I Took On 10 Projects at the Same Time, Here’s What I Learned
Creating a balance between happiness, responsibilities, chaos, and of course — mental health.
I know what you’re thinking, “Is this guy legit?”. Well, first of all, I assure you the title is not clickbait. So to explain all the things I was doing. In the course of 6 months, I managed a TEDx event in the midst of the coronavirus, was in the middle of writing a thesis, wrote a scientific paper, released a side project, started a podcast, occasionally be a soft skills trainer at Uni, lead two software projects, became a project manager for an LMS, and maintained software libraries at work whilst doing research.
This doesn’t count on some freelance projects, previous software projects I did as a team at work, four hackathons, and my monthly blog on Medium. P.S. I still have time for friends.
Kind of unbelievable? Well, if you don’t believe me I don’t know what else I can say to convince you. I am going to elaborate on how I did it, but I leave it for you to decide whether or not my experience is useful. Looking back, honestly even I can’t believe what I did.
An exact explanation of what I did
Before I start, I want to elaborate that being in 10 projects at once does not mean that you would be doing it yourself. On the contrary being on 10 projects at once should help you to do the exact opposite. The things I did might sound unbelievable (or believable depending on who you are). But, if people like Elon Musk can do the things he does, I don’t see a reason why I can’t.
I am by no means comparable to Elon Musk, but I honestly look up to him and he is one of the inspiring figures I strive to be. Managing chaos is such an interesting thing. A project can equate to chaos because it can go wrong unexpectedly in a multitude of ways.
What kind of projects did you do?
Some software engineers reading this might be thinking, “this guy is lying no way he did so many things in one fell swoop”. Well, let me explain the projects then. I handled a project to integrate an existing application to a certain online video communication service, and I initiated a project to make a custom code generator because my office has a custom design pattern. The library I helped maintain was for the custom design pattern I mentioned previously. Because this was part of my full-time job, I worked on these projects 7–8 hours a day.
Lastly, I was the project manager for a learning management system (LMS). The LMS project required me to review code, and lead meetings about 3–4 hours a week depending on the work.
As for the other things I did. I am writing my thesis is for my bachelor’s degree, with a team of three. We have occasional meetings three times a week with a total of 11–15 hours. The academic paper I wrote required about the same amount of 11–13 hours a week.
I was selected as a soft skills trainer for University students on my campus, I have been volunteering to share my experiences for almost two years now. As for the TEDx event, I was the project manager. I had a team of course. My commitment to the TEDx event was about 4–6 hours a week in a span of 4 months, and that includes the meetings.
That explains what I did exactly. Now here is what I learned from this experience.
If It Feels Like a Chore, It Might Slow You Down
This was one of the first lessons I learned. I didn’t only take 10 projects mind you. As far as I remember there were other things that I did that I intentionally leave out because it was either too irrelevant or too private.
Some of those other things I did, I wasn’t proud of. Why? Because it felt like a chore. Honestly, I didn’t like some of the things I did in the past 6 months. For example, I stated that I started a podcast. I like talking to people, but what I don’t like was editing the audio of the podcast. And because I was also the audio editor I eventually quit altogether.
I realized firsthand how important it is to do the things you want, rather than the things that seem like a chore. Because these chores will drain me mentally a lot faster than the other things that I enjoy doing.
I am a software engineer so obviously, I like to code, it’s my hobby. So, I don’t mind staying up late managing a library or even working on projects I love. Sure, I might be sleepy but mentally I am happy. It keeps me going.
So the one message I can say is, do fewer things that drain you mentally and try to do more things that make you happy or at least preserve your mental energy. If you don’t have the privilege of choosing what you do, it might be better to do fewer things altogether.
Honestly, I think I was lucky, I was allowed to do things I like. Probably more than most people in the world.
Having a Goal Helps, But It Doesn’t Limit You
I wrote an academic paper in the last 6 months and are now working on my 3rd and 4th one. The 4th paper corresponds to my thesis so I actually hit two birds with one stone there. By knowing I write academic papers you might be able to figure out what my goals are. I want to pursue a career in academia.
Some of the things I did might not correspond directly to being an academic but I believe the more time I have, the more things I can do.
I work as a software engineer, and I also do research here at my company. So, every time I found something new to implement I always think about how I can apply it quickly without wasting too much time doing the mundane tasks of sharing knowledge or even teaching these new technologies to my team?
More precisely, how can I reduce the time needed to do these things? How can I automate things? How can I help people adopt technology easier?
There were two answers that came into mind. The first was to write good documentation. I love writing, some of my technical articles were adopted from the documents I wrote.
Best of all, I can ask for free input on how I can write better to my team because in the end if they can understand what to do by reading the docs, I have more time for myself.
My second idea was to make a custom code generator. Sure it might be tedious at first, but it helped other software engineers adopt the design pattern faster. Also because my team developed a custom library that comes with the design pattern, I can easily make other teams adopt new technologies by updating that library.
These two ideas might sound obvious for a few techies out there, but let me tell you. It saved me a lot of time.
