At Fishhook, we always have several dozen clients and projects to manage at any given time. We're so thankful for the opportunity to partner with churches in important communications work, but without significant project management to keep our team on the same page, we'd be in trouble with this many plates spinning!
What's the secret to keeping our sanity? Our weekly sync sessions.
What's a weekly sync session, you ask?
It's a weekly internal 1-hour meeting we use to briefly check in on every active project and client (sync meaning to get synchronized). All our sync sessions are led by Shayla Kenworthy. One of her many hats at Fishhook is Director of Workflow Implementation, which means she helps get all the work in and out of the queue.
First, Shayla meets with our Communications Strategists (who manage each project) on Thursdays to see where each project stands and what's needed from our implementation team (design and web folks) the following week. Then on Monday mornings, Shayla meets with our design and web teams to go through what is on their plates for each project that week.
This collaboration between project managers, graphic designers and web developers ensures that we're all on the same page. We love using a shared Google Doc in each of these sync sessions, so we're all tracking where projects are, what the next steps are and when they're due. Out of these meetings, we use Basecamp project management software, update our calendars and assign tasks for the coming days and weeks.
Why do we love our weekly sync sessions?
We all walk away with everyone knowing where we are in the process and what our priorities and responsibilities are to move each client forward that week. These sessions help us keep a bigger picture of what's going on – what's happening now and what's happening next – so nothing falls through the cracks. They are great relationship building times between the team, all coming together and leaving with a plan.
They help us stay on budget and on time, two very important measures in our world. They keep all of us accountable to report on where we are in the project. They are a great time to get input from others on our teams, like quick brainstorming or tips about how to handle a situation. Plus, they limit the need to have side conversations during the week about each project (unless needed) because we already know what's needed.
Typically we only spend about five minutes talking about each project in these sync sessions, so we cover dozens of clients in the hour. For bigger projects, sometimes we spend 10 or 15 minutes. But sync sessions are meant to be quick, so if more detailed discussion time is needed for a particular project, then a separate meeting is scheduled.
How could you implement some kind of sync session at your church?
The possibilities are endless, and you'll want to find what works for your church in terms of frequency and length of your sync sessions. Here are a few suggestions for your communications team and others: