Expand your Vision with the Design Roadmap System Master Calendar

The Design Roadmap System is the tool I created for busy designers who want to get their process and their calendar organized.  To get you pumped up about learning the Design Roadmap System with me, I’m in the middle of a 5 part blog series to highlight each module of the Design Roadmap Course and explain how they can radically improve your business. 

This week I’ll be focusing on Module 3: The Design Roadmap Master Calendar.

When I created my first Design Roadmap it created so much ease in my process that I started making Design Roadmaps for all my projects - no looking back!  Now I had a week-by-week plan for each of my projects to keep them all running smoothly.  

But there’s one big question I had when I started making Design Roadmaps for multiple projects at a time:  How do I know if I have enough time to complete the work on all of my different Design Roadmaps?

I needed a way to plan out all of my Design Roadmaps in one place so I could see ALL the work I had to do… AT THE SAME TIME.  Without that overall calendar view, I felt like I had blinders on, seeing little slices of information at a time, and I felt stressed about what I wasn’t seeing.  

So I set about fixing this.

How I created the Master Calendar

The first thing I tried was getting one of those huge dry erase calendars so I would have the room to write out everything I was doing on all of my projects each week.  It was a lot of information, and the calendar didn’t have enough room to include everything I wanted to see, but I made it work… sorta.

I tried online project management tools so I could plan out my Design Roadmaps on the calendar more efficiently.  While they also worked well for scheduling out my Design Roadmaps, I was never able to see all the crucial information from my Roadmaps that I wanted to see so I could complete my work each week.  

Enter one employee hire, then another.  Now I was not just managing my own calendar but the calendars for both of my employees.  They showed up to work each day looking to me to tell them what to work on, and I needed an easier way to plan out our projects on the calendar and assign everyone their tasks for the week.  

I couldn’t find a calendar tool that would work with my Design Roadmaps and show me exactly the information I wanted to see, so I created my own.  I called it the Master Calendar because it showed me everything I wanted to see in one place, in one big “Master” view.

What's in the Master Calendar

Each week has an area that lists each project you're were working on that week, the goals you're working to complete for that project and the number of hours each employee has to complete those goals.  All of the hours are added up for each employee so you can make sure you haven't overbooked anyone.

Wouldn’t it be great if you could quickly see at a glance what your weekly goal is for every project you’re working on, all in one place with time estimates so you know you can complete the work?  

Everyone’s capacity is a big part of the Master Calendar.  We’re always looking at how many hours everyone has to work, and making sure we’re not assigning anyone too much work for the time they have available.  This is how you foster a stress-free work environment.  

Right next to the weekly planning section is the calendar for that week so you can plan out the week and block off time for meetings, strategizing the most efficient use of your time.   

One view to rule them all

As a designer, there’s something magical about seeing all of this information in one view.  At a glance, you can see every project you and your team are working on that week, what needs to get done and by whom, how long it’s going to take and when it’s going to get done. 

It’s easy to move things around as needed, but you know that if you just complete the baby steps for that week for each of your projects, you'll stay on track with all of your projects. Nothing is forgotten, nothing is slipping through the cracks.  

Getting off the hamster wheel of stress

It’s a very different way of working than how I used to work before I had Design Roadmaps and the Master Calendar.  Before that, I would hyper-focus on one project to get the work done, while neglecting all of my other work.  After the presentation, I’d pull my head out and realize I was way behind on all of my other work, so I’d hyper-focus on the next project to get it back on track… thereby neglecting all of my other work.  

It was an endless cycle of stress that I could never seem to break out of.  Now, with the Design Roadmap and my Master Calendar, every project is accounted for and planned out.  It has all been checked against the time we have available, so we’re not overbooking ourselves or making promises we cannot keep.  It’s easy to stay on track with everything.  

The gift of Focus

Best of all, we can FOCUS.  We can just look at the work that needs to be done that week, without having to constantly be reviewing the big overall list of tasks to be sure we haven’t forgotten anything.

Automatic Prioritization

The Design Roadmaps and Master Calendar create automatic prioritization...  everything just gets done at the right time.

All the pre-planning has been done, and we just need to show up each week ready to do the work.  

That means a tremendous amount of creative energy is freed up for the actual design process.  What a win!  

Using my Master Calendar each week gives me such a calm feeling of control.  I absolutely love it because I know everything is accounted for  - it’s like a super-charged task list and calendar in one.  

Does the Master Calendar sound like something that could help you plan your time?  

CLICK HERE to schedule a free discovery call with me to find out the best way for you to get started with the Design Roadmap System and make the Master Calendar a part of your workflow.  

I have DIY and full-service options to meet you where you are and get you everything you need to set up and implement this powerful system in your own business. 

I can’t wait for you to have that calm feeling of relaxed control that the Design Roadmap Master Calendar gives you.  What are you waiting for?