Well hello there, thanks for stopping by.
Today I’m going to be chatting about project management techniques that can be used in daily life!
I’ll start with a little background. I started out in the ‘change’ world nine years ago in PMO (Programme Management Office) via a Graduate Development Programme at Grayce, where I provided project support and quality assurance across several projects within the programme and had the opportunity to complete project management qualifications. It wasn’t before long that I wanted to get stuck into delivering projects.
Fast forward a couple of years and I started my first Project Management role. I got the bug and have since thoroughly enjoyed leading and supporting the delivery of many projects, products and continuous improvement initiatives across a variety of industries. At Optimo, I continue to scratch the itch by delivering project management services for our amazing change-making clients.
If you already know me, you’ll know that I like to work at a million miles an hour (if I’ve had my caffeine fix!). I thrive off working towards something and seeing it progress and geek out on figuring out how things can be improved.
Spoiler alert: I’m also like this IRL. I’m a bit of a life hack geek and have found that applying some of the techniques I use day in and day out at work to my personal life, has worked wonders to my productivity and mental health.
Read on if you want to know more.
Goals & Plans
I’ve always lived by the motto ‘Carpe Diem’ (Seize the Day). And this usually manifests in trying to get through my long bucket list! At the beginning of each year, I like to prioritise what I want to aim to achieve that year and set goals for when I would like to have done them by.
Putting my project management hat on, I break down each one into smaller actionable steps and come up with a plan. This helps my goals feel more realistic and achievable and helps me stay motivated when I start making progress. And of course, I can’t resist using technology to track all this . Trello is my tool of choice (yes, I do assign myself tasks and due dates. No, I don’t always meet them!).
Capacity Management
I’m guilty of always liking to be busy with some sort of personal project – the latest of which is a campervan conversion – but with big projects in and out of work, normal life ‘operations’ and the rollercoaster that can be, I’m also becoming more and more aware of the need to be mindful of my capacity and how it’s being used.
In a business or project, capacity management involves gathering data about your team’s skill sets and availability, to decide who is the best fit for a piece of work. In a similar vein, I’ve recently taken stock of how I currently split my available time and energy (both physical and mental) across all aspects of life, as well as understanding what factors have a positive/negative effect on my mental health. With this knowledge I can plan and prioritise how I use my time more mindfully, ensuring there is balance and space to adapt to the inevitable peaks and troughs of life.
Risk Management
I LOVE a TED talk, and I always recommend Tim Ferriss’s ‘Why you should define your fears instead of goals.’ As a project manager, I likened his Fear-Setting exercise to Risk Management. It was this video that was the catalyst for making me think about how to apply project management techniques to daily life.
Tim talks about thinking about the ‘What if’ scenarios of your fears. As well as detailing what could happen as a result (i.e. what is the risk and impact). He then recommends thinking about all the different things you can do to prevent the scenario from happening. Or even to decrease the likelihood of it happening (i.e. what are the mitigation controls). Lastly, he recommends considering the different ways you could repair the situation should the scenario play out (i.e. what would the issue resolution be).
Just as risk management techniques help projects control and achieve their outcomes, these techniques have also helped me overcome anxiety and feel more resilient to life’s stressors.
Lessons Learned
It’s best practice in projects to regularly reflect on what has gone well, what could have gone better, and the lessons learned for applying to future stages and other projects. Similarly, in the Agile Scrum world, a Retrospective is done every sprint (typically 2-4 weeks), doing exercises as a team such as agreeing on what they should ‘start, stop and continue’ doing to improve their ways of working and productivity.
In the same spirit of continuous improvement, I’ve discovered a lot about myself by reflecting on some of these points. I have also seen the value of doing it in collaboration with the people in my life, as I would with the team at work. (I’ve now learned the hard way how NOT to use power tools to convert the van).
I’ve also learned that there is always room for improvement and lessons to be learned. This includes from within ourselves and from/with others. Like people always say – no one truly has life all figured out.
I’m always on the hunt for another life hack. So I’d love to hear what techniques from work you apply in your daily life!
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