Multiple Projects: How Can I Manage Five Projects at Once?

'How Can I Manage Five Projects at Once?' I hear a variation on this question a lot. It could be three; it could be ten... Multiple Projects: five will do.

There is a simple answer.
And, I'm afraid, it's glaringly obvious. Yet it's no less valuable for that.

One at a time.

The human brain is ill-suited for multi-tasking. And trying to do five things at once will cause you to slow down and make more errors than you needed to.

That gives you two approaches...
Either:
(a) First find your top priority.
This is your most compelling cause, by value, urgency, pressure, or some combination. Deliver on that immediately. Then repeat.
Or:
(b) Segment your week into big chunks.

Some people use half-days (10 per working week), others use four chunks per day (2 per half day). I use 5-9am, 9-1pm, 2-6pm. Allocate parts of your five projects into these segments, with a balance that reflects your priorities. Set clear targets for each work period and ensure you create a proper break period to recharge, between each one.

In your recharge breaks, get some: movement, fresh air, daylight, water, food. This way, you will be able to sustain a hefty work rate during your working days.

Mono-tasking
Multi-tasking does not work, but mono-tasking does. Option (a) is pure mono-tasking; while option (b) is what I call 'serial mono-tasking'. Another way to think about it is with hats.

Multiple Projects = Multiple Hats
When you manage each project, think of yourself as wearing a different hat. One for each project. At the end of your recharge break, deliberately visualize yourself swapping hats from one to another. That way, you'll have mental clarity about what you are doing.

There are lots of other strategies I use...
And if you need to manage multiple projects, and want to learn them, you can.

I've put them all into an article on our website:
And you may also like this video: How to Manage Multiple Projects

A while back, I asked Project Managers in a couple of forums what material things you need to have, to do your job as a Project Manager. They responded magnificently. I compiled their answers into a Kit list.
Note that the links are affiliated.

#Project #ProjectManagement #MultipleProjects

[HankMiner]

Helpful content, Mike.

I divide my day into 4 sections: 5am to 7am- Education/Self Improvement and Day planning; 7am to 10am - What's most pressing (MIT); 10am to Noon - Pressing but not urgent; after Lunch - Important but not urgent. I'm also enough of a realist and recognize that not urgent is not always in my control.

I guess I look at it as a combination of various methods I have seen and used over the year.

[carrielynnsmith]

This is the first time a search result on this topic actually seems helpful! Looking forward to trying it to balance my responsibilities and creative projects. Thank you!

[thejdab]

Only 5? LOL! I've got 22 active projects... one of which has 42 separate locations. If I only had 5 I'd take a nap!

[robertmazurowski]

For me the problem is context switching between projects, it takes a lot of time and mental energy to switch between several complicated programming projects.

[polyglotmona]

That sounds liberating. I’ll try that, thank you 🙏

[AlecChalmers]

This was great. So simple, but humans need the obvious stating to them on a daily basis.

[JenEFunworks]

Thank you for this short version this was extremely helpful!

[Onlinepmcourses]

This is a short thought about managing multiple projects.