Being an entrepreneur is a constant struggle. I’ve never met a single true entrepreneur who wasn’t always looking for the next big thing. It doesn’t matter how little free time they have, or what the state is of their current projects, they are always open to new possibilities. This can be both a good and a bad thing, but for me personally it’s left me a little overwhelmed throughout the past week.
Right as I was in the midst of finishing up my first premium product here at Location 180, I decided it would be a great time to start a new venture! I’ve had an idea to start this site for the last few months, and I finally decided to just go for it – regardless of how close I was to finishing my current project (anyone else notice my June 15 date come and go?).
Note: My new site will officially launch in a few weeks, but if you sign up for the Location 180 mailing list, you will get full details in Wednesday’s newsletter.
The point being, why would I take on a new venture when I’m so close to finishing the project I’ve been working on for months? To be honest, I don’t know the answer to this, but it did get me thinking about the importance of project management and the components that lead to success for some and an endless amount of half finished products for others.
Hint: New site has something to do with this.
So here are the 7 fundamental components of project management:
1) Organization
If you can’t force yourself to be even the slightest bit organized, you might as well not even start the project. Organization is essential to ensuring that you stay on track and are able to focus on the real priorities. This becomes even more essential once you get multiple projects involved and have to balance your time between each of them. If you have a proper roadmap to completion, filled with goals and timelines you will have a much greater chance of success. The best way to accomplish this is to have a plan before you even get started. Know exactly how much time you are going to spend each week, and on what tasks. Having this type of plan for each of your endeavors will make it clear whether or not you are over extending yourself
2) The Ability to Say No
This is extremely important. As I mentioned, so often the typical entrepreneur wants to get involved in as many opportunities as possible . However sometimes, no matter how great something seems, you have to be able to say no. You’ve already started working on any number of other projects, so you obviously hold a belief that they will be successful. If you over extend yourself, very quickly those current ventures that were on the fast track to success could wind up half finished, and you with little motivation to return to development mode.
3) A Feature Filter
So often we have a tendency to want to throw everything we possibly can into our products, businesses, whatever. This can be one the quickest ways to slow down progress and make yourself extremely frustrated in the process. In writing my guide to Overcoming the Fear of Uncertainty, I had this huge unrealistic list of things I wanted to include for the initial launch. By taking an objective standpoint and only keeping the most important features, I’m able to continue making progress, while not getting frustrated with the sheer amount of features I tried to cram in. With any features you are adding to something, ask yourself what the benefit is. Will it help you sell more? Does it really make the product that much better? If the answer is no, scrap it and move on with your life.
4) A Life Outside of Work
We’ve all been there at some point, hell I’m probably there right now, where we get so wrapped up in the things that we are working on that we forget to have a life outside of our work. Essentially what this leads to is lower levels of quality, more stress than necessary, and a propensity to burn out. Don’t do that to yourself. At the very least set aside an afternoon or evening each week to step away from business and enjoy the rest of what life has to offer.
Or you know, you can take a whole week and go some place exotic. Like Bali, where I’ll be headed next week!
5) Follow Through
This where I get into trouble. I’m great at starting projects. I tend to get overly excited and jump right in, without thinking too much about how I plan to actually finish a project. I get sidetracked, start something else, lose interest, or any number of other things that keeps me from finishing what I’ve started. Just in the last few weeks I’ve started to take heed to each of the other 6 aspects of project management, and I feel like I’m closer with this whole follow through thing than I’ve been in awhile. It’s exciting. A little bit of momentum can carry you a long way – think about that if you are struggling to get something past the finish line.
6) An End Goal
Why are you working so hard on this? What are you hoping to get out of it? If you don’t have a goal, then it’s really difficult to put your full effort into your projects. Do you want to make money? Free up time? Gain exposure? What is it that is driving you to do what you are doing? Understanding exactly where you hope to be when all is said is done is vital to helping you get there.
7) Passion
You can work on just about anything without the need to be passionate about it, but doing something you love and believe in can certainly add motivation. I’ve tried to choose projects and businesses that I really have an interest in. The kinds of things that I would do for free (and many I am), if I had to. Finding something you are passionate about is a much better long term business model than grinding away at something you hate.
How many of these things have you considered when it comes to your life and your businesses? Whether you have a business or not, you are applying project management skills to many aspects of your personal life. Viewing yourself as the project manager of your life and continually analyzing it in the context of these fundamentals can be a worthwhile way to ensure you stay on track with your goals.
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Nice list, add a little bit of time in there too
Keeping doing good things and good things happen.
