There are many project management SaaS tools out there – but one that you may not have considered is Google Docs. Google Docs has all the functionality built in to be used as a project management tool – and it’s so easy for anyone to pick up (including clients). So I thought I’d write this blog and show you some of the benefits:
Google Docs for Feedback and Scope Creep
One way Google Docs shines is feedback and scope creep – and it basically works like this. Let’s say you finish a project and the client gets back to you with some feedback 1,2,3 and 4. You do that feedback, but they have some more feedback on point 2. Maybe some other issues get raised as well.
Now this blog is not about how to manage expectations and scope creep that can happen in projects – rather the focus is on how to itemize it.
Here is a sample document – that actually a client of mine created – I had finished their project and various issues were coming up – as well as various feature requests – so we created this document to manage them.
You can see there are 3 columns (all though you can create your own columns) – and every item had a due date. The great thing is rather than sending a 1001 emails back and forth I could simply comment on a point with any further questions:
As you can see above I can comment on any particular point mentioned and start a thread on just that topic – having everything on a one page document is so much easier than going back and forth on 50 emails – with the many other things that can come up it’s good to have everything in one place.
Read also: 7 Tips to Lead a Successful Project
Use Standard Back and Forth Emails to Initialize Scope
When I start I go back and forth with the client about what they are after – and maybe summarize everything in an email – and then if issues come up or there are many emails that are coming in – a Google Doc may be an option.
This really depends on the project – for some projects there is not much feedback – you can usually get an email back from the client with what they need changed and maybe one or two more emails. However with other projects what can happen is issues can come up that are unexpected or found only later – a Google Doc is a great way to manage this.
Have you used Google Doc for project management – please comment below with your thoughts!
Author bio
Kosta Kondratenko is a web developer working for his company Head Studios (https://headstudios.com.au) – a wordpress agency in. He is responsible for wordpress development in Sydney and is also an SEO expert. He has over 10 years of experience and loves to write blog posts about topics happening in his industry. He’s passionate about sharing his knowledge and helping others achieve their goals.
