Bullet Journal Project Management Guide (2022)
Udn Webber
Customer Support Lead
There’s nothing better than putting your thoughts down into a journal.
It can help you transform your brain dump into organized to-do lists, goals, and action plans.
But now, there are digital platforms that offer you similar features but with more efficiency .
Digital bullet journals give you an endless space to manage projects, be more productive, and reach personal and professional goals.
But what exactly is a bullet journal, and how can you use it to manage projects ?
In this article, we’ll cover what bullet journal project management is , how to use it to manage projects , and the five key benefits of going digital .
Let’s start journaling! 📖
What Is Bullet Journal Project Management?
Bullet journal project management involves using the Getting Things Done (GTD) approach to manage projects efficiently with the help of a bullet journal.
GTD is a project management methodology that focuses on prioritizing tasks and goals to help you, well, get things done.
But what exactly is a bullet journal?
A bullet journal is a customizable space for managing personal projects, goals, and any daily task. It’s basically a planner that helps you create to-do lists, track deadlines, and prioritize tasks.
You can use bullet journals to manage any project, like learning a new language, starting a blog , or improving your cooking skills.
Looks like it’s time to get a bullet journal, Homer!
Whether it’s personal or professional goals , the bullet journal method can help you prioritize a goal, narrow it down, and devise an action plan.
And before you know it, you’re already a project manager!
How to Manage Projects in a Bullet Journal (Step-by-Step)
Here’s a step-by-step guide to bullet journal project planning:
You start by identifying which project (aka your goal) you’re going to work towards.
If you have a list of multiple projects, you must choose one to focus on.
But how do you do this?
Ask yourself these three questions:
Once you’ve done some Yoda-like introspection, you’ll know which project you need to focus on in the upcoming weeks and months.
You can also create a future log section in your journal and move the other low-priority projects there.
To quickly understand the rest of the process, let’s say your project is to expand your business.
That’s a pretty broad one, right?
To finish such a large project successfully, you need to break it down into smaller chunks of work.
For example, to expand your online shopping business, you could:
And voilà, you’ve got yourself some well-organized subgoals. As you complete each subgoal, you get a step closer to expanding your business.
Breaking your project down will also give you insights into how much time and resources you need to finish it, so you don’t end up with an incomplete task.
But how are you gonna manage your project progress, time, and resources? If you answered “manually,” here’s a glimpse into your future:
We get it. It’s tough to manage all those elements while trying your best to stay motivated.
Fortunately, with a project planner and bullet journal system like UDN Task Manager , you can automate all the above tasks and focus on tackling your project. Nope, we aren’t clowning around!
Wait… what’s UDN Task Manager ?
UDN Task Manager is one of the world’s highest-rated productivity and bullet journal apps used by highly productive teams in small and large companies.
With features like Task Dependencies to complete tasks in the right order to a Global Time Tracker to track project time, UDN Task Manager makes bullet journal project management a piece-of-cake!
Here’s how you can use UDN Task Manager as a bullet journal project tracker
Goals in UDN Task Manager are high-level objectives that you can break down into smaller tasks or Targets . Every time you complete a Target , you move a little closer to achieving your Goal .
What this means is that:
But wait… how do you set a Goal in UDN Task Manager ?
Just go to “ Goals ” in UDN Task Manager and create a new goal by clicking the “ +New Goal ” button.
Here’s what else you can set:
And ta-da, you’ve got yourself a Goal!
Now to add a Target, simply hit the “ Add Target ” button!
Targets appear under your Goal
You can set various Targets like:
And while you crush your Targets, UDN Task Manager will auto-calculate and display your progress in real-time.
Completing your Targets also completes your Goal
Additionally, you can create tasks from scratch or use a Task Template in UDN Task Manager to manage your projects. You can then add subtasks to break your tasks down into smaller steps.
But that’s not all.
With Nested Subtasks , you can create subtasks under a subtask.
This way, you can take a primary task and create individual action items nested under that project. Talk about breaking it down! 💃
Drag and drop a task to convert it to a subtask
Now that you’ve got your goals sorted out, you need to create an action plan .
Think of the Ocean’s 8 crew.
The crew’s goal was to steal the Toussaint necklace.💎
To achieve their goal, they came up with an action plan. Tasks were assigned, each step was planned out logically, and a schedule was set.
Similarly, you need to organize your subgoals into logical steps and make a project timeline to expand your online business.
For example, you can’t get 15 customer testimonials without gathering customer info
and sorting through reviews first.
You could, but we’re not sure how accurate those testimonials would be. 👀
To get things done properly, you need to decide when to start your tasks and see if you have tasks that you must complete before starting another one. You’ll also need to set deadlines as required.
Seems like a lot to do?
Don’t worry. UDN Task Manager ’s here to save you from project scheduling woes.
The Calendar view in UDN Task Manager lets you plan time, schedule tasks, and manage resources with ease.
You can also choose how you visualize things here:
Calendar view in UDN Task Manager
Tasks are colored based on the task’s status
Additionally, you can use UDN Task Manager ’s Task Priorities to ensure you’re working on the right thing. Once you prioritize your tasks, you can also add Time Estimates to create crystal clear expectations.
Need more than just time estimates to stay on schedule?
You can use UDN Task Manager ’s Gantt Chart view to organize your tasks into a detailed Gantt chart .
