They say that every disaster is an opportunity you must seize. With all seriousness and without trying to downplay the disaster Coronavirus has caused, we will have to move on and adapt to our new-found reality. For many, remote teams are an essential component to staying safe while keeping work moving efficiently.
As of Friday, March 13th, 2020, President Trump has placed a ban on all European travel, Italy is under total quarantine, Czechia’s Prime Minister has declared a state of emergency, and other countries will soon follow. A lot of businesses will have to close down, people will lose jobs, but for those fortunate enough to be able to work remotely, project management tools like Redmine are an essential component to keeping their jobs running smoothly. This article is intended primarily for those transitioning to remote work and management, or people looking for insight into the best tools and tricks to manage a distributed workforce, but even die-hard Redmine users might find some helpful information to keep work stress-free in these trying times.
Key Management Tools for Any Remote Job
One of the key weapons in our arsenal for fighting COVID-19 is social distancing. Let’s run down a few of the tools Redmine offers to keep our teams together, even when we must be apart.
Create Tasks
All project members have to be able to see their tasks and priorities. Redmine is very powerful in this regard, and you can set dues dates, priorities, assignees, watchers, add files, etc easily. The task, which is called an "issue" in Redmine, can always be updated. You can comment on any update, which creates a chronological "journal", essentially a conversation between the assignee and the manager.
See Tasks in a Timeline
Any project manager, or member for that matter, needs to see their tasks and projects laid out in a chronological context. A Gantt chart is a perfect tool for that. You can either use the built-in Gantt chart Redmine offers, or you can use more advanced tools like the drag & drop RedmineX Gantt Chart.
See How Much Time Is Being Spent On A Project
Time is money, right? Well how do we keep projects profitable and on schedule when no one is in the office together? Redmine features a vital time tracking tool, an integral feature for any project manager looking to understand where their team’s time is being spent.
Agile View For Agile Managers
If you're into Agile management, the best tool for viewing all tasks using Scrum or Kanban methodologies is RedmineUP Agile. You can easily drag & drop tasks to change their status and add additional information if need be.
Add Tasks Flawlessly
Remote management requires quick action. For your team to handle their tasks quickly, you need to be able to communicate as fast as possible and express yourself easily so that your remote project member understands you. One tool to help you achieve this is the Redmine CK Editor, which will help you create paragraphs, headings, lists, insert links, images, etc. This way, you can flawlessly express yourself, making communication with your workers efficient and painless.
Working Effectively is Our Mantra
Effective work is our second nature. It’s why we founded Abacus Themes. We want to ensure Redmine users are as productive and efficient as possible. Redmine is a powerful tool for managing people, both in the office and remotely as well. This is just a sampling of the powerful tools and methods Redmine offers to keep your projects running at peak performance, no matter what is going on in the outside world.
We are all in this fight together, and the last thing we at Abacus Themes want to do is profit off of anyone's misfortune. None of the links in this article include our affiliate IDs, so we aren’t making any money if you download the provided tools.
These are tremendously stressful times for many, but hopefully maintaining a sense of normalcy and efficient work with Redmine can help ease the burden as we all fight against this virus, and emerge stronger and more unified when it is all over.
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