Project Management

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Unconventional Project Management Wisdom: Lessons from Everyday Life

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Abdul Nazeeb Belgaumi Associate Engineering Manager| Virtusa Bangalore, India
Have you ever applied project management principles learned from unexpected places like cooking, parenting, travel, or even gaming?

Perhaps multitasking from cooking, crisis management from parenting, strategic planning from travel, or risk-taking and agility from gaming have shaped your project management approach.

Please share your most surprising and insightful lessons from everyday life that have helped you become a better project manager! 
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Kiron Bondale Retired | Mentor| Retired Welland, Ontario, Canada
Abdul -

Here's an article I'd written a few years back with some lessons PMs can learn from golf:

"Many project managers play golf as a recreational activity, but did you know that there are some project management lessons to be learned from the “gentleman’s game”?

1. There are fourteen different clubs in a bag – all have their purpose. One-Club Golf competitions aside, most golfers learn the value of picking the right club for each shot. The same is true for projects – having a cross-functional team of resources is a good way to avoid tunnel-vision, to be versatile and to solve the trickiest issues.



2. Consistency is critical – anyone can hit a good shot once, but getting low scores is about being consistent from tee to green. Even the most chaotic person can successfully manage a project on occasion, but project managers that follow a consistent procedural “swing routine” will experience a higher percentage of successful projects.



3. Learn to balance risk against reward – pulling out your driver to cut across a hazard on a dogleg might be needed on the PGA tour, but an average golfer may be better served by playing the hole conservatively. Neither an ultra-conservative nor an uber-aggressive approach to planning and managing projects works – projects possess uncertainty so risk is ever present, but project managers need to learn how to manage risks appropriately to optimize their projects.



4. Never stop learning – even the top ranked natural golfers use swing coaches and will switch coaches to “shake up” their games. The older we get, the easier it is to believe that there is nothing new to be learned in our profession – improving soft skills is a life-long pursuit, and project management practices and theory are constantly evolving so make sure to allocate time for professional development.



5. Don’t let a bad shot or hole spoil your round. Projects have good days and bad days and sometimes it seems that issues are insurmountable. A positive attitude is a key attribute for a project manager – no one expects you to have a smile permanently glued on your face, but it helps neither the project nor your team if you are visibly and chronically weighed down by the burden of issues and risks.



Keeping these simple “swing thoughts” in mind will make you a scratch project manager in time!"
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Sergio Luis Conte Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations Buenos Aires, Argentina
Sure. I applied project management in all related to my wedding for example. Beyond that, I teached from long time a workshop called "everybody are project managers" where I demostrate that we are applying project management in our daily life and the difference is the degree of formality when you go to apply it in your work space.
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Mark Warner Project Manager| AURA Tucson, Az, United States
(Serious) poker play is replete with lessons applicable to project management. And vice versa.
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Rami Kaibni
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Senior Projects Manager | Field & Marten Associates New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
I do apply PM Principles when I travel and it helps!
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Patrick Rose Cybersecurity Consultant| RMPT Gold Coast, QLD, Australia
A good prompt, Abdul. :)

It is really a truism: Lessons can be learnt from everywhere to refine the way we achieve our goals.

As a case in point, my project management has, for more than a decade, been centred on keeping my wife alive and pain tolerant.
Some of my accumulated observations are:
- Over the years I have settled on the minimum cost algorithm whereby I purchase the cheapest commercial item in its class and, after it has lost function through (over) user, determine whether the next most expensive brand / model is warranted. Items that are attractive based solely on cost almost always prove less economical when their (lack of) durability is revealed. Balancing this algorithm yields optimal benefit against cost.
- Preparation is the best friend we can have when there is no time to process events and action is demanded, urgently. So, by default, I combat load my supplies (even the soaps in my bathroom) in case time is constrained when I need them. (I practice applying my good habits widely so they are automatic and well formed.)
- Because I have been a primary carer for years, I clean as I cook, literally and figuratively. I use the time spent on seemingly mundane chores, like washing up, wiping, and stacking the dry crockery and utensils after cooking a meal, as an opportunity for mindfulness and reflection on the various processes I have used or might have used. (Mental health is crucial if not always top of mind.)
- The empathy needed for stakeholder management is identical to the situational awareness needed for ensuring any care is the best use of resources at the most appropriate time for optimal benefit to both parties.
- I use disposable items, like single use plastic, until its destruction.
- Gaming is a rich source of insight. I quite often find methodological improvements in surprising places; e.g., when playing games of different modes, like between real-time strategy (RTS) and turn-based-strategy (TBS) and I have found there can be (almost unconscious) adaptions gleaned from one game to be applied to another. For instance, resource management highly valuable for these games.
- Parenting is the ultimate expression of team management. The oldest, smallest sociological unit can suffer dysfunction or display exemplary coordination, depending on management styles and goals.
- Risk assessment is implicit in triage. In the case of complex pathological requirements, compromise is almost always needed to minimize the harms from illness or injury without worsening others. This teaches one to look for all the costs (hidden and consequential, included) for any proposed action.
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Thomas Walenta Global Project Economy Expert Hackenheim, Germany
I would prefer to apply my program management experiences and principes rather than those of project management.

Program management enables the creation of benefits that deliver sustainable value in an adaptive, ever-changing manner. It initiates projects as they fit while engaging with many stakeholders. Programs can be unlimited in time, widely unplanned, and reflective of a changing context while strategically building potential for future value.

Project management, in contrast, is too narrow, tactical, planned and controlled, and limited in time and budget. While all these are needed to achieve objective results, they can rarely provide subjective value.

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