I’ve… never managed people before.
We set a deadline. Each week we check in. The work continues. I’ve yet to see problems.
On Thursday, my project manager said they would pull the electrical and plumbing permit either that day or Friday or Monday. Today is Monday. They haven’t pulled the permit. Should I be concerned?
Today, I asked my project manager what they’re aiming to complete by Thursday. He said demo would finish today. I looked around and mostly believe him. (But, like, what about the current bathtub?). He says the next step is framing the walls.
How do you know when the work is on schedule? Probably by looking at a schedule. I wonder if they have a schedule. If I can see a copy of that schedule. If I can follow it. He does have a waterfall plot. I should grab it.
Otherwise, I’m just trusting their word every week. And that doesn’t work super well for me. It stresses me out. And I’m already stressed. I don’t need 14 more weeks of stress.
I imagine when they send me the updated scope, it can come with a specific timeline. (Or if it does not, I can ask for one.) Then, each week at our weekly in-person check-in, there’s a process of “What did we do last week? Where are we? What will we do next week?”
I tend to execute poorly those sorts of same thing every week. But Partner might do them well!
Julian Wise 