Starting is great. Sticking with it is good. But finishing is priceless.
Let’s say you’re taking on a major communications project. It may be a web site redesign, or an annual report, a video or an important white paper. The project is made up of many parts; some complicated, some with different timelines, some requiring the time and expertise of someone who seems to live in airplanes.
And you’re in charge.
What to do?
The first thing is to be in charge. Someone has to organize those great, creative ideas and see to it that a final product is delivered. You have to own it – and have the license to make assignments, deadlines, and ensure all the parts are completed on time and are of the highest quality possible. Without a leader, or worse, a leader who’s never around or can’t make decisions, the project will drift.
Once that’s secured, break down the tasks needed to get the job done. For multi-faceted projects, I like to create a grid that breaks a larger, complicated project down into smaller assignments. Each assignment has an “owner” and a deadline. I also add a column for notes – the important critical details. For example, maybe the anointed author of a critical part of a report will be on Kuala Lumpur for most of July. That’s worth noting; it also worth determining how this could affect the overall schedule.
Ah, the schedule.
Sometimes creative projects have vague deadlines. If someone is told, “there’s no deadline,” they hear, “this isn’t very important.” If there is no deadline, create one (remember, you’re in charge). Amazing how things get done when there’s a deadline.
Next step: back the schedule into the deadline. Keep track of those notes. Be realistic. If you can avoid it, don’t create a schedule that will only work if half the talent works through every weekend and a holiday. Schedules like that have failure written all over them.
Don’t forget to factor in time for both review and production. Important products need approval, usually from the busiest people. Reviewers should have a deadline too, but again, be realistic. If production or any other technical task is involved, ask someone in that field how long the task should take. Factor it in. Assume nothing.
Finally, being a perfectionist is good; not finishing is bad. If you’ve managed a project well, you’ll know exactly where the weaknesses are well before the deadline looms. Deal with them. Do everything you possibly can to move the project to the finish line on time.
When things start to feel like they’ll never come together, remember: the difference between a great idea and a finished anything is huge. Keep going. Rattle the cage. Come up with Plan B. Find new talent. But by all means, finish.