Making Projects Manageable

There are systems all around us from the moment we’re born. Even at the hospital there are checklists after a birth, forms to be filled out and measurements to be taken.

This pattern of procedures and systematization follows us throughout our lives and we’ve learned that when teaching it’s important not to overwhelm a beginner. No first grader is expected to conquer the SATs in their first year because we know learning is a process.

It’s amazing to me the sheer number of blogs, books and groups out there for parents and homemakers. Everything from how to fold fitted sheets to meal planning, baby wearing and cleaning baseboards. But a major area of our lives lacks this comprehensive support and that is our businesses.

There’s just not a lot of entrepreneurs out there teaching how to be the best in your business, to work systematically, measure results and fine tune the process.

But that’s exactly why I do what I do, because I believe there is no greater investment than in our businesses and making sure they run smoothly.

Today I have 3 basic principles for creating the systems your business needs to perform better and these can be applied to many tasks and smaller projects.

Principle 1: Break it Down – watch any great how to tutorial and you’ll see that the teacher does not skip steps. There is a method to learning and most people need to see and hear how something is done as well as practice before becoming proficient.

Principle 2: Keep it Simple – if something is overly complicated then you may find resistance in the process from your team or even yourself! So break tasks and projects down into smaller steps and keep the process simple. Overly complicated systems will require more time and often frustrate the team, reducing their effectiveness.

Principle 3: Expect it to Change – remember that your business growth and development is a good thing and as you grow you’ll need to change and adapt your systems if you expect them to work. So instead of getting frustrated, let the expectations and guidelines you establish be a starting point and adapt as things change.

I’ll use an example here from my former life working with literal building blocks in construction. It did not matter how complex the building, project or scope, we were always breaking it down into stages. For one school that meant a land use study 5 years before building. Then plans and specs, B&C reviews, sometimes public bond initiatives for funding and several more stages before the bidding and construction could take place.

Many times it was our experience as construction and project managers to focus on the stage at hand, getting the project bid ready first before we submitted Inspector of Record reports. Everywhere we could it was essential to simplify the process by making clear deadlines, documenting all expectations in the plans and specifications and recording due dates for each stage of the deliverables.

Finally, we built in many pockets of time knowing that weather, material delivery, clarifications, reviews and inspections could all take longer than anticipated. When building schools with tight timetables to ensure the buildings are complete by September, it’s especially important to be aware when an unexpected event changes the schedule and adapt to accommodate it.

Construction is a great field of study when you’re building systems, as each project can run into the millions of dollars, and there are strict government guidelines and steep penalties for mistakes. Not to mention the lives of thousands of people are at stake

So if you or your team is struggling to complete a big project or just tackle an overwhelming task then I suggest you take a step back and consider how you can simplify, break it down into smaller pieces of what needs to change.