President’s Message – Kathy Harvel

 

Using Project Management to Cure the 

“Summertime Blues” 

 

School’s Out For Summer!  

Project management training during the summer? That doesn’t sound like much fun at all but by asking questions and doing a little coaching, kids can learn how to plan projects without even knowing that they are learning.  Helping kids learn how to plan when they are young will help them later in problem solving, critical thinking, communications, and much more! 

First, find out what your child would like to accomplish over the summer. Instead of asking what they want to do today, maybe ask them what they want to do in the next two weeks or month.  Hopefully this will steer them towards something bigger than just going swimming or to Six Flags. 

Let’s say they decide they want to learn how to watercolor, bake a cake, set up a lemonade stand or plan an “End of Summer Party”.  You can coach your child through the steps of planning by asking pointed questions that will get them thinking a little.  Planning is part of the fun and kids can learn this easily.  Some questions to ask would be “How would you get started with this?” or “What are some things you need to do this?” The point here is not to do the planning yourself; instead have the child figure out the plan and like any good project manager – Write it Down! 

Other questions would focus on the 8 planning puzzle pieces in PMI’s “Managing Life’s Projects” learning tool: 

Cost – Is there anything we need to go buy? 

Time – How much time do you think will be needed? 

People – Do you want any of your friends to help? 

Communication – Can you think of anyone you want to tell about this? 

 

Planning is the foundation of projects.  We live in a project-driven world.  Teaching kids at a young age how to plan projects will help them be more creative and successful in the future. 

 

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You can contact me directly about the above topics or any other topic. Please feel free to email me at president@fwpmi.org or complete this form. 

Thank you! 

Kathy