The moral of the story, you don’t have to chase your goal directly think of methods on how you can reduce mundane tasks every day. Try to automate things and it will save you a heap of trouble.
Don’t Say “Yes” to Everything
I like to choose what I want to be involved in. I have no problem speaking out if I think that I can’t handle a software project alone. I also don’t have a problem with asking to extend a project’s deadline.
I try to be honest with the things I can do and things I cannot do, and I believe that helps a lot. I don’t intend to be a superhero, but I tend to not let people down on my promises.
Did I fail on some of my projects? Yes, I did. I am not proud of it, but I let go of some of the projects I took on. One of them is the podcast I mentioned earlier. Another one was a freelance project I did with a friend, he wanted to make a startup but I was unable to keep up with his ambitions. Sure, I finished a majority of the app but in the end, for some reason, I didn’t satisfy him. I count that as a failure, even though I tried to finish my part.
I am going to paraphrase a quote from Gary Vee, “It’s okay to let a few plates break”.
I let a few plates break, and I move on. I took responsibility. I said I was sorry. In the end, it served as a lesson, a very important one! Which brings me to another point…
Realize You Can’t Control the Results
I always bring this piece of advice into a lot of my writings. But I genuinely believe in the principle of stoicism where you can’t control everything. You can only control yourself, however, you cannot control outside events such as other people, their actions, and especially their thoughts of you.
The line from the last paragraph in the previous section explains it perfectly. “I move on”. Moving on helps you be more productive. Having thoughts on how it could be doesn’t help you in the long term at all.
Use regret as a tool for the future rather than an anchor to the past.
I entered four hackathons, I didn’t win any of them. You might think it is because I didn’t focus enough on the hackathon. I disagree. I believe I gave it my all, but in the end, I can’t decide if I would win or not. But it didn’t deter me from joining another one.
Don’t Blame Others, Take More Responsibility
Sometimes in team projects, it’s easy to point fingers when something goes wrong. It is very easy to give blame. I realize that it’s a bad habit. It gives you excuses to slack off and not take the entire project seriously. Take ownership.
Taking ownership means realizing that quality matters, taking ownership means that realizing that this is your project too. Don’t slack off just because there’s a team behind you.
You can rely on other people, but you still have to realize that you need to contribute, and for better or for worse the project you started has to be finished.
The Importance of Delegation
Now… This sounds awkward, doesn’t it? Didn’t I say that you have to take ownership?
Well, you must also realize that there might be some things that you can’t do yourself that other people can do better at than you. There’s a reason why we humans specialize. We all have our interests, and we should cultivate it.
If you are ever blessed in a leadership position, your job is not only to share tasks among members but also to help guide them to success. It’s not about giving an equal amount of things to do for each person, rather more about giving the right ones to the right people.
If you can’t do it, the bare minimum thing to do is ask a team member if they can help. Don’t block other people’s progress just because your ego won’t let you ask for help.
Delegation helped me more than I can count. I realize that having people that are good at their job is really useful and that I should be pickier in who I choose for a project. I realized that I didn’t achieve all the things I did myself. Most of it was a team effort.
Learn When to Take a Break
Sometimes in the heat of work, I like to lose track of time. I like to do sleepless work nights. Not because I have to but because I want to. I realize that I might be a workaholic. So I take more breaks now.
I think it’s better to rest and then finish my work in a few hours rather than waste a day with no sleep doing the same task. Because after sleeping, some problems that I couldn’t solve before somewhat becomes easier. Every time I get stuck so hard that my head hurts, I usually take a nap. After I wake up I am certain I will find the solution 80% of the time.
If I don’t, well, I ask a friend. So, the moral of the story is to give yourself breaks. Don’t work 24/7. A healthy dose of procrastination won’t hurt.
Know Which Buttons to Push
This might be the most important lesson of all. You have to understand that some projects might not fit into your timeline. These projects might be because of the high level of commitment needed or even the people in them.
Most of the projects I accept have reasonable timelines. It doesn’t need to be finished in a week or two (although some of them did). This helps you manage your time better because an urgent project might break your work rhythm. If you have to work overtime every day, you might have a problem.
It can be consequential to your entire timeline. You might inflict burnout upon yourself, your mental state will not be as healthy as you need it to be. Your work will take its toll on you and in return, you will take a toll on it.
Understanding the type of people you work with is also a helpful skill. Some people have strict values, and they might value time more than anything. The solution? Don’t miss deadlines on projects with these kinds of people. Others might be strict in terms of quality, so focus on quality, time matters but show them that you are working on a quality build. Prove your attention to detail.
The timeline and the people you work with within your projects are important because these two factors can heavily impact your success. Having multiple projects is like juggling multiple items midair, if one of the items ruins the rhythm the entire system might collapse.
Final Words
After reflecting on what I did in the past, I realized that I managed to avoid chaos by the slimmest of margins. In other words, I was lucky as hell. I don’t endorse taking 10 projects at once. But these were the things I learned from my experience.
I hope you might get something after reading this. Lastly, I can only provide proof of what I did for a certain number of projects, the rest are private and it would be unethical of me to upload it to the internet for everyone to see. Thank you, have a nice day!
