How many projects can you fit into your 24- hour day?

Getting your 10-lbs of ‘stuff’ into your 5-lb Rucksack… yeah right!

Can you relate to the following scenario? You have a deadline on your project and the project leader/boss has given you seven major deliverables to accomplish before the project is delivered. Just to cross all the corporate T’s, there is training that is required of you and your team during this critical delivery time. What do you do? In the military, we call project overloading packing 10 pounds of (fill in the blank) in a 5-pound Rucksack. But, is it uncommon on a project? Not in the least. First, let’s define a project as something with:

• a defined beginning
• a defined end with defined deliverables
• and clear goals

With this definition in mind, many activities that we do can be defined as a project. Strictly defined projects to develop software develop products, plan an event or construct a building would fall into the project category. This would include Six Sigma, Lean, and any process improvement project as well. What it is not, is just the day-to-day activities that you do to complete your job or life.

So, how can you get the project completed while in the midst of the overload?

1. System in place: First, you must have a plan – whether it is a back of a napkin or a sophisticated Project Management software package. I prefer MS Project in many cases because it is readily available and interacts well with other tools I use to communicate, including the entire MS Office Suite.

2. Project Manager: The single, most important tool is not a software package, but the skill of the project manager to Communicate with the person that is driving the deliverables to be complete in the timeline that you feel is over packed and overwhelming.

There are many tools that can help in that process of communication, including the

• project plan,
• a Gantt chart (Yes these two are different),
• a simple risk plan, and
• a simple matrix to prioritize the work in the time remaining.

Sometimes, it is just a matter of talking with the person assigning (or demanding) the work be complete in the given timeline. Other times it will be helpful to define all the tasks, the most realistic timeline required to accomplish the task and the prioritization of those tasks.

It may be that you can add addition staff to get the work done in the timeline defined, but realize that adding staff adds an addition level of burden on the primary resource to train, support and direct that new team member. Even the best of employees may not be able to overcome the lack of intimate knowledge on a critical short-term deliverable/project.

Want to learn more about how to manage projects (and maybe your life)? Call us at ISSSC to learn more about our project management programs, professional development, staff augmentation and consultants. http://www.isssc3.com/ or 513.834.8332

About our author

Daymond Cox is a retired Army officer who is certified as a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and Project Management Professional. He has worked in a variety of industries including healthcare, construction, federal government, software development and food service. He has co-authored project management textbooks and is the chair of the ISSSC Advisory Board.