A Year of PM at Good Work

November marks my one-year anniversary of joining the Good Work team. In the same way that we look back on the year as a new one is on the horizon, I’ve been reflecting on my past year of project management at Good Work. I’ve learned so many lessons working with this great crew, but below are five of my biggest takeaways:

1. Communicate Clearly & Concisely

In a world with an ever-increasing amount of information—marketing emails, status updates, meeting notes, action items—clear and concise communication can go a long way.

“Concise” is a bit of a moving target, but I find it helpful to think of it like Goldilocks and the Three Bears: not too little or too much context, but just the right amount.

This concept can apply to both internal and external communication, and every recipient is different. When delivering information, put yourself in the recipient’s shoes and structure your message accordingly:

• Is the message going to a developer? You may want to remove contextual client details and keep it focused on the technical action items.
• Is the message going to a client in a different industry? Consider providing a high-level summary and condensing the technical details to only what is necessary.
• Is the message going to a particularly technically minded client? Feel free to include more technical details, especially if they provide a clearer overall message.

2. Plan for Resource Planning

Getting an accurate sense of a team’s capacity is essential for continuing business development, serving clients well, and avoiding burnout.

Our project management team meets every Friday to look ahead at the upcoming week and make adjustments as needed. We use Forecast to visualize developer capacity and balance workloads, ensuring that no one is too overwhelmed.

When planning ahead, don’t forget to include both real (i.e. signed contracts) and potential (i.e. still in the estimating phase) projects. This helps to avoid overbooking in situations where several pending jobs could become approved at the same time.

3. Use the Right Tools for the Right Job

Just because everything can live in one platform doesn’t mean everything *should*. Different tools have different strengths, and trying to find the perfect all-in-one solution often leads to unnecessary complexity.

At Good Work, we utilize a few key tools to help keep us organized:

• Front: shared inboxes with custom rules allow the right team member to respond to urgent issues as quickly as possible.
• Linear: development-related discussion lives here, and with its built-in GitHub integration, issues can automatically update their status from “In Progress” to “Done.”
• Notion: organized databases make it easy for anyone on our team to quickly find relevant project details.

Keep in mind that most tools integrate well with others! If you find yourself conducting repetitive/redundant actions, take a step back and think through the process at a higher level. There may be some efficiencies to be gained from integrating your tools more closely with one another.

4. Iterate on Good Processes

Perfect can be the enemy of good when it comes to defining project management processes. We’ve all experienced process purgatory: knowing that something *could* be improved but settling for a clunky setup while waiting for the perfect approach to magically materialize.

Our approach at Good Work is to continually keep an open mind for processes which could be improved. Below are some common signs to look out for:

• Copying/pasting information between multiple tools: is there an integration that could remove the need for this step?
• Inputting redundant information: are there lingering legacy systems that could be streamlined or removed entirely?
• Time-draining items: are there particular steps that take considerably longer than the rest of the process and could be automated instead?

5. Embrace Flexibility

It’s tempting to dream of a perfect system where everything is the same, every time. However, people have different mindsets and approaches. That’s a good thing; no one wants monotony!

Change is a core part of project management. Timelines shift, points of contact rotate, and scopes creep. The challenge is embracing flexibility while still maintaining forward momentum. Below are a few tips to do so:

• Determine upfront which timeline dates are non-negotiable. If the QA timeline no longer feels feasible, it might be worthwhile to extend it to ensure proper testing is completed. Knowing ahead of time whether or not the launch date is set in stone makes these decisions easier.
• Despite the best initial efforts, scope creep is bound to happen. When it does, clearly articulate when and how these items will be implemented. Creating a running list of “Phase Two” work can be a great way to clearly differentiate between current and future scopes.
• Always keep the stated priorities in mind. When there are multiple stakeholders and moving parts, it can be easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees. Although some detours are to be expected, working to maintain focus on the real priorities keeps everything running smoothly.

If you’re looking for a Craft CMS development team with a clearly defined project management process, feel free to reach out. We’re here to help!