The Complete Agency Project Management Checklist

Running an agency means juggling more balls than a circus performer. Multiple clients, multiple projects, multiple team members—all with different timelines, expectations, and needs.

After working with hundreds of agencies, we've distilled what separates the chaos from the calm. Here's your checklist.

Client Onboarding

• Create a standardized onboarding workflow template
• Set up a dedicated workspace or project for each client
• Define clear roles: who's the day-to-day contact, who's the escalation point
• Establish communication preferences (Slack, email, calls)
• Document approval processes and stakeholder sign-off requirements
• Set up client portal access (if offering visibility)
• Schedule a kickoff call with clear agenda

Project Setup

• Break the project into clear phases or milestones
• Create task templates for repeatable work (social media campaigns, website launches, etc.)
• Assign an owner to every task—no orphan tasks
• Set realistic deadlines with buffer time built in
• Define what "done" looks like for each deliverable
• Link dependencies so blockers are visible
• Set up automations for status changes and notifications

Team Management

• Keep workloads visible across all team members
• Flag capacity issues before they become emergencies
• Create clear handoff processes between team members
• Document tribal knowledge (it shouldn't live in one person's head)
• Schedule regular 1:1s focused on obstacles, not status updates
• Celebrate wins—publicly

Client Communication

• Send weekly status updates (or give portal access)
• Proactively communicate delays before they surprise anyone
• Document all client feedback in one place
• Track revision rounds and scope changes
• Get written approval for all major deliverables
• Schedule regular check-in calls (but only as often as needed)

Financial Health

• Track time against budgets in real-time
• Flag projects that are trending over budget early
• Document scope creep as it happens
• Have a clear process for change orders
• Invoice promptly—don't let work pile up unbilled
• Review profitability by client and project type quarterly

Quality Control

• Create internal review checklists for each deliverable type
• Have someone other than the creator review before client delivery
• Build in QA time—don't treat it as optional
• Track common mistakes and create preventive processes
• Document client preferences and brand guidelines

Continuous Improvement

• Run post-mortems on completed projects (both successes and struggles)
• Collect client feedback systematically
• Review team feedback on processes quarterly
• Update templates based on lessons learned
• Share knowledge across the team—what one person learns, everyone should benefit from

Putting It Into Practice

This checklist might feel overwhelming if you're starting from scratch. Don't try to implement everything at once. Pick one area that's causing the most pain right now and start there.

For most agencies, that's either:

• Client communication: If clients are constantly asking "what's the status?"
• Team workload: If you're always scrambling to meet deadlines
• Financial tracking: If you're not sure which clients are actually profitable

Fix one area, get it running smoothly, then move to the next. Incremental improvement beats ambitious failure every time.