Project management can be a daunting task if you’ve never taken it on before. One of the keys to making your projects succeed is having a good system in place. Consistently moving a project forward and ultimately shipping the product is dependent on a strong system more so than strong players.
Put A Project Management System In Place
Your project management system can be anything that works well for you in a wide range of softwares or systems. The important thing is that you put something in place and work on it. Systems like Basecamp may make the most sense for you, or you may simply want to have an excel sheet that tracks your projects. There are also ERP level softwares such as OpenERP or xTuple that give you the scaleability to grow your system with your small business up to a billion dollar enterprise. Whatever you choose take the time to research it and then stick to it.
All project management systems are complex and take learning to master. I’ve looked at dozens myself and I’ve found that each of them have strengths and shortcomings. The real key in the system is the leader driving the system and projects forward. You are that leader for your small business. Simply use the project management portal to achieve your goals, don’t expect it to be a one click solution to management as a whole.
1. Tag And Prioritize Projects
In whatever software package you choose, using project titling and tagging as a way to prioritize projects and display their age and importance. I title projects with dates and codes that help my team and I see at a glance what’s going on with the project. Here’s an example project name:
At a glance I can now see the project type, client name, project name, and date the proposal was accepted by the client. This is helpful when choosing what to work on next as the oldest projects should be cleaned up first. Something like this can be a helpful method when naming your projects. Whatever the system is, communicate it to your team and stick with it.
2. Mark The Date The Project Entered Your System
Just as I noted above, the date of the project is important. If you have a way to sort and prioritize projects by date this will allow you to work on time sensitive and important projects first. Small business owners at times tend to get overwhelmed with new work that comes in waves and then dries up if they don’t have a steady lead stream in place. By date stamping things you can maintain consistency in what you focus your efforts on.
3. Daily Choose To Update And Manage The System
I think the single most important key to succeed as a small business owner with your project management system is updating it daily. As we discussed in day twenty one your calendar should be one of the tools to help you move things forward. One of your daily agenda items should be to review and update all open projects. If you continually update your clients and team using your project management portal you will have a close eye on how projects are progressing and your clients will see the progress at the same time you do.
What is project management? A huge piece of it is about communication. Use your project management platform to be an excellent communicator. Do you have a favorite project management platform? Share it in the comments for all of us.