Hi Sean!
Concerning organization: have you ever tried some software solutions like Trac or Basecamp, or todo-lists like Remember the Milk?
If yes, what was your experience like? Do you use any software tools to stay organized right now?
@Dan Yes time is definitely a key factor as well. Things dont happen over night (well not usually at least)!
@David I’ve had limited experience with Basecamp, but aside from that not really. I use a to do list app on my ipod that helps to keep me somewhat organized, but there is definitely room for improvement. I think some of a lot of the software programs are more geared towards organizations. I wrote this mostly thinking about personal project management.
I’ve also found the most meaningful tool to organization to be a piece of paper and a pen. Most computer programs like that do nothing more than add a layer of complexity thats unnecessary. I’m sure there is something out there that would work well, but I have yet to find it.
Hey Sean!
This is a great list. I am just finishing my first year in my current role as supervisor of my team. Becoming supervisor has really shifted my responsibilities from being largely “task-oriented” to being largely “project-managing.” It has been quite an adjustment.
Your list is a great starting point for beginning project managers. I would also add that the elements above are crucial and additionally, the key to great, consistent success is EXPERIENCE.
Thanks for another great post and best of luck getting all of your current projects off the ground. I can’t wait to see what’s in store!
–Dena
I’ve tried TRAC for some software projects in teams of 2-4 people.
Basically, you can create milestones and tickets (=tasks) and assign them to different people.
Was sometimes useful, but I also had the feeling that it added unnecessary overhead.
I guess it’s just important to find a place to write down your tasks (and who will do them). You don’t need complex ticketing systems to do it. Right now, I keep my todo lists in Evernote.
@David: I’ve used TRAC before too, but I agree it’s a lot of overhead. Basically, I just want a to-do list for myself and to see what others are working on, maybe occasionally send a teammate a task.
So (speaking of entrepreneurs) that’s why my husband and I have built Fellowstream, a personal and team task management tool. You can use it just for yourself to track tasks because it works like a simple to-do list at one level – very basic. But, if you choose, you can also see other people’s to-do lists, connect tasks through projects, and assign/track each other tasks. The main idea behind Fellowstream is that we manage ourselves (and our task lists) but sometimes it’s critical to see what your teammates are working on in order to get stuff done.
@Sean: Once again, great article. I think #4 (Having a Life Outside of Work) is extremely undervalued. You have to be able to enjoy life in order to work hard, IMO, and most of us have non-work friends and interests that we need to maintain.
First, I absolutely did notice the deadline pass for the product. Take your time though, no point in rushing.
Your thoughts on a feature filter really resonate with me. When I was creating my muse product I had all these ideas for features, like videos, audios, worksheets, flow charts and all sorts of other stuff. I ended up going with a couple of those, but leaving most out. I figure that they can always be added later, the core stuff is important at the moment.
Great concept to bring up, something I’m sure a lot of others can relate to as well.
Great post. From what I’ve learned as a management consultanta, I would say that for me two things prevail:
1) Establish a system and be religious about following it. Any project management plan is infinitely better than no project management plan. So establish a system that works for you, and stick to it.
2) Get the right tools. My favorite project management tools are MindJet Mindmanager8, and Evernote. I’ve been using these for over a year, and they are great because with Evernote, you always have access to your information. And MindManager is the best visual planning guide you will ever use.
For me, passion would really be the first factor in achieving your goals. If there is a burning one in you, then I guess everything else will follow. Great post here!!
Systems…definitely systems for organisation, productivity and workflow as well as team building and conflict resolution.
I have been a project manager for a Swiss Engineering company called Sulzer who operate in oil and gas so plenty of money and plenty of stress being thrown about the place.
Systems are critical, you will not survive without them.
Great post.
Hi Sean,
Great post – I would add also that one of the most vital parts of project management, as in life, is being very clear on the objectives, and making sure that everyone involved in the project is also bought into these objectives – there are times where different members of the project have different ideas for what the point of the project is, which naturally is not great.
Also, as David mentioned above, Remember the milk is a great free tool (which also has mobile apps) that I have personally found quite good to keep track of tasks.
Cheers,
Heath
Ah the follow through…that’s me. I jump in with both feet giving things 100% (my Type A personality at it’s best) not really sure where it is going to take me. For me the ‘start-up’ is where I get my greatest pleasure. Now I have to learn not to get bored with the day to day mundane operations.
Great post full of timely tips. Thanks!
hi
its really a nice list and helpful for every one and very clear to understand in a quick review.
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