An engaging book club discussion about email, how we work, and also just how we as people manage our lives. The more we talked the more I started to realize that essentially project management is essentially a life skill everyone needs to master to be successful.
If we simplify Project Management down to the easiest way of explain it and applying, we can define it as taking a big end goal and break it down to smaller goals, figuring out the tasks with each smaller goal, and then allocating lots of resources along the way. Ultimately at the core of project management is planning and organizing, but communication is really at the heart of it all. A project may be big, like building a bridge, creating and implementing software, or it can be as small as figuring out what to make for dinner. Along the way to said goal, every step needs to be clear and everyone needs to communicate about all the said steps along the way.
Sounds easy, but apparently it is not so simple. One would think everyone has learned by the time adulthood arrives how to manage their time, problem solve, or even make dinner. There is not anyone who doesn’t know someone who doesn’t struggle with the above. Add the layer of communication necessary to launch a project and that includes even more people. If making dinner was so easy, would a meal kit company exist?
Perhaps I am over simplifying the actual process, but essentially this is a necessary skill for day to day life. As a worker, in a knowledge based job, I need to look at my day and plan accordingly. Even in tasks that are very structured, I need to implement and execute to stay on task. In production and technical occupations, there may be more structure, but the actual implementation and execution is key. We can talk about motivation and carrots and sticks, yet it doesn’t matter. Our individual part in the whole is dependent upon our own internal system. If the internal system, is slower or absent, the result is not what is expected. Even in team based work structures, the strength of the individual team members are keys to success. Whether the team is responsible for winning basketball games, creating software, building things, shipping stuff, or even keeping the economy full of workers, strong individual team members is super important.
Ultimately, project management is one of those hard and soft skills we all need. If this is the case, how do people learn this skill? I don’t know many parents worrying about the project management curriculum of their child’s preschool. This seems to be one of those hidden skills we are somehow expected to learn during childhood and entering adulthood. As children, parents may demonstrate the skills to kids in day to day activities and then start to have children independently replicate as they get older. For example, making a grilled cheese sandwich. As the task of making the skill becomes learned, the modifications and options get implemented. School projects are the same. They start as simple and then become more complicated as we get older in school. We become responsible. People let us make our own grilled cheese, manage our own school project, or give us tasks to independently complete at work.
What happens along the way if we do not learn to manage projects? What happens if the way we learn is not efficient or productive? Modern technology allows us to order grilled cheese and have it delivered, but unfortunately each job and stage of life will require project management as a necessary life skill. It will require a level of planning, organization, and communication on varying degrees. As we know, finding success in retaining employment is key to improving other aspects of life most people want. Project management skills help people problem solve and achieve goals. This is another opportunity go back to basics in order to help people move forward.
~Karen Cirincione
Email: kcirincione@gmail.com
Linked In: www.linkedin.com/in/karenjcirincione
Twitter: @kcirincione
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