Running several projects at once
A writer carrying several client projects at the same time decides what counts as one project, tracks every live one on a single surface, tells from it whether the calendar is genuinely full before accepting more work, sets reminders that fire before a deadline, chooses a response when one project runs over into the time set aside for the next, and protects the quality of each document while juggling them.
Tracking every live project on one surface
Most freelances who answered a 2008 question on the AMWA freelance discussion list seemed to juggle up to eight projects at a time, and some counted as a separate project each manuscript for a journal supplement, each section of a website, each module of a sales training programme and each chapter of a book. The respondents fell into two major groups: those who use electronic organisational tools and those who rely on paper systems.
One freelance finds project-management software extremely cumbersome, designed in his view for people who track the progress of projects rather than for those who implement them. He builds a simple Excel spreadsheet with the project milestones across the top (outline to author, outline from author, first draft and so on) and the individual project components, by title and author, down the side, and dates each box as its milestone is completed, so that the sheet becomes a completed project grid. An editor with multiple projects ongoing from several clients keeps track of what is where on an Excel spreadsheet with a calendar page for due dates and an "in hand" page listing every current client with the current status of each project.
Another freelance puts ongoing projects in bold on her Excel tracking system and, for articles, keeps a separate column recording whether and when she receives a copy of the published piece. Because she writes for several quarterly and monthly publications, she colour-codes the rows to see quickly when she last wrote for a publication and to anticipate when its next project will come in, which she says lets her plan roughly 75% of her time in two-to-four-week intervals and see which editors need a reminder to assign future work. In her account, the spreadsheet gives detailed information on each project, helps her plan her time across several projects and reveals patterns that help her plan her business.
One freelance editor organises her workload with a project sheet listing the title, company, project manager, contact information, project number and due date. It carries checklists for the type of edit requested, the type of material (Word document, PDF, PowerPoint slides), the draft and number of pages, the method for returning edits (track changes, clean copy, scans or fax, overnight hard copy) and the style sheets and specified style guides, so that all the information is in one place both for working and when a client calls with a new project.
Some freelances keep a written list only once the load grows. One does most of his scheduling in his head, but when more than five or six projects are in the air he keeps a running list of all projects in house, grouped by client, noting what needs to be done and when, crossing projects off when they are completed and adding new ones by hand. Another schedules everything in Outlook, from interviews and project due dates to projected writing time on a short deadline-driven project but not on multi-month projects, and when she is juggling more than five or six projects she creates a simple Word table sortable by date or other criteria, deleting line items as they finish and re-sorting the table.
One admitted paper-and-pencil person follows David Allen's Getting Things Done in writing everything down, on paper or in an electronic file, which in her view frees the mind to focus on the important activities of the day. One freelance puts a large label on the front of each paper file folder listing every step in the process, to check off as each is completed, and keeps a monthly calendar for all projects with due dates and people to contact, checking off each activity as it is done. Another uses a paper calendar to schedule work hours on multiple projects within each day, and finds that it works well although computer tools exist for the same goal. Other freelances use a large desk blotter or calendar for important project notes, deadlines and schedules. One writes the key steps for each project, with dates, on a large wall whiteboard in different-coloured markers to keep the projects visually separate, and erases a line when its step is finished. Another lines up projects along a cork strip on her monitor stand, one small slip each with the project's name and its deadline in red, and colours her computer folders to mark active projects in bright red, waiting projects in light pink and paperwork such as invoices in green.
One freelance keeps the most recent drafts of each manuscript in a paper folder, in a different colour for each manuscript where possible, on a table near her desk, so that she can quickly make sure that the client, the author or she herself has addressed previous queries. From low-tech solutions to high-tech gadgets, many freelances manage multiple projects effectively.
