In many ways, parents are the world’s finest project managers. They are one of the most fantastic project managers in organizing a strategy, setting a budget, controlling risks, delegating work, and predicting outcomes. Depending on the method, the desired effect, and the client’s personality, there are countless ways to manage a project, just as there are myriad ways to grow a kid. The ideal strategy reduces time spent and results in everyone’s pleasure. Working with children, leading a team, producing a quality outcome, and preparing children for the future include clear distinctions. However, it cannot be denied that certain fundamental aspects of parenting and project management are comparable.
Time management
Managing your time is a life skill necessary for every profession. Still, parenthood calls for it even more because you’ll be handling the schedules of both yourself and your children. Whether attempting to provide a feature to a customer on time or transport a youngster from one activity to another, doing so requires being aware of deadlines, creating timetables in advance, and working effectively. Similarly, when managing a project, you must be mindful of your time and the time of our engagement engineers and the clients.
Putting situations in order of importance
You may have instances where one child needs your attention for one thing while another wants it for a different reason. How do you set priorities, then? It’s a balance for me. It would be best if you determined the urgency of a crisis and the level of agitation in each youngster. On the other side, you must make sure that both children receive equal attention throughout time. In the same way, I balance making sure all of our clients are receiving the attention they require with balancing the urgency and status of each project for clients that both want a project completed as quickly as feasible.
Placing demands on oneself
Setting expectations is essential to maintaining both customer and child satisfaction. You can’t blame clients for seeking all conceivable features when they request needs outside the project’s parameters. However, you must set reasonable expectations for them; otherwise, cooperation becomes impossible without a common understanding of the project’s goal.
Developing expertise
How can you persuade a child or customer to comply with your established rules? They will be more receptive if they recognize your experience and level of knowledge. With youngsters, this may alter with maturity; they might transition from innately believing what you say to doubting you consistently. Although clients sometimes differ, they must accept your judgment and have faith in your ability to achieve what’s best for the project.
Clear Communication
Being an expert on something is one thing. Still, you also need to be able to adequately convey your expertise, especially to a group of people who might not fully get the complexity of the issue. When I am watching sports with my kids and attempting to explain the rules of basketball, for instance, I give this some thought. I must ensure I can convey the fundamentals to them. Of course, this comparison may also be used to emphasize the value of communication. You’ll need to interact with clients, developers, and the management office in project management. Parenting also requires effective communication with your partner.
Having Endurance
The virtue of patience. That adage is generally valid for life, but excellent parenting requires a healthy dose of patience. I’ve become much more patient due to having four children, and I’ve realized that patience is helpful in my professional life as well — for instance, with developers, if a feature is taking longer than anticipated, I have more tolerance today. My ability to think clearly and lead more effectively is made possible by my patience, which eventually produces more significant results.
Summary
Being a parent won’t automatically make you a better project manager. Still, several abilities are common to both positions that might make parents more prepared to handle the rigors of project management.
