How to Keep Small Business Project Management Organized, Flexible, and Stress-Free
Lisa Millar
Project management can easily get complicated and frustrating for small business owners. Depending upon the industry you are in, you may not have been exposed to how projects are designed from a management and planning perspective. Perhaps your company is growing fast and you are trying to keep up with growth, onboard more staff, juggle client demands, allocate financial and material resources and still maintain business as usual.
Building a custom project management system that works for you, your company, your employees and your clients is crucial.
What often happens online is small business owners go looking for information and get exposed to a multitude of apps, YouTube channels and websites, all with promises and selling something. It quickly becomes frustrating, time-consuming and complicated. You start thinking you need all the bells and whistles, that it will make it easier. You may feel like you are behind and don’t know anything compared to anyone else on the internet.
Where the Answers Live
What if I told you project management doesn’t need to be your nemesis?
You have the answers to get it running smoothly, as your business has the answers built inside it, even if you can't see it at the moment. There are symptoms (problems), and there are patterns of symptoms that will give you clues about where to look for answers. Following these clues, alongside following sound project management principles will get you to the best solutions for your business.
What I find business owners tend to do with project management when they get stuck is they either avoid the problem or buy a new software program because a free trial promises answers. The ones who put the time in to assess and do their research in house first, are able to get a good system in place. And the result? Unstuck.
Companies grow and change. With growth, systems and processes need to adapt.
Let’s Help You Find Your Answers
Let's start with the basics, why project management systems are important and the key principles behind making them functional and adaptive to your growing business and the ever-changing marketplace.
Why Having a Well-Designed Project Management System is Important
Projects can be as simple as planning a small lunchtime celebration for an employee's birthday, all the way to a large-scale project with multiple teams, milestones and billion-dollar budgets.
For purposes of this discussion, we will focus on small businesses and in-house projects for clients. You are targeting to get work off the ground, completed and delivered to a client as outlined in the project scope and promises.
When this is done well costs are reduced, revenue grows and clients keep coming back for more because you and your team are that good at what you do!
You can be talented in your area of expertise, have a great work ethic and be a nice person to hang out with, but if you and your team are not organized, the resulting performance will be poor in the eyes of the paying client. Impressed clients give referrals. Unimpressed clients go looking elsewhere to get their projects done.
Let’s keep going.
4 Key Principles of Functional Project Management
Fluidity
When projects move forward with fluidity they are agile, in motion, and stream around obstacles. The opposite of fluid is being stuck, frozen, and jammed up.
I’ve often seen complicated project management systems block workflow because there is too much detail and workflow pathways have a lot of loose ends. Building efficiency and ease creates the least resistance and increases flow.
Flexibility
When a process or system has flexibility, it still has structure and boundaries, but it is not rigid. Lack of flexibility prevents growth, creativity, and incurs problems and obstacles.
On the opposite end, too much flexibility incurs chaos and confusion. With problems in workflow come frustrated, unmotivated employees if issues last and aren’t dealt with proactively. Getting creative, using flexibility and adaptive thinking, will get things moving forward.
There is a sweet spot in the middle to be found in each project with flexibility and a talented project manager will know when to flex and when to be firm with boundaries.
Organization
Keeping projects organized means a system is created, that can easily be followed by all parties involved. Having a system means it can be repeated, standardized and adjusted as needed. It creates efficiency because everyone knows the routine - where to get help, who is responsible for what tasks, due dates, communication systems, and where to find files.
How you design your system is up to you. You may colour code, use visuals, and have a Kanban board set up in the office, or use an online program, but ultimately you will need to decide on how to structure and approach the project. You will get better at this with time and practice, fine-tuning your system as you go.
Keep it simple and basic to start.
Here are a few choices you’ll need to make
Know your end project goal and what needs to be done to get there
Tools you will use - digital and/or paper system
Project manager - assign a leader, a captain of the project
Team members - assign roles so the work gets done
Method of communication - between project manager, client, vendors and team members
Standard Operating Procedures for quality control, consistency and predictability in deliverables
Due dates of milestones and deliverables
Where and how to store attachments, files, links, project briefs and details
Tasks and order of task dependencies (what needs to be done before the next task can start)
How to close out the project and archive upon completion. This will be defined by client contract agreements and Standard Operating Procedures.
