How to manage multiple client projects at once
One client job is easy to keep in your head. Five are not, especially when three of them are waiting on the client and two of the freelancers are shared. The fix is structure, not effort.
The short answer
Give every client job its own project with the same structure: deliverables as tasks with owners and dates, the client's reviews on the schedule, files and notes stored on the job. Then keep one view across all projects that shows what is due this week, who is holding each item and what is waiting on a client. Review it once a week in 30 minutes, decide priorities by deadline and by what is blocking others, and protect each person's focus by limiting how many jobs they touch in a day.
One structure for every job
The first rule is boring and it matters most: every project looks the same. Same stages, same statuses, same naming for files and versions, same place for client notes. When every project has its own system, switching between them means relearning each one, and that is where things slip.
A minimal structure that works for most studios:
- A project per client job, not per client. A client with two jobs has two projects.
- Deliverables as tasks with an owner, a due date and a status.
- Client reviews as dated items, so waiting time is visible.
- Notes stored on the deliverable they belong to, per round.
- The quote, the costs and the invoices on the same project.
One view across all projects
Each project page tells you about one job. You also need a view that cuts across all of them, answering three questions:
- What is due in the next seven days, across every job?
- What is each person working on, and is anyone on more than two jobs this week?
- What is waiting on a client, and since when?
That view can be a timeline of all projects, a board filtered by assignee, or a simple list sorted by due date. The format matters less than the habit of looking at it. If you only ever look at one project at a time, you will find out about a clash when it has already happened.
The weekly review
Thirty minutes, the same day every week, with whoever runs projects in the studio. Walk through the cross-project view and ask of each job:
- Is it on track for its next milestone?
- Is anything blocked, and on whom?
- Has the client been silent on a review past its due date?
- Is the budget still in line with the work left?
Write the decisions on the projects. Then send each client their weekly update; most of it comes straight from this review. The weekly client update email template has the format.
How to prioritise
When two jobs want the same person on the same day, decide with three questions in order:
- Which one has a fixed external date? A media booking, an event or a launch does not move. An internal milestone usually can.
- Which one is blocking someone else? A model the lighter needs tomorrow outranks a polish pass nobody is waiting for.
- Which one is waiting on the client anyway? Work on a job whose next review is a week away can usually wait a day.
Write the decision down and tell the people affected. Priorities that live in one person's head change every time someone asks.
Waiting time is part of the plan
In a studio with five jobs, at any moment two or three are waiting on a client: for notes, for approval, for files. That time is not idle if you plan for it. Schedule work on another job into the gap, and make the waiting visible so it does not become a surprise.
Put a due date on every client review and mark the job as waiting when you send something. When the due date passes, one reminder goes out and the schedule moves day for day. A project that has been "waiting on client" for three weeks with nobody noticing is the most common way a studio ends up with five half-finished jobs and nothing to invoice.
Limit context switching
Each switch between jobs costs time: finding the files, remembering where you were, rereading the notes. For artists, the cost is higher because a 3D scene or an edit takes time to open and get back into.
Two rules help. First, give each person no more than two active jobs in a day where you can. Second, batch the small things: answer client messages for all jobs at set times instead of as they arrive, and do reviews in one block rather than scattered through the day. Studio capacity planning covers how much work a team can take on in the first place.
Shared freelancers
Small studios often use the same freelancers across jobs. Track each freelancer's work as deliverables on the projects they belong to, not as a separate list, so the cross-project view shows that one person is due on two jobs on Thursday. Agree dates with them per deliverable, in their time zone, and do not assume they can absorb a slip on one job without it hitting another. How to track freelancer deliverables covers the fields to keep.
Money across jobs
Five jobs means five budgets and usually a dozen invoices at different stages. Keep each job's money on its own project: what was quoted, what has been spent on freelancers and costs, what has been invoiced, what is paid. Once a month, look at all of them together: which jobs are over budget, which invoices are late, which milestones are done but not yet billed. Work done and not invoiced is the most common leak in a busy studio.
When there are too many
If the weekly review regularly shows more slipping jobs than on-track ones, the studio has taken on more than it can deliver. The fix is not working longer hours; it is fewer jobs at once, more freelancers on defined pieces, or later dates agreed before they are missed. Move a date with the client a week early and it is a conversation. Miss it and it is a complaint.
Doing this in OIO
OIO is project management for small studios. Each client job is one project page with tickets on a kanban or a timeline, the deadline, files, team chat and the budget. Every project uses the same ticket statuses, including hold for work waiting on someone, so the structure is the same across jobs. The Tickets view lists every ticket across every project as a list, a kanban or a timeline, and Desk shows what needs billing, chasing or signing.
Client reviews are tickets with dates; a ticket waiting on the client shows a Needs feedback marker, and the client gets one reminder email a day, which you can switch off. Freelancers work from a ticket link on each job without a seat. Each project carries its own quote, costs and invoices, so the money for five jobs stays on five pages. There is no resource planning or capacity chart; workload is read from the tickets and their assignees.
Questions
How do I manage multiple client projects at the same time?
Give every job the same structure on its own project, keep one view across all projects showing what is due and who holds it, and review that view once a week. Decide priorities by fixed external dates first, then by what blocks other people.
How do I prioritise between two client projects?
First the one with a fixed external date, such as a launch or a media booking. Then the one blocking someone else. Work on a job whose next client review is days away can usually wait.
How many projects can one person work on at once?
Two active jobs in a day is a practical limit for most artists, because each switch costs time to reopen files and get back into the work. Across a week, more is fine if the days are batched.
What do I do with projects waiting on client feedback?
Put a due date on every review, mark the job as waiting when you send, and plan work on another job into the gap. When the date passes, send one reminder and move the schedule day for day.