Is Family a Project?

At first, you might react negatively to this idea. After all, family is about love, relationships, emotions, and passion. At the beginning, it is. But then comes the routine:

• Responsibilities of each family member
• Family plans for the week, weekends, and months ahead
• Kids, their activities, picking someone up from daycare or after-school programs. And what if there are three kids?
• Someone didn’t fulfill their obligations, ruining the next person’s plans
• The family budget is limited. Didn’t buy fly tickets this month? Next month, you’ll need to reassess your budget
• Is the deadline for the next payment approaching?

Doesn’t this all sound like a project?

An article discusses managing a family as a project. It provides several examples of families sharing their experiences. Some say that treating the family like a project helped them eliminate many conflicts.

Examples include:

• Using a weekly Zoom call to discuss plans for the current week and challenges. The whole family participates.
• A ToDo list for everyone—for the family and the kids. Participants mention that kids like seeing order and going through each task and completing them.
• A shared family calendar that includes all events, meetings, greetings, and reminders. If an event isn’t on the calendar, it doesn’t exist.
• Using Discord/Slack chats for joint discussions, sharing plans, and tasks.
• Instead of a ToDo list, use a Kanban board for your family projects.

It makes sense. What do you think about this?

Published on LindkedIn