97 Things Every UX Practitioner Should Know

Chapter 45. Be Your Own Project Manager

Tripta Kumari

When you start a new project, it’s tempting to launch straight into the exciting stuff: the research, the ideas, the prototyping, and so on. But unless you take responsibility for planning the important elements and timing of your work up front, you risk losing control of your own processes. Ultimately, this can slow you down, stress you out, and make you lose the all-important space to flex your creativity.

I’ve spent many years of my UX career being parachuted into different projects, often with very little time to familiarize myself with preferred project methodologies. I used to struggle to get my head around questions like “How long do they expect me to spend on the research phase?” and “When will they expect to see user flows?”

Acting as your own project manager doesn’t have to be painful or involve loads of detailed Gantt charts. By developing a templated project planning schedule, I’ve created an easy way to hit the ground running, regardless of the setup and constraints I find myself working with. It’s a document you can refer to again and again during the course of a project. I even presented it at an interview as evidence of the way I approach a new project. I’ll never forget the impressed look on the hiring managers’ faces.

To create your own project plan, consider including these four key elements:

1. A high-level ...