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How can I keep track of projects between revisions?

Posted on September 11, 2015 by Betty in Client Management, Clients, Freelance Business, Organizing, Technology and Software, Time Management, Time Tracking No Comments

A reader wrote in:

I’m looking for a web app (cheap or free) that will allow me to enter projects as they come in and track how long they have been incomplete. Since part of the project involves waiting for client revisions, I can’t set a completion deadline, but I would like to track which jobs have been sitting unattended for too long. Help!!!

Thanks for writing! It sounds like our projects are similar: I do my part, then send it off to the client and wait (and wait and wait) for the client to send feedback and revisions.

I use Evernote to keep track of my projects. Each project gets a note, and I use tags to prioritize. I often have a lot of projects in the “Waiting” category. I’ve designated a weekly “Follow Up Friday” so that’s when I review the list of “Waiting” projects.

If I really need to remember to follow up on a certain day, the pay version of Evernote allows me to set reminders and have Evernote email me on a specific day.

I also use my calendar for my ‘to do’ list.* Sometimes I put notes on my calendar to follow up on a certain day.

*(Using my calendar to list tasks that need to be done helps keep me from over-scheduling.)

For most projects, I put the current date in the file name. When a zombie project comes back to me, I can tell when I last worked on it. So far I think my record is 1 year 4 months between drafts. (Yes, that’s crazy! I had worked on other projects for the same client during that time.)

My system isn’t perfect, and there might be a more automated app out there, but I haven’t found quite the right app for me yet.

Leave a comment and let us know how you keep track of your projects!

 

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I'm Betty, and I created Freelance Q & A to share what I've learned as a successful freelance graphic designer.

I'm based in Boulder, CO and work with clients across the USA. You can visit my business site and see my portfolio at
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