Christmas Shopping with PRINCE2®

Dec. 16, 2013 - PRLog -- Really? - Why Not!

I found out a few weeks ago that it's my turn to do the Christmas shopping this year! My partner usually does it all, and I wasn't sure how to start - so I thought maybe I could treat it as a project.

Obviously, the deadline for the 'Christmas Shopping Project' was 24th December; and spending was 'restricted' to a maximum of £600.

I calculated this to be approximately £100 on each family member, £20 on each of our extended family and £20 on each of our close friends. By the way, I was told not to buy my own present!

The end product of 'the project' is to be a pile of presents ready to be distributed to one and all. The expectation is that “everyone gets something they want this year – we want lots of smiley faces at Christmas”. And Christmas will only be deemed a success if there is at least one present per person, wrapped suitably, and everyone is 'delighted' with their present. Doesn't sound too easy, does it?

So 'what could go wrong?' I was asked. I said that I could miss the deadline, or some people might not like their presents, or we can't afford the things people really want, what could be done about these concerns?   What could be done to prevent these potential problems occurring, or at least to make them less likely?

Then came some more questions:  "so how are you going to do this, then?"  "What's your plan?"

Yikes, I thought, and then I said “Well, before I can work out what I need to do, we'll need to work out what I need to buy”. Just imagine how bad the shopping trips would be if you didn't know what you were looking for!

Fortunately, we'd been talking to the kids about Christmas presents for the last few months, so we were pretty clear on what they would like. And I contacted everyone else directly to ask them what they would like.

So - I could draw up a list of presents, and described each one, with emphasis on what aspects of the present will make it something the recipient will approve of

Once this was all settled, and confirmed through a few more phone calls, I worked out a plan showing the various shopping trips, or time on the internet, how much time, how much cost (not forgetting fuel, parking etc). At this point I realised that £600 wasn't enough – do Christmas shopping projects always cost more than the original budget?  So we updated our estimate to £700, and justified it on the basis that everyone would be happy, and the presents would be exactly what everyone wants. So, the plan and the new budget were agreed

My plan for the first stage of shopping, on the internet in the evenings of the last week of November, consisted of buying six presents for a total of £300. Unfortunately, after the first three presents, I realised that it was costing more than I thought. So we had another chat, and upped the budget for the internet shopping to £350, and the overall budget to £800 (typical)!

I knew that once the internet shopping was complete, I would need to move onto the next stage, going to various shops and buying all the remaining presents. This stage had to be carefully planned and I needed to be very clear on exactly what the presents were and where to get them, or I would waste a lot of time and money.  So I planned all the trips and the costs involved (the remaining £450), at the end of November. "So far so good" - it was time to go shopping.

There were three main activities in this stage, confined to the three weekends of December, and generally it all went very well, with just one or two problems with costs that we had to talk about – needless to say the final budget was up to £900 by the time I finished!

That just left a final stage - to get it all wrapped up and stacked by the tree. And here we are on Christmas Eve (nearly), with everything ready, waiting for a houseful of people shortly. That's when all the presents will be handed over and, all being well, everyone will be happy. Of course, most important of all, if everyone else is happy, then we'll be happy, and we'll all have a Happy Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

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