Blog no. 10 – Cheers to another successful Thanksgiving, thanks to Project Management

It is that time of the year again where we celebrate with good food & drinks along with our loved ones – It’s Thanksgiving !! On that note, am going to write about how Project Management helps us with our personal activities as well.

You must be wondering, which personal activity am I talking about? Right?

I am talking about a well planned Thanksgiving dinner !! Let me explain how 😊

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1. Initiation phase (Scope): The key to good project management is a clearly defined scope. Decide beforehand how big your Thanksgiving dinner is going to be, how many dishes you want to offer and so on. Be aware of the so called ‘scope creep’: going overboard with fancy ingredients and elaborate decorations will significantly increase your budget.

2. Planning & Execution: A comprehensive plan will help you prioritize your tasks and keep an overview of what you have to do. Be specific and make the tasks activity based. Be sure to factor in the dependencies between tasks and their sequence into your schedule. For e.g. if you have a frozen turkey, plan to transfer the turkey from the freezer to the fridge one day before so it can defrost. Also, In order to put together an appropriate guest list or find people to help you prepare the meal, keep in mind the guidelines for putting together a project team: How many people can be seated at your table and how many can eat from your dinner so there is enough for everybody (capacity and budget)? Who can sit/work together and who is likely to fight (team members)? Then make sure that everybody knows what their responsibilities are or how they need to behave. This way you can ensure that the evening will be a success and you don’t end up with three bowls of cranberry sauce but no gravy.

3. Managing Risks (part of Planning & Execution): Everyone who has attended a family dinner before knows that things never go according to plan, no matter how well prepared you are. Maybe your cousins announces that she’s bringing her boyfriend last minute. Or maybe your little nephew wants to help, but accidentally drops the whole bowl of mashed potatoes. Always have a back-up plan, e.g. prepare more food than necessary, have enough spare dishes and cutlery.

4. Closure (Feedback): After the event, people will freely give you feedback. If not, ask for it. Feedback will help you improve your meal or guest list for next year’s feast. Be sure to send everyone all the pictures you took so they can put them on their Instagram and tell everyone how great your meal was. Who knows, maybe you will be the next cooking star?

I hope this blog will help each one of you to plan your Thanksgiving dinner & enjoy your moments with your near & dear ones without any challenges 🥂

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