Creativity is a funny thing. Creative people need the freedom to be able to come up with concepts and develop their ideas. But too much freedom can be a bad thing. The truth is that even the most out-of-the-box creative projects require firm and structured management if you want to get the most from the team responsible. In this blog post, we’re going to deep dive into the whys, wherefores, and how-tos of creative team management.

As we all know, COVID-19 has had a seismic impact on how just about every industry approaches the work they do. When the pandemic first took hold, many businesses were left floundering, desperately trying to figure out not only how to continue working, but how to do so effectively. The digital project management tools that we have relied on to get us through this extended period of unrest and remote working have been indispensable.

The Gantt chart is one of the most enduring project management tools in history, owing mainly to its versatility, ease of use, and wide scope of application. In fact, a recent survey reported that for 45% of project team members, it is their most used software feature, while for 22% of respondents in a similar survey, it is the most desired project management tool.

“Remember to celebrate milestones as you prepare for the road ahead.” – Nelson Mandela Just as the original term ‘milestone’ denotes a marker indicating distance traveled, so milestones in project represent a task or activity completed so far. But they are actually far more useful and versatile than that. In this post, we define project milestones, and explore why they’re an essential part of the project management process.

As the popular maxim goes, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Nowhere is this truer than in the creation of a project plan. And, as training organization PM4DEV explains, “a project can only be successful if the success criteria were defined from the start.” Without a plan, you can’t define or measure the scope of the project or its success.

Stratford Group is a leading management consulting firm based in Ottawa, Canada. Their goal is simple – help organizations and their leaders grow, improve and transform. As the President of Management Consulting, Colleen Kelley leads the business strategy and operations practice for Stratford Group.