In a perfect world, a Project Manager would be given exactly one project at a time. We could put all of our attention and energy into getting the project completely finished before we even think about the next one. As you and I both already know, though, this world is far from perfect. People leave or get fired. New project opportunities pop up out of nowhere. Projects get delayed well beyond their original timeframe. Companies stretch resources. Busy times call for juggling. Some projects are just too small to require a full-time P.M. If you work in project management long enough, the day will come when you’ve got multiple projects to worry about. So how do you manage multiple projects effectively? Today, we’re discussing the top 10 best practices for doing just that.
What Makes Managing Multiple Projects So Hard?
When managing multiple projects, there is little room for waste or error.
While managing one project, we’re always susceptible to surprises, delays and other events outside of our control. When managing two or more projects, these events can do a lot more damage.
One project’s troubles can drastically affect your schedule as the project manager. As such, other projects you’re in charge of will feel the ripple effect from that trouble, too!
When you also consider variables such as commitments made ahead of time, deadlines and the limitations of physical space, things can go from smooth sailing to all-hands-on-deck very quickly when managing multiple projects.
How Do You Manage Multiple Projects Effectively, Then?
With that said, here are our top 10 tips for managing multiple projects in the most efficient and precise manner possible, while minimizing the potential impact of surprises!
- Streamline Communication
- Set Short Term Goals
- Schedule Regular Meetings
- Combine Tasks By Type When Possible
- Work Efficiently – Both In Effort & Flexibility
- Delegate All Non-Critical Tasks
- Identify The Most Important Parts Of Each Project
- Understand The Project’s Budget
- Develop A Standard Operating Procedure For Each Project
- Identify Time-Wasting Activities
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1. Streamline Communication
People are the most essential resource that any project could have. The communication between them must be clear, concise and efficient. This is why it’s important to make communication between all parties simple.
First off, your team on each project should know your own personal schedule, and what major commitments you have for the other projects. Personally, I like to have a group email chain where I issue my schedule for the next few weeks to all of my teammates.
Next, identify to your team mates, clients and other parties involved who they should reach out to for certain requests. If you have a team mate who’s responsible for technical questions, they should be the point of contact rather than you. The same can be said for issues related to billing, payments and various administrative requests. This leaves you less susceptible for interruptions or being stuck in the middle. For best results, you should still be copied on any emails related to these requests!
Thirdly, it’s important to leverage technology. Apps like Trello and Monday make it easy for all teammates to see the same information, to-do tasks and assignments. Each user can make updates as needed, which everyone else can see. Group text threads can save time when communicating quick, small pieces of info. Emails should be used as official record for important updates, documents, etc., but are not good for lots of back-and-forth chatter. Keep emails important!
2. Set Short Term Goals
Knowing exactly what’ll be happening six months from now is impossible. Knowing what’ll be happening a week from now is doable.
It’s essential that we identify exactly what needs to be done on each of our projects in the short term. These ‘look ahead’ schedules should be issued to all project teammates, so everyone can be working off the same list.
Short term goals are also easier to work towards and approach. When anything is broken down into small steps, it seems much simpler.
Even when we’re managing multiple projects, we can only be one place at a time. Short term goals for our team are clear, actionable and reasonable – you know these tasks can be worked on when you’re spending time on another one of your projects.
3. Schedule Regular Meetings
Scheduling regular meetings with teammates and clients on each of your projects is essential for a few reasons.
First off, meetings have a cycle. Ideally, an agenda is sent ahead of time outlining what needs to be discussed in the meeting, so attendees can prepare. The meeting should follow the agenda with a designated person taking notes. The notes are then sent out as meeting minutes to all of the attendees, letting them know what needs to be done before the next meeting. The cycle continues next week. This is the cycle that all meetings should follow because it sets the pace for all of those involved.
When meetings are regularly scheduled, everyone knows exactly when they’ll need to have their tasks completed.
Setting up routine meetings for multiple projects makes exchanging important information and having necessary discussions so much easier. Not to mention, people that need something from you will know when they’ll have “access” to you – this should help minimize extra calls and emailing, which just take up time.
4. Combine Tasks By Type When Possible
There’s an expression I’ve heard about getting a lot done: “Do all like things at once”. This is a cornerstone philosophy of managing multiple project effectively.
For instance, it makes sense to spend time reviewing and sending emails for several projects all at once. The same can be said for making calls.
Likewise, it helps to get on a routine for the more important, significant tasks. Personally, I like running cost reports and working on client billings all at one time. I do the same for updating my own to-do list, planning out the next few weeks and looking at big picture schedule forecasts.
You can also break down work tasks by the physical location you must be in to do them i.e. in the office, on the go, at home, out of town for one specific project, on a job site, etc.
5. Work Efficiently – Both In Effort & Flexibility
“Work smarter, not harder” takes on a whole new meaning when managing multiple projects. As you know, there’s little room for error and time-wasting.
