Clients are often wary when I first mention using project management to corral their calendar and tasks list. I get it, because project management is a whole big field of expertise with its own certifications and PhD programs. It sounds overwhelming! But then I ask:
Can you recipe?
Of course, most people say “yes.” Since the majority of my clients are women, I often get an eye-roll in accompaniment to the answer. Of course they can follow a recipe! That’s child’s play.
Well, here’s the thing: if you can follow a recipe, then you are already very familiar with doing project management!
However, we know that following the recipe is not the end goal and that just having a recipe does not get you a cake (I wish!). There is a lot more to it than that, but you don’t list it all out when I ask “can you recipe?” You answer “yes” even though we are both aware that what you mean is “I know how to buy and prepare ingredients and cook them using a recipe.” It is a project you are so used to doing (at some level) that instinctively you lump all of that together.
Remember that project management consists of five simple stages: Ideation > Planning > Implementation > Performing > Resolution. That’s it! Applying it to a recipe is simplistic but I think you can see where I am going with this:
- Ideation: I’m gonna bake a cake!
- Planning: It’s going to be a chocolate cake, and I’m using this recipe from my favorite cooking website. I’ve used that as a guide to make up a list of ingredients, some of which I need to buy, but most I have on hand. I’ve already got all the kitchen tools I need to put it all together. Ready to go!
- Implementation: I’ve set out all the ingredients and tools in a way that will make putting the cake together very easy. The recipe is right where I can see it, the oven is pre-heating, and I’m ready to start the first step!
- Performance: I follow the recipe step by step until I have a beautiful cake sitting on my counter, ready to be eaten!
- Resolution: EAT THE CAKE! But also: did it cook long enough? Is it too sweet or not sweet enough? Should I have used a different type of flour? What if I used melted bakers chocolate instead of cocoa powder? Would a teaspoon of instant coffee in the mix make it better? (spoiler: YES).
While this is an obviously simplified example, I hope that you have realized that you use project management techniques all the time without knowing it. The point I want to make is that the recipe itself is not “the project” nor does simply having a recipe count as project management. The recipe is an important component of the project, but it is actually just an ordered to-do list.
When it comes to your business and personal projects, if all you doing is going around making to-do lists and putting goals on your calendar then you are just making everything harder and wayyyyy more confusing for yourself.
Instead, apply project management to goals that you have. The only difference between “I’m gonna bake a cake!” and “I’m gonna start a coaching business!” is scope. Yes, the business is going to take a lot more planning and the start-up stage is going to involve a lot of steps which you may or may not have a complete “recipe” for, but essentially, you will doing the same exact process all the way through: Ideation > Planning > Implementation > Performing > Resolution.
The project in this case is “start a coaching business,” which is not the same thing as “ongoing management of a coaching business.” That is something that will happen after you finish the starting it part. So let’s break that down:
- Ideation: You will be launching a coaching business. This is where you figure out the big-picture idea of what you want your coaching busines to look like when it is up and running. Questions at this stage are very broad: Is this a side hustle or will it be your primary income? Is is this a solo venture, or will you have partners? Etcetera.
- Planning: Time to do research and lay out what you need. You will be investigating your niche demographics, software/services required for operations, figuring out the legal aspects that need to be nailed down, and more. There might be some action here, such as investing in a website platform and incorporating the business, and possibly even creating a brand identity. Now is the time to do the financial planning and budgeting!
- Implementation: This is where the “launch a business” part actually hits the ground running. Like setting out all your ingredients for the cake and pre-heating the oven, it is the time to start getting your ducks in a row: the website is being built, the marketing materials are being designed/printed/manufactured, you are spending the budget you figured out in the planning stage on everything you need.
- Performing: Things are really flowing now. The doors are open! You are buying advertising, networking via social media and in person, and on-boarding your first clients. Some products sell, some don’t, and you are fiddling with your offers to dial them in to attract potential customers.
- Resolution: The business is fully operational! Time to review what you did to get it launched: what worked, what didn’t, what you left hanging.
From there, you should make “running my coaching business” your next program (an ongoing project). As a program, it won’t have a set “Resolution” (unless your goal is to sell the business in a few years) but thinking about it from the perspective of project management gives you the ability to view it holistically, as opposed to being frustrated by an endless and confusing to-do list.
You’ll be less likely to spend a lot of time indefinitely fiddling with your website or your digital products trying to make them perfect (pls staaaaahp) because you know that you need to hustle on to the next step of the project, in just the same way you can’t re-measure out the flour a dozen times without delaying when the cake comes out of the oven.
Another advantage of this method is that you won’t get caught with missing ingredients, so to speak. When you know ahead of time what you need because you read the recipe and made a shopping list, you won’t be stuck halfway through the “Performing” stage with a complete lack of baking powder. Or, alternatively, if you take the time to measure out everything before “Implementation,” you won’t accidentally add twice the amount of baking powder than needed.
Yes I know I’m flogging this analogy but come on, you can see how it works!
The whole point of project management is to keep everything on track and on time without getting mired in overwhelm or perfectionism or uncertainty.
I suggest starting small if you are new to project management. Think of a simple goal you have and instead of listing out a bunch of tasks and putting them randomly on your calendar, step back and break down the whole process into the five steps of project management. I guarantee you will not only save time and money, but also frustration!