We all have projects that we’d just love to do for our clients or organizations, but with budgets being tightened and the economy in shambles, the money and resources aren’t necessarily there to complete them– or even to get started. So we move on to maintenance activities, doing what we can on the budget we’re given and hoping for better times ahead.

If the economy does start to turn around later this year, are you ready? If funds become available, do you have a project waiting in the wings that you can quickly pull the trigger on? As an example, maybe you’ve wanted to do a Web site redesign for your organization to integrate more social features, revamp your online newsroom, or freshen up the content. You may not have the budget now to hire a programming firm to complete the project, but that doesn’t mean that you can have plans in place. Do a thorough review of the current site. Determine what it’s lacking and take a few moments to define what the new site should accomplish and how it would help your organization reach its audience better. Create a document outlining what changes could be made and list the resources that would be required to complete them. Make it as specific as you can: seven hours of copywriting, 12 hours of code edits, nine hours of graphic design work, a few hours of content management training. Be detailed so that you could potentially turn this document into a vendor RFP or a presentation to management in the future.

It could be that your department is short-staffed right now but you can’t hire a temp, intern or full-time employee due to funding. If you suddenly could, would you have a job description ready? Do you have a sense of what projects you’d have a new employee work on and maybe even have some candidates in mind you could reach out to? Or do you have existing employees that maybe could use some refresher training or could expand their skills into new areas? Are you knowledgeable about which conferences or workshops might be a good fit? Take the time to evaluate your team and its deliverables. Figure out where the pressure points and talent gaps are and put together some plans to address them. There may not be anything you can do about it immediately, but if you’re not ready when opportunities become available, then you could miss out on the chance to add or enhance your staff.

Business decisions happen so quickly that if you aren’t prepared with a proposal that clearly defines a project’s scope, the resources involved, and the benefits it will bring to the organization, then any money that becomes available will likely go to a different department. At the very least, even if things don’t turn around as quickly as we all hope they will, you’ll have done some useful assessment of your organization, clients or team members.

Image via Flickr user lanchongzi