I have a large family – and thankfully that family became a little larger three weeks ago today so this article topic seems appropriate. It came to me earlier this week that running a project from start to finish is kind of like raising a baby from infant to adulthood. Ok, it’s a stretch, but there are similarities.
It could be that this all came about in my mind as a result of several straight relatively sleepless nights. Or maybe I am on to something. Who knows? But the more I thought about it the more I realized that there are some relative similarities.
Pregnancy = pre-engagement/sales
Think of all the work that goes into the pre-engagement portion of the project … basically the sales portion. This is what happens before handoff of the project to the project manager. So, Sales = 9 months of pregnancy. Are you staying with me so far? When handoff is ready to happen, you kind of know what you’re getting – or at least you think you do. In reality, it may be close but there are lots of details that you really have no clue about and you have to dig deeper so you know what you’ve just gotten yourself into.
Delivery = kickoff
The actual delivery is somewhat like project kickoff. It’s when you finally see some early details of the project up close … live and in person. Just like you get some new and very key information from the customer you also get some initial information from the doctors and learn if there are any conditions of your baby that need immediate attention.
Infanthood/toddler = design
The infant and toddler stages = design, in my opinion. Just as you’re designing the system to the requirements of the customer, you’re also training your infant/toddler what’s right and what’s wrong and hopefully molding them to meet yours and God’s requirements for a well-rounded individual. And, just like designing to the customer’s requirements, it’s not very easy and it does often involve some re-work and change orders!
Adolescence = development
The elementary years are the equivalent of actually putting the design into place as you development the solution. Here’s where you allow some of that early training to take hold by allowing your child some freedom to show what they’ve learned. Again, lots of revisiting of the original requirements is necessary to remain on track and still more change orders!
Teen = testing/training … mostly testing
Really, this is much more testing that training…or so it seems. I am now on my fifth teen as of last week and it seems that testing takes precedence of training. And by testing, I mean the teen testing the parent, not the other way around!
Age 18 = deployment
Just like the project solution deploys to the customer, your 18 yr old deploys, somewhat, into the real world. Starts working, goes to college, becomes a little more independent. It’s not always a successful launch, but you’re the tech support and it’s your responsibility to make some necessary adjustments.
Adult years = post-deployment