Help me get organized at work with overlapping schedules.
July 13, 2023 6:55 PM Subscribe
I work at a nonprofit as the manager of marketing and communication. I recently got out of a 20 year career as an art director and designer for various ad agencies large and small (so happy to be out). I always had a team of people helping me manage projects. They made the schedules and I only ever had to do short term planning for my work week.
How can I get organized and easily see overlapping projects and deliverables at a glance?
Now it's just me (52) and my young (25-ish) but awesome assistant. She has other responsibilities though, she does accounting and various fundraising tracking... stuff I don't understand. So she helps me a lot, she's a good organizer, but doesn't have a lot of experience and neither of us has come up with a good way to keep our projects on track. We currently come up with multiple job timelines in separate Word docs and just wing it from there. We've been managing, but it's confusing and stressful and there has to be a better way.
We do social media postings, flyers, various PDFs, press releases and more. We have long-term projects like big fundraising events... these get priority because it brings in money and that's our main concern. So we come up with a multi-month plan of developing concepts, getting things approved, then blowing out various pieces as they are needed (Facebook Event posts, regular Facebook posts, Instagram, LinkedIn, some Twitter, press releases, emails, thank you stuff, content for the event's ticket sales page, Save the Date cards, posters for the event, etc.
This is fine when it's one or two long term projects. But on top of that we get requests from HR to make posts about job openings (these are regular, but not on a specific schedule). And then some department will come to us with an emergency need, or not realize that things take time, so we have to jump on those projects.
One long term thing we're working on: A team from our organization is in another country right now, and we are doing semi-live updates based on their itinerary and whatever assets (photos mainly, but some video) they send us. We get this sporadically. This project is very high profile, so we come in in the morning, see that they've sent us a bunch of images, and we have to create post(s) on the fly, within a few hours in order to get it all approved.
I am the only designer there. So I spend a lot of time just inventing, creating, and designing the stuff. I am fast. I am talented. I also do all the writing, as things are often sent piecemeal, or I have to play detective because this is a social services agency, and the people running those programs are busy—and also have no clue about what kind of content they need to provide us. They are learning, but it's often like pulling teeth to get answers to simple things. Also, they are taking care of children and senior citizens for most of the day and are not regularly in front of a computer. I understand they are busy, too.
And we have long term events we are promoting. A year-end gala with pricy tickets. A summer party with pricey tickets. The details on these events change often, as we don't have much money to spend, and planned things sometimes fall through. So I'm always making updates to stuff.
Essentially, we have a bunch of projects that are long-term and/or short term, that require updates frequently. And we also get requests out of the blue. And everything overlaps.
There's only two (2) people doing all of this. Turns out, I am not a natural planner or project manager.
What's the best software or pen & paper (or whatever) way to keep all these things on track? I have tried adding everything to Outlook calendar, but it's tedious and the days just fill up with meetings and goals and stuff that's due, so it's hard to even see how I should plan my week. I am also a Windows/Office n00b (I am very proficient with Mac OS but we use PCs at this place).
Free would be good. This organization handles medical info, and even though I have zero to do with any of that, IT has very tight restrictions on software we can install (and even sites we can visit). Annoying as hell, as in the advertising world, money was no object and content, software and such was a free-for-all, mostly.
I'm proud of the work I do. I believe in the mission this organization has. We help people who really need help, and do not waste money. Before I was there, the stuff that was being designed and posted looked like it came from rank amateurs... really, truly bad. I have been able to elevate the work immensely in the three months I have been there.
I hate to use the cliché, but I had a long career as a "creative" and never had to do this level of planning and coordinating. I thank you in advance for any and all help.
Now it's just me (52) and my young (25-ish) but awesome assistant. She has other responsibilities though, she does accounting and various fundraising tracking... stuff I don't understand. So she helps me a lot, she's a good organizer, but doesn't have a lot of experience and neither of us has come up with a good way to keep our projects on track. We currently come up with multiple job timelines in separate Word docs and just wing it from there. We've been managing, but it's confusing and stressful and there has to be a better way.
We do social media postings, flyers, various PDFs, press releases and more. We have long-term projects like big fundraising events... these get priority because it brings in money and that's our main concern. So we come up with a multi-month plan of developing concepts, getting things approved, then blowing out various pieces as they are needed (Facebook Event posts, regular Facebook posts, Instagram, LinkedIn, some Twitter, press releases, emails, thank you stuff, content for the event's ticket sales page, Save the Date cards, posters for the event, etc.
