a simplistic metric but shorter actual cycle times than planned cycle times often indicate higher productivity. Just be aware that this metric is not incorporating any complexity measure to individual tasks. Complex tasks are more likely to over-run because of un-anticipated problems.
Resource utilisation metrics
These metrics assess how well project resources (human, financial, material) are used within a project. They include Resource Efficiency, which measures how effectively resources are converted into project deliverables. Also, Budget Efficiency, which evaluates, specifically, financial resource productivity as a percentage of the actual value of an output (in monetary terms) compared to the actual budget spent. A third key resource utilisation metric is Team Utilisation Rate, which indicates the percentage of time the team is productively engaged. It is simply a percentage of the billable hours compared to the total hours available.
Schedule performance metrics
These metrics focus on how efficiently time is used to meet deadlines and include Schedule Variance (SV), which indicates whether productivity is ahead of schedule (a positive SV) or whether there have been delays (a negative SV). Schedule Performance Index (SPI) is another valuable metric that determines if project tasks have been completed more efficiently than planned. Also, On-Time Delivery Rate, which reflects how well tasks have adhered to the project timeline.
Team performance
The productivity of individual project team members can be broadly measured by how many tasks they complete in a given time, whether tasks are delivered on time and whether delivery rate is increasing (or decreasing) over the course of the project lifecycle. A decreasing delivery rate can indicate that team morale is suffering and suggest there are issues with sustaining productivity levels. A well-motivated team with good morale amongst individual members is a fundamental part of successful teamwork on a project, which, itself, is essential for high productivity levels.
Quality assessment
It is, of course, essential to evaluate the quality of deliverables, which is a critical aspect of productivity. Metrics such as Defect Rate and Rework Percentage can be useful but, perhaps, the most important aspect of delivering quality is customer satisfaction.
By requesting regular feedback from both stakeholders and the project team you will be able to refine productivity measures and improve the quality of deliverables. Stakeholder feedback allows you to gauge satisfaction with progress, deliverables and quality. Whereas, team feedback enables you to understand any roadblocks or inefficiencies from the team’s perspective. Depending on the particular project and team members, use your judgement to decide if it may be worth requesting anonymous team feedback.
Best practices for measuring productivity
Every project should have clearly defined and measurable objectives in terms of scope, schedule, cost, and quality. On a typical project you will need to measure when tasks are completed, the resources used in completing tasks and whether they were delivered according to the project schedule. Once you have this data you will know iftasks are being completed as planned and if resources are being used efficiently, hence whether costs and timelines align with expectations. This will provide some indication during the project lifecycle if it is meeting quality standards.
Conduct periodic reviews (at the very least monthly) of productivity metrics, task progress, resource allocation and risks. This will assist with implementing continuous improvements during the project. It will also identify where there areareas of inefficiency such as underutilised resources or delays, including delays on inter-dependent tasks internal and external to the project. You will then be able to implement corrective actions, such as redistributing tasks or reallocating resources to get the project back on track.
There are plenty of tools that can be used to efficiently track project metrics, such as Microsoft Planner, Asana, Trello, Basecamp etc. By continuously monitoring and reporting these metrics you will be able to identify trends and areas for improvement, and align productivity metrics with the specific needs and priorities of the project.
By combining metrics with regular evaluations, project managers can gain a comprehensive understanding of productivity, and support data-driven decisions to optimise performance and ensure ultimate project success.
