How do you manage a big project? As I move into the middle phase of my career, I hear so many of my peers worry about their management abilities and lament the lack of training in this area. It’s true: you train early in your career on the skills in your field, but later as you’re expected to move up and manage the newcomers you’re expected to magically know how to manage. If you have bad examples, then what do you do? Reading some good books about management and learning some of the language of professional project managers has helped me learn what to integrate into my own editorial project management, a service I now offer to clients as a way to take charge of their newsletters and magazines. Here are some of my favourite tips:
Plan from the start
Meetings even when they seem unnecessary, a clear plan of attack and a detailed workback schedule are all tools that I like to deploy from the start. Circulating the plan I’ve developed helps to bring clarity as others weigh in on the time needed for their parts and also approvals (approvals always take longer!) Having a solid plan from the start for everything from timelines to communications platforms to check-ins can help to make sure everyone knows the rules of the game.
Schedule regular meetings
Meetings can really help to check in and make people feel like they have a voice. Today with videoconferencing platforms like Zoom it can be even easier to do a face-to-face check-in. A regular meeting means that participants feel like they have a place to check in on elements they might otherwise have thought too small and silly to ask about (it’s always the silly things that turn into problems). On the other hand, good to avoid meetings that could have been an email, to preserve everyone’s busy workday.
Revisit on the project’s purpose
As you’re working on the project and getting into the weeds, I find it helpful to come up for air occasionally (how’s that for mixing a metaphor) and make sure that we’re achieving what we set out to do. If we’re creating an impact report, are all of the stories at the same level of importance? If a magazine, are all the articles at a high journalistic standard or are some slumping into self-promotion? Ensuring that we did what we set out to means that we can be proud of the end result, and taking action mid-project means we still have time to course correct.
End with a good debrief
Particularly if a project will repeat, such as an annual report, it’s great to check in at the end and see what can be improved for next time. Were timelines as realistic as we thought? Are there places where we feel stressed or stretched? What are elements that we felt were just good enough rather than great? Assessing while the project is still fresh in our hearts (and before we fly off to other things) can be helpful for future improvements.
