Hey there, project management masterminds! We live in a world where juggling multiple projects has become a norm. But let’s be honest, it’s not always a juggling act we’d want to perform in a circus.
That’s why we are super excited to present an interview with our esteemed guest, Elizabeth Harrin, an author, speaker, and mentor, who will share the secrets and strategies to conquer the challenges of managing multiple projects like a boss.
A Bit About Elizabeth Harrin
Elizabeth Harrin is a renowned project and program manager with a distinguished career in both corporate and entrepreneurial settings.
As a Fellow of the Association for Project Management (APM), Elizabeth works as a program manager and provides training and mentoring services to project managers.
Alongside her work as a practitioner in the healthcare sector, she manages the award-winning blog “Rebel’s Guide to Project Management.” Elizabeth is also the author of several books, including:
- Managing Multiple Projects, which was a Business Book Awards Finalist in 2023
- Engaging Stakeholders on Projects
- Shortcuts to Success: Project Management in the Real World
Elizabeth’s contributions extend beyond her core expertise. She is an accomplished public speaker, sharing her knowledge on stakeholder engagement, project management careers, and productivity at international events and universities.
She also runs the group mentoring program Project Management Rebels, which provides hands-on support to a small group of project managers through monthly live calls and training.
12 Secrets of Multi-Project Success
#1 What key strategies do you recommend for managing multiple projects simultaneously?
Managing multiple projects is a skill that takes practice. It also requires a well-defined approach to ensure success.
Elizabeth Harrin: First, you need solid project management skills so you can do the job of a project manager with ease. In other words, you understand the basics of project management and can apply them efficiently.
You don’t want to have to keep looking up how to create a Gantt chart or wondering what process or form to use for the next part of your work. Being comfortable with the basics of managing a project is a prerequisite.
Then, use my planning method to create a personal portfolio:
Block out as much time in your calendar as you can to review your actual workload.
Compare actual workload to hours available to work.
If the two match up, great, the challenge is making the best use of your time so you aren’t constantly task-switching and firefighting. If the two don’t match up, talk to your boss about reducing your workload, as you will burn out.
#2 How do you prioritize working with tools, teammates, and stakeholders when everything is top priority?
We all know the basics of prioritizing our stuff at work: the tools we’ve got, the team we’re working with, and the boss types involved. But those aren’t the only things that matter when you’re figuring out what to do first.
Elizabeth Harrin: I prioritize between projects. There are a lot of different ways to prioritize work, and in practice, you’ll probably use a few different approaches in parallel.
Different projects or buckets of work may require different techniques. Popular methods for prioritizing work include:
- Professional judgment,
- The Eisenhower matrix,
- MoSCoW,
- Value vs complexity.
#3 What techniques do you use to manage your time effectively when juggling several projects?
Effective time management helps prioritize tasks, increase productivity, and reduce stress.
With the right strategies in place, you can conquer the challenges of multitasking and achieve your project goals with confidence.
Elizabeth Harrin: There are so many techniques for time management. Personally, I transfer key dates to my calendar, make sure I have transition time between meetings wherever possible, block time for common tasks, and make sure I’m clear on my priorities so every project gets some focus during the working week. I know other people have had success with the Pomodoro technique.
#4 What role does team communication play in managing multiple projects, and how do you facilitate it?
When you are overseeing multiple projects, each has its own team and stakeholders. If your team is not communicating effectively, it can lead to delays, missed deadlines, and even project failure.
That’s why it’s so important to have a solid communication plan in place. This plan should outline how team members will communicate with each other and with you, the project manager. It should also include guidelines for how often team members should communicate and what topics should be covered.
Elizabeth Harrin: Projects are done through people. You need people to support you on your projects, and if you’ve got more than one on the go at any time, there is normally a point where you have to make trade-offs. Trade-offs, unforeseeable issues, and problems are easier to manage if you have good relationships with your colleagues, project sponsors, and leaders.
If they trust you to get the job done, and they trust you when you say there’s an issue, the whole juggling act of keeping all your balls in the air becomes easier. They still might give you a hard time, but underneath it all, they know you’re approaching the challenges with good faith and that you aren’t being deliberately difficult to cover something up. Transparency matters!
If you’ve got good stakeholder engagement and positive relationships at work, you end up with more input to projects and, ultimately, better quality results. You get more commitment to the deliverables. You get people paying more attention to your projects, and you get people doing what they need to do, which helps everything keep moving so projects don’t get stuck.
More engagement means more people follow through on their tasks, and they also commit to the process. It’s one thing to say, ‘we really want this project.’ It’s another thing to say ‘we really want this project, and we’ll support delivering it through project management best practice processes.
#5 How do you decide which tasks to delegate and which to handle personally?
Delegation optimizes resource allocation, enhances team performance, and allows you to focus on the most critical aspects of project management
However, deciding which tasks to delegate can be a challenge, especially if you lack understanding of your own priorities.
Elizabeth Harrin: I would recommend that project managers delegate as much as possible when they are feeling overloaded! However, most of project management is ‘our’ job, so it feels wrong to me to delegate things that fall within my job description. Therefore I try to make sure I’m not ‘doing’ on the project, but managing the project instead.
If you are lucky enough to work with a PMO analyst or project coordinator, there is a lot of admin in project management that can be delegated, like meeting set up, minutes, agenda creation, workshop facilitation, updating schedules and logs, and generally holding the project manager accountable.
#6 How do you handle unexpected changes or challenges that arise in one or more projects?
