The Best System For Planning House Projects
Home ownership has been a dream come true. But even though they told me it would be a lot of work, I did not really understand what that meant until I had to do it. From routine maintenance to larger renovations, the never-ending to-do list for a house is daunting. And it’s not just the time, labor, and money required, it’s also the planning. With such a long list of tasks, it can be a challenge to prioritize and focus. It requires a lot of mental capacity, and that’s on top of life’s other priorities—family, friends, work, and other responsibilities. But the planning shouldn’t get in the way progress, it should just support it.
So I developed a system for planning house projects that mirrors what I’ve learned in the corporate world. This tried-and-true process is simple yet effective, and it has reduced a lot of my stress when it comes to home ownership, because I know that I’m usually working on the next best thing.
A Quick Lesson in Project Planning Methodologies
Waterfall vs. Agile
A large part of my experience in the corporate world has been related to project management. I’ve learned that there are two primary approaches for how to do it: “Waterfall” and “Agile”.
Waterfall is a traditional, linear approach where you plan in detail from the beginning and set specific dates for each stage of the project. This works when there is little to no uncertainty or risk involved, but it’s not realistic for long-term or big-picture planning.
Agile, on the other hand, is a more flexible and iterative approach that focuses on continuous improvement. In Agile, you plan the short-term work in detail but the long-term work only at a high-level. Picture it like a funnel: the closer you are to executing the work, the more details you plan for it. We don’t focus too much on the future because there’s a good chance something will change.
Which Methodology for House Projects?
I believe Agile is best suited for products, and Waterfall is best suited for projects. And your house is a product, not a project. It’s probably full of a lot of little projects, and maybe you can plan those in detail, but as a whole, your vision for your house should remaining flexible—and so should your planning methodology.
My Specific System for Planning House Projects
For Things Happening Now
I use the app Trello to plan my house projects and house to-do list. It’s easily accessible and highly configurable. And it can be shared between multiple users. But most importantly, it allows me to be flexible.
Rather than planning house work for specific days, weeks, or months, I slot my projects and tasks into seasons. I find that seasons seem to be the right size—large enough buckets to offer a lot of flexibility, while still enough planning to accommodate for seasonal dependencies (ex. spring cleaning, winterizing tasks, projects to support a family change, etc.).
I then have a column for “This Month” and “In Progress” so that I can get super focused on what I want to work on right now.
This is what my board looked like a couple years ago:
And here’s how it looks today:
Guess what? Nothing about my system has changed. That’s how we know that it’s working well.
I usually update this board on a monthly basis, or sometimes weekly, just depending on what’s going on.
For Things Happening Eventually
In addition to the work that’s ongoing, I also have an overall vision for what I want to happen eventually in my house. I keep this in a backlog that I organize by room. The “backlog” is simply a list in a note on my phone. And the room-by-room organization helps me visualize the final products.
Separating the “eventual” work from the “now” work also allows me to still enjoy my house as it is today. It will never be perfect, and I’ll never get through every single item on my list, so I want to live confidently in the current state without constantly thinking about what could be. These separate lists help me do that.
I usually update my backlog a few times year, or whenever I’m thinking about my long-term vision for the house.
Next time you feel overwhelmed by house projects or don’t know where to start, try downloading all of your thoughts onto a list like this. And then break them out into seasons. Once you have some structure, it’s a lot easier to feel free of the future stuff and stay focused in the present.
Let me know if you try this & how it goes!
For more on how I manage my other to-do lists, check out my post: Let’s Talk About To-Do Lists!
