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Learn how to get the work on your list done, big or small

One big project or a run of small ones, a process to rebuild, or part of the work to hand off until your own team can run it. Practical guides for getting help, planning it, rolling it out, and writing down how it works.

Recent articles

A person in a cream cardigan sits on a stack of binders with chin in hand, looking up at a blank scroll that floats above them and curls out of the frame.Outsourcing and Delegating

Do you need a project manager? Signs it's time to get help with a big project

Wondering whether a big piece of work needs a project manager? The signs it needs someone to run it, and what fits better when it doesn't.An elf in a white and violet robe holds a ribbon-tied document against her chest and smiles, her glowing tablet raised in the other hand.Outsourcing and Delegating

How to delegate a project, not just the tasks

You handed off the tasks and still ended up holding the project. Here's what to hand over, what stays yours, and how to stay in control without doing it.A person in a cream cardigan sits at a small round table holding up a short handwritten checklist and talking, while an elf in a white and violet robe sits opposite with her hands clasped under her chin, listening, a glowing tablet on the table between them.Outsourcing and Delegating

Questions to ask a consultant before you hire them to run a project

Found someone who could take your project? The questions that show whether they'll get it done, who answers for it, and how it ends, before you sign.A person in a cream cardigan sits on the floor over a painted map, tracing a dotted route between six small flags with one finger and holding a magnifying glass.Launches, Rebrands, and Migrations

How to plan a big project when you don't have a project team

A one-time project on top of a business that's still running, and nobody whose job it is. How to get it onto one list, draw its edges, and decide how it ends.A person in a cream cardigan holds a fan of five colour swatches in indigo, periwinkle, cream, sage and sand, one hand at their chin, looking at a blank hanging shop sign.Launches, Rebrands, and Migrations

Rebrand rollout plan: everything that has to change, and who changes it

Every place the old brand still lives, who changes each one, and the order that keeps customers from meeting the old brand halfway through.A person in a cream cardigan stands at the end of a half-built stone bridge holding a small rolled paper, looking across a gap in the water toward a glowing tower, with a stack of cut stones and a wooden plank at their feet and a dim old cottage behind them.Launches, Rebrands, and Migrations

Website migration plan: can your team take it on, or should you hand it off?

Your migration plan lists the pages and the settings. Here's the half it leaves out: what the move asks of your people, and how to tell whether they can carry it.A halfling with violet braids and goggles strides along, winking over their shoulder, with a feather quill behind one ear, holding a rolled scroll in front while the stretch already passed unrolls behind them in a glowing wave of ticks.Rolling Out New Systems

You have the new plan. Now who implements it?

Turn the list your strategy left you into finished work, starting with the part plans tend to leave blank: who does each piece.A person in a cream cardigan leans over a wooden worktable and turns the dial on a small glowing lantern-shaped device with a hand on its handle, while an older, dusty brass lantern stands unlit beside it and a small ribbon-tied card of three empty boxes leans against its base.Rolling Out New Systems

How to introduce a new system to your team so they actually use it

The new system is set up, and people are still doing it the old way. Here's the order to introduce it in, from the reason why to the write-up that keeps it in use.A person in a cream cardigan kneels on a muddy stretch of a footpath, smiling as they lower a flat lavender stepping stone into place beside one already set, while an old worn shortcut curves away through the grass.Rolling Out New Systems

How to roll out a new process to your team so it sticks

Everyone agreed to the new way, and on the first busy day the work went the old way. Here's the order to roll out a new process so it holds on your busiest days.A halfling with violet braids and goggles winks as they set the last of five matching ribbon-tied parcels on a wooden workbench, a small scroll with a few ticks held down at their side and a lidded wooden box on the shelf behind.Processes and SOPs

How to document business processes while the work is getting done

The best time to write a process down is while someone is doing it. Where to start, how to capture it, and how to keep it true.A halfling with violet braids and goggles winks, one fist raised, and holds up a long checklist with every item ticked, tied at one end with a violet ribbon.Processes and SOPs

Project handover checklist: what you should get back when outside help finishes

When outside help finishes, you should have the logins, the documents, and the know-how. Here is what to ask for, and why to ask before anyone starts.

Find articles by topic

A person in a cream cardigan holds a ring of three glowing brass keys over the open palm of an elf who holds a glowing tablet, with a glowing open doorway behind them.

Outsourcing and Delegating

Whether to get help with a project, and which kind of help fits the work.View articles →A person in a cream cardigan pushes a wooden cart of crates and rolled papers over a stone bridge toward a glowing tower, with a dim old cottage behind them.

Launches, Rebrands, and Migrations

How to plan and coordinate a one-time mountain of work while the normal work keeps going.View articles →A person in a cream cardigan turns a large brass key in a lock set into a garden wall, while a row of glowing lanterns along the wall grows fainter into the distance.

Rolling Out New Systems

How to get a new system or way of working used by the people it was built for.View articles →A halfling with violet braids and goggles winks from a step ladder in a round tower room, pinning a blank glowing card onto a string of cards, with shelves of rolled scrolls and a starry window behind.

Processes and SOPs

How to write down how things work so it doesn't live in one head, and what to get back when outside help finishes.View articles →
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