Knowing whether you are fully booked
When a writer who feels fully booked is offered a new project, the first thing to do, in one freelance's advice, is to make sure they really are booked. One freelance's Excel spreadsheet lists every project as a line item with its due date, its fee and any other important information, and beneath it sits her calendar: seven blocks for each day of the week across the thirteen weeks of a quarter, with a separate sheet for each quarter, blocked out in half-day increments for most projects. This lets her have several big projects going at once and determine confidently, just by looking at the blocks, whether she is really booked, where she used to answer the question by the level of panic she was feeling on a given day. To account for projects that fall through or are delayed, she holds that it is a good idea to overbook a little: at her rough estimate, at least half of her projects do not follow the timeframe initially stated and about 5% to 15% are cancelled, so clear-cut scheduling is a challenge, but a general sense of the load is possible.
Time on projects is easiest and most effectively managed up front, in another freelance's view, by making sure when taking on a project that there is time to do it properly; a writer who cannot clearly envision how the project will get done when saying yes will not be got out of the mess by any tools or techniques applied after the fact. A third freelance, who in more than nine years of full-time freelancing had not missed a client deadline and usually finished earlier than estimated, overestimates the time a project will take, allows a day or two for unexpected issues, makes sure she is not working on too many projects at once, and always has her calendar out when scheduling new projects.
Reminders before a deadline
One freelance uses an electronic calendar to see where projects overlap, with reminders that notify her before deliverable dates, so that she can check in with clients that the gathering of tables, figures and listings is still on track. Another sets 24-hour reminders before each deadline in the calendar and task sections of Outlook. When an interview is scheduled, one freelance puts the phone number on the calendar for that day and has an online calendar send him email reminders.
When one project runs over into the time set aside for the next
Even the most experienced freelance occasionally finds one project, A, running over into the time allocated for another, B.
One freelance sees a few things to do when projects overlap. One is to work overtime and consider billing an additional fee to the client who missed their deadlines, although he has never done this and thinks it might make for bad blood when clients are counting on the writer to help them out. Rush jobs have paid him double his rate, so lost sleep is sometimes worth it; when he works the wee hours he works on both projects at once to give himself a mental break and quell his fear of missing a deadline, and he is always more at ease once a big chunk of work on the new project is done. Negotiating for more time is in his view a better option, because the writer will be at their best and better able to deliver a high-quality product. That can mean asking either client to move a bit in each direction: deadlines are rarely actually firm and most projects have a bit of leeway, so the writer should ask, although he would never miss a deadline himself. If neither client can budge, he advises considering subcontracting all or part of the work, and making the clients happy whatever it takes.
Another freelance's answer is to work longer hours to complete both projects and, if that is not enough, to consider hiring another writer or editor to help. If the projects are too complex to hand to another writer or editor easily, the writer should call the client, explain the situation and find out whose deadlines are the most crucial and real. In most cases project A gets priority because the writer committed to it first, but if client A caused the extension, for example by not reviewing the initial draft in the time agreed, the writer needs to explain to client A that the delays or changes have interfered with the schedule and that its deadline must now be extended to meet the prior commitment on project B. The writer should try to be honest: most people are reasonable, and one who is not is probably not a client to keep working with.
For a third freelance, putting in extra hours on nights and weekends can help keep both deadlines on track. In this business, in the same freelance's view, working nights and weekends once in a while is normal, and working most nights and several weekends a month is not.
If overlap is the norm rather than occasional, the writer needs to evaluate how they bid on projects, including the hours estimated for each: whether the hours were evaluated correctly, whether circumstances beyond their control delayed or extended the project, and whether they planned accurately for research time, telephone calls, face-to-face meetings and the client's delays in reviewing material. Keeping track of the hours invested in each type of project, even when working on a project basis, helps estimate time better. That freelance adds 10% to all time estimates to allow for uncontrollable project delays, and suggests asking what can go wrong when planning work time; if the problems arise with only one or two clients, the writer should evaluate how they bid on those clients' projects and allow more time than normal.
Keeping each document's quality while juggling projects
Balancing multiple projects simultaneously is a common challenge for freelance medical writers: it can be overwhelming at times and reduce focus on each individual project, so that the quality of the documents may suffer, and tight deadlines add pressure to produce high-quality documents quickly, which can lead to mistakes and oversights. An effective way to improve document quality is a clear and detailed plan setting out the specific requirements of each project, which can help ensure that all necessary information is included and that the document is organised logically and easy to follow.