10 project management concepts that can be used in your life

I was surprised to learn that 70% of a PM's work is communication - but having done project management for over a decade, it's true: status reports, emails, decisions, risks, reporting, team chats, meetings - all forms of communication.

Open communication will benefit you in every area of your life

PMs can't do everything so when it comes to having too much on the go, they need to prioritize. Do what's most important first and then work your way down the priority list.

If something has to be done and the PM can't do it themselves, they delegate. Delegating isn't easy because you have to teach someone how to do something but it will pay dividends in the long run.

There are some risks that are unavoidable that you can't control - PMs don't worry about these risks OR they buy insurance OR they develop back up plans. There are many ways to manage bad risks.

When managing project finances, there's a budget and a forecast - both are critical to managing project finances well. Same applies to life: how much money do you have to spend (budget), how much money do you plan to spend (forecast).

I can never understand people who want to travel somewhere and 'wing' it. I appreciate that there are some things you can't plan for or having open blocks in your schedule for seeing what might come, but I believe having a general plan is better than no plan. At least with a general plan, you have a greater probability of better outcomes.

On projects, I find decision logs to be tricky. It's great to have a log of all the major decisions that have been made, but for many of my projects, I find that only the PMs refer to the decision log. On other projects, I don't capture the major decisions and then it comes to bite me back in the ass.

In general, it's useful to keep a decision journal as a way to track and assess the decisions you have made (with the goal of improving your decision making)

Templates are amazing for not having to reinvent the wheel. I can't think of anything in life where templates or the concept of templates isn't useful. Cooking -> template = mise en place. Writing -> template = writing software and research ideas.

Although they can, a PM typically doesn't do everything by themselves. They have a team they rely on. The team has expertise the PM doesn't. The team has influence and networks that the PM doesn't. Having a project team means you can tackle bigger projects than the PM can tackle alone.

I always think of an African proverb when I think of teams: if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

At the end of every project, lessons learned are captured. These lessons are used to improve future projects.

Do you conduct lessons learned in your life? Maybe a journal or log at the end of the year capturing the best things that happened to you and opportunities you wish you took on?