A curious older man sitting next to a kid starts a conversation
“Hey Kid, what do you do?”
Kid, “Sir, I am in school studying in 8th standard.”
Man, “Glad to know.”
“So, when you grow up, what do you want to become. “
Kid “I want to be a good Project Manager.”
Man, “I feel. You already know Project Management, so why this field.”
The kid was surprised to hear this and said, “No, No, I don’t know; I am still studying in school.”
Man reverted, “Let me help you understand how you already know it”,
“What time do you get ready to go to school”.
Kid, “I wake up by 6 AM, get ready and leave at 7 AM for school.”
Man, “So you do your morning routine on your own and even make lunch to carry.”
Kid, “No”. “My mother gets up much earlier than me. She prepares my lunch box and also helps me revise lessons during exams while I am getting ready. she also prepares lunch for my father, as he leaves by 8 AM.”
Man, “Okay, she might be even cutting vegetables and marinating food before cooking”
“Yes, the day prior.”
“So when you return from school, she must have done dusting of house, cleaning and washing clothes.”
“All is done by the time I return by the three maids who come later in the morning.”
“You don’t have a washing machine and auto cleaning machine at your place.”
“My mother prefers a maid over the washing machine. She only uses the washing machine for heavy clothes.”
Man, “In case maid takes a day off?.”
Kid, “Mother requests other maids to help, and she rewards her with some extra food or money.”
“In case the maid doesn’t do”,
Kid, “Mother would request both of us in the evening to help dust some of the stuff.”
Kid raises tone, “I do not understand how this is related to project management.”
“Son !” “let me explain.”
“Your mother is a good project manager”, “thus I said, you already know project manager.”
Kid, “Huh! How?”
The man explains, “The project management is completing the planned task on time with promised deliverables. And the project manager is responsible for completing this. And they need to be prepared with alternatives in case of unforeseen problems. I know, I have used big words, and you are still figuring out how this related to your mother.”
“Let me connect this to your mother and household work metaphor. Your mother is the project manager of your household work and has created a plan.“
Her plan includes tasks or activities she needs to complete (execute the program) to help achieve the stuff you have mentioned above, along with sequencing-dependent tasks. E.g. thus, she buys vegetables & cuts them the day before, so early morning, she can focus on cooking.
Man, “One more question, she must be getting your school clothes ironed.”
“no, we have a laundry guy who comes daily. He irons our clothes.”
The old man continues, “In project management, the laundry person and maidservants are the resources. They help the Project manager(your mother) complete the task. However, I’m not particularly eager to use resource words for human beings. But in the industry, a resource is a common word for machines and humans. We are human, and we have emotion, not a machine to be called a resource.”
“Anyway, there is a term called contingency in Project mgmt, e.g. if a task is delayed, the PM uses contingency. There are many contingencies, but let us focus on one related to your house. Your mother has wisely planned if any maid takes leave, she will use either another maid or a washing machine for washing. In project management, this is a contingency plan.”
Kid acknowledges, “Yes, yes, my mother was telling us one day why she has switched from single maid to multiple. Now I understand she has added contingency to avoid any work not done.”
”Correct”, “I was telling you already know project management.”
The kid expressed happiness in understanding these.
“Do you order food from outside”,
“Yes, sometimes if my mother is unwell or had to go out and couldn’t make our dinner. She uses Swiggy (a food delivery app). I get a chance to order pizza.”
Here there is one more concept in project management - Risk is whenever a task might be getting delayed or unable to complete due to a resource issue or any other reason. Then the project manager uses contingency to avoid the above risk. E.g. Your mother uses an alternate resource (Swiggy) to order food to prevent the risk of delay or no dinner for that evening.
“She keeps both of you informed in case of delay.”
Kid, “Yes, always.”
Man, “This is an essential point of keeping the stakeholders informed about the outcomes. This is crucial to avoid confusion and heart burns due to no or incomplete visibility. Thus she is always speaking about what is she doing and why things are delayed.”
“Now I understand why you were asking questions and how my mother is doing project management”, Kid acknowledges.
The old man says, “It’s time for my evening medicine time. I need to leave. Before that, let me summarise the project management,”
Your mother has created a plan(project plan) with all the tasks needed to do her work. This includes when each task is to be done ; what all needs to be done; who will do what (task).
She closely monitors all the tasks and resources involved. And utilises contingency if she identifies risk.
She keeps the stakeholders(you and your father) informed about the task's status or even the delays.
“So my mother can work in any place as a project manager?”
Man, “yes/no.”
“But you said she is a good project manager”, kid
Man, “I need to leave now; let us continue next time. I come here, every evening.”
“Sure. Thank you” Kid smiles with satisfaction while parting the old man.
Interesting format for an explainer!
Waiting for next evening