How project management frameworks can help you plan - and finish! - your novel

Hello friends!

Greetings from Project Management-land, where I lived much of my life last month. While glancing longingly at my WIP Scrivener file as I sorted through prerequisite tasks, scheduling hours, and figuring out if I could clone some co-workers, I also thought a bit about the role of project management in a complex writing project—like, say, writing a novel?!

Stick with me - I’m going to talk a tiny bit about PM work and then relate it to writing.

There are two project management major frameworks (at least in the digital world that I inhabit): Waterfall and Agile.

Waterfall is so-named because its structure is shaped like a waterfall (sort of). All projects have phases. In a waterfall system, you finish all the tasks associated with one phase before moving to the next.

Agile is a more flexible, iterative framework. You define ‘sprints’, a period of work not unlike a phase, and then designate a set of tasks to be completed in each sprint. Think of software - rarely is a piece of software “done”; rather, updates with incremental improvements to various features come out on a regular basis.

I’ve worked both ways over the course of my career—generally big projects (like a website redesign) are managed using a waterfall approach, while post-launch service work is defined in a series of sprints. Neither one is right or wrong; it depends on the nature of the work as to which framework is best applied.

But recently, I’ve had to plan a major project with a kind of hybrid. I’ve worked through some brain teaser plans in my day but this one really took the cake. There were dozens of moving pieces and parts, many which couldn’t start until other parts were finished.

Sound familiar? Maybe like writing a novel? 😉

Y’all know I’m a big fan of a plan, and this is why. Any big project has dozens if not hundreds of things that need to happen along the road to completion. I came across a to-do list that I made when I was just starting and the planning list (including things to research, building a timeline, deciding on POV, and making an outline) was 16 tasks long!

So why did I take the time to tell you about the different PM frameworks? Because it can be helpful to define a process, to think about how you work best and most efficiently to achieve your end result.

Overall I like to think of writing a novel in waterfall terms, with four phases:

• Planning

• Drafting

• Revising

• Pitching/Publishing

Leaving aside that last one (because there are so many pathways within that my brain starts to hurt a little again 😅), the other phases could all be managed in either a waterfall or an agile way within their containers.

I would strongly advise a waterfall approach to drafting, because it is usually the folks who iterate (read: edit) while they’re drafting who never actually cross the finish line of a draft. Truth be told, though, I have a client who is working that way and it’s what works for her.

The revision stage is all about iteration, and even if you set out with a very clear list of issues to tackle, solving them often unveils others. As they say in the digital world, this is a feature, not a bug! If you keep a running list of issues and decide each Monday which ones are the highest priority and can be tackled that week, you’re being agile.

In case you’re curious, it took at least 5 iterations of the hybrid website project plan to have something that would work. Definitely in my top three most challenging plans to date. But as I’ve said before, none of the work that happened along the way was a waste—it all had to be done to arrive at the end result.

Friends, the same is true about all the work you do on your novel.

Please remember that when you’re in your umpteenth version or have to scrap something that you’ve poured hours and days into—none of it is wasted. You couldn’t have gotten to where you are without it. And you haven’t ‘screwed up’! You’re learning how to write the best book you possibly can.

After all that, I’m going to go hang out in my postage-stamp backyard with a cocktail and a book! I’m always looking for recommendations so let me know what’s on your summer reading lists.

And just in time for summer vacations and explorations, I have a special treat for y’all!

Do you have an explorer’s frame of mind? My friend and book coach colleague Ruth Bullivant loves to work with writers who bring their travel experience into their writing. If you like to do that, be sure to download her illustrated booklet: '8 ways to make your travel writing compelling and memorable'.

Happy travels and happy writing! ♥️

Kerry