Timelines, boards and time tracking in Projects: what to set up on day one, and what to look at every Monday.
Projects slip quietly. Nobody decides to be late; a small delay on Tuesday becomes a large one by Friday. The cure is making slippage visible early.
Break the work into pieces you can finish
A task that says "build the website" cannot be finished on a Tuesday. A task that says "write the pricing page" can. Aim for pieces that fit inside a week.
Use the timeline for the plan, the board for the week
The timeline shows how tasks depend on each other. The board shows what is happening now. Use both: plan on the first, work from the second.
Track time against budget
If you bill by the hour, log time as you go and compare it with the budget. Seeing a project at seventy percent spent and forty percent done is uncomfortable, and extremely useful.
A Monday habit
- Open the list of late and at-risk tasks.
- Ask what is blocking each one.
- Decide who helps, what moves, or what is dropped.
Ten minutes of honesty on Monday saves a stressful Friday.
