Project Management
Practical project management for freelancers and small teams: Gantt charts, Kanban boards, the Eisenhower matrix, project budgets, timelines and managing several projects at once.
Most project management advice is written for large companies with dedicated software. These guides are for everyone else: the freelancer with six clients, the small team without a project manager, the family planning a renovation. They cover how to plan a project in phases, build a timeline, prioritize tasks, estimate costs and keep several projects moving at once.
Where a guide involves a spreadsheet, it shows the method in both Google Sheets and Excel, with the formulas written out. The template pages show the same tools, from the Gantt chart to the Eisenhower matrix, ready-made inside our project management spreadsheet.
5 templates
- Eisenhower Matrix Template for Google Sheets and Excel
An Eisenhower matrix template that sorts tasks into do, decide, delegate and delete from two checkboxes, with month and project filters and formulas to copy.
- Gantt Chart Template for Google Sheets and Excel With Holidays
A Gantt chart template for Google Sheets and Excel that draws each project from your task list, with phases, status colors, holidays and a today marker.
- Kanban Board Template for Google Sheets and Excel With Filters
A Kanban board template for Google Sheets and Excel with Backlog, To-Do, In Progress, Review and Done columns filled from your task list, plus filters.
- Multiple Project Tracking Template for Google Sheets and Excel
A multiple project tracking template with dates, days left, progress, status, budget and profit for every project in one list, plus formulas to build your own.
- Project Budget Template With Labor, Materials and Actual Costs
A project budget template for labor, materials and fixed costs per task, with budget vs actual, an expense log, a worked example and formulas to build your own.
18 guides
- Eisenhower Matrix Examples: 4 Filled-In Grids for Work and Home
Four filled-in Eisenhower matrix examples, for a manager, a freelancer, a student and a parent, plus clear rules for telling urgent tasks from important ones.
- Event Planning Timeline: A 12-Week Plan With Owners and Budget
An event planning timeline that works backward from the date: a 12-week plan with owners, due-date formulas, a budget tracker and a final-week checklist.
- Home Renovation Project Plan: Phases, Budget and Timeline
Build a home renovation project plan: phases and trade order, a budget with contingency, contractor tracking and a sample bathroom remodel timeline.
- How to Create a Project Timeline: 7 Steps and an Example
How to create a project timeline from scope to milestones to dated tasks, with working-day buffers and a full example timeline for a small website launch.
- How to Delegate Tasks: What to Hand Off and How to Follow Up
How to delegate tasks at work and at home: what to hand off, a delegation checklist for the handoff, how often to follow up and how to track who owns what.
- How to Estimate Project Costs: Labor, Materials and Contingency
How to estimate project costs task by task: labor as hours times rate, materials, fixed costs and a contingency budget, with a fully worked estimate.
- How to Make a Gantt Chart in Excel With Dates and Progress
How to make a Gantt chart in Excel with a stacked bar chart or conditional formatting: exact steps, real dates on the axis, progress shading and a today line.
- How to Make a Gantt Chart in Google Sheets (2 Methods)
How to make a Gantt chart in Google Sheets with conditional formatting or a stacked bar chart: exact formulas, weekends, holidays and a today marker.
- How to Manage Multiple Projects: A Simple Weekly System
How to manage multiple projects with one master list, a 30-minute weekly review, a capacity check in hours, clear status colors and a polite way to say no.
- How to Manage Recurring Tasks: A Full Year of Dates in One Sheet
How to manage recurring tasks in Google Sheets or Excel: frequency types, exact formulas that generate a year of dates, and how to log done, skipped and moved.
- How to Prioritize Tasks: 6 Methods Compared With an Example
How to prioritize tasks with six methods (Eisenhower, MoSCoW, ABCDE, impact vs effort, RICE and stack ranking), when to use each, and one list worked through.
- How to Track Project Progress: Percent Complete, RAG and Reports
How to track project progress: five ways to measure percent complete, days-left and forecast formulas for Sheets and Excel, RAG rules and a one-page report.
- How to Write a Project Quote: Pricing, Margin and a Sample
How to write a project quote from a cost estimate: markup vs margin worked out side by side, what every quote must include and a sample quote layout.
- NETWORKDAYS in Google Sheets: Count Working Days and Holidays
Use NETWORKDAYS in Google Sheets and Excel to count working days, skip holidays and set custom weekends, plus WORKDAY for due dates. Tested 2027 examples.
- Personal Kanban: Columns, WIP Limits and 3 Example Boards
Personal kanban explained: how to set up your columns, pick a WIP limit that stops multitasking, and three example boards for a freelancer, a home and a team.
- Project Management Spreadsheet vs Software: Which Do You Need?
Project management spreadsheet vs software: a side-by-side comparison table, a checklist for when a spreadsheet is enough and the signs you have outgrown one.
- Project Phases: The 5 Stages With Examples for Small Teams
Project phases explained for small teams and solo work: what happens in each of the 5 stages, when to move on, and phase plans for three project types.
- Work Breakdown Structure Example: Event and Website WBS
Two full work breakdown structure examples, an event and a website, with hours, the 8/80 rule and how a WBS becomes Gantt chart phases and tasks.