This simple and minimal project management setup has kept many of my teams on track and shipping fast:

1. List all active workstreams

Every active workstream goes on the list. Not just “big” projects, also the messy cross-functional things that are eating attention. If something needs coordination, it needs to be visible.

2. Assign one accountable owner

Every workstream has exactly one accountable owner.

I like ARCI for this: Accountable, Responsible, Consulted, Informed. There can be many people responsible for pieces of the work, many people consulted, and many people informed.

But there is exactly one person accountable.

Some people call that person the DRI. I don’t care what the title is. The important thing is that one person’s head is on the line if the project is not going well.

Not because they have to do all the work. They can make other people responsible for every part of it. But they are accountable for the overall success by themselves.

If there are multiple accountable owners, there are zero accountable owners. Chaos ensues.

3. Give every workstream a deadline

Every project needs a deadline, even if it is synthetic.

Deadlines force tradeoffs. They make it obvious when scope, resources, or expectations need to change. The deadline can move when reality changes, but it has to exist.

4. Get regular green/yellow/red updates

At some regular cadence, each accountable owner gives a status update of the project compared to its deadline:

• Green: on track

• Yellow: at risk

• Red: off track

Async works. Sync works. The mechanism matters much less than the fact that you have a mechanism to manage change in each individual project.

5. Do weekly demos

I like weekly demos: one strict 2 minute demo per workstream every week.

The accountable owner is accountable for making sure the demo happens. They do not have to give the demo themselves. Just like every other part of the project, they can make somebody else responsible for it.

The strict 2 minute limit matters. It keeps the meeting fast, it forces people to summarize what actually happened, and it makes the updates much less boring. It makes the whole thing more fun.

It sounds short, but I’ve found that every project can fit their weekly update demo into that timeframe.

My default is every Friday: one workstream, one demo, two minutes. Repeat until done.