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pushjustalittle t1_j229jbt wrote

I think it depends on what you mean by “managing”. I’ve worked for a long time in a space that requires management of multiple projects simultaneously, as many as 25-30. The most important thing is to keep a constantly updated status report and have full timelines through completion for each project, and calanderize everything. Ideally have all of these things in 1 document for all projects.

Start every day with a “hot sheet” either for yourself or with your team to quickly align on what needs to happen today and the next couple of days, make sure you’ve got resources aligned appropriately, and then execute. Planning your time carefully is going to be key - so work on A from 9-10, B from 10-11, 15 min break, then incorporate boss’s comments to A from 11:15-11:30. PM tools are very helpful but you can do this with simple tools you already have - your Outlook/Google calendar, old-school to-do lists, and a timer. All of this planning takes time, but is well worth it.

Couple of key tips: if you are doing this as part of a team, or are relying on others to do pieces (eg, for Art to layout a piece), let them know well in advance what is needed and when they can expect to receive it, and when you’ll need it back. Be honest with yourself about how long things will take - don’t plan a 1h task to get done in 15 min. And DO block your calendar to avoid meetings, calls, and other disruptions. If there are meetings you can’t miss, factor that in. Lastly…you can usually change timelines if you do so far enough in advance. Don’t plan to have a major milestone on multiple projects on the same day unless you are very confident it can actually happen.

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cottoncandy-sky OP t1_j22b5s5 wrote

Thank you so much for taking the time to write such a thorough response! There are so many good points here that I'm definitely taking notes. I have a handful of follow up questions if you don't mind.

Would you be willing to share an example with me of what your status reports and timelines look like and how you organize those? Not sure if it would be too specific to your job but I would love to see how you outline things. At my last job I had to submit a report on where I was at with projects and how my next week would be spent but it would literally take me hours to put it together even when my boss said it was a 15 minute task. But I could never figure out how to quantity so many projects so simply.

You said you sometimes have as many as 25-30 tasks. There is not enough time in a week for you to "touch" each one so how are you breaking down your calendar? Even if you have a team working on a lot of those you are still managing them which means you are still receiving emails and needing to track progress. How do you do that?

I absolutely need to work on being honest with myself about how much time tasks will take. This is very difficult for me for some reason. I always assume it will take less time so I don't give myself enough.

Your last point about pushing deadlines is a really good one. I'm going to keep that one top of mind.

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