How to Manage a Project Successfully
This project guide helps two Sky’s the Limit members work together through four meetings as they collaborate to create a project management plan and execute it.
Meeting 1: Review project requirements and systems
Before this meeting:
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Make sure that you’ve had an intro meeting. If you need help navigating your first meeting, visit this Guide to Your First Meeting.
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Review: Project Management for Business article
In this meeting:
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Review the systems and tools for planning projects. Choose
After this meeting:
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Choose the system that is easiest to use and costs the least. Try not to spend money on a project management system unless/until you have a large team and/or a complicated project with many subprojects.
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Note any agreed-upon next steps.
Meeting 2: Choose your project management system and start planning
Before this meeting:
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Review and best practices or training materials for your chosen project management system.
In this meeting:
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Break the project up into project groups.
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How you can break down these larger goals into smaller, more specific actions?
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Assign tasks to one owner. In many cases that may be you, but if you have trusted team members or vendors, you may want to name them the owner of a task.
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Set timelines. Start with your ultimate deadline and work backwards to set due dates for specific tasks.
After this meeting:
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Share your plan with anyone who will be working on it and ask for feedback.
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Start the plan and track your progress.
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Note any agreed-upon next steps.
Meeting 3: Review project status. Update if needed.
Before this meeting:
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Review the plan and update with all progress so far.
In this meeting:
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Discuss your projects status:
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Have any due dates shifted? How does that impact your plan?
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Have any unexpected challenges come up? Are you stuck on anything? How can you work around that or adjust your plan accordingly?
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Who do you need to communicate changes to?
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After this meeting:
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Continue to complete project tasks and update on progress.
Meeting 4: RCOGN (Revenue, Cost of Goods, Net Profit)
Before this meeting:
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Review your notes from the first meeting and compare to how the project actually went.
In this meeting:
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Reflect on your experience:
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What went as planned?
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What did not go as planned?
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Was the project successful?
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Is it time to revise your system and/or start a new project?
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After this meeting:
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Start planning your next project!
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Be sure to mark your project complete, update your business tracker, and start a new project!
Want to talk to someone who can help?
Sky’s the Limit members are connected to a community of volunteer business mentors, more free tools and guides like this one, and exclusive funding opportunities.