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Slowly you shake the cobwebs from your head and start to think about your day. Who do you need to see? Who do you need to call? What is it that you want to accomplish that day and by when? What is it going to cost you? How long will it take to complete and how many people will need to work in synch in order accomplish your tasks?

The PMBOK© 4^th Edition identifies these planning processes:

4.2 – Develop Project Management Plan;
5.1 – Collect Requirements;
5.2 – Define Scope;
5.3 – Create Work Breakdown Structure.

Your family’s day may include getting the kids up and off to school; getting ready for and driving to work; stopping by the bank and hitting the ATM to withdraw a little money; picking up and delivering the kids to the proper after-school function at the proper time; stopping by the grocery store; cooking dinner and feeding the family; and getting the kids cleaned up and put to bed. Like a jig saw puzzle the once fuzzy day comes into picture; how long each activity will take, the order in which they take place, the cost of each activity, and who will be responsible for each.

Does any of this sound familiar to anyone?

The PMBOK© 4^th Edition identifies these planning processes:

6.1 – Define Activities;
6.2 – Sequence Activities;
6.3 – Estimate Activity Resources;
6.4 – Estimate Activity Durations;
6.5 – Develop Schedule;
7.1 – Estimate Costs;
7.2 – Determine Budget.

Tune in again for Part IV: Time to Go, where I compare how, at the very lowest level, our days can be divided up into a series of activities and how the performance of those activities compare to PMI’s execution processes.

At the very lowest level, our days can be divided up into a series of activities.

Most people at one point or another in the morning, (for 51% of us, as identified in a recent USA Today poll) run through in their mind (in general) and what is going to take place, and who is going to be impacted by their presence that day; in essence, identifying the general tasks that you will need to accomplish that day? School, a jaunt to the bank, or a run to soccer practice; breakfast, lunch and dinner; husband or wife, children, bosses, grandparents, all of these people may run through your mind as individuals that you may have to talk with, at some point, throughout your day.

The PMBOK© 4^th Edition identifies these initiation processes:

4.1 – Develop Project Charter
10.1 – Identify Stakeholders

Tune in again for Part III: What Do I Have To Do Today?, where I compare how, at the very lowest level, our days can be divided up into a series of activities and how the performance of those activities compare to PMI’s planning processes.

Everybody can take a look at their life (no matter how old), and identify a variety of time periods, or phases, that when sequentially pieced together encompass the totality of their existence. Obviously the older one is the more phases of their life they have to reflect back upon. They might see a clearly defined start; their birth and a clearly defined finish; their death. Each phase leaves a definite imprint on your memory, including when each one started, ended, and a new one begun.

They may see various phases in their life including adolescence, teenage, young adult, middle-aged and mature adult or elderly.

Project management defines project phases as a component of the project life cycle that logically relates project activities to culminate in the completion of a major deliverable? 

Each phase of your life might be marked by such activities as student, athlete, professional, parent and grandparent.

Project management defines activity as a component of work performed during the course of a project.

Each phase of your life is marked by milestones like your high school or college graduation, the day you got married, or the birth of your first child, etc.

Project management defines milestone as a significant point or event in a project.

The average person experiences many issues throughout their life. These issues may take many, many forms including health, monetary, spiritual, etc. Additionally, the average person also must weigh and deal with many risks along the way. Do I have the money to afford this car? Is he the right guy or girl? Should I change my job? What should you do? How do you even go about making a knowledgeable decision? What process do you go through to make those decisions?

The Project Management Institute (PMI) utilizes their industry recognized standard called the Project Management Body of Knowledge or PMBOK© to capture the embodiment of processes that allows an individual to initiate, plan, execute, monitor and control and close projects. These 5 process types encompass the 42 processes that allow an individual to manage the integration, scope, time, cost, quality, human resources, communications, risk, and procurement on their project, while proactively guiding the project through the project life cycle.

Tune in again for Part II: Your Daily Project, where I compare how, at the very lowest level, our days can be divided up into a series of activities and how the performance of those activities compare to PMI’s initiation processes.

It’s been a couple of weeks since my last post, but that can be easily explained by my participation in numerous events including:

• MCM Project Management’s “Nike Laptop 2009 Refresh”, in which over the course of a the first week of June, MCM Project Management, in conjunction with Siemens and in support of Nike’s own project manager, deployed over 400 computers to the Nike US Sales force. This choreographed deployment occurred during Nike’s recent sales event at the Tiger Woods Facility at Nike’s World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon;
• The Development of basic and advanced Project Management Institute (PMI) registered and National Management Association (NMA) certified online, e-learning courses in Project Management for Savvy-U (www.savvy-u.com), a NEW source for certified continuing education, that will “go-live” on July 1; and
• My participation as a proud parent in my son’s graduation from Union High School in Camas, Washington. 

Over the course of the next couple of weeks, I will debut a series titled: “Project Life Management: How to implement real life efficiencies in your professional world.” I hope you will check it out and see how you can become more efficient by implementing real life efficiencies in your professional environment.