How 20 Different Construction Teams Manage Their Projects
How 20 Different Construction Teams Manage Their Projects
February 17, 2017 Shane Hedmond
Appfluence
The following is a guest post from Kari at Appfluence, maker of Priority Matrix, a priority management solution that helps construction teams execute more effectively, by centralizing project information and enhancing communication.
As a manager, it’s not uncommon to ask yourself, ‘am I doing this right?’ Even the most experienced managers in the construction industry consistently strive to learn different methods of management that allow them to increase their team efficiency and deliver more successful projects.
However, without a benchmark to compare themselves to, it’s hard to know if what you’re doing is ‘normal’ or working as effectively possible.
Here at Appfluence, we set out to find the answers.
We surveyed 20 Construction Project Managers, along with a 5 senior-level and VP-level managers from construction firms across the country. In this article, we’re explore how they run their projects, from the number of meetings and emails they deal with each week, to the software they use, and their best advice for success.
Emails and Meetings: A Necessary ‘Evil’
Emails
Among Construction Managers, the average amount of time spent on emails was 2.35 hours per day, with a median of two. This amounted to a median number of of 38 emails per day. Compared with project managers, this information provides an interesting contrast, as it is notably lower. For reference, project managers handled a median number of 50 emails per day, or 3 hours of time communicating with their team via email (source).
The difference can likely be explained by the fact that construction managers spend significantly more time in the field than project managers, and thus have less access to their email throughout the day. As opposed to project managers, who reported spending the day frequently checking their email, the best practice among construction managers is blocking out time either before or after heading to the jobsite to catch up on correspondence.
Among construction teams, some of the main frustrations expressed were the tedious process of digging through stale emails to find an important document, or information falling through the cracks due to an un-responded message.
If your inbox is overwhelming you, try carving out an extra 20 minutes at the end of each day to make sure everything is both well-organized and responded to
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