How I Manage Projects
I came to a realization, some time ago: I'm just not a natural at project management. Yet it is an essential skill we must have so here's what I've done to compensate.
Pre-planning: Think of this as a todo list on steroids. I pre-plan every project to the fullest extent possible. I write down every task and it's dependencies and map out a plan of action with deliverables for myself and the client. The goal is to so thoroughly plan that I can just follow the step by step actions "work the plan" and achieve frequent milestones. When I'm in production mode I don't want to think about the next step. I want to focus exclusively on that task.
Plan the day: I use a notebook from Franklin-Covey to plan my day. I'm very specific about this planner because it helps me plan by task importance, not by time. Since I have my projects pre-planed, I can now break those down and tackle multiple tasks across multiple projects throughout the day, all organized in one planner. I also intersperse other tasks, like writing proposals, phone calls, emails, etc. throughout the day, all listed by importance.
Cut out the noise: This one I still have trouble with, as is evidenced by the fact that I'm writing this post while I should be working ;-). I manage emails like a fiend, I only check mail once a day. If a client's matter is so important it can't wait till 9am, then they can call. When I do get a call, I try to ascertain the calls importance within the first 20 seconds. If it's not absolutely pressing I'll put the call off, "Hey Stan, I'm working with a client right now, let me call you back at 2."
Twitter and Facebook are also noise, the kind that are hard to cut out because I've gotten real work from both channels. But they can sneak in and steal the day so I set 5-10 minute segments of time to check them, and I check them as a business tool... in and out. The goal being to glean some quick insights from those I follow, bookmark some links to follow up on later, and share some helpful thoughts with my followers. Then it's back to work.
The break: This is the absolute hardest for me... taking a real break, away from the PC. As work grows and dependencies mount, I tend to skip breaks, sometimes even lunch, to try and get ahead. What happens though is after two days of 8+ straight hours of work I get burned out and spend the next three days procrastinating. So my goal is 15 minutes off the PC every 2 hours, and 1 hour for lunch. Think about it, it's not that time expensive. If you take 15 minutes at 10am, 2pm and 4pm, plus 1 hour at lunch, that's 1:45 of break, multiply by your hourly rate. Is that dollar amount worth your sanity? It is for me.
Self awareness: This is the absolute most important thing to grasp. You are not perfect and you were not designed to multi-task.Period. Our modern society puts great value on multi-tasking, but that's only a recent development. It's something computers do well, but it's not a human trait. I'm a perfectionist and have a very healthy ego as well so getting over the self-inflicted idea that I should be all things to all people in all situations has been a real struggle for me. I imagine it is for quite a few freelancers. The point is, know your limitations and be ok with them. Don't settle for them, but be ok with them; and then go and work around them.
Comments [4]