So MANY PROJECTS, SO LITTLE TIME

Do you have any of these project types sitting on your desk and swimming around in your brain? We see many different projects with our clients and thought it would be fun to classify some of them in this way.

The “back burner” project is one of our favorites. This is a project that was born out of a meeting with a group of people who were discussing something, then someone said we really should do this when we have more time. The group agreed it was a good idea, that it really needed done, but also agreed that no one really had the time to tackle it. This project then got put on someone’s list who is planning to handle it when they have time. Now everyday they see this on their list and it’s on their mind, but they just don’t see when they’ll have time to deal with it. Eventually, this type of project either gets forgotten or worse, it moves to the “on fire” list when something comes up that forces the team to give it attention.

The “prerequisite project” can be ever daunting because you know that once you get this project done, there is another one immediately following. You know this type of project, people are discussing a project they are getting ready to work on, or they are in the middle of a project, and they discover something else has to be cleaned up before they can proceed.
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“After the first of the year” projects are booked after the first of the year because the people making that schedule truly think their schedules will slow down at that time. They intend to really focus on these projects and knock them out in the first quarter, but sometimes other things pop up that need their attention, so these get pushed back.

It seems that many projects are “on fire” and must be dealt with right away. These projects steal us away from all the other things we meant to do. This type of project is born out of the discovery of a problem internally or a customer reported issue and take the highest priority. In this type of project, the team can be frazzled and can often times make mistakes in their haste.

The “regulatory” project is not usually thought of as a fun project, but it’s absolutely necessary. These projects at least have specific guidelines we know we must follow but sometimes those guidelines are rather lengthy and can be confusing. When the team is pressed for time, reading those requirements and understanding them can be difficult. 

Whatever the project type, it can be overwhelming when you think about all you have to do and the time frame you have allotted. We find it best to make an exhaustive list of all projects at hand first, once you have that you can truly start to find your way. Stay tuned for our next post with some tips and tricks on best practices for tackling a large project list.