Overview of Project Team Metrics - Provided by Kevin Mulleady

The metrics of project teams is a management style harnessed by sector-agnostic entrepreneur, Kevin Mulleady. Kevin Mulleady relies on project team metrics to support his business endeavors to grow, evolve, and retain top talent. Employees rely on project feedback to improve internally and meet personal and company goals. Project team metrics are never a one-size-fits-all. Companies, rather leaders, must determine the most appropriate metrics to achieve organizational goals.

Types of Project Team Metrics

The following are an abbreviated collection of the top metrics used to evaluate project teams. Depending on the particular industry, an organization may require specialized metrics needed for performance reviews.

Project Values

Three types of project values are scrutinized by a management team throughout the different phases, inclusive of actual cost planned value, and earned value. Planned value is the first metric calculated and estimated using variable equations. For instance, one can estimate how many hours are needed to complete the project and multiply that number by employees' hourly rates. One example: 65 estimated hours at an average salary of $75 per hour equates to $4,875. The actual cost undergoes review once the project launches and evaluated repeatedly at different intervals. Intervals are determined by preset project benchmarks. Once the project has finished, earned value demonstrates whether each project goal fell within budget.

Cost Performance Index

Once budgets are determined, a cost performance index metric allows one to measure your project's timelines. Are goals being met on time or early? Or is the project falling behind? The cost performance index proves financial efficiency. The ratio for cost performance index is the earned value divided by the actual cost. If the quotient is higher than 1 than the project is performing well within budget.

Attendance

Being present can be a strong indicator of whether or not the organization's team will be successful. Working as a team requires that each member is present and punctual. If leaders note a team member is consistently absent from project meetings or late, this is problematic. Although low attendance is not always a critical project setback, it may require management to offer remediation strategies.

Productivity

Productivity is a typical measurement used by management to look at how well teams are utilizing resources. Productivity is measured by looking at evaluating units of input and units of output. Another productivity measurement is to determine the cost of managing processes for project teams. If management costs are too high, this could be indicative of a problem within the group. Managers need to focus on high-level processes and should not be spending exorbitant amounts of time micromanaging teams.

Quality

The quality of work performed by each team member is a critical metric for projects. To calculate this metric, each manager must consider factors such as total project hours, budgetary limitations, and gross profit margins.

Return on Investment

Not all projects have the potential to recoup the investment immediately. Usually, a company will only use this metric for extended projects. One strategy to calculate return on investment is to use the ratio of net benefits over total investment. Typically, leaders don’t rely on per project ROI calculations. Instead, they calculate the ROI per portfolio or quarter term.

Customer Satisfaction

Most project successes can be evaluated based on customer satisfaction levels. Some companies score customer satisfaction levels between 0 and 100. Always remind employees that products and services should meet or exceed client expectations. A larger range isn’t always better though due to cultural differences, according to a study conducted by Psychological Science. As one example, Americans who complete customer satisfaction surveys are more prone to extreme values compared to those surveyed in Asian countries.

Employee Satisfaction Levels

Post-project surveys to team members give leaders critical data about how well they liked working on the project and how they would rate management throughout the process. Similar to customer satisfaction, employees may submit surveys with a rating range between 0 and 100. Other metrics used include 0 to 5 scores or marked satisfaction levels.

Tips on performance team metrics

Quantifying the work performance of team members isn't always straightforward, especially since each team member has value outside of any given project. Although one team member's performance may be lagging in one project, he or she could end up excelling in the next. Poor market performance of a completed project may bear no reflection on the work conducted by team members. Be concise but positive when giving feedback to project teams. Focus on what goals were met before making suggestions on what needs to improve in the future.

Kevin Mulleady is a sector-agnostic entrepreneur, philanthropist, and investor. After a degree conferment from Rutgers University in mechanical and aerospace engineering, he traveled overseas before working in Manhattan in the financial sector. He has been instrumental in launching multiple companies including, but not limited to, Phoenixus AG, Travere Therapeutics, and the StoneCorner Group, LLC. Kevin Mulleady attributes his success to always having a startup mentality while running a company. His achievements are also traced back to his natural resourcefulness, analytical way of problem-solving, and a highly driven personality. Managing project teams efficiently is the foundation of productivity within any organization and a rule Kevin Mulleady abides by for all of his ventures.