HOT TIP
Don’t forget to consider assigning general administrative tasks to a Virtual Assistant or in-office Administrative Assistant. It is cost-effective and will free up team members to focus on their specialized skill sets. A good VA is invaluable in helping keep things organized and supporting the team and project manager.
Purpose
Purpose-driven businesses thrive because the tasks and projects they invest time and energy in align with their company vision and mission. The purpose will be unique to each company.
Your projects need purpose.
It is easy to create work, busy work chasing ideas and saying yes to too much. Stop, and take a moment before accepting a project to make sure it aligns with your company purpose and other criteria you may have for onboarding a new client (and if you have the manpower and tools to do it). Be intentional and purposeful when you are allocating resources (time, staff, material goods).
I’ve talked about 4 principles to keep in mind when setting up a project management system. Now I am going to give you a very simple, straightforward way to start looking at your project systems in a new light.
Remember the patterns of clues I mentioned earlier? This where we start to look at them, to gain data and insight to solve problems. Don’t get stuck on the problematic symptoms, there is always a root cause. That is where the answer will be found.
How to Keep it Simple
Here are 5 questions to ask yourself, if you are struggling with your current project system
On a scale of 1-10 how do you feel about how things are working in delivering projects to a client?
1 = disaster (losing clients, staff keep quitting), 10 = feels amazing (if you were at a 10 you probably wouldn’t be taking the time to read this article). Go with the first number that pops to mind.
Take a piece of paper, divide it into 2 columns (or a spreadsheet if you are digitally oriented).
At the top of one column, write down “What is Working”. At the top of the second column write “What is NOT Working”. Then start writing. Reflect on issues - what is frustrating, problematic and alternatively, what are you proud of, what you and the team do well, and what do you get compliments about? If you are getting stuck with ‘well it sort of works’, you can create a 3rd column for the grey area that just needs tweaking but isn’t a total wash.
An open-ended question
“What feels like the root of the problem?”
What tools are we using in project management?
Are they effective? Does it seem like steps are missing or are there too many steps we don’t need in our business? Examples may include a Kanban board on a wall, an app such as Asana or Trello, or an Excel or Google spreadsheet.
Time to prioritize
If you are going to tackle to project management system problem, make a list of what needs to be done and prioritize - highlight it, or label it A, B, C. Ensure you have resources of time and skilled help either in the office or outsourced to help you get it sorted out.
If you feel rather alone and in the jungle of it, reach out for help. You don’t have to go it alone. Trust your instincts as to who and what help you need. Then speak up. Look in-house first - who is on your team and works with these systems every day? What type of skillset do you need - project management expertise, industry specialist, coach, consultant, or even just talking to your mom to get it all off your chest?
Conclusion
Project management does not have to be intimidating, overwhelming or problematic. When it has fluidity, flexibility, organization and purpose it works, pure and simple. If your current system isn’t working then you can address it and find a new way. The answer rarely is in implementing a new online digital tool right from the start. I know tech companies make their apps look like the answer to all your problems, but they can create more problems if you don’t know what your company needs or how to structure it.
This article has provided you with an understanding of what the foundation of a healthy, functioning, adaptive project management system is. A good system that works for your small business can be as simple as a Kanban board or a spreadsheet if that is right for your company. You may be ready for an app, but you first need to understand what you need the app to do and how to tailor it to your project management needs.
You will get to this inspiring place where you can sit back and appreciate how amazing a system can work. You will get more work done, make more clients happy, and get paid more because you and your staff are that good and efficient, and more people will want to work with you. I encourage you to take the time and refresh your system, to reap the rewards!
Don’t have the energy to address your project system? You know there are problems but you feel incredibly stuck.
Reach out, let’s have a chat and I can give you a few tips for your business to help you get started.
Click the link below.