Conversations with Chelsea, too

Hi Andrew. This weekend your sister informed me that she would like to be a Project Manager when she grows up and that she wanted training - right away. She plopped herself on the couch with notebook and pen in hand and waited for me to start teaching her about project management.

I must admit that my first thought was of the Monster.com ad during the Super Bowl a couple of years ago with the kid that said he wanted to grow up and be a middle manager. Aspiring to be a typical Project Manager is a pretty sorry thing.

So where do you start teaching a 7 year old about project management? And how do you do it in such a way that she will still be interested? Surprisingly, two things happened as I started explaining about project scope and risk. First of all, I really enjoyed talking about what I do as a project manager. (It's easy to enjoy your work when have a good client and a great project team.)

Second, I was surprised at how much she was getting. She asked such great questions like 'Why does the client get upset when you tell them that the extra work they asked you to do will take extra time?' Or 'Why can't the client think really really really hard before they tell you what do so they don't have to come back and tell you later that there is more stuff they want you to do?' A great lead in to Agile!

I wish all my clients can be as smart as your sister.