Moving day....boxes, tape, paper, utilities, movers, dollies, blankets, child care, new place to live, trucks, transportation, pet deposits, inspections and lots of other logistics to consider. When it comes to moving a household of 4 and a dog across 4 states, it can be one of the most stressful activities that you could undertake. Compound that with just having a baby and recovering from a C-section 1 month before, and that takes the stress level up several notches. This was the case when we moved from Denver, Colorado to San Antonio, TX when my youngest daughter was only 6 weeks old. While this is project is of a personal nature, it is a project nonetheless.
When I think back of all the stress regarding those few weeks, I chalked it up to normal anxiety, hormones, sleeplessness with a newborn, and, having to tirelessly pack a home by myself with an infant and a toddler. As I went through the post mortem review however, I realized many things I could have done to make the entire process smoother and easier. I remember sitting down with a pad of paper and outlining everything that needed to be accomplished in order for the move to take place when we decided to move. The entire task seemed overwhelming as I made list after list, arrows, scratchouts and scribbles. The first realization that I came to when looking at the post mortem questions was, that I was a control freak. I had to handle absolutely every aspect of this move, down to the last detail. If I didn't do it, it would not be done to my satisfaction or at all, or so I thought. As a project manager, it is important to have control in certain areas, but not to be in control of the entire project yourself. By that I mean, carrying out every duty of the project. I think that has been the biggest epiphany for me. Working as the project manager either for a personal or a professional project, it is so important to select the right people to assist with the project. I should have delegated some of the responsibility to people who could have helped me during this time, instead of trying to accomplish everything myself. So, if I had to analyze Phase II of the project, I did not have the right people in place, to make the project run smoother. My plan could have been a little better detailed and a timeline put into place. For the positives of Phase II, did get the right vendors in place, and the move did come in at the projected cost.
As far as creating specifications for the deliverables, I could have done a better job with the overall planning. While I made my lists, a timeline would have been helpful so I could plan for the next coming component of the move, instead of just winging it. One of the pitfalls is an incomplete and inaccurate schedule (Portney et al., 2008, p. 107). Instead of just listing on my paper what needed to be done, I would have been much better off to list the timeline required for each item and planned when in the process each deliverable would be accomplished. This would have taken out the ambiguity, and produced a much less stressful situation. A work breakdown process for each component would have been so much help while navigating this process. No detail would have been to small to address. For example, I can see how something as simple as getting moving boxes could be broken down into process steps so that there were no romps to the local grocery and liquor store at midnight to obtain additional supplies.
Because the planning could have been better, the implementation strategy was chaotic. I had a broad plan, with very little specification. This led to high stress levels, upset vendors, and very contentious communication with my spouse.
While we did get moved, and hindsight is always 20/20, I now realize how I could have handled the project in an entirely different way. If I had planned better, completed a work breakdown process, and had the right people in place to assist with the project, the transition would have been smoother, and easier for all.
Heidi,
ReplyDeleteI love the photo!! I saw that before somewhere and it seems like my future if I do not find a higher paying job and get that retirement built up.
I also loved your blog posting about your moving project. It seems like most of your unexpected happened prior to the move, or the expected with the birth of a baby and the surgery recovery. Yikes! I had no idea of how to move by myself since I never had to do it before and I am still not unpacked (I started moving in November, 2012, but shortly after my mother died, and I still am not completely over that, or the passing of my father 18 months later.). I tend to turn my back on what I do not want to see in my personal life. I am lucky I have lots of space to hide those boxes I need to open one day, but now having a garage sale is sounding like a great idea, or maybe selling on eBay® or Amazon® once I have my degree, and some free weekends. Once I know when I am doing that I will have to consider it a project and incorporate the skills I am learning in this degree program.
Congratulations on staying on your deadlines and budget!! That seems like the most important step.
I am a list writer, and that is the best way for me to accomplish projects I must do, and especially those I do not want to do, such as floor mopping. I usually make a to do list for the weekend including the fun stuff like Kayaking, or lunch with a friend, or a movie night at a friend's house. After I make the brainstorm list I will prioritize the tasks, and then cross them out as I accomplish them. I am really good at ignoring the telephone and distractions once I start unless an unusual bird or coyote shows up in the area behind my house, and then I might grab the camera and see if I can get a nice photo.
I am not sure how much my reply is relating to Project Management, but you have definitely given me some ways to plan for a move by using the PM approach. I know when I moved I stayed in communication with the people who were going to help me at the local U-Haul rental place. When I realized I had to change the date I was able to give them a lot of notice. I had vowed not to involve my friends in my move, because one of my mottos is: “Friends do not ask friends to help them move!”
I established a great working relationship with the owners of the U-Haul rental company, and after my parents died, they helped me for a longer distance run to get their furniture that I wanted. I was even able to call them up just to hire the movers to rearrange some furniture in my house. The communication part of the PM process can reap rewards after the initial project is over because I have plans to rearrange my house again, and now I know where I can get people I can trust to help me, who know how to move objects without causing injury or damage, and who listen to what I want.
I hope we do not have to face a move for several years!!
Hi Heidi,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your blog post this week, and could not help but laugh, while being completely sympathetic! You certainly shared great lessons that are applicable to project management, and to many other aspects of our lives, as well. I have to confess, that I when I first read the contents of Greer’s (2010) The Project Minimalist: Just Enough PM to Rock your Projects, I was captivated by these lines, “let go of perfectionism…celebrate the chaos within…embrace the work itself…take the risk…just say no…listen, understand, collaborate…and, consciously choose your attitude” (Greer, p. 48). I listed 7 of his 10 sets of challenges that seemed to apply most to your experience as presented here, and to my own challenges.
Reference
Greer, M. (2010). The project management minimalist: Just enough PM to rock your projects! (Laureate Custom Ed.). Baltimore: Laureate Education, Inc.
Heidi,
ReplyDeleteI’ve moved with my husband five times in the past three and a half years and we are just about to begin our sixth move (I’m married to an active-duty sailor whose ship keeps changing home ports and who also has a recurring medical issue that keeps putting him on limited duty). Even with all of our moving experience, we still always find it a very stressful time. Moving alone with a baby sounds totally overwhelming!
As you said, “As a project manager, it is important to have control in certain areas, but not to be in control of the entire project yourself.” Heidi, you are so right. Asking others to support a project as complicated as a move across the country is incredibly important.
One of the reasons I get stuck in that “control freak” mentality is that I worry that the people I ask to help will not follow through and then put me behind schedule. My boss, who is also an amazing career coach, gave me some great advice about this. She pointed out that whenever we involve others in a project, we need to give them “human time”—time to think about the questions we ask, time to get their kids off to school, time to be out sick, or return the 10 emails they got before ours. Starting out with the expectation of a day or two and remembering to factor “human time” into the plan (especially around designated communication points) really helps me to be more relaxed about involving other people in the work that I need to accomplish. I have more realistic expectations (which they appreciate) and I still stick to my timeline (which makes me happy).
Stacie
Stacie,
DeleteWhat great advice! Thanks for sharing. I will strive to do better with the control freak in me by allowing others the "human time" you mentioned. That was a superb way to explain it!