What is Project Management?
Project management is the implementation of a carefully thought-out project plan that involves the supervision of funds, time, and resources. In the context of a creative project, this includes prioritising the most important tasks and setting goals.
It’s also an important practice that helps ensure the success of a project as well as the process itself. Typically, individuals who oversee creative projects have years of experience under their belt, and even so, project management tools, such as TESSR, are still utilised.
Project management involves numerous factors and essential skills, but first, we will cover one important factor of project management: Time Management.
Why is Time Management Important for Successful Project Management?
Time management impacts the quality and cost of a project. Broadly, it helps to ensure timely completion and reduces wastage. More specifically, time management can also save you from a lot of headaches—when you have a secure timeline and you follow it with discipline, you’re a lot more likely to be less stressed and anxious—which could positively impact the quality of produced art.
Top 3 Skills Needed for Time Management
Skill #1 Organisation: The First Step
Staying organised could include physical factors, like a clean desk, or could involve digital factors, like having one place where all your work and tasks are noted down and stored. Having a clear overview of your creative assignments is important for effective time management and overall project management.
It’s undoubtedly more difficult to accurately predict how long a piece of art will take to complete, in comparison to something more straightforward like sending emails. Moreover, it’s even more cumbersome if your thoughts and notes are a mess.
Here are a couple of practices we can start doing today to organise better:
1. Clean up your working desk. Decluttering and re-ordering your art supplies and tools will reduce distractions and open up space for your work to invite more creative energy and help you focus.
2. Consider your digital spaces as well. Use a project management tool to help you with organising. For example, TESSR is a tool designed for artists and animators where you can upload all your projects in a specific hierarchy designed for animation studios. For optimal organisation, TESSR project management software will help you arrange your creative tasks through the built-in order. If need be, you have the option to make “Playlists” to create custom playlists or recommended ones for your scenes.
Skill #2 Prioritisation Techniques for a Successful Project
Once you’ve organised your workplace and your tasks, it’s time to move to prioritisation. There are many ways to do so, and it should be done based on your preference. One of the ways is using TESSR project management tools, in which you can use the colour-coded labels to sort your priorities.
Prioritising tasks is an important step in time management, as it helps you properly plan a timeline and have a clearer overview of your work. If you look at all tasks with equal importance, you’ll overwhelm yourself and feel burnout—thus delaying the whole process.
There are different methods of prioritisation that you can research then choose what is best based on your personal preference, such as ABCDE or Eat the Frog. However, the foundation of this prioritisation exercise tends to come down to two (2) things.
Importance: Weigh the importance of certain tasks. Smaller, less critical tasks can be put aside. Save your time and energy on what matters most in the present moment.
Deadline or Target Time: Set up deadlines for all tasks on your plate to have successful project management. Project management tools could help you lay this out in an organised manner. TESSR, project management software for artists, for example, allows the designation of due dates to find out what needs the most of your attention.
Skill #3 Goal setting
To aim for the overall project success, set milestones for yourself to track your progress and performance. It mitigates the risk of large mistakes, or at least helps you catch them in time. Make sure your goals are specific and relevant to your project.
Within the context of time management, goal setting can help you establish both short-term and long-term goals—clarity can help you gain a better sense of purpose and minimize distractions. These two are key factors of time management and p.s., this helps with staying motivated too.
How do I start goal setting?
Take time to reconsider what your creative goals are, as an artist. Reconnect with your artistic intentions and break them down into smaller, achievable, and actionable goals.
A project management software like TESSR can aid in this area, especially when it can visualise your progress and how close you are to your goals. For example, TESSR app’s feature, “Woohoo”, allows progress of a project to be tracked through a donut chart. Therefore, you’re able to set measurable goals with this data.
Conclusion
Time management is an essential factor in good planning. Once this practice becomes a part of artists' daily routine, it allows artists to have more room for both time and energy to maintain their creative health.
We hope this has helped you gain a better grasp on how to personally manage your time and, in turn, your projects. However, there is still more to project management, so stay tuned. TESSR will be back with a few more pointers on how to become your project manager.
Author Bio
From Malaysia, Leia Emeera is a writer at TESSR, and a published author. She has been putting pen to paper ever since she learned how to, and has an anthology to her name, titled 'Ten'. Leia loves music, games, and her beloved Labrador retriever, George. She aims to further her studies in English Literature and Creative Writing the moment her gap year ends. 'Till then, you will find her sitting behind a desk, writing with TESSR.
Connect with her on LinkedIn: Leia Emeera
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