From Strange Brand – Branding and Marketing Blog – The First Year: 7 Lessons Learned

Lesson 4: Long hours? Poor project management.

Having been part of the design/development community for so long, I’m no stranger to the concept of “crunch time.” The fact that I’m running my own business only adds to the effect. I’ve been working 60-hour+ weeks for the past year, and yet it never feels like I’m doing enough.

However, I’ve come to realize lately that long hours aren’t a badge of honor. If anything, they only highlight the need for better organization and management.

It’s easy to associate a huge workload with the idea that “business is booming,” but in reality, it’s usually a sign of some (or all) of the following:

* You’re disorganized.
* You’re estimating inaccurately.
* You’re not managing your staff effectively.
* You’re giving “nice” deadlines to clients, instead of taking the time to explain and justify more realistic deadlines.
* You’re trying to do everything by yourself when you really should be bringing on additional help.

Well worth a read for all those thinking of starting up.