5 Tips for Managing Multiple Projects

Managing multiple projects can be challenging and even overwhelming at times. However, with the right tools and strategies, you can organize your workflow to make it easier to handle multiple tasks. Focusing on what you can control and prioritizing the essential tasks is critical. Communicate effectively with your team about what's going on with each project and get them involved. With this in mind, here are five tips for managing multiple projects.

Create a project and task plan. The first step to managing multiple projects is to break each into smaller tasks. This will allow you to better manage your time and resources because you can see exactly where the project is in progress. To do this, be sure to create a project plan that includes the following:

• Project goals
• Timeline for completing each task on the project
• Deliverables for each task (i.e., what needs to be done)
• Required resources for each task (i.e., who will do it) and any dependencies between them.

Effective plans for multiple projects ensure that each has its roadmap to success.

Learn to prioritize. When managing multiple projects, learning how to prioritize tasks is essential. By prioritizing your tasks, you'll be able to see which ones are more important or urgent than others and when they need to be completed. Prioritizing your tasks by importance is straightforward: the most important task will usually fall under one of two categories: "must-be-done" or "should-be-done."

Having a regular time for routine activities can also be helpful. For example, when managing multiple projects, I used to set aside part of every Friday morning to conduct a status review. Once I knew where each project stood, I wrote the status reports and updated plans for the coming week, if necessary.

Check out our past articles, 8 Time Management Tips for Project Managers and 5 Tips for PMs to Work Smarter, Not Harder, for additional tips to improve prioritization and organization.

Identify and assess the impact of risk. When you have many projects to manage, it's crucial to identify and evaluate the impact of risks on each one. Is there one project that would cause other projects to be delayed or canceled if it were not completed? How will you know if this is the case? What steps can be taken to mitigate these risks so that they are minimal, if not eliminated altogether?

You will also need to consider the risks specific to each project. While these may not cause an issue for another project, your goal is to manage all projects appropriately. For example, if your time is consumed by problem-solving on one project, it may be easy to drop the ball on another.

Use appropriate online tools for management, communication, and collaboration. Google Docs is a free online tool for project management and collaboration. It allows you to create documents in Google Drive and share them with others. You can use it to track each stage of your project's workflow and share updates with your team or client.

Slack is also a free online tool that helps teams manage projects by providing real-time messaging and collaboration tools. It works like email, only faster – messages appear as notifications instead of having to check your inbox every few minutes. Slack also allows you to send files like documents and photos, which makes it helpful in sharing information about projects among team members quickly and easily.

Not sure what the right tool may be? Check out our past articles, Why are Project Management Tools Important? and How to Choose the Right Project Management Tools for additional tips.

Communicate. Communication is key; without communication, your projects will fail. The right tools for communication are essential to the success of your projects. They should be used by everyone involved with them. Whether that means a simple email or an in-person meeting, it's essential to keep everyone who has an interest in your project up-to-date on changes, progress, and deadlines as they happen.

It's also important to remember that not everyone works at the same pace or operates on the same schedule. Some people are early birds, while others prefer working at night. Always try to communicate when most people have time—not just when it suits you personally! Check out The Ultimate Guide to Project Communication Plans for additional tips.

We're always looking for ways to improve work, so if you have any tips on managing multiple projects I haven't covered here, please let me know in the comments below!