We’ve written an article all about working efficiently. Feel free to check it out if you like, but we’ll outline a few of the main points to save you time:
- All Meetings MUST Have A Written Agenda & Meeting Minutes.
- Get Work Into Other People’s Hands First. For Example, Any Work Requiring Others, Including Follow-Ups & Requests, Should Be Done In The Morning. That Way, Others Can Be Working On What You Need While You Get Your Own Work Done In The Afternoon.
- Use Rough Drafts. Creating Rough Drafts Or Outlines Takes Very Little Time Compared To A Final Draft. When Collaborating With Others, Create Quick Drafts & Outlines For Them To Review. You’ll Get The Same Feedback For Only A Fraction Of The Time Invested.
Using the laptop and phone to their fullest potential is a great way to remain flexible in your approach to getting work done. Eliminating the dependence of being bound to one location is essential. This includes conference calls in place of meetings, screen sharing to review documents and going paperless whenever possible.
6. Delegate All Non-Critical Tasks
When managing multiple projects effectively, we must focus our precious time on the most important tasks only. We must make sure that we delegate less critical tasks.
A quick rule of thumb: if it doesn’t involve costs, quality or schedule, it’s unlikely that it should be amongst your top priorities.
Another way to think about tasks is about how much time they take up relative to their value. For instance, entering data for hours into a spreadsheet that’s only a small part of the project is definitely not worth your time – this should be delegated.
A good project manager makes sure everything gets done today. A great project manager does this while also planning for the days to come. If you’re not able to look ahead, plan and strategize, consider which tasks are taking your time and which ones can be done by someone else!
Having trouble prioritizing? Check out the Eisenhower decision matrix.
7. Identify The Most Important Parts Of Each Project
The Pareto principle states that 80% of results come from 20% of actions. When managing multiple projects, we must know exactly which parts of the project fall into this 20% category.
So what makes a task fall into the 20% category? A top 20% task will usually have at least one of the following characteristics:
- A task with many successors in a schedule.
- A task tied to a major milestone.
- A task with lots of potential risk.
- A portion of the project requiring lots of coordination.
- A project requiring a variety of resources.
- A portion of the project that is vaguely defined or requires a design-build approach.
More specifically, it helps to identify the most important tasks on each short-term look ahead schedule, as discussed in item no. 2.
Knowing the most important parts of each project you’re in charge of will make it a lot easier for you to manage multiple projects effectively!
8. Understand The Project’s Budget
As project managers, we’ll ALWAYS need to worry about money. Just like we must identify the most important parts of the project, we must identify the largest (most important) portions of the project in the budget.
In item no. 7 above, we spoke about how to identify the most important parts of a project based on their characteristics. With the budget, it’s a bit simpler. Look through the budget and identify the largest items in it!
More often than not, the portion of the project with the highest dollar-value will also be considered one of the most important based on the list in item no. 7, such as a schedule milestone, high-risk tasks, work involving lots of coordination, etc.
On each of your projects, there will be a handful of these items that are worth a large portion of the total project’s value. It’s essential to know what they are and manage them as best as possible for maximum financial results.
9. Develop A Standard Operating Procedure For Each Project
In military operations, soldiers must react quickly to surprises and changes. These situations are often life-risking and dangerous. There’s no time to worry about small things like responsibilities and protocol – these things must be automatic. They’ve been trained over and over again on these basic standard operating procedures.
One easy way to do this is to think of all the various tasks and activities that go into each of your projects and develop a routine procedure for each one:
- All files get saved in specific folders in a shared location.
- Cost & production reports are produced and reviewed on Monday afternoons.
- Certain types of documents such as letters and change orders must be sent to you for review prior to getting submitted.
- The list goes on, but you get the idea.
Of course, your team on each project should be aware of these SOPs! They’re only as good as how often they’re actually followed. Managing multiple projects effectively becomes predictable and efficient when the same procedures are followed over and over again.
10. Identify Time-Wasting Activities
Last but not least – identify any tasks or routines that are time-wasters and do away with them completely! If possible, anyways.
It’s difficult to identify exactly what time-wasting activities you may be facing on your projects, but here are some common ways people waste time across many industries:
- Meetings that aren’t structured or focused.
- Time traveling back and forth mid-day between projects.
- Having meetings at times or locations that aren’t favorable due to logistics (distance, traffic, etc).
- Doing things the ‘old way’ that are much simpler with technology.
- Being the point of contact for small, unimportant things (see item no. 1)
- Any processes that are redundant or essentially done twice/three times/more.
- Too much information being exchanged via email.
- Writing lots of really long emails.
Let’s close by saying this – any team mates that are spending TOO much time on extracurricular time-wasters like social media should be issued a warning or removed from the team! Of course some is to be expected, but you’ve already got multiple projects to manage – there’s no room for hours of social media during the work day.
In Summary
As a Project Manager, getting assigned to multiple projects at once is a rite of passage. Although it’ll be crazy and hectic at times no matter what, you now have 10 techniques to keep in mind the next time you’re juggling more than one! Thanks for reading and I hope you found this article helpful.
