Start Up Kids Line

Anyone up for sharing project management ideas?

February 10th, 2007

Well, this is it. One day until I leave for the Vegas tradeshow. I’m nowhere near ready, but isn’t that always the story. This brings me back to project management. How in the world do you get better at project management; at estimating length of time for certain tasks, at not taking on too much, at finishing with breathing room?

I have a problem saying no, especially to opportunities. I know that you can’t jump on every opportunity because you can’t over-extend the business too much, but I definitely jump on opportunities which I think are doable, even if I know it will stretch us thin. I really think that jumping through hoops is crucial to a small startup. Making it look like you didn’t have to jump through any hoops at all is even better.

So, I’m open to any and all ideas that will help me with project management. I finally went back to a paper calendar that I have on me at all times. I scheduled one two-many double appointments before I finally learned that one. And, it helps me remember to write down my business expenses, especially mileage. So, that helps me a bit with the time management.

The other thing that is going to help with my time management is trusting others more. A lot of stuff has come to a head lately that has left me with no choice but to ask for help. Lining up help for all of these little parts is going to help our business a ton. But really, I’m open to ideas – what is everyone doing to set realistic project schedules?

One thing I need is many more tiny deadlines, and I have to meet those. I set intermediate deadlines, but I don’t think I set nearly enough. Ah well..here I am, one day until the tradeshow and we’re crazy not ready. But we’re going to jump through hoops and make it happen, and we’re going to make it look like we’ve always been ready.

          

Entry Filed under: Design Project Schedules