When you join a startup as a project manager, you are entering chaos. Things are moving, people are building, founders are deciding, but very often no one fully understands why things are happening or how everything connects.

Your role is to make sense of that chaos, keep it visible, and ensure the team can move without getting stuck. That’s why your daily responsibilities matter – they aren’t busywork. They are the foundation for clarity, accountability, and progress for you, the team, the founder, the users of your application.

Below is a checklist of what you should get used to doing every single day. These activities ensure you always have answers, keep the team unblocked, and stay ahead of surprises.

1. Check Communication Channels

1. Look for blockers, updates, new tasks, new feature suggestions/request.
2. Respond to questions from team members that have not been answered.
3. Confirm that no team member is stuck without support.
4. Communicate update directly with the team.

2. Update the Project Management Tool (Your Trackers)

1. Keep the trackers as aligned with what’s happening in conversations as possible everyday.
2. Ensure tasks, statuses, and deadlines reflect reality.
3. Double-check that updates in Slack/WhatsApp match what’s in your Weekly Tracker, Backlog, and Issue Log.
4. Ask questions when you are not fully sure of your decision about the status of a task

3. Talk to the Founder / Task Assigner

1. Confirm if there are changes in priorities.
2. Ask if there are new or upcoming tasks you should prepare for.
3. Verify the upcoming task that should be assigned in coming sprint
4. Do as much research as possible and ask as many questions as you can about the request in discussion until you can explain it as a task to the person that the task will be assigned to.

4. Test Completed Tasks

1. Verify “Dev Done” or “Ready for Test” items.
2. Log issues immediately in the issue log.
3. Escalate urgent problems to the right people.

5. Maintain the Backlog

1. Add new tasks as you hear them.
2. Review and confirm statuses are accurate.

6. Document Deployments

1. Note what is being pushed to production.
2. Share clear updates with stakeholders so no one is caught off guard.

7. Schedule and Manage Meetings

1. Schedule meetings with clients, founders, and the team.
2. Send reminders about the meeting.
3. Coordinate scheduled and impromptu meetings with clients, founders, and the team.
4. Capture outcomes and ensure decisions are reflected in trackers.

8. Provide Feedback & Close Loops

1. Respond to team comments promptly.
2. Clarify misunderstandings.
3. Resolve conflicts or blockers before they escalate.

9. Prioritize & Decide

1. Determine what matters most right now.
2. Identify what can wait until later.

10. Improve Yourself and the Workflow

1. Research new practices or tools.
2. Refine existing processes.
3. Experiment with trackers and methods to make them more effective.
4. Improve communication style.
5. Review communication style with team.

11. Exploratory Testing

1. Regularly play with the app as an end-user/the different user types would.
2. Catch contradictions, edge cases, or usability issues before customers do.

Final Note

You don’t need to do all of these things at once, and not every single activity must happen every day. But you must cover everything at least twice a week so nothing falls through the cracks.

As a PM, your strength is consistency. The more disciplined you are with these habits, the easier it will be to manage chaos and provide clarity for your team.