And thus we enter the week of the
wedding. Whole bunch of friends and relatives (okay not whole but quite a few …
okay 3 friends) have been calling up and asking me how are the preparations for
the wedding, any help required, when from are my holidays, etc etc. They all
seem super excited about this upcoming event. I’m still catching up on this
excitement fever. I am a firm believer of the phrase “Peaking at the right time”.
And the right time is still 3 days away. 2 if you count starting from the
Reception Day.
I’d have also liked to mention
that the home is abuzz with a lot of activity and lot of guests, except that it
isn’t. I have been home these last 4 days (including the weekend days) and it
just seems like any normal day at home for me. There aren’t any furrowed brow
lines showing. Nor does any vein show signs of popping. There is an
unexpected (for me at least) sense of calm and serene here. It could be for
only 2 reasons as I understand it:
- We have missed out on something very important which is going to hit us like the storm after the calm
- The execution of this “Project” has been extremely well so far and hence the calm
For the benefit of my nerves, I’m
assuming it is the latter. Thinking of which it really feels like the whole process
of conducting a marriage is no different than doing a project. A project can be
defined as a sequence of activities that are done between a start time and an
end time, with a certain end-goal in mind, and which would require the
employment of certain resources (human and otherwise). A project typically ends
in setting up an “Ongoing Service” which needs routine maintenance by the
stakeholders involved.
Wedding has a set date. You start
the preparations from a certain date. The end-goal of course is the wedding. Resources
– yes there are lot of resources involved in this project. We have a Project
Manager, a Budget Owner, a few “Consults” who are like the Subject Matter
Experts and give their opinions, and then some who need to be “Informed” of the
updates as and when key milestones are met. A lot of companies which follow the
ITIL methodologies adopt the RACI model to identify the key stakeholders
R – Responsible (Responsible for
the Project Execution)
A – Accountable (Accountable for
funding the Project. Owns the Budgets)
C – Consulted (Subject Matter
Experts)
I – Informed (Receives
information)
In my case my mother becomes the “R”
for most of the activities, occasionally taken over by my dad and at times
supported by me as well. “A” is held by my dad mostly, except for the shopping
activities, whereupon yours truly takes over. “C” is mostly the “Vadhyaars”
(Pandits) who will be performing the ceremony and some other miscellaneous
elderly relatives who otherwise don’t count for much, but need to be consulted
just to keep their heads on their shoulders. “I” is, well mostly I myself. For
some activities, the Project Team from the “other” side needs to be on the “I”
list.
Every Project has a “Go-Live”
date. The cutover happens and an ongoing service is established. It is usually
followed by a 3-4 week Hypercare period wherein the Project Managers help
stabilize the “Service”. The teething troubles and related issues are resolved
by their intervention. Once the service stabilizes (or the hyper care period
ends, whichever is earlier), the Service goes into an “Operations” mode. At
this point, the “Service Management” takes over.
This can also be observed to be
true in the case of Weddings. The “Cutover” happens on the “Wedding Day”, and
is followed by the settling down (hypercare) period when the folks from both side
help in settling the house. Hopefully, there aren’t many “incidents” in this
period, and the wedded couple moves into the “Operations” mode.
Operations is fun, isn’t it? It
is. IT IS !
