What are Projects really?

In my article covering P.A.R.A., I defined projects as the following.

” Projects are those tasks within a series providing a goal or deadline. Another way to define a project is an individual or collaborative enterprise that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim. “

We all have projects, even if we do not recognize them as such.

When you set out to acquire all the necessary items for that Christmas list, you have a project. Recall, tasks within a series to provide a goal or deadline.

You need to get the items from multiple locations, prepare those items (wrap them), and have this completed on a deadline (Christmas).

We can see this structured out below.

Yet, in order to attain our final deadline, we need to have these tasks completed. What if the partner’s gift at store one is only on sale a specific day? What if the parent’s gift will take 5-7 days to arrive from the online store?

Expanding this structure out.

Now we have an idea of how long each of these tasks will take. Although simplified, we immediately see the need to order the parents gift at a minimum by December 17. However, the mail does not run on Christmas day in America. So this needs to be even earlier.

Note I am using the Microsoft Project to provide these visualizations. Check out my article The 5 Phases of Project Management.

This one task does not take in account possible issues with shipping, the item is not available, and other possible interruptions during the package travel.

Adding Detail

We can see now this simple tasks has expanded to more necessary detail. We need to also identify if more than one person is part of this project. Perhaps the kids can wrap the partner and parent’s (their grandparents) gifts.

What’s the Point

I am trying to make the point, a simple requested task is actually a project. I read somewhere, people in general do not realize how much time it takes to perform a task.

Too often, we will say yes and when asked how long it would take, our reply is ‘not long.’

The individual is not purposefully lying. Rather, the individual does not take into account all the smaller required tasks to complete the initial request.

When you consider how many ‘little requests’ we are given, this adds up and soon you are finding yourself stressed out.

Give yourself a break. Say ”No‘ more often, and before you do say yes, consider all the implications that go with it.

#KnowledgeShare | Matt Cole | #infobyMattCole