Managing Repeat Projects Using Project Templates

John Reeve | June 18th, 2013 | , ,

Managing Repeat Projects Using Project Templates

Any creative agency that has been in business for a short while will notice similarities between projects for different clients. Projects tend to repeat themselves. There is a lot of overlap between projects when designing and developing web sites. This is especially true for agencies that focus on clients in niche industries.

For example, a web site with content management tools built for one client will include many of the same tasks as building a similar web site for another client. And, the two projects will often require the same amount of time to complete. When managing multiple projects with these types of commonalities, it makes sense to employ project templates.

Project templates enable you to create one project – complete with milestones, tasks, and documents – and copy it over and over again for each client. Intervals, our online project management software, makes this process easy. First, create the project, along with its milestones, tasks, and documents. Name it something like “Content Management Web Site Template” to distinguish it from other ongoing projects.

Copy a project from the template

When a new project starts, navigate to the project and click the “Copy” link in the left column to copy it. The next page will show you how many milestones, tasks, and documents will be copied to the new project.

Name the new project and copy it

Give the project a name and click the “Copy” button to create the new project. The copied milestones and tasks will have their start and due dates reset, but will preserve the duration. So if a task normally takes 3 days, make sure that the master task has a start and due date spanning over a 3 day range.

Creating new projects from a template is the quickest and easiest way to get up and running. If the new project is not identical to an existing template, copy the most similar template and add or remove tasks to complete the setup. Not only will you save time, you will also create workflow patterns that make your agency more efficient overall.

Photo credit: GlacierNPS

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John Reeve
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John Reeve

John is a co-founder, web designer and developer at Pelago. His blog posts are inspired by everyday encounters with designers, developers, creatives and small businesses in general. John is an avid reader and road cyclist.
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Jennifer Payne
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Jennifer Payne

Jennifer is the Director of Quality and Efficiency at Pelago. Her blog posts are based largely on her experience working with teams to improve harmony and productivity. Jennifer is a cat person.
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Michael Payne
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Michael Payne

Michael is a co-founder and product architect at Pelago. His contributions stem from experiences managing the development process behind web sites and web-based applications such as Intervals. Michael drives a 1990 Volkswagen Carat with a rebuilt 2.4 liter engine from GoWesty.
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