Today, I’d like to cover the weekly life of a project manager. When I’m managing a project, these are the things I do every week:
- Identify the next milestone. Do you have a goal that is less than a month away? If not, make one up as soon as you can. Talk about the next milestone in every meeting with the team.
- Update your project plan. Schedule an hour or two every Friday to review and update your project plan.
- Update your risk registry. During your project planning time, update your risk registry.
- Send a weekly project update. After updating the project plan and risk registry, I send out an update that summarizes where things are with all the projects for which I’m responsible.
Putting these things together will often require meetings or conversations, but having a concrete idea of what you’re delivering each week can make it more clear what to focus on.
