Everything Is Project Management

The longer I work (and it is feeling REALLY long lately), the more convinced I am that everything is project management. I know some PM traditionalists are going to come at me for it, but I said what I said.

The impact doesn’t matter. The complexity doesn’t matter. The scale doesn’t matter. The budget doesn’t matter. The audience doesn’t matter. The industry doesn’t matter.

If it has a start, a plan, deliverables, and a close, it’s a project.

Of course building critical infrastructure isn’t the same as “To Do: Milk, Bread, Eggs,” but at their core, both are PROJECTS.

No, you’re not going to apply Waterfall to every grocery run. Although, actually, a grocery run is kind of naturally Waterfall, but I digress.

We are managing projects every single day.

So when a business process or initiative — an actual, professional project — lacks methodology, structure, clarity, or even a path from A to B, it’s truly a head-scratcher for me. Because if everything is project management, a lot of it is REALLY BAD project management.

If you can’t answer:

• Who owns this?

• What are we trying to accomplish?

• What needs to happen first?

• Who needs to know?

• What do I need to complete this?

• What’s getting in the way?

• How will we know when we’re done?

Then it’s time to make some adjustments.

And if that’s something you’re struggling with, try going back to the basics. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by “Project Management” and “Methodologies” if you’re not a project manager.

But I promise, you’re already doing it. Even on a micro scale.

Grocery Run:

• I own it.

• I’m trying to obtain food for the week.

• First, I need to inventory what I already have and make a list.

• I need to tell my spouse so they can give me their items and we don’t accidentally both complete the project in silos.

• I need time, money, transportation, and storage.

• My pets and children are probably getting in the way, so I need to assess that risk and mitigate it. Thanks, Bluey!

• I’ll know I’m done when I have what I need to prepare food for the week, with checkpoints every time I try to execute a recipe. Especially if “Babe…? Do we have any saffron?” comes in three days from now.

  
  

And then you naturally transition into the next project while probably managing 300 other micro-projects concurrently.

So if you panic at the thought of “Project Management” or feel like initiatives are constantly going off the rails, stop. Take a breath. Triage and strategize.

You might not have the full toolkit of a Certified Project Management Professional, but you’ve got building blocks.

You’re already doing it.