Teams | Collaboration | Customer Service | Project Management

Building a truly great project schedule from the ground up is exceptionally difficult. Just ask anyone leading a project and usually, workload management makes the top of the list for hard things to do efficiently. We get it. Workloads change at the drop of a hat. And keeping everyone on pace toward completion can feel like an impossible task. For example, do any of these project situations sound familiar?

If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. And that’s typically the reality of client retainers. Shiny, theoretical benefits like predictable income and long-term relationships keep you sold on their value. And blind to their downsides. But the fact remains: Without proper structure and management, retainers will bleed your business dry. In this article, we explain why. And what you can do to make sure your retainers are helping your business (not hurting it).

Anyone who’s worked with a team has likely hit a roadblock of some sort: a missed deadline, miscommunication around a project goal, or failure to meet business expectations. Often, de-briefing a failure can help not only reflect on what happened and why, but to avoid mistakes in the future. But casual conversations around a sensitive topic can often turn personal.

Time and accuracy are two of the most valuable currencies in client services. From the moment you draft a quote to the instant the work begins, your ability to align on expectations can mean the difference between landing a project or losing it. Enter Quotes. Quotes in Teamwork.com allow you to create accurate, professional, and customizable quotes to set your projects up on the right foundation. No one (you, your team, or your clients) benefits from a messy, disorganized, or unrealistic plan.

Taking good meeting notes is an important project management skill to have. By providing your stakeholders with good meeting notes, you’re offering clarity into important conversations and key decisions being made, even if they’re unable to make the meeting. In this article, we discuss different note-taking techniques so you can create effective meeting notes. Meetings are an important part of projects—they are where decisions get made and team members connect with each other.

Missing timesheets, confusing clock-ins, and delayed payroll aren’t just minor hiccups. They’re signs your business is flying blind. That’s exactly why a time tracking policy matters. It works like a map for your team’s hours, guiding when to clock in, how to log work hours, and supporting better time management across the board. Without clear direction, you’re left guessing.

When decisions involve multiple variables and options, a decision matrix helps you evaluate and compare them based on specific criteria. Whether you're choosing a vendor or weighing internal strategies, this step-by-step guide walks you through how to create and use a matrix to make confident, objective decisions. Learn when to use a decision matrix, and when another approach might be a better fit. Decisions, decisions, decisions.