Agency project management: what a small agency needs

What is agency project management?

It's the system that keeps every client's work moving at once, so one big project doesn't stall the rest. It sits above the running of any single project.

Its parts are:

• Intake. One way for requests to come in, from every client.
• Priorities. One ranked list the whole team works from.
• Room. A view of who's busy and who can take more.
• Tracking. One tool where every task lives.
• Rhythm. A weekly meeting that resets the list.

To set up intake:

1. Ask every client to send requests through one form or one inbox.
2. Write each request as a task, with the client's name and a due date.
3. Rank new tasks against the current list on a set day.
4. Tell the client when their task will start.

Each project inside the system still needs its own lead. For the project lead's job on one build, see web design project management.

Which agency project management tools fit a small team?

The tool that fits is the one your whole team will open every day. Before you pick one, ask these questions:

• Can every client's work sit in one place, with a filter for each client?
• Can you see every task due this week, across all projects?
• Does it show who's working on what?
• Can you attach briefs and files to a task?
• Can you share a view with one client without showing other clients' work?
• What does it cost per person as the team grows?
• If you leave, can you take your data with you?

Test a tool on one live project before you move every client into it. Then ask the team what got in the way.

What should a weekly agency team meeting cover?

A weekly meeting resets the priority list: what finished, what's late, what's stuck and what comes next. Keep it short, and keep the notes in the same tool as the tasks.

1. What finished last week, client by client
2. What's late, and its new date
3. What's stuck, and who will clear it
4. Client feedback still waiting for a reply
5. This week's top priorities
6. Who has room for new work

When an outside team does part of the work, know who's on it. Each DeskTeam360 plan includes two designers, a team leader, two technical Virtual Assistants and two developers, with a North American account manager on top. The founder joins too, on 2 group calls each week.

Sidekick Marketing is one agency that brings in an outside team. It markets electronics repair businesses, mainly phone and computer repair stores, across 11 states, and website development is part of what it offers. It found DeskTeam360 through the Duct Tape Marketing group, after the team's work was described on one of the group's calls. Its work with the team is mainly website and design tasks. What it values: the work's quality, the communication, and fewer rounds of back and forth on designs.

As the list of projects grows, the question turns to who does the work. For adding hands as the work grows, see how to scale a web design business.