Personal Projects Management
A fluid, flexible productivity method for solopreneurs that can be used with any task management tools, analog or digital!
Why should you care about PPM?
The reason you get burnt out on so many different project management tools and apps is because they are not designed for what YOU need to do. They are, in a word, over-engineered.
Project Management is SIMPLE, though. So if the tool isn’t working for you, find the one that does.
Do you like using post-it notes stuck to a wall kanban-style? Fine! Do you love spreadsheets or databases? Okay! Do you rely on the Yellow Legal Pad of Getting Things Done™? Great! Or maybe you really do love a specific to-do app? That’s fine too.
Why aren’t I selling you on a the perfect software/app/bullet journal?
Because whatever works for you will WORK for YOU once you have mastered the PPM Method.
Do you have a lot of empty time management planners/apps?
No, wait, Tell me More
Personal Projects Management is an idea I came up with a long time ago when I was working 1:1 with colleagues and clients, mostly solopreneurs who were all juggling a lot of different things. They knew they needed project management in their businesses, but everything they tried was too overwhelming and took too much time and energy to maintain.
I’m sure you’ve been through the same thing: You see all the alluring ads out there for Monday, Asana, Trello, MS Project, etcetera and wonder how they can help you. You sign up, play around with it for a bit, then go back to your simple task-lists because it feels like all those programs took something simple and made it complicated.
[Spoiler: THEY DID.]
Most of those services are using a big basket approach to PM, but originally (and to this day) the secret to successful project management is in knowing your industry and, just as importantly, knowing how you work.
The popular tools you see out there have tried to distill everything down into categories and sections and timelines, trying to be all things to all people, but in doing so make several critical mistakes:
- They assume you are running one, maybe two projects;
- They seem to think that someone, likely you, has the time to be the full-time project manager for your life;
- They fail to allow for the fact that personal life issues and projects can directly affect business projects;
- They are fundamentally built around calendars and timelines, assuming that other people can pick up the slack for you.
The PPM method doesn’t try to tie you down like that. It’s a “meta tool” that gives you the tools to arrange everything you need to do in ways that fit your brain, lifestyle, and schedule.
Click Here for Rise to the Task, the PPM workbook!
No really, what’s PPM?
The PPM method is designed to be easy for one person to maintain for themselves, without spending several (or many) hours every week sorting out task lists, calendars, and priorities.
You will discover your Guideposts, the primary enterprises that everything you do fits into, then you break down the Programs and Projects under each Guidepost.
It sounds simple, and honestly, it is!
Full transparency: Just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it’s easy!
I’m not going to lie to you about the work you need to put in to set up the PPM method for yourself. It will take time and energy, possibly a few days of sitting down with the worksheets and figuring it all out.
But once you do that, your entire life will be on cruise control!
It’s not a dream, it’s the way the PPM Method works.
Why should you care about PPM if you are a entrepreneur who is working on your own or at the head of a very small organization (you, your dog, and the freelancer who built your website)? Because following these steps, as simple as they are, will get you to the finish line for every project on your to-do list.
Personal Projects Management is focused on figuring out how YOU think and organize and work.
5 steps, 1 million routes
Contrary to what you’ve been led to believe, Project Management is a system that is so, so simple that I can sum it up for you right now, right here in FIVE SIMPLE STEPS:
- Initiation/Conception
- Planning
- Launch (Execution)
- Monitoring (Control)
- Completion (Closure)
No really, that’s it.
The reason such a simple paradigm works so well for so many different kinds of projects across so many different kinds of industries is because the simplicity makes it FLEXIBLE. Projects in commercial building construction are very different from projects in software development. Each industry has its own standards, protocols, and requirements.
That is why the PPM method is so effective: it gives you the basic tools to manage all your projects across all your enterprises (“Guideposts” in PPM-speak!) in ways that all your expertise to drive everything in the direction it needs to go!