PROJECT MANAGEMENT- reclaim your projects, reduce your all-nighters

Every student, me especially, knows the feeling of compromising the quality of their work due to running out of time. All-nighters are a common occurrence amongst designers, students and those working as a designer alike.
The most frustrating part is that it is often not that you don't want to do the work and decide to put it off until it is too late but rather that you simply don't realise you are running out of time to finish the project until it is too late. Ask even an accomplished and professional designer if they have this problem; they do... only it is often due to clients changing their mind or slow suppliers/ manufacturers and not hanging out at the Uni bar...

This is where implementing a project plan into your schedule can be very beneficial in reducing the amount of caffeine induced all-nighters. A project plan is simply determining the time it will take to complete each part of a project and working those parts into your schedule so that you know you will have the time to complete them.
A great way to do this is by using a Gantt chart. It is basically a spreadsheet that allows you to sub each part of the project into an allocated time slot. For example, you would want to have two time slots for each day and what you will do for the project in that time slot.

Project tasks will overlap each other as you will most likely be completing more than one task at a time.
Of course, it is impossible to know exactly how long a task will take- this is where you would implement periods of time dedicated to 'catching up' on tasks.
Make sure any tasks that if postponed would make the time to complete the project increase are done on time. For example, if you are waiting on finishing 'task 4' before you can start a task that will finish the same time that the project is due then make sure you complete 'task 4' on time. If you were to finish 'task 4' late then the project will not be able to be finished on time. This is often where you get caught out for time without realising it until it is too late.
It is also worth putting in the tasks for all of the projects you are or will be doing. This way you will be sure to not forget one.

There are also many apps that work as project plans, these are especially useful for when you have many projects at once or can't be bothered making your own gantt chart. See this post for some examples http://freelancefolder.com/10-free-project-management-applications/

Everyone should have a project plan, unless you don't mind sleepless nights and unfinished projects...