This is a transcript of our webinar with Kyle Gilbert, Phoenix Arizona digital agency Kitchen Sink Studios. Kyle explains how TeamGantt project management software helps them finish their projects on-time and within budget.
My name is Kyle Gilbert. I am currently the production manager at Kitchen Sink Studios. I’m the project manager for the entire agency. I also serve as the production manager for our film team and ensure that all film projects run smoothly. TeamGantt is my daily tool to organize all our projects and track their progress. Today, I will give you some insight into the project manager and show you how TeamGantt works and the benefits it offers.
Kitchen Sink Studios is a creative design and consulting firm in downtown Phoenix. Kitchen Sink Studios is a creative and design consultancy in downtown Phoenix. We offer everything: branding, print design web design, development renderings, animation, illustration copywriting, photography, film, social media, and more. We do all of our work in-house, with dedicated teams for each service. TeamGantt is the perfect platform because all sections of the business operate at their own pace. TeamGantt’s timeline feature is crucial in order to see how these projects relate and how they overlap for clients.
Why use gantt charts?
TeamGantt has been our customer for three years. We have been very happy with the results both on our side and from our clients. They love the way we share our project plans. It is crucial to be able to visualize the project in a timeline. As you can see, I have created sections for each section of the business. We have a section for web development, a section for film, photography, branding, identity, and even a bit of account management.
What I will do is create a Gantt chart that covers the entire scope. This allows me to see how these sections relate to one another. It’s a great visualization of these timelines. You can see how many weeks they span and where different parts overlap. If a graphic designer delivers a graphic element to the movie team, they can look at the Gantt chart to see when the graphic was supposed to be coming in from them. It helps me and all our employees visualize when they get stuff done, how long they have to work on it, as well as what other departments or tasks depend on them. We’ll get to that later.
Quickly judging team capacity
TeamGantt also gives me an instant assessment of my capacity. The most frequent question I receive from business development personnel is “When can we get a job in?” When the account manager approaches me, I can tell them what I can do. They ask me “How busy are we on the web development side of the business in March?” I can look at my chart and see the development group to see how many tasks or hours they have each day, week, or month.
This color-coded synopsis is fantastic. I can see exactly what they are working on. The busier they are, the more red a box is. If the account manager approached me today and asked when they could take on development work, I would click on one of these boxes to gauge. I would estimate how long it will take to complete these tasks and depending on how large a project is, I might tell them to wait until mid-April to start another development project.
Client communication
At Kitchen Sink, we believe in transparency. Kitchen Sink is transparent. We share our gantt charts to our clients so that they can be a part.
