Project Management: How to Excel at Multiple Projects

Editorial Team

excel multiple projects

The idea of accomplishing multiple Projects and other activities within a fixed time frame has always led several professionals into high anxiety. As a project management professional, working alone, or managing a team, you are likely to manage multiple projects in progress simultaneously. Involved processes can quickly get complicated, especially when you try to keep track of everything. Without the application of proper management and usage of excellent processes, excelling in multiple projects becomes harder. Setting priorities can help you become active, but there are also other effective methods to consider for the long run.

Managing a project at a time can be taxing enough, but try handling several projects at once– this is where real challenges start to occur. Luckily, there is always a better approach. Whether you are struggling to manage and organize multiple projects or ensuring your workload remains manageable, you need to learn various strategies on how to excel at multiple Projects.

How to Manage Multiple Projects?

It is vital to understand how managing effectively can be beneficial in maintaining quality across projects. Whenever you complete a task and submit, your managers, unfortunately, do not see the number of things sacrificed behind the scene. They only know what you put in front of them. Reasons like this make you want to give your 100%. Oddly enough, no one person is a master of all.

If you struggle to stay ahead of shifting priorities, these strategies to excel at multiple Projects will aid you in realigning your strategies and completing numerous projects on time. Luckily, these strategies can help you get more efficient and organized with various projects as well. Let’s learn more about them.

1. Always Avoid Distractions

You would be amazed at what you can achieve by completely staying focused. Besides, it only makes sense to devote your time to research that helps complete multiple projects. Avoiding Distractions help you save several hours spent daily on various attention sucker. Comparable to juggling, multiple projects require the ability to focus and complete them one at a time. We live in a modern age where app notifications, calls, emails, Slack messages, and more pile up to seek our attention.

Tips:

  • To start, identify and remove your major time-wasters, along with adding all information needed to complete projects.
  • Also, the usual recommendation is to take one task at a time. Delegate and focus on completing multiple Projects within a specified time frame.

2. Communicating Multiple Projects

Communication concerning multiple projects would always remain an issue for a large number of professionals. The code has not been cracked yet as every colleague come with different traits and work styles. To communicate multiple projects would mean to be open and transparent in saying what you feel, need, and think. You likely need to be assertive and ask others what they believe, need, and believe. Communication remains an essential part of the whole process and is helpful across the board. So, in place of being scared of response from others, or pure fear for your superior’s judgment, then you may want to pick up how to be an over-communicator. Over-communicators are hardly ever confused as to what direction to take or apply.

3. Create Clear Expectations for Multiple Projects

By completing this task, you can determine what the finish line is for every project. You are also able to decide what level of completion would pass as an excellent job. Knowing these expectations beforehand would aid in preventing any misinterpretation that might lead to an uninspiring performance. You can start by asking for a checklist or creating one yourself. No matter the efforts you plan to put into a project, ensure you follow accounting standards. Setting and living up to expectations remains a huge part of handling multiple projects. You are required to know what is expected to provide quality outputs as promised. Expectations may appear demanding with diverse outlooks dependent on the project outline.  In the day, it is vital to deliver the best work acceptable with your abilities and time.

Tips:

  • Ensure to define expectations before commencing on any projects.
  • Clarify and seek professional views on every expectation.

4. Keep Tabs on Progress

While it may be tempting to complete the harder projects first, kindly resist. In its place, prioritize projects based on the ones with its most significant impact. Top priorities ought to align with set goals incited to aid you to get closer to accomplishing them. Priorities work well when tactically implemented on both macro and micro level. Several things can take a left turn, especially when you have multiple projects and fewer hands to keep things moving. With Keeping tabs on Progress, you can excel with enough time to review all projects and ensure everything goes as planned.

Tips:

  • Give priorities to projects that offer the most impact.
  • Preview all plans and goals, start with the one with the most impact.

5. Project Organization

A key factor to excelling at multiple Projects is to stay above water when working. Project Organization keeps you organized and eventually leads to earning a productive workday. Use a calendar, notebook, and other form of remainders to stay updated. Also, be familiar with where to find useful tools relating to the projects as they would always be of big help. Applying some simple management tactics would help solve most of these insecurities. Backlogged communication can also turn out to be a robust stressing point. For one, ensure to write down and maintain a to-do list. For many, using visualize tasks for charts and file can be a critical factor in completing tasks.

Tips:

  • Maintain a clean workspace.
  • Keep regular tabs on email notifications.

