Your email inbox is not a project management system

One of the most common mistakes I see companies make as they scale is becoming too reliant upon back and forth communication to get stuff done.

You know what I mean if you've ever had to send 6 back and forth emails just to get a status update, if you've had to answer the same question a million times, or if you've had to dig through your inbox or chat history for that critical piece of information you're looking for.

Yes, communication is incredibly important. But too much of it becomes detrimental if you want your business to be scalable.

Why?

❌ Because asynchronous (back and forth) communication causes delays between request and response that slows down projects and allows work to pile up.

❌ Having to dig to find key information or involve multiple people multiple times is just plain inefficient.

❌ High volumes of communication creates mental and physical clutter that drowns out the important things that require a conversation.

So if you're looking to cut the clutter and have your team running like a well-oiled machine, here are some things to focus on as you build out your operating infrastructure.

✅ Identify the key pieces of information that need to be captured for every project and make sure there's a place (i.e. a discrete field) for them in your project management system.

✅ Identify the key steps or control points in your process that require human intervention. Then build reports and automated notifications in your system for these specific steps to eliminate the back and forth.

✅ Establish clear guidelines for where and when team members should communicate, and what the expectations are for frequency and response time.

If you do these things, I promise that things will get done faster, your teams will be more aligned, and you'll free up brain space to work on the important stuff.

If you’re up to your eyeballs in emails or struggling to find a project management system that works, please get in touch. I love helping my clients create efficient and scalable systems so they can get out of the weeds and elevate to the next level.