PM for 1 man operation - suggestions?

[Scott Kelley]

I am a one man operation. I hire out various parts of a project, and do
other parts myself. I have tried to use MS Project in the past, but once
the project is defined, I find that Project has not worked for me as a day
to day tool for keeping track of multiple projects.

I typically am not focused on deadlines as much as process flow. I am
trying to find a simpler system, maybe paper based, rather than computer
based. My ADD brain doesn't like working with Project (at least in the
manner in which I know how to work with it).

Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Scott Kelley

 

[snetzky]

If you use a Palm OS PDA, there is a really great tool called Shadow
Plan that is more like a checklist builder.

You might also try looking at using a Franklin Planner, which has
worked for me in the past. The advantage of the PDA is that you don't
have to keep moving tasks from day to day and can focus on what still
has to be done.

You could also use MS Word's Outline view to define your project and
then use square bullets to create a kind of checklist or create a fill
in form.

Alternately, a lot of project managers use Excel or another spreadsheet
to list out all of the tasks and take it from there.

I'm an ADD type also, and the PDA route has worked for me better than
anything as far as keeping the list handy.