6. Say No

It is natural when you wish to aid colleagues and team members who ask. It is also understandable colleagues get praised for displaying this kind of actions all the time. Every person loves a little help here and there, right? While that is true, it is also not always within your capabilities to be the liberator. When it concerns having multiple projects to do, and it comes filled with its to-do list, consequences, and prospects, then you may want to consider Saying “NO” or fall short. If you are trying to make it out or mastering multiple tasks, it is acceptable, and even encouraged, to say no a few times. The protection of your time and stands within the ranks is only secured when you complete assigned projects reliably. Well, you remain the only one who knows what extra tasks you can add to your to-do list without on those multiple projects. So, never be afraid to give the “NO” answer to things that would put you off track in completing your set goals. While it remains a good thing to be a team player, it is also essential you know which opportunities are best for you.

7. Set Daily Goals

Nothing feels better crossing tasks off your to-do list at night, especially knowing you completed all your set out goals for the day. With multiple projects, it is recommended you complete at least one actionable item daily. It is significant too, at least, having one thing stuck off your list by the end of the day. It may not necessarily be huge, but does feel a whole lot better to cross off something noteworthy. It could be enough to complete an aspect as long as you can envisage the progress. A list of all the little things accomplished can aid make multiple projects feel manageable. This goal is also vital as it allows you to show others what you have done so far. If you are part of a team where regular meetings are held concerning update on the various assigned portion of a project, having a few things ticked on your list will serve a long way in showing dedication and hard work.

8. Stay Adaptable

Even well-planned projects can get wrecked if not adequately arranged using the complete scope of your ability for the set time frame. Staying Adaptable implies maintaining an open mindset to embracing modification when it becomes a necessity to your schedule. Some projects may become more tasking than others. So, irrespective of your plan, you may be expected to apply flexibility to these tasks using unplanned time. Some inevitable challenges should appear when handling multiple projects, so stay adaptable and do not fright whenever it comes to such levels.

Tips:

  • Feel free to alter project schedules in maximizing your productivity.
  • Plan each project to suit available skill set.

9. Stay Focused

Staying Focused on How to excel at multiple Projects implies not letting anything distract you from meeting your target for the projects. We all have our various techniques to stay focused, have you defined yours? For instance, maintaining focus on the multiple projects at hand may entail your listening to your preferred music. Your preferred sounds may help you maintain focus. If you work well in silence, you may seek a quieter place, or do things that aids you stay focused.

10. Supportive Project Plans

The best approach to getting Supportive Project Plans includes the use of management software. To aid in maintaining better tracking of multiple projects, the usage of milestones to indicate significant dates would ensure everything is done within the proposed deadline. With the information provided, you can easily prevent time loss and additionally lower your stress level.

11. Regularly Evaluate Your Workload

A regular evaluation done to your multiple project plan/schedule would aid in limiting time loss. Reducing time lost makes you excel better with various projects, mainly when unexpected errors occur. These unexpected errors might consume more time than earlier forecast.

Tips:

  • Easily make regular evaluation by following a to-do list or other strategies suitable for progress tracking.

12. Tasks Delegation

Running out of the time needed to accomplish multiple projects? Try Task Delegation! Sharing small tasks or the whole projects within your multiple projects with your team or trusted associate can help you excel effectively. Encouraging abilities to team up, exploratory attitude, and self-organization in multidisciplinary teams ensures you stay involved with the projects and get it done effectively.

13. Think Ahead

The best line of action to take before starting multiple Projects is to plan. Without the use of a project planning method or standard workflow, each project is expected to take different routes in accomplishing. Consequently, your delivery time becomes less consistent, time wastage sets in when creating a new process for each project. Ensure to make most out of your time by planning and fix appointment yourself. Picking a project and give it full attention would aid you to stay focused and be more productive. Thinking Ahead will help your judgments remain in place while working better with multiple projects. This process may take your time, especially as it requires you to fuel your brain, and create a planning process. So, Think Ahead, create a time frame, and hold on to it.

Tips:

  • Ensure to identify your priorities, and time frame required for each task. For some, the best deal is working on the toughest jobs first followed by the less demanding task.
  • Clearly define your expectations, goals, plans, and tasks from the start.

Conclusion

We all, at one time or the other, are faced with the challenges of handling multiple projects successfully, and every time it comes with its peculiar problems. The management strategies on how to excel at various Projects always comes in handy in managing multiple jobs in reality. Hopefully, these strategies and tips discussed above would aid you to stay on track for all multiple projects and moving pieces without causing you much troubles or challenges. These management strategies and suggestions have been well researched and seen as the best to aid your management skillset in handling multiple projects successfully. Even though you come across specific problems using a simple management process (trust me, you will), you ought to be able to resolve every one of them with less pressure and fears. So, stay organized, complete tasks, hit that deadline, and accomplish your set out objectives—every time.