As a self-employed freelance writer and small business owner, I am wholly responsible for every aspect of running my humble little online business. It also means that I don’t report to a single employer or manager; instead, I am constantly juggling multiple client projects from multiple clients. This is good in that my income sources are diversified. If any one client drops out, I continue to earn from all the others.
And this is challenging in that I have to remember so many different aspects of so many different projects, all at the same time. One client may need me for daily blogging duties on one website, while another has hired me to ghostwrite an ebook on an entirely different topic, for example. To manage all these client projects, I employ several different methods.
You may recall when I wrote about keeping multiple to-do lists for the sake of redundancy. The way I approach client projects is inherently related and intertwined with this approach. By and large, project management is handled by a few different tools for a few different timelines (or “time horizons” if you prefer).
- Google Keep: Every night before I go to bed, I hop onto Google Keep–either on my computer or my smartphone–and create a new to-do list for what I want to accomplish the following day. The scope is that of a single day.
- Pen and Paper: Whereas the Google Keep notes are for every day, I also keep an ongoing written list on an actual pad of paper for what needs to be done in a single week. I organize this weekly list in the context of what needs to be done that month, giving myself the understanding that only a portion of the monthly tasks will be completed this week.
- Kanban Board: This is a relatively new development in my regular workflow. Using Kanban boards in tandem with Pomodoro timers has helped to track my productivity, but it has also helped to keep all of my monthly responsibilities in check. I create a new “task” for each client, adding sub-tasks for each element to be completed that month. If I’m tasked with 10 blog posts that month, I’ll just create the checklist of ten items.
- Spreadsheet: A bigger part of using a spreadsheet has more to do with the accounting side of things, though it also plays into the responsibility of managing client projects too. The spreadsheet can be used to keep tabs on what has been accomplished in the current month thus far, rather than what still needs to be done.
How do you handle project management in your line of work? Do you have redundant systems in place and do you find that maintaining these systems detracts from your overall productivity?
Recent Comments