Project management in a company and project management as a freelancer don't have much in common.
In a company, a project involves teams, dependencies, status meetings, reporting. The tools are built for that. They're powerful. They're also built for dozens of people working together.
You work alone. You don't need a Gantt chart. You need to know where each project stands, what's left to do, and what's already been delivered. That's a much simpler problem.
What a project database actually needs to do
A project database for a freelancer needs to answer three questions:
- Which projects are currently active?
- Where does each project stand in its progress?
- What was agreed, produced, delivered?
If your system answers these three questions quickly, it's working. Everything else is optional.
The essential properties of a project
Placeholder: project database with its essential properties and statuses visible.
A project database holds up with seven to nine properties. The essentials:
- Project name: descriptive, not generic
- Linked client: the relation to your client database
- Status: Brief received, In progress, Awaiting feedback, Delivered, Archived
- Start date and expected delivery date
- Project type: if your work covers more than one kind of service
- Amount: for a quick overview without opening an invoicing tool
Properties to avoid at the start: an auto-calculated completion percentage, a priority scale from 1 to 5, estimated versus actual hours. These fields need constant upkeep to stay accurate. If you don't maintain them, they become noise.
Your project database no longer matches reality?
Frozen statuses, half-filled entries. A precise fix or a full diagnosis, depending on where things stand.
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