5 Common challenges in creative project management

Creative project management is a combination of planning and imagination. Project managers manage timeframes, budgets, and teams while letting creativity shine. It’s not always easy to do these projects in a way that makes sense, and if the tooling isn’t in place, teams are likely to get overwhelmed with changes, communication issues, and priorities.

We will go over five common creative project management problems and share with you the creative project management software tools that are able to assist you.

Challenge: Reconciling Multiple Revisions and Feedback Cycles.

In creative work, multiple iterations and edits are expected. From idea to publication, most pieces of content are typically under a few different iterations, and coordinating those iterations can easily become overwhelming. Trying to control this via email chains or chat rooms is fraught with confusion, missed commits and version control problems.

Solution: Web-based Proofing and Version Control Tools

Inspiring creative project management software often include online proofing capabilities, which make feedback easier by centralizing the feedback flow by letting stakeholders comment directly on the designs, words or videos. Groups can view revisions and version history and quickly identify who got feedback and when. This hierarchical format ensures clarity, avoids duplicative feedback, and provides a single point of reference for every revision.

Obstacle: Conflict Between Creative and Non-Creative Teams

Art, creative and marketing projects usually involve multiple stakeholders ranging from designers and writers to marketers, sales people and customers. Such teams might have different agendas, time frames and a different level of knowledge about the creative process. Communication is easily broken leading to delays, unmet expectations, or vague feedback that stops the project from moving forward.

Solution: Project Management and Centralized Communication Tools

Innovative creative agency project management software allows every team member to be connected and informed in real-time. Using a central communication hub, teams can post information, assign tasks, and provide feedback on a single platform. These allow teams to establish dedicated project channels, where everyone has access to timelines, task updates, and milestones so no matter their position, everyone is in sync. This not only minimizes miscommunication but also allows non-creative stakeholders to see the progress of the project and be able to contribute more effectively.

Task: Working Under Pressure and Intense Negotiations Requirements

Artistic endeavors are typically limited by timeframes. Last-minute amendments or expedites may knock the most meticulously constructed timelines into shambles and cause dissatisfaction, quality defects, or late delivery. For project managers, the fight between being efficient and producing high-quality work is never an easy one in such circumstances.

Solution: Automated Workflow and Task Management

Innovative creative project management software that automates workflows can be quite efficient in these situations. Automated workflows allow teams to create defined processes for repetitive activities, like approvals, sharing of assets, or design updates. Creative agency project management software, such as Aproove, allows managers to prioritize projects and track their progress against time. When something urgent requires a change, project managers are able to quickly shift priorities or delegate so that the team is flexible and available at all times without hampering the output.

Challenge: Finding Creative Independence Within Budget Restrictions

Innovative teams thrive in open-ended environments. But there’s a tighter limit on creative projects too, particularly if there are resources and/or paid-for assets involved. There’s always a trade-off between imagination and cost, and budget overruns create friction with stakeholders.

Solution: Budget & Resource Management Key Features

Budget and resource-management tools are often part of the creative project management software. Such platforms enable managers to track spending in real-time, budget specific tasks or stages, and report on resource consumption. These tools also give information about what areas of the project consume the most resources so that managers can make informed resource choices and avoid budget bloat. With this visibility into costs, project managers are able to keep innovation within a manageable budget.

Problem: Keeping Consistency and Brand Compliance across Multiple Assets

Creative teams often handle multiple assets – for example, social media banners, advertisements, website content – all of which must be in sync with the brand’s personality. It’s difficult to maintain design, voice and messaging consistency across all these pieces of content, particularly on larger projects where teams aren’t uniform. Just a little variation in color, font or message can ruin the brand’s credibility.

Solution: Asset Libraries and Brand Guidelines Integration

Most creative agency project management software provides asset libraries and brand guidelines tools, which serve as central hubs for all brand assets and standards. These allow teams to maintain logos, templates, colors, and fonts in a readily available place, minimizing the chances of mismatches. Some even allow project managers to create automatic brand compliance alerts, so that team members know if an asset violates standards. These tools enable the same single source for all brand assets, thus keeping everything consistent from project to project and making teams work faster without jeopardizing brand value.

Managing creative projects has its own challenges, but the right creative agency project management software makes managing creative projects a lot easier. From tracking revisions and communicating across teams, to ensuring deadlines and brand consistency, creative project management software provides an organized method to handle complicated workflows. With these tools in place, creative teams have more time to create and brainstorm high-impact content, and project managers have more visibility and authority across every phase of the project. Ultimately, the right creative project management software application not only removes everyday pains but also allows creative teams to function at their best.