Do's and Don'ts for Juggling Multiple Projects

Andy Jordan is President of Roffensian Consulting S.A., a Roatan, Honduras-based management consulting firm with a comprehensive project management practice. Andy always appreciates feedback and discussion on the issues raised in his articles and can be reached at [email protected]. Andy's new book Risk Management for Project Driven Organizations is now available.

  Leadership   New Practitioners  

Most PMs will have had to juggle two or more simultaneous projects at some point in their careers. For some, it may be a near permanent arrangement…and that may be okay. I know many PMs who enjoy managing multiple smaller initiatives versus one large one.

But managing multiple projects at the same time does come with challenges, and increasingly it’s something that PMs are being asked to take on earlier in their careers.

That’s in large part because of the ongoing shortage of project professionals—there are simply too many projects and not enough PMs, so everyone is being asked to do more.

There’s also a sense in some organizations (not all) that project management is somehow easier than it used to be, so individuals can take on more initiatives with less experience. That’s because of the improved software capabilities to support multiple aspects of project delivery.

I know some business leaders who believe that is freeing up time for PMs to take on more work—a perception that completely ignores the importance of providing effective team and individual leadership.

Multiple projects for inexperienced PMs
I don’t have a strong view for or against giving multiple projects to less-experienced project managers; like so many aspects of the discipline, it depends on individual situations.

To me, it’s more about …

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