IT Project Management Checklist

Essential IT Project Management Steps

Imagine building and working on an IT project as constructing a new and modern city with all its infrastructure. The architectural plans of the buildings represent the planning process. The regulations are equivalent to the project budget. The contractors and builders are actually the IT developers and designers. And the future citizens are the clients and stakeholders of the project. All these elements and factors must be in complete sync. Overlooking or being careless with just one of these aspects puts your project for a modern metropolis at serious risk of turning into a ghost digital city. Half-built, far exceeding the original budget, and completely deserted.

In the real world, IT projects are less Tony Stark building J.A.R.V.I.S. in his garage and much more methodical. Behind every successful IT project stands perfect organization of all its stages. And perfect organization cannot happen without a checklist.

In this article, you will find a checklist for managing and implementing IT projects using Artavolo, so that you can successfully tackle complex organizational challenges, minimize the risk of failure, and create a truly valuable product – step by step, task by task.

In this guide, we’ve already shared with you how to set up and start working with Artavolo by creating a workbook and a base from scratch or by using one of our ready-made templates. From this article, you’ll also learn more about the different views that Artavolo offers and how to choose the most appropriate one based on the specifics of your project. Let’s continue with our checklist for managing IT projects in Artavolo.

Project Tracking

• Select the Grid view so that each current, completed, or upcoming project is visible on a separate row of the table.
• Create the first column titled Name and start filling in the names of the IT projects.
• Choose the second column to be a Multiple Select type. Name it Stage so you can track the progress of each project – Planned, In development, Research, Completed, etc.
• The third column, Tasks, is again a Multiple Select column type. Enter the number of tasks that need to be completed for the project. This way, you can track how many tasks are completed, in progress, or yet to be started. A color-coded system in green, yellow, and red will make tracking easier and visually clearer.
• Add a fourth column with images to store all necessary visual elements.
• The fifth column is a multi-line column where you can take notes for each project, which will be visible and accessible to every specialist working on the respective project.
• In the sixth column, for date and time, keep track of the deadlines for each project.
• The last, seventh column in this example is again a Multiple Select column. You can duplicate one of the already created columns of this type in the base for faster setup. Simply customize it – this column, named Priority, will help you track which projects are high-priority and urgent and which can be started at a later stage. You can add multiple options to this column and choose and change their colors.
• If you need an additional column in this sample table, just click the “+” icon located in the upper right corner of the screen.
• After creating Select or Multiple Select columns, you can dynamically add or remove items using the column settings menu. It will bring up the same dialog window that you used for the initial setup of the select or multiple select columns.

Bug Tracking in Kanban

• Create a base in Kanban view. The Kanban view allows the creation of multiple cards. In this case, in each individual card, you can add different subtasks related to bug tracking and resolution.
• Choose names for the cards – Selected for development, To do, In progress, Done
• Add new tasks to each card by clicking the “+” icon, and by dragging you can rearrange the positions of the tasks.
• You can add details to each task, which will be visible upon clicking the task itself – description, status, priority (which can be indicated with a color-coded option or percentage), assignee, final completion date, etc.
• The number of all tasks in one card is visible both directly next to the card's title and at the bottom of the card.

Bug Tracking in Grid

Alternatively, you can create a base for tracking bugs and issues in the Grid table view.

• The first column titled Name contains rows with specific tasks.
• The second column, a multiple select type, tracks the Priority of each task.
• The third column, Status, is also a multiple select type and tracks the current work stage of each task.
• The fourth column, Description, is a multi-line column where you can take additional notes for each task.
• The fifth column, Assigned to, is a collaborator-type column. In it, you can assign and change the team members responsible for the task.
• The sixth column, Bug source, is again a multi-line column for taking additional notes.
• The seventh column, Opened date, is a date and time type column – it allows you to track when work on a specific task has started.

Product Backlog

• For clearer visualization and easier tracking of accumulated features, improvements, and bugs, create a Product backlog base in Grid view.
• In the rows of the first text column, Name, list all completed tasks and subprojects, features, improvements, bugs, and other elements related to the main project or product.
• In the second column, Description, you can take notes and add comments regarding each element from the first column.
• The third column, a Select type, again tracks the priority level of each item.
• In the fourth column, Estimate, you can track the expected effort for each item.

In order to quickly create a free base for managing your IT project, we recommend exploring our ready-made templates. Each of them can be easily customized to match the specifics of your project and the requirements of your team. Contact us if you have additional questions or would like to learn more about the possibilities that Artavolo offers!