Today we're graced by my nerdy PM co-conspirator Karen Sergeant of The Sunny Patio Project.  You might remember her stellar post about using Evernote To Manage Your Launch… what a good one to keep bookmarked especially if you are planning to manage your own launch…

Oh wait! That's what this one is all about.  Now you've got a tool to help you manage your launch – now, here's how to handle launch triage if you're running the show alone.

I know this path well – and believe me – any advice to thwart launch challenges – I'll take them!

p.s. make sure to leave your questions + comments for Karen!

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Some of you will go it alone during launch time – by budget or by preference, you’re an Army of One. Others of you will add a contractor here and there to beat back the to-do list, but will keep the project management — the air traffic controller role — close to home.

So – if you're choosing to manage your own launch – listen up…

Launches are unlike business-as-usual for two main reasons: the sheer volume of tasks that need to get done inside a concentrated window of time, and harder-than-usual deadlines. That can be a deadly combination even for intrepid and determined entrepreneurs.

Self-managed launches? Thar be Dragons. But let’s slay the 3 biggest ones right here in this post.

Now, mind you, these are mistakes that can happen with any launch — self-managed or not. Read on for tips to keep you on the sunny side of launch.

Launches are unlike business-as-usual for two main reasons: the sheer volume of tasks that need to get done inside a concentrated window of time, and harder-than-usual deadlines. That can be a deadly combination even for intrepid and determined entrepreneurs.

Self-managed launches? Thar be Dragons. But let’s slay the 3 biggest ones right here in this post.

Now, mind you, these are mistakes that can happen with any launch — self-managed or not. Read on for tips to keep you on the sunny side of launch.

Mistake #1. Not knowing what you need to do TODAY in order to launch on time.

How many of you know right now whether you’re on track to launch on-time? How many of you can quickly judge the impact to your schedule if you play hooky this weekend because the weather is just so awesome? Of if a key member of your team suddenly has to spend 48 hours driving to Arkansas for a family emergency just 3 days before you’re scheduled to launch. (Note: Completely NON-hypothetical example!!)

It may sound like magic, but this is basic block-and-tackle management to a seasoned project manager. But it’s not because we dabble in the Dark Arts or anything. Our eye of newt is nothing more than good software and a good, solid plan.

How to keep from making this mistake?

1. Choose project management software that fits your style, and use it to do the heavy lifting for the steps below. Redbooth (Teambox) and Trello are two very popular (and free!) project management software programs. About 10 minutes of playing around with them (each has excellent Getting Started videos) will tell you which one’s for you.

2. Start with scoping out the project in full, with tasks that are specific and granular enough to be helpful to you (without going completely overboard).

3. Put realistic time-frames on the tasks. And note any major dependencies (for instance: the sales copy needs to be completed to get the squeeze page up; the squeeze page needs to go live before social media drives traffic to it).

4.  Work backwards from your launch date, and fill in your schedule. You should have a mixture of hard deadlines and tasks that can be fitted in here and there. And you should end up with a list of weekly to-do’s for yourself (and your team, if you have one).

Mistake #2. Wasting time looking for drafts, research materials, images, documents, etc.

As small business owners, we all work in small batches: the hour at Starbucks, in between client calls, after the kids go to bed. How much time do you waste trying to put your hands on the RIGHT document (where did you save it and what did you title it) in Google Docs or on your hard drive?

If you said anything greater than “30 seconds” there’s something better than your current system.

How to keep from making this mistake? 

You need to check out Evernote. Evernote is one-stop shopping for storing & retrieving files of all kinds: clippings from websites, text, audio files, Word docs, Keynote, pdfs.  

Two great features right off the bat:

– it autosaves every few minutes

– files are stored in the cloud (with redundant backups) and accessible through any device you own, on any platform

But the real power comes with the search function, which prevents the mistake we’re talking about.

– Don’t remember what you titled a file? No problem, type a few words that you know are in the document and search results are displayed dynamically. You can even search text inside attachments (like Word and PDFs files), and Evernote indexes and searches your handwriting if you’ve snapped copies of scribbled notes.

There are so many features baked into Evernote that it makes content management a dream instead of a nightmare. For a case-study on using Evernote to manage a launch, see my post How to Manage a Launch with Evernote.

Mistake #3. Not leveraging outside help because…

well, it’d take LONGER TO EXPLAIN THINGS to someone than to just do it MYSELF!

This is a really powerful feeling, and I fall prey to it too (for me it’s around household chores like doing & folding the laundry – not exactly PhD level work, but somehow it always seems less of a burden to just do it myself..feel free to send me advice on this!)

But if you follow the advice in the first two tips, you’ve set yourself up for success here.

How to keep from making this mistake?

1. Add your team to your project management software & assign them tasks. With that one click, they have the task, the deadline, and where it fits in the project for perspective. And you have specificity and accountability for what you’ve assigned out. Prevents a lot of shrugged shoulders and blown deadlines, right there.

2. Purchase a Premium account ($45/year) and share your Evernote notebooks with your team, where they can read, modify and add notes. Not only will they have access to all your continually updated materials (never have a revision nightmare again!), you can also store meeting notes from your team huddles, procedure documents that you’ve created for them – basically removing excuses for misfires and misunderstandings.

Creating procedures is up-front work, but when they’re all lined up in a row in their own Master Procedures document, pinned to the top of your notebook, adding new faces to your team isn’t as daunting because the individual attention they’ll require to come up to speed is much less.

Want some tips on setting up your project in PM software?  I’ve put together a quick video that runs through some basic setup inside Redbooth – my current favorite software for managing launches – and some of the features that PM software gives you to manage your launch once it’s in motion.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/Sv0H1Vpo3Dw[/youtube]

That’s your self-managed launch Dragon Slaying Plan, no magical potion required.

So, let’s hear from you now. Have any of you encountered any of these dragons? How did you slay it?

image credit: adobemac November 10, 2006, Flickr Creative Commons

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