Here, you can schedule tasks, manage project dependencies , and organize tasks in just a few clicks.
Draw lines between tasks to automatically set and visualize dependencies
Bullet journals are completely customizable. This means that you can choose a project layout that works for you and customize it the way you want.
Maybe you prefer a calendar or timeline style to organize time-sensitive tasks.
Or perhaps you’re a kanban project management fan.
Good news, UDN Task Manager has something for everyone!
UDN Task Manager offers you tons of beautiful project views that you can customize with lightning speed.
Some of these views include:
In UDN Task Manager ’s Board view, your tasks will be arranged in vertical columns
Time for the fun part: taking action!
And using to-do lists is one of the simplest ways to go all Keanu Reeves on your action plan.
Here are two to-do lists you need to have for bullet journal project management:
A. Monthly to-do lists
Your monthly task list has all the tasks that you need to complete in a month.
To create a monthly log, look at your action plan and move all your monthly tasks to the task list.
Here’s how UDN Task Manager makes managing your monthly to-dos a breeze:
Checklists in UDN Task Manager are simple to-do lists within your tasks.
They’re perfect for creating a daily log or even to-dos on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis. All you have to do is drag-and-drop items to organize them and check them off once they’re done.
But that’s not all.
Your Checklists can also contain sub-items. This way, you can add extra detail to your to-do lists.
Have similar to-dos? Create Checklist Templates and re-use them for repetitive tasks.
Save checklist templates to re-use and knock out tasks more efficiently
B. Weekly to-do lists
The weekly to-do list contains all the tasks that you need to complete on a weekly basis.
You can build your weekly planner by checking your monthly to-do list every week, and whatever you need to do in that specific week should be added to your weekly log.
Additionally, remember to prioritize your project tasks in both lists.
Because if you’ve listed tasks like grocery shopping along with your project tasks, then…
But what if you have a task that you gotta do every week, like writing a new blog post for your fashion blog?
Just use UDN Task Manager ’s Recurring Tasks !
You can set tasks to repeat daily, weekly, monthly, or even yearly.
And if you need a place to jot down bullet journal ideas, checklists, and notes, The Notepad in UDN Task Manager is the perfect place to do it. Any note you create here can be converted to a task later.
Convert notes to tasks with Notepad in UDN Task Manager
5 Benefits of Using a Digital Bullet Journal
Here are five benefits of digital bullet journaling:
Paper journals require time and supplies to get started. It’s a tedious process to go through every page to number and draw borders. 😵💫
With Docs in UDN Task Manager , achieving your aesthetic goals is a pleasant experience. Design your Docs using the right sidebar and keep making changes until your Doc is just right!
Access formatting options without a click by typing a slash /
You get unlimited pages in Docs, which means you don’t need another tool to support the progress of your projects and goals.
Subpages are a helpful feature to keep related details contained and organized within the parent Doc. Keep your subpages top of mind… and at the top of your parent Doc!
View subpages at the top of a UDN Task Manager Doc
A craft planner requires a lot of good-quality stationery, like pens, pencils, highlighters, bullet point paper, and more.
Having to replace everything frequently can get super expensive.
Instead, why not use a free project management tool like UDN Task Manager ?
With UDN Task Manager ’s Free Forever Plan, you can save all the money you would’ve spent on stationery and reinvest it into your project. #WinWin
If you make a mistake or need to move pages around in a paper notebook, you’re gonna have to rip pages out.
Hopefully, this won’t make you pull your hair out as well. 😜
Digital bullet journals make it easy to erase mistakes and move pages around. All it takes is a simple backspace and drag-and-drop.
On top of that, digital journals like UDN Task Manager offer you a lot of flexible features , such as:
Use Custom Fields to track, sort, and filter work according to your Workspace’s needs
You know that feeling you get when you lose a sticky note with important info on it? 😩
With a digital bullet journal, you’ll never have to feel like that again.
Digital tools can be backed up and synced across devices. This way, you’ll never lose your journal, and you can view projects on your phone if you’re on the go.
UDN Task Manager takes syncing to the next level by letting you sync your UDN Task Manager tasks with Google Calendar .
Additionally, you can use UDN Task Manager ’s Mobile Apps for Android and iOS devices to stay on top of your projects wherever you are.
Sometimes a project requires teamwork, and you’ll need to share tasks, to-do lists, and project plans with teammates.
While your paper journal isn’t gonna help you out here, a digital task manager like UDN Task Manager surely will.
UDN Task Manager ’s Public Sharing feature lets you share a public, read-only version of tasks or views to keep everyone on the same page, literally. And from Collaboration Detection to Assigned Comments , UDN Task Manager offers tons of collaboration features just for you and your team!
Shoot for Your Goals like a Bullet
Bullet journaling is all about goal setting and prioritizing the right goals.
This way, you can create a productivity system that’ll help you get to where you want to be.
And while you could just use a pen and paper to do this, sometimes a project requires a higher level of organization that isn’t offered by regular notepads.
That’s why you need a task management app with built-in bullet journal functionality, like UDN Task Manager !
With features like Custom Color Themes , powerful Integrations , and ready-made Templates , UDN Task Manager can help you manage anything you put your mind to.
Try out UDN Task Manager for free today to experience a bullet journal app that’ll help you reach all your goals with ease. 💆
