No One Likes Cold Gravy

 

In the US, Thanksgiving is right around the corner. Growing up, it was my first finish-to-finish project. I wasn’t the project manager of course; that was my mother, calmly making sure every dish started preparation and cooking on time to get to the table just as everyone was ready to sit down. I was more of her junior project manager, a 7 year old with my own little task list that I’d written myself (although my older brother helped me with the spelling).

I already thought there was magic in the air – I was off of school for four whole days, which is pretty much a miracle for a child – but the machine-like efficiency of our kitchen was equally awe-inspiring.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but all of the basic tenets of project management went into that day. My mother’s menu was planned in advance, and looked sort of like this, only with more details (and a lot more dishes):

I think this illustrates why I became a project manager.

My mother planned for my grandmother’s inevitable early arrival, and assumed that my brother would take a long time peeling potatoes. She new her resources very well, and managed her own expectations as well as everyone else’s. (In the early years, there was a task for keeping me – the youngest – occupied and out of the way. My brother and father took shifts.)

Somehow, every year the table was perfectly set and everything was exactly 5 minutes from being ready to eat by the time the last person made it through the door…. Just long enough for coats to be taken, drinks delivered, and hellos to be said before gathering at the table to eat.  It was a crazy dance, a well-oiled machine, but it worked.

To this day, that’s how I see projects. There may be chaos and insanity, but also a kind of elegance… and (hopefully) a well-timed success.

We know it doesn’t always work out that way… so as project managers, we plan contingency time and budgets. And as I learned in my later years, my mom did exactly the same thing. There was always a stash of meatballs in the freezer, ready to thaw and quick to heat up, just in case of turkey-related disasters. This contingency preparation happened every single year, and I had no clue until I was out of college. Good preparation isn’t always seen, but it’s nice to know it’s there.

Now it’s my turn – I host Thanksgiving each year. I use the same plan my mom taught me as a child. And so far, I’ve never served cold gravy.