How I learned Project Management

If it's not for the gathering on Saturday, I wouldn't feel motivated enough to clean up my place. Thankfully, my younger brother offered to clean up our place as my birthday present. (Hmm..what a way to spin house chores into a gift. :))

In order to make sure our place look presentable to friends who've never been here, I came up with a list of small tasks that my brother had to tackle. And within each small task, I went through some key areas that he should focus on. For example, make sure to mop the corners of the kitchen floor or remember to vacuum the carpet closed to the staircase etc.

I wanted to make sure he knew what specific things he had to do. Yet I didn't want to micro-manage the whole process. So in the end, I told him I wanted to see most of the tasks completed when I came back on Friday night. And I also emphasized that if the house chores were not completed to my satisfaction, he had to do it again. So actually it's smarter to do it right the first time.

It turned out my brother did everything I told him to do. And it's the first time that I was impressed with how clean the bathroom was!

I guess anyone has the desire to do a good job (including house chores). And of course I told my brother that he did an excellent job. (Positive reinforcement works!)

Talking to C about this over the weekend, she said when giving a task to someone else, always use the 4Ws and 1H to break down the task. What do you want to be done? When do you want to finish it by? Who can you go ask for help if I am not available? Where do you get all the necessary equipment? What is your expectation? Why do you have to do it? How do you do it?

I am a visual learner. But for project management, it's better to learn by doing. :)