This is fine when it's one or two long term projects. But on top of that we get requests from HR to make posts about job openings (these are regular, but not on a specific schedule). And then some department will come to us with an emergency need, or not realize that things take time, so we have to jump on those projects.
One long term thing we're working on: A team from our organization is in another country right now, and we are doing semi-live updates based on their itinerary and whatever assets (photos mainly, but some video) they send us. We get this sporadically. This project is very high profile, so we come in in the morning, see that they've sent us a bunch of images, and we have to create post(s) on the fly, within a few hours in order to get it all approved.
I am the only designer there. So I spend a lot of time just inventing, creating, and designing the stuff. I am fast. I am talented. I also do all the writing, as things are often sent piecemeal, or I have to play detective because this is a social services agency, and the people running those programs are busy—and also have no clue about what kind of content they need to provide us. They are learning, but it's often like pulling teeth to get answers to simple things. Also, they are taking care of children and senior citizens for most of the day and are not regularly in front of a computer. I understand they are busy, too.
And we have long term events we are promoting. A year-end gala with pricy tickets. A summer party with pricey tickets. The details on these events change often, as we don't have much money to spend, and planned things sometimes fall through. So I'm always making updates to stuff.
Essentially, we have a bunch of projects that are long-term and/or short term, that require updates frequently. And we also get requests out of the blue. And everything overlaps.
There's only two (2) people doing all of this. Turns out, I am not a natural planner or project manager.
What's the best software or pen & paper (or whatever) way to keep all these things on track? I have tried adding everything to Outlook calendar, but it's tedious and the days just fill up with meetings and goals and stuff that's due, so it's hard to even see how I should plan my week. I am also a Windows/Office n00b (I am very proficient with Mac OS but we use PCs at this place).
Free would be good. This organization handles medical info, and even though I have zero to do with any of that, IT has very tight restrictions on software we can install (and even sites we can visit). Annoying as hell, as in the advertising world, money was no object and content, software and such was a free-for-all, mostly.
I'm proud of the work I do. I believe in the mission this organization has. We help people who really need help, and do not waste money. Before I was there, the stuff that was being designed and posted looked like it came from rank amateurs... really, truly bad. I have been able to elevate the work immensely in the three months I have been there.
I hate to use the cliché, but I had a long career as a "creative" and never had to do this level of planning and coordinating. I thank you in advance for any and all help.
The actual tool doesn't matter so much (although for you I'd try Trello as it's visual and has an easy learning curve) as scheduling in planning and project management time.
Some people can do that in bits as they go along, but most people need to block in time to check the calendar and write down the updates. Make it a Monday-Wed-Fri 1-2 hour first thing job and you'll stay mostly on top. Give yourself a full morning or more every month to review your plans with your assistant as well.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 8:01 PM on July 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
Some people can do that in bits as they go along, but most people need to block in time to check the calendar and write down the updates. Make it a Monday-Wed-Fri 1-2 hour first thing job and you'll stay mostly on top. Give yourself a full morning or more every month to review your plans with your assistant as well.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 8:01 PM on July 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
A year at a glance calendar is helpful.
Project management is about estimating how much time is required to complete a task so you can know if you're going to make the deadline or not- this kind of estimating is hard, in my experience!
posted by freethefeet at 9:03 PM on July 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
Project management is about estimating how much time is required to complete a task so you can know if you're going to make the deadline or not- this kind of estimating is hard, in my experience!
posted by freethefeet at 9:03 PM on July 13, 2023 [1 favorite]
As you are dealing with both known, defined projects and known but undefined/ad hoc things you have to allow for all of that in your schedule. People are normally good about putting down the big, longer projects but expect to find time for the rest….and then they find the time is found outside normal working hrs.
But it doesn’t have to be like that. You know you‘ll get x job descriptions to draft, just not when. So you need to allow time for that. Just spread it out. You know you‘ll get x emergency requests, block time for that as well. As you are blocking that time, you know for a fact that particular slot is unlikely to be used for what you are blocking it for. That’s fine. You can move the block around. But at least now you have something to move and work with.
You say your time fills up with meetings. You are blocking time for productive work and for planning, right? Outlook can do all of that with ease. Block recurring appointments. You can categorise your calendar entries and your emails and your to do list by projects.
Be sure to block lunch or breaks or whatever as well.
