I’ve been busy this last week or so… and started thinking that maybe the best way to make up for pulling a disappearing act from Instagram would be to make sure that at least you get something out of it!
As a freelance project manager, I work for about five different clients on a week-to-week basis. Typically I’m able to keep that manageable, but… not last week. Now that it’s settling down, I’m pulling back the curtain a bit to show you what a day in the PM life looks like when I’m very busy! Today we’re focusing on the morning routine.
I firmly believe that the only “rule” about routines is that they should set you up for success, and save you time and stress. This is what mine looks like – it might not be yours! I’ve shared my rationale around how I came to build it along each step.
Mornings should set you up for success
I try very hard to do two things for myself in the mornings, work-wise:
- I try not to start wading into ANY execution work until 9am.
- I try to get in front of my computer by at least 8:30 (sometimes 8) to plan my day. For project managers, this is critical: it’s so easy to get lost in the weeds of any given project throughout the day that you need a road map. The 3 main themes I’m mapping out during those times:
First, 1) What work do I need to monitor today? What are ALL the projects I have in flight right now? What’s the status – is anyone waiting on me for communication? If not, who’s got the ball… and am I certain they know what to do with it?
I use a combination of tools here. First, I use a piece of flip-chart paper and sticky notes to give me a 10,000 yard view of everything in-flight. Here’s a mock-up of what that looks like with 6 hypothetical projects (A-F) across 6 hypothetical clients:
Now, for the record, every single one of these sticky notes ultimately makes it into Asana, my task management system of choice. Sticky notes become Asana projects, which then makes it possible to collaborate, edit, check off… all that good stuff. BUT I have found, now that I’ve switched to full-time PM work, that I really need to be able to see EVERYTHING, all the time, no matter what I’m doing, at a glance.
Next, 2) What work do I personally need to accomplish today? Do I need to write any reports? Build any slide decks? If so, do I have what I need, or do I need to check in with anyone before I get started? (If the latter, that’s my first task for the day – but more on that for another post.) The core question here: who’s waiting on me today, and for what?
KEY LEARNING: Part of project management work is proactive – you are usually the ONLY ONE on the team who’s responsible for seeing the big picture of how each person’s work affects the success of the team – and part of it is usually execution-based (unless you work for a really large team – but usually even those PMs are doing SOME execution work along the way). A potential PM will shine in interviews by talking about this proactive work rather than just executing!
And finally, 3) What does my schedule look like? Is it meeting-heavy? If so, what do I need to prep for these meetings? These become the second tasks for the day.
I do always schedule the follow-up tasks from Part 2 and Part 3 first up. That’s because my own executions and any prep for any meetings are non-negotiable – they’re already scheduled, people are waiting on them, and so they very rarely make sense as the ball to drop. (As a PM things come up at 10am ALL THE TIME that will turn around and take 3 unexpected hours out of your day, so part of the job is definitely making strategic decisions about how to shift the plan!)
I hope this was helpful! Tomorrow we’ll pull back the curtain even further and talk about what happens in a day once the routine is over – that’s where the magic happens, but only if you’re on a solid foundation!
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