How to Use Your Projects Dashboards to Block Burnout

We all dread burnout, and yet, it often seems unavoidable. But — stay with me here — burnout can be prevented. I’ll give you a moment to process that. By strategically using the data from your Projects Dashboards in Lytho’s Creative Workflow, you’ll have the info you need to plan smarter, push back tactfully, and set up your team for (appropriately paced) success.

Sound good? Good.

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The Projects Dashboards is just one of many useful datasets in Lytho Insights. (For example, the Reviews Dashboards is a great resource for areas where you can expedite approvals.) The Projects Dashboards hones in on — unsurprisingly — project efficiency by analyzing duration, status, and workload distribution. And because we love being a little lot extra around here, the Projects Dashboards has a variety of ways you can view your info. Let’s break down some of our favorites.

All open projects

Don’t be fooled by how straightforward this metric is. Yes, it’s pretty simple, but context is everything. How does your number of open projects compare to last month? To this time last year? Are you trying to increase (or decrease) the amount of projects your team takes on? All of these insights (sorry) are much more meaningful when placed alongside your number of open projects.

Average projects duration

Timing is everything — especially when it comes to preventing burnout. The average project duration metric, again, seems simple, but is key to understanding if your turnaround time is increasing (welp), decreasing (yay), or holding steady. For a team staring down burnout, a prolonged project that is forever stuck in a feedback loop or is falling victim to moving targets is a red flag.

Projects by status

Some days, it feels like the possibility of every project being marked complete is as elusive as #inboxzero. Don’t let that stop you from celebrating your wins — and using project statuses to your advantage. Are the “in progress” projects piling up? That’s the first warning sign that your team is facing burnout, and gives you the info you need to stay ahead of utter exhaustion.

Level of effort on completed projects

When it comes to burnout red flags, this might be the most crucial in determining if one or more teammates is swamped with work. Level of effort shows the number of hours allocated to each person by day compared to hours available. If completed projects show collaborators (literally) working overtime, you know that something is going to have to give. Get stuff off metaphorical plates, set expectations with stakeholders — but whatever you do, do *not* ignore this metric.

Projects by requester name

If your team isn’t feeling burned out, this is a helpful look at who’s requesting projects. If your team is feeling burned out, then this is a great conversation starter. Maybe a creative director is submitting projects on behalf of their entire team, so this number feels off, even though it makes sense. Maybe one person is submitting a high volume of low-priority requests that are pulling focus from hitting business goals. Either way, it’s always helpful to have a handle on where asks are originating.

Did the Projects Dashboards Just Cure My Acne?

Ugh, we wish. (Maybe in a future release? cc: Lytho’s product team.) But if stress causes acne, and burnout makes you stressed … 👀

Zits or no zits, the Projects Dashboards is incredibly empowering. It’s a great way to use data to drive important conversations around your team’s workload and how everyone can better collaborate.

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