Expert tips to manage multiple projects without missing a beat

Managing multiple projects without a reliable system is like juggling 100 balls that are all on fire. But it doesn’t have to be like that (really!). Even beginners can easily manage multiple projects efficiently—with the right workflow practices and tools, of course 😉

In this article, I’ll guide you through implementing a successful strategy for managing multiple projects and reducing stress in your team. I cover the available processes and tools, share best practices, and offer tips from seasoned project managers like yours truly.

What are the challenges of managing multiple projects at the same time?

Managing multiple projects simultaneously can be demanding, as you need to:

• Balance various responsibilities and tasks, ensuring each project receives the necessary attention for success
• Maintain organization and meet project deadlines, which can be tricky when projects have overlapping timelines
• Collaborate with different teams in complex communication and project coordination, which may be overwhelming and affect overall efficiency

Early in my project management career, I managed a single large project. Upon successfully delivering it, I gained recognition and subsequently began managing multiple projects concurrently. These days, it’s become the norm to be able to juggle multiple projects at the same time.

While being entrusted with multiple critical projects can signify success, it also adds to the challenge. It’s crucial to accept additional projects only if you’re confident about delivering what’s expected without compromising the success of your existing commitments.

Finding this balance is critical to becoming a successful, lifelong multi-project manager.

6 tips to help you manage multiple projects

Effectively managing multiple projects simultaneously demands strategic thinking and practical techniques. Here are six comprehensive practices I’ve personally tested and used that can help you excel in multi-project management:

1. Understand resource capacity and prioritize tasks

As someone who has spent years navigating the realm of productivity and task management, I can tell you that understanding your capacity is critical to managing multiple projects without losing your mind or making costly mistakes. This is how you do it: 

• Start with project evaluation to assess your current workload, your team’s abilities, and the requirements of each project
• Develop a priority list considering urgency, importance, and deadlines for each task. This process allows for efficient resource planning, preventing overcommitment and ensuring that each project gets the necessary attention
• Continuously reassess priorities as projects progress and circumstances change

The most successful multi-project managers know their own capacity and the capacity of those they work closest with.

Having a clear understanding of capacity allows multi-project managers to make informed decisions about being able to take on additional work and prioritize tasks. If you understand what you and those around you can do, you can avoid making commitments that will fall flat and cause more work than is necessary to resolve.

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🔥 How the pros do it

Every month, the team at consulting firm Accounts and Legal plans their workload by prioritizing tasks based on urgency and due dates. They tackle sensitive, time-bound projects like filing tax returns first, then move on to other tasks.

In addition to monthly meetings, they conduct capacity check-ins using daily stand-ups. Team members view their centralized schedule in Float, which displays everyone’s capacity and workload, and ask questions about work progress, such as:

• Is anyone overloaded with work?
• Does anyone need support?
• What are we doing today and can we accomplish it?

2. Create a timeline with deadlines for each project in context

Detailed planning helps keep everyone accountable, reduces stress, and increases the likelihood of project success. It also offers a clear roadmap for your team, enabling them to focus on meeting deadlines and achieving project goals.

Develop an in-depth project plan outlining each project's scope, objectives, and deliverables. Establish a timeline with specific deadlines, milestones, and buffer times to accommodate potential obstacles or delays.

When managing projects you've been assigned simultaneously, it's crucial to avoid launching too many things simultaneously. A well-planned timeline can significantly increase the chances of project success and help keep everyone involved accountable while reducing stress for you as a project leader. When you manage multiple projects at once, you can help guide each project to success without being directly in conflict.

If a project has a specific drop-dead or launch date that is pre-committed (this does happen, unfortunately), I ensure that none of my other projects have a launch date at the same time. If the pre-committed dates are inflexible, I will look for another project manager to facilitate or negotiate with project sponsors to ensure I am not asked to be in two different places simultaneously in critical moments of the project. If the projects are more flexible, I’ll plan around my availability depending on prior project commitments.

3. Break down tasks into smaller pieces

Dividing large tasks into smaller, more manageable chunks can make it easier to maintain focus and make steady progress toward project goals. Using iterative approaches, like agile or scrum, can further enhance this process by allowing teams to work on smaller portions of the project and adjust as needed based on feedback and changing circumstances. This adaptability can minimize stress and anxiety while providing greater flexibility to address challenges as they arise.

Breaking tasks into smaller pieces is a highly effective strategy for managing time and maintaining progress when working on complex projects. By taking a large task and dividing it into smaller, more manageable components, you can tackle your to-do list one piece at a time. This approach not only eases stress and anxiety but also provides the flexibility to adapt your approach as needed.

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Pro tip

Don’t let the size of a project overwhelm you—embrace the process of breaking tasks down into smaller segments and confidently conquer your projects one step at a time!

