PM Minimalism: Why You Need to Declutter Your Tech Environment

Many applications promise to boost productivity. However, adopting multiple tools doesn’t always mean team performance will improve. On the contrary, sometimes it can lead to a cluttering of your work environment and reduced productivity. Continue reading to learn the real effect of using too many apps at work.

Clutter Alarm: What Kills Your Productivity and Wastes Money

The problem of “technological clutter” is quite common. If your company is cluttered, you might find these scenarios familiar:

In an attempt to boost productivity, you use tens of apps and tools. You spend hours updating them, delaying more important tasks. People in SaaS-powered workplaces use an average of 34 apps in their work, and the number is rising every year.
You’ve adopted “enhanced methodologies” to make your work innovative, yet it’s resulted in a complex environment. PMs waste much time completing reports and forms and updating information in multiple apps. CEB, a subsidiary of Gartner, estimates that this “control process” can take up to 30% of your time.
Your workplace has turned into a “tech battlefield” with tools that promise to make things better but actually don’t. Scrolling, tapping, and filling forms in all these tools takes too much time. You’ve invested in productivity software, but it isn’t making your team more productive. The 2019 Pulse of the Profession Report by PMI shows that project performance hasn’t improved in the past five years. Companies still waste almost 12% of their investments due to poor performance.

According to the latest statistics, enterprises waste an average of $7.4 million per company per year, or $247 per user, on underused and unused software. While 8% of purchased applications are used less than once a month, 30% are not used at all. This is where the clutter and massive waste come from.

Why You Need to Switch to Tech Minimalism at Work

As Leonardo Da Vinci once said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” However, many managers seem to have forgotten this: instead of investing in simplification, they invest in complexity. Data from PMI shows that while nearly 80% of organizations have gone through a considerable transformation using disruptive technology, only about 25% of those have managed to gain noticeable benefits.

The “less is more” approach may help make your workplace more productive. Ekaterina Martyn, a Project Manager at Epicflow, shares a common need of all PMs: “We all need just one easy-to-use tool that requires minimum efforts for updating.” Among the most successful companies that have adopted a minimalist approach in their management strategies are Amazon, WhatsApp, and Netflix, each of which has its own way of being “minimalistic at work.”

How to Make Your Work Minimalistic Yet Effective

Wondering how to start this process of decluttering? We recommend you take the following steps to embark on your journey to minimalism:

Find PM software that actually brings value. 55% of PMs don’t have access to real-time project KPIs, and nearly 50% spend a day or more manually making project reports every month. If you still don’t have software that provides real value, read more about the top features of PM software in 2019 and consider Epicflow – multi-project management software that gives you a holistic view of resource allocation and team performance, helps you make better decisions faster, and eliminates project risks.

Choose simplicity. Make sure your software promotes simplicity rather than complexity. It should simplify your life, not add more trouble to it.

Adopt software efficiently. Only 44% of organizations report their use of PM software as being mature and contributing to operational efficiency. When implementing a new application, make sure all of your team members know how to use it properly and understand the value of the new system.

Manage people, not technology. Technology is about getting things done automatically. You need to make sure the tech you choose helps you manage people and projects rather than consumes all your time on updates and working with data.

Create a culture of agility and minimalism. Effective leaders empower employees to drive an organization toward fulfilling its purpose and vision. With a culture of agility and minimalism, you’ll be able to put people at the center of attention, improving the work environment, performance, and productivity.

How many tools do you use at your company? Do you feel it’s time to declutter your work environment and find a single source of truth? We suggest you consider Epicflow, a multi-project management tool that makes complex environments easy to manage. Leave your contact info below to request an Epicflow demonstration. One of our PM consultants will contact you to arrange an online meeting and show you how to achieve the best results with this innovative software.