Holidays Happier with Project Management?

With the holiday season fully upon us, I have to wonder, how many of our readers find themselves putting their project management skills to use for personal projects?

Be it planning your gift choices or organizing a holiday party, there are many moments during this busy season when those skills can come in handy. For example, do you find yourself identifying your holiday requirements say, sometime around Thanksgiving? What about having a daily scrum over breakfast with family members ("Yesterday I purchased stamps, today I'll be writing and addressing cards.")? Certainly project cost estimating and cost management skills can be extremely useful during this period and New Year's resolutions look a lot like retrospectives to me.

This post on Project Management Essentials links to a more in-depth exploration of this concept, with diagrams and all!

So, do you project manage your holidays? Or does the idea seem too cold to you, and you would rather use this time as an opportunity to relax and let go of the reins? Share with us in the comments and happy holidays to all of our readers here on the ProjectWorld® & World Congress for Business Analysts® blog!

Michelle LeBlanc is a Social Media Strategist at IIR USA and the voice behind the @Project_World twitter. She may be reached at mleblanc@iirusa.com