An effective strategy I employ to maintain momentum is using an adapted Eisenhower Matrix to prioritize multiple tasks. By categorizing tasks as both critical and urgent, I can quickly address the most important items, while non-critical tasks can be scheduled, delegated, or removed as necessary.

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4. Use task management tools to stay organized

Leveraging a blend of task and resource management tools can significantly enhance efficiency and ensure you stay on top of all your responsibilities. Using a project management tool such as Trello, Jira, or Asana for task organization, assignment, and project progress tracking can make managing multiple projects more manageable—especially when paired with a resource management and capacity planning tool like Float.

A resource management tool is designed to assist multi-project managers in better workload management and resource allocation across various projects. With real-time visibility of team members' availability, assigning tasks and preventing overbooking or underutilization of team members is easy.

With customizable views, managers can quickly assess project status and team capacity. The integrated time tracking feature helps monitor time spent on tasks and ensures that projects stay on schedule. At the same time, comprehensive reporting allows managers to analyze project performance and make data-driven decisions to improve efficiency.

By incorporating these tools into your workflow, you can streamline your processes, promote collaboration, and simplify the challenges of multi-project management.

🔥 How the pros do it

Emily Feliciano, Senior Creative Resource Manager at Atlassian, manages people and projects using Float’s Jira integration. 

Project requests are funneled through Jira and sorted by tier to indicate priority levels. Individual tasks are assigned to team members within Jira, and can also be dragged onto the visual, color-coded Schedule dashboard in Float. 

While Jira helps her go granular, Float gives Feliciano a much-needed bird’s-eye view of team capacity to ensure overall workloads are kept at optimal levels. This way, it’s easy for her to reallocate tasks if needed and spot bottlenecks that could derail the project. 

(It’s no surprise that she increased on-time delivery from 40% to 90% 👏)

5. Automate processes whenever possible

As an experienced multi-project manager, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of automating processes whenever possible. Automation in your project management process can save valuable time, boost efficiency, and minimize human error. By automating repetitive tasks, your team can direct their focus toward tasks that require critical thinking and creativity.

Assess your workflow to pinpoint opportunities for automation and standardization. From simple tasks such as sending automated email responses to more complex processes like automated data analysis, every opportunity for automation is a step towards streamlining your workflow and achieving multi-project success. Trust me: as someone who has seen the difference it can make, embracing automation is a game-changer you won't regret.

If you do similar things across multiple projects, think about what you can reuse from one project to the next. You might be surprised by how much unnecessary fiddling you can remove by standardizing some of these processes!

Implementing standardized processes, reporting, and communication across projects can have many time management benefits and ensure consistency throughout each project.

🔥 How the pros do it

Martin Mattli, Head of Operations and Quality Management at full-service agency Apps with love, previously used a complex spreadsheet to manage projects and schedules. This inflexible, manual process was time-consuming and prone to errors, making it difficult to accurately track the team's time.

As Apps with love grew, resource planning became more complex, and the spreadsheet reached its limits.

Mattli implemented Float for automated time tracking and resource scheduling to improve these processes. Six months later, he was able to track an additional 10,000 hours that had been missed due to the previously fragmented system.

6. Communicate early and often with stakeholders

I also cannot stress enough the importance of communicating early and often with stakeholders and being transparent with them about your commitments, including those beyond your engagement with a specific stakeholder. Time and time again, I have seen projects falter because crucial players were left in the dark until it was too late.

Cultivating a collaborative environment is critical to managing multiple projects simultaneously. Encourage regular interaction between project team members, provide opportunities for brainstorming and problem-solving, and employ tools that facilitate teamwork.

If you work on internal projects, your project stakeholders and sponsors likely all know each other and may even be direct colleagues or peers. In these scenarios, I like to make all project sponsors aware of the other projects I am working on. If something heats up in one project, they immediately know where my time is going if I'm not spending every moment with them.

If push comes to shove and I must put a project on hold for a period, I address that stakeholder first. Involving stakeholders in decision-making and addressing their concerns helps build trust and fosters a collaborative atmosphere.

By maintaining open communication and promoting collaboration, you can effectively manage multiple projects and keep stakeholders satisfied.

🔥 How the pros do it

At Significa, a full-service software company, customers are always kept in the loop. 

Project Manager Tiago Duarte proactively informs clients about his team's capacity, especially if factors like time off or internal commitments might affect the pace of work. He uses Float's report dashboard to monitor project budgets and promptly notifies clients if an increase is necessary.

Become a multi-project manager with Float

Effectively managing multiple projects demands dedication, organization, and strategic thinking. When executed skillfully, the rewards are evident for all stakeholders—from time savings in handling routine tasks to enhanced communication and increased efficiency across the entire project lifecycle. The key takeaway from this article is to recognize your capacity and prioritize projects and tasks accordingly.

Putting the strategies in this guide into practice will help you refine your skills in multi-project management. As you apply these techniques, you'll be better equipped to navigate the challenges, guide your team, and steer your projects toward success.