Incoming work requests are hard to avoid. It’s doesn’t matter if you’re 100% focused on completing a task, you could still receive an email or a chat message requesting information or an update on a certain project, and just like that, your priorities can be shifted. Without a system for promptly capturing, processing, and tracking new work requests, you and your team can quickly become overwhelmed.
We’ve all been there. You have your entire day planned out and a new request can come out of nowhere. This happens all the time, to you and your team. And it is up to you to create a process that can lead to managing priorities, and tracking new incoming work requests. Being able to document what’s asked of you will genuinely make a difference in how you perform and tackle new incoming requests, without dropping the ball on previously assigned tasks and deadlines.
What are the Best Practices for Incoming Work Requests?
1. Require a formal submission for all incoming requests
Everyone is busy. Nothing gets done unless it's officially submitted and assigned. A well-established incoming work request should be consistent, and every single person or department should use it. You must make sure your team knows that people will only do work formally requested in writing. It is equally important that your team understands the process and knows exactly where to find the information.
By filling out a form and listing the information related to the task, you can make sure you will have the necessary data to complete: deadlines, contact information, priorities, and special instructions. Once this information is collected, you can then assign the task to a team member and track its progress. No more guessing what you were supposed to be doing later down the road.
You can also map out the different types of work requests your team receives and organize them by criteria that are relevant to you.
2. Keep information and incoming requests in a single place
There should be a single source of truth for all incoming projects. This means that any incoming work requests should automatically be routed to a single location where they can be organized, mapped, prioritized, assigned, and tracked. Project management software can be a brilliant solution for this because you can channel information into one single place. Your team knows what they’re supposed to be doing and other departments can also understand the status of their work requests.
3. Prioritize and assign work straight away
Some requests are just more important than others. Being able to prioritize your incoming requests rather than tackling them in sequential order is fundamental. So take a moment to prioritize requests as they come in and assign them to a responsible party. By taking this approach you can make sure your team is working on the right tasks at the right time.
It’s also an excellent practice to map incoming requests based on your company’s strategic goals. By doing this, you can trust you’re focusing on the right tasks and prioritizing work in a way that works at a team level, a department level, and a company level, too.
Benefits of Establishing an Incoming Work Request Process
Managing incoming work requests will allow you to get important details upfront. You can ensure information is flowing, keep things organized, and track status and progress effectively.
By standardizing a procedure you can track requests in one place and make it clear for everyone else, too. People will know who is working on each task and when it’s due. Also, by prioritizing requests, you are benefiting your team by allowing them to stay focused on urgent tasks.
Improve Your Incoming Work Request Process with Instagantt
When it comes to managing incoming work requests, prioritization is critical. Instagantt can help you map out, organize, and determine what tasks are critical so you can focus on assigning work and following up on it. And by streamlining your incoming work request process, your team will know exactly what to focus on so they can do their best work.
Gantt Charts allows you to keep all your incoming work requests organized and your team running smoothly. Other departments can also be kept in the loop by sharing work status. Task management can be as simple as drag-and-drop, and team members can be notified as soon as they received a new work assignment. This way, you can easily keep track of who’s working on what, and your team will have a clear sense of when work is due.
Build your own effective formal work request process and focus on getting work done.
