Confessions of a Project Management Junkie

To the planning-adverse and even some project managers, project-managing a vacation is over the top. I'm a die-hard organizer so project management creeps into even what I do for fun. This approach isn't as sick as it might sound. Really. I just got back from a ski vacation in Steamboat, so I had a chance to examine this peccadillo of mine.

Just like managing a business-oriented project, managing a vacation is all about objectives. For full-bore relaxing vacations, my objective is total spontaneity once the vacation begins. I decide what I fell like doing when I wake up or at any time during the day. The solution in this case is thorough upfront planning for flights, lodging, and so on. Needless to say, package vacations with pre-defined itineraries are right out.

Other vacations have different objectives, for example, my recent Steamboat adventure. Here are some examples of vacation objectives and how I attained them with fun-based project management:

Planning for spontaneity. Before any friends showed up, my objective was to ski during the day and then be free to decide what the rest of the day would offer. When I arrived on Saturday, the cleaner hadn't finished vacuuming the cheerios from the previous week's kids, so I wrote up a check list and ran my errands: lift ticket, ski lesson vouchers, ski locker, food, movie DVDs. Five minutes of list-making and I was all set for my five solo days.

Planning for time constraints. The shuttle bus to the slopes waits for no one and ski lessons start at a specific time. My objectives were to not wait around for the bus any longer than necessary and to ski as many runs as possible before my lessons started.

Sunday was a ski-only day and my dry run. My gear was in a locker at the gondola base, so started the clock with a liberal amount of prep time, got dressed, packed my ski backpack, and walked to the bus stop. A time check showed that 20 minutes took me from bed-head to bus stop. (Clearly, I don't care what I look like whilst skiing.) From then on, I made sure to give myself 25 minutes (for unanticipated glitches) and arrived at the bus stop with a few minutes to spare.

With hours of skiing before a lesson, I could go with the flow. But, less than 90 minutes to go, some planning and tracking was required. I timed a cycle of getting on the lift and skiing back down. Let's say 25 minutes. Then, I checked my watch near the bottom of each run and headed back up for another run if I had more than 25 minutes left.

I rechecked the cycle time every so often, because my skiing sped up after a few lessons and fewer rest stops.

To head down the mountain at the end of the day without joining the hordes on the easy runs, hitting specific lifts before they closed was key. A time trial for the lift and runs of choice and then a time check after each run was all I needed. Of course, the objective could change from maximizing ski runs to getting to the bottom before the leg muscles ooze out onto the slopes, which means a new plan.

All-around management and lessons learned. Successful evening management comprises the use of lessons learned, planning, and task dependencies. For example, one lesson learned is that a soak in a hot tub turns the chances of driving anywhere from slim to none. Therefore, errands must finish before the soak begins or dinner could be the Count Chocula left over from the previous renters. On this trip, I skied my first ever black diamond run -- not pretty but I'm here to write about it. The plan was to celebrate with mimosas. My advance planning fell short because the run was on a Sunday, leaving the champagne locked away in a darkened store, and delaying the celebration by a day.

Closing phase. My objective for the last day was to ski a full day, zip back to the house, pack the car, and get home before 8 PM. The second to last day, I grabbed anything I wouldn't use the next day and tossed it into a duffle. (I do NOT fold dirty clothes to conserve luggage space.) By the last morning, all but my ski clothes, toothbrush, and refrigerated food were safely ensconced in luggage, piled where I couldn't help but see it. The plan worked perfectly and I was home by 7PM with plenty of time to unload, start laundry, and go online to book next year's fun.

P.S. I used to go for maximizing vacations by coming home the day before I had to go back to work. Perhaps I'm heading for old age and a Type-B personality, but, I now come home two days before I have to function in the real world. That way, I have a day to unpack, do laundry, catch up on email and bills, and ease myself into reality.