You can also schedule meetings that are about half an hr I.e. 25 mins. Always do those so you have a moment to regroup or grab a drink or whatever. There is a reason why the spa offers an hr long massage that is 50 mins treatment time, the other ten mins are for refreshing the room and the therapist between appointments.
posted by koahiatamadl at 11:53 PM on July 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
But it doesn’t have to be like that. You know you‘ll get x job descriptions to draft, just not when. So you need to allow time for that. Just spread it out. You know you‘ll get x emergency requests, block time for that as well. As you are blocking that time, you know for a fact that particular slot is unlikely to be used for what you are blocking it for. That’s fine. You can move the block around. But at least now you have something to move and work with.
You say your time fills up with meetings. You are blocking time for productive work and for planning, right? Outlook can do all of that with ease. Block recurring appointments. You can categorise your calendar entries and your emails and your to do list by projects.
Be sure to block lunch or breaks or whatever as well.
You can also schedule meetings that are about half an hr I.e. 25 mins. Always do those so you have a moment to regroup or grab a drink or whatever. There is a reason why the spa offers an hr long massage that is 50 mins treatment time, the other ten mins are for refreshing the room and the therapist between appointments.
posted by koahiatamadl at 11:53 PM on July 13, 2023 [3 favorites]
Also noting that Asana can be accessed via web - no installation required. (But obviously be aware of data concerns.)
posted by warriorqueen at 6:39 AM on July 14, 2023
posted by warriorqueen at 6:39 AM on July 14, 2023
I think a basic Kanban board would be a good place to start, either physical or virtual. Do you have Microsoft Teams? It has a Kanban sort of feature that you could use for tracking tasks and due dates. When it's integrated into the full Office environment it can email or pop up notifications as well.
posted by fiercekitten at 9:26 AM on July 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by fiercekitten at 9:26 AM on July 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
When I was in a similar position, I found Gantt charts helpful. These aren't great for short projects, but I liked being able to see long-term projects at-a-glance, or to see my year at-a-glance. They can be as detailed as you want. I never found a software for this that worked for me, so I just made some of my own using Excel.
I gave each project a row with a different color, and gave each week of the year a column. Lighter loads of work for the project might be in a light blue, while heavier weeks of work would be in a dark blue. You can still have a Word file (or maybe a tab in the excel doc) with the exact timelines for projects that have hard deadlines, but the Gantt gives you almost a heads-up that you need to start looking at X, Y, and Z in the next few weeks.
If you and your coworker are both trying to cover similar tasks, it might be time to sit down and give each person specific responsibilities within the department. Job posts are always started with your assistant, for example. She handles the initial contact with HR, writes the description, and routes to you for approval. She uploads and distributes once approved. When {specific task} comes up, then SoberHighland always deals with that. Figure out your strengths and assign accordingly. Your assistant is always in charge of getting text and images for social media posts; you always design them and upload them, for example.
posted by hydra77 at 9:31 AM on July 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
I gave each project a row with a different color, and gave each week of the year a column. Lighter loads of work for the project might be in a light blue, while heavier weeks of work would be in a dark blue. You can still have a Word file (or maybe a tab in the excel doc) with the exact timelines for projects that have hard deadlines, but the Gantt gives you almost a heads-up that you need to start looking at X, Y, and Z in the next few weeks.
If you and your coworker are both trying to cover similar tasks, it might be time to sit down and give each person specific responsibilities within the department. Job posts are always started with your assistant, for example. She handles the initial contact with HR, writes the description, and routes to you for approval. She uploads and distributes once approved. When {specific task} comes up, then SoberHighland always deals with that. Figure out your strengths and assign accordingly. Your assistant is always in charge of getting text and images for social media posts; you always design them and upload them, for example.
posted by hydra77 at 9:31 AM on July 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
Smartsheet does Gantt charts for project management. This is what you want for long-running projects. Pricing is reasonable.
Tasks from your project plan can be entered into Asana or Trello for day-to-day management.
posted by shock muppet at 9:41 AM on July 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
Tasks from your project plan can be entered into Asana or Trello for day-to-day management.
posted by shock muppet at 9:41 AM on July 14, 2023 [1 favorite]
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I would also recommend planning backwards from absolute deadlines and creating milestones along the way based on how long each task will take.
This might sound obvious but have you scheduled weekly touchpoints with all your clients/contacts to get the info you need for the content. And are you working backwards from your deadlines to give your clients sub deadlines and being firm. That being said the doing all the project management as well as all the creative is a lot for one person. But if you're able to use the automations in whatever software you choose to take the mental load off of remembering deadlines, subtasks, and priorities, that might help let you focus the most energy on the creative.
posted by winterportage at 7:16 PM on July 13, 2023 [2 favorites]