How to Stop Juggling Too Many Tasks

5 ways to help stop chaotic ways of working

45 working days
wasted a year
is the cost to US organizations due
to inefficient ways of working.

If you’re an ‘accidental’ project manager, you might be used to these

kinds of inefficiencies. But it’s not your fault! You’re expected to oversee
a plan, organize a team, delegate tasks and track progress, but no one
taught you how.

Chances are you’re juggling too many tasks and these chaotic ways
of working are negatively affecting timelines, quality and cost. Not
to mention employee stress levels and productivity, including yours.

Read these 5 recommendations to help make sense of the chaos

and get things done.

How to Stop Juggling Too Many Tasks 1

1 Encourage
Collaboration
Chaos happens when you are managing too many
tasks. Just one overworked manager or team member
can put a whole project at risk.
Avoid this! Share responsibilities and allow tasks to have
joint owners. Keep things on track with visualization
tools like Kanban boards that allow everyone to know
what tasks are where, and with whom.
2
Communicate the
End-to-End Plan
Make sure everyone involved in an initiative knows
the end goal, and the tasks that will help the team
get there.
There are many ways to do this. Some use online
tools like Gantt charts, others prefer to have it drawn
up on a whiteboard. What’s important is that there
is a hierarchical overview of what tasks are on, which
run concurrently, and if any task depends on the
completion of another.
Having a bird’s eye view of what’s going on will
help you make sense of the confusion.
3 Don’t do
Everything Yourself
When you take on too many tasks and too many
responsibilities, things quickly descend into anarchy.
The trick is to prioritize and delegate. Not all tasks
are important, so focus on the ones that get you
closer to your goal. If you’re feeling overwhelmed,
don’t be afraid to ask someone else in the team to
take something off your hands.
Once you realize you can’t do it all yourself,
you’ll quickly find that your work life becomes
much less chaotic.
4 Stay Visible to
Stakeholders
Keeping stakeholders up-to-date and informed during
a project is crucial to progression and success. Though
it’s a mistake to think communication is always email,
on the phone or face-to-face.
People work on different schedules and in
different locations. Using collaborative, cloud-
based communication tools is a great way to give
all stakeholders the opportunity to see real-time
progress and contribute whenever they need.
It also takes you off admin duties and back onto
the tasks that matter.
5 Take the
Offline Online
Let your analog systems go digital so you can
control the chaos.
Create a virtual project space with Gantt charts
and Kanban boards to establish a community
feel amongst stakeholders. It means that all your
important plans, documents and tasks are easily
available to anyone, anywhere.
Reduce the chaos in your life
A lack of formal project management training doesn’t
mean you can’t get things done in a smart and efficient
way. These simple tips can help you make sense of the
chaos and claim back some of your wasted time.
Find out how to transform chaos into calm with
our ‘Chaos Theory’ eBook.
Download eBook
How to Stop Juggling Too Many Tasks 2