Even the best-laid plans encounter unforeseen obstacles. Unexpected challenges and changes can derail progress, disrupt budgets, and put project goals at risk.
It’s crucial for a manager to be equipped with strategies to effectively navigate these uncertainties and ensure project success.
Elizabeth Harrin: As with any change, you have to understand what is being asked for or what has gone wrong. Then consider how it can be resolved or incorporated into the plans if it is a change you feel should be implemented.
I think taking a big breathe and clearing your diary can help – often, an hour or two of focused work and conversations with key stakeholders will create some clarity, and you’ll work out what you have to do next.
#7 What methods do you use to monitor the progress of multiple projects without becoming overwhelmed?
Monitoring lets you stay informed about your task status, identify potential risks and roadblocks, and adjust as needed.
However, this can be daunting, especially if you’re trying to keep track of progress, identify potential issues, and stay on schedule with several projects at once.
Elizabeth Harrin: I use milestone plans to monitor progress. Often, it’s too complicated to have detailed plans when managing multiple projects, so tracking key milestones week by week is a good alternative.
#8 How do you evaluate the success of each project while managing several at once?
Evaluating the success of each project when managing several at once is crucial for ensuring the successful completion of all endeavors.
By establishing clear metrics, conducting regular reviews, measuring actual results, gathering stakeholder feedback, using performance indicators, and conducting post-project reviews, managers can gain valuable insights to improve project outcomes, optimize processes, and enhance accountability.
Elizabeth Harrin: This is just about finding the time to do the evaluation – or perhaps that can be delegated to someone else? If your organization holds the business owner accountable for results, they can complete a benefits analysis.
The lessons learned meetings for several projects can be combined if it makes sense to do so, for example, if the stakeholders are the same or the projects are very similar and run in parallel.
#9 Do you agree that automation can make project management less challenging, and to what extent?
When projects involve complex tasks, deadlines, and dependencies, automation can provide a powerful solution to streamline tasks, enhance communication, and improve accuracy.
Elizabeth Harrin: Yes, automation can make project management less challenging in that it frees up time away from routine and repetitive tasks so we can focus on value-driven tasks instead.
#10 What self-care practices do you incorporate into your routine to maintain mental clarity and focus? How do you avoid burnout?
Managing multiple projects simultaneously can take a toll on both physical and mental health. When you get caught up in the demands of deadlines, deliverables, and team dynamics, you get prone to stress, burnout, and other issues that can significantly impact project performance by affecting focus, decision-making, and communication.
Prioritizing self-care helps alleviate these risks and promote optimal performance.
Elizabeth Harrin: I use the Finch app to focus on small goals, and I have a lot of help – both in my own consulting business, in my day job, and at home!
#11 Is there a method to make delegating tasks among team members more effective?
Delegation is an essential skill for any project manager who wants to be successful.
By delegating tasks to others, you can free up your time to focus on the most important things, such as planning, coordinating, and monitoring progress. Additionally, delegation can help you develop your team’s skills and empower them to take on more responsibility.
Elizabeth Harrin: Your first step in delegating effectively is to believe that it is your job and your right to delegate work to other people.
Then, you need people to delegate to. On a project that could be your workstream leads, subject matter experts or a project co-ordinator. Get the best people you can.
- Explain the work. Spell out what you want: “I’d like you to take responsibility for preparing the monthly project report from now on.” Don’t hint. Tell.
- Check you’re understood. Check understanding at each step of the way: ask them to summarize what you’ve asked them to do.
- Monitor and follow up. Ask if they have questions. Periodically check in over the time that they have to complete the task to ensure that work is progressing as planned.
Once the work is complete, thank them and debrief informally so that you can both be better at giving and receiving assignments next time. That’s effective delegation!
#12 What advice would you give someone who is just starting to automate managing multiple projects? What processes need to be automated first?
Automation is a powerful tool that can streamline processes, reduce errors, and free up valuable time.
However, when running multiple projects, it’s crucial to introduce automation correctly to avoid chaos and inefficiencies.
Elizabeth Harrin: I don’t think you ‘automate managing multiple projects.’ I think you can automate processes that are used by several projects.
The processes I’d start with are the ones with high degrees of repeatability and standardization, for example, project approvals or project creation – where there are a number of steps that have to happen, and it’s straightforward to plot a workflow.
The answer is going to be unique to each individual organization depending on how mature processes are.
Managing Multiple Projects With actiTIME
Statistics say that more than 59% of managers have to deal with 2-5 projects at once, and 15% struggle with 10+ projects simultaneously.
Despite sharing general objectives, various projects often necessitate collaboration with diverse software vendors, technical and business teams, timelines, and locations.
To ensure effective management, it’s crucial to treat these projects as distinct entities. However, maintaining task organization across them can present a challenge.
actiTIME offers a powerful project management solution to help you automate your workflow, making it easier to manage multiple projects effectively.
Here are just a few of the ways that actiTIME can help:
- Organize projects, tasks, and subtasks in a clear and intuitive interface.
- Prioritize tasks, set deadlines, and track progress in real time.
- Keep everyone on the same page with shared calendars and task overviews.
- Collaborate effectively with team members by sharing project updates, exchanging ideas, and resolving issues in a timely manner.
- Accurately track time spent on tasks for precise project billing and analysis.
- Identify bottlenecks and optimize resource allocation to improve efficiency.
- Generate comprehensive reports to gain insights into project performance and individual productivity.
By using actiTIME, you can save a significant amount of time and effort and improve the efficiency of your project management process.
Unlock the power of actiTIME today and transform how you manage multiple projects!
