In today's fast-paced environment, effective project management can greatly benefit your small business. Activities such as launching a new business or product, building a website, or scaling your business often create a lot of unknowns and complex moving parts. By using project management best practices and tools, you can streamline processes, keep projects within budget/scope, and deliver results on-time. In this blog post, I'll share how I used project management to start my small business and build my website, and provide insights into different project management tools and resources to support you in your business.
Starting A Small Business
In January 2023, I was searching for full-time UX design jobs and was in the middle of a freelance web design project with a small business in the coaching / consulting industry. My original plan was to do a couple projects like this to help with the transition. However, I ended up enjoying web design and working with my client so much that by the time March rolled around, I knew that I wanted to launch my own business.
As a solo entrepreneur, I knew I'd be wearing all of the hats in my business and needed a great tool to manage the tremendous amount of work that lay ahead. As of now, my business and website launch project has 253 tasks and I'm on track to meet my goal of launching on June 1st of this year.
Project Management Tools for Small Businesses and When to Use Each
Roadmap: The Big Picture
A roadmap serves as a high-level strategic plan that outlines project goals, milestones, and timelines. With a roadmap, you can communicate your progress to stakeholders, set priorities, and make informed decisions throughout the project lifecycle. I'd recommend including a roadmap for complex projects with an estimated timeline of more than 1 month.
Below, you can see my roadmap (made in Jira), with high-level goals called Epics, and tasks within each Epic. This is a great way to make sure my overall project is on track and to see the progress of each Epic. If I need to reference a task that I've already completed, I can find it on my roadmap.
Backlog: Organizing and Prioritizing Tasks
A backlog acts as a repository for all the tasks and requirements of your project. By organizing and prioritizing items in the backlog, you can ensure that critical aspects of your business and website are addressed first. As you can see, I'm currently on Sprint 5. I tend to spend most of my time in the Backlog as I can easily find what tasks are on my list to complete next. I'd recommend using a Backlog tool for longer complex projects that require the prioritization of tasks and the breakdown of the total project timeline into smaller chunks called sprints.
In the image below, you can see that within my backlog page is a backlog section. These are tasks that I've decided can wait or be finished after my launch date of June 1st because they are lower in priority. I can easily drag tasks to different sprints as priorities change during my project.
Boards: Visualizing Workflow With Kanban
Kanban boards provide a visual representation of tasks and their progress. They help you track the status of various project elements, assign responsibilities, and monitor the flow of work.
Below is my Kanban board, which helps me visualize the status of the tasks in each sprint (each sprint is one week long on my board). It's helpful to have a Kanban board as a tool to focus on smaller chunks within a larger project, but they are also great as a standalone tool for smaller, more focused projects - for example, launching a website blog, or implementing a new software tool into your business.
My roadmap, backlog, and Kanban board are all streamlined in Jira - when I update one, the rest update automatically. Note: I used the "Software Development: Scrum" template for my business and website launch.
Best Online Resources for Project Management Tools
There are many free and low-cost online resources available for small businesses. I've only tried Trello and Jira, and have been so happy with their free versions, I have yet to look elsewhere. I also included Asana and Monday, two other reputable companies that offer project management software.
1. Trello: Utilizes boards and cards for task management and collaboration. The free plan includes unlimited cards and up to 10 boards per workspace.
2. Asana: Offers a variety of features, including tasks management, boards, and time tracking. The free plan allows for unlimited projects and tasks.
3. Monday: Allows you to create workflows, boards, and track progress. The free version includes up to 2 seats.
4. Jira: Offers several types of project management tools including roadmaps, scrum and Kanban boards, and backlogs. The free version allows up to 10 users.
Project Management For Me in 2023 and Beyond
After my launch date on June 1, 2023, I plan to continue to use project management tools to manage my design projects and my business. For shorter design projects (3-4 weeks in duration) such as the Bronze Web Design Package, I'll most likely just use Trello or a Kanban board in Jira. For longer design projects (4+ weeks) such as the Silver or Gold Web Design Packages, and my business, I plan on using the "Software Development: Scrum" template in Jira (the same template I used for my business and website launch) which combines a roadmap, backlog, and Kanban board. I'm excited to gather information from past projects to continue to streamline processes and improve my business and experience for my clients.
Conclusion
Embracing project management methodologies empowers small businesses to embark on their ventures with confidence and efficiency. By leveraging the right project management tools, you can stay organized and collaborate seamlessly. Streamlining projects not only helps you save time and money, but also ensures that you deliver excellent results, which is the foundation to running a successful and profitable business.
If you're looking for a great tool and guidance on business documentation, check out my blog post: