Defining the Project.
It's easy to question whether or not reaching my retirement day is really a project at all, by definition. The Project Management Institute (PMI) suggests that a project is defined by primarily two elements: a temporary endeavor and a specific and unique result.
Since this project was initiated on the first day with my first employer and has spanned more than four decades, it would be a stretch to classify it as a temporary endeavor. As for the other part of the PMI definition, for certain, retirement from active full-time employment fits well in that the effort produces a specific and unique result.
Maybe a better characterization would be that this path to retirement has been a program (a collection of related projects). For instance: selecting and starting retirement investment accounts, achieving employment promotions, becoming debt free, securing a retirement health insurance plan, determining a post-retirement budget, creating an estate plan, having a will drawn up, and the list goes on.
However one wants to define this, it is still an event that takes on all the standard project management processes: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, controlling, and closing. Or if viewed from an Agile Methodology perspective: it is a massive backlog of tasks that have been refined, prioritized, and accepted into smaller, timeboxed efforts over the course of many years. So, that works too.
As of this summer, I will be two years away from that magical date. It is getting exciting around here. Ten years ago it was more conceptual than it was defined. As the ensuing years were marked off the calendar, the vision and objectives became better defined. And now the goals, target date, and preparation steps have all become much more clear.
It seems most people are focused on the financial part of retirement. Securing the financial resources to be able to retire is certainly one of the biggest epics or work packages in any retirement plan. I have been calculating and planning all that since I started working many years ago. I have watched my retirement accounts grow along the way and learned to be patient with the ebb and flow of the markets. But there is more, much more to the plan.
As already mentioned, there are other things to consider: retirement health and long-term care insurance, determining a post-retirement budget, creating an estate plan, updating my will, and so on. These are all necessary administrative chores.
Another set of tasks to consider is preparing for what I will do with my time. To answer this I needed to do some self-examination. I already know that I am not an idle person. I never have been, and I do not want that to change. Sure, I will slow down with age like everyone does, but it is important for both my physical and mental health to keep busy and purposeful. That is the key for maintaining my physical and mental well being while also bringing satisfaction and meaning to this new life I will be living.
No doubt, I will enjoy more time with the grandkids, working in our gardens, taking care of our chickens, hiking, and fishing. But there is no definition of done with any of those. Those are enjoyable and repeatable activities I will do to keep me busy and content. However, I must also participate in activities that offer purpose and meaning, much like I did while I was part of the workforce. And if it can be measured, for me, it will be a bonus.
Many retired people volunteer at an organization that is special to them, or they may take a part time job where they feel like they are contributing to something meaningful. I do not have all that figured out yet, but during the next couple years I will be thinking through and narrowing down all the possibilities and options.
I also realized that activities requiring a good amount of physical activity will need to be done earlier in my retirement while I am still physically capable. I anticipate the same will likely be true about my mental activity. In project management, factors such as physical and mental health, mobility, and location could be risks, assumptions, issues, or dependencies. So, I will start considering those.
Then there is this Bucket List. It is the list of things we want to do before we die. I guess this works for people who need to have a time when it would be OK for them to die. For me, it never made much sense. The date of my death will be unknowable until it happens. Therefore, completing a list of things to do before the unknowable date of my death is, for me, a frantic and likely unachievable proposition. Why would I set my direction toward probable failure in the last leg of my journey here on earth? No thanks.
I will skip the bucket list idea. Instead, especially since my heart surgery twenty years ago and other health issues since then, I have been intentionally trying to live my best life every day - retired or not.
I am very much looking forward to closing the most impactful, meaningful, and worthy project of my management career. The closing of this project, much like many of the projects I have managed over the past decades, is more like a transition from completing the preparation steps to living and operating in this new space of which I have prepared.
And I am also very sure that after I am retired I will continue to refine and improve what I may have missed or set aside for later. But that is normal and it is all part of the plan. Happy retirement to me!
Since this project was initiated on the first day with my first employer and has spanned more than four decades, it would be a stretch to classify it as a temporary endeavor. As for the other part of the PMI definition, for certain, retirement from active full-time employment fits well in that the effort produces a specific and unique result.
Maybe a better characterization would be that this path to retirement has been a program (a collection of related projects). For instance: selecting and starting retirement investment accounts, achieving employment promotions, becoming debt free, securing a retirement health insurance plan, determining a post-retirement budget, creating an estate plan, having a will drawn up, and the list goes on.
However one wants to define this, it is still an event that takes on all the standard project management processes: initiating, planning, executing, monitoring, controlling, and closing. Or if viewed from an Agile Methodology perspective: it is a massive backlog of tasks that have been refined, prioritized, and accepted into smaller, timeboxed efforts over the course of many years. So, that works too.
The Work Packages / Epics
It seems most people are focused on the financial part of retirement. Securing the financial resources to be able to retire is certainly one of the biggest epics or work packages in any retirement plan. I have been calculating and planning all that since I started working many years ago. I have watched my retirement accounts grow along the way and learned to be patient with the ebb and flow of the markets. But there is more, much more to the plan.
As already mentioned, there are other things to consider: retirement health and long-term care insurance, determining a post-retirement budget, creating an estate plan, updating my will, and so on. These are all necessary administrative chores.
Another set of tasks to consider is preparing for what I will do with my time. To answer this I needed to do some self-examination. I already know that I am not an idle person. I never have been, and I do not want that to change. Sure, I will slow down with age like everyone does, but it is important for both my physical and mental health to keep busy and purposeful. That is the key for maintaining my physical and mental well being while also bringing satisfaction and meaning to this new life I will be living.
No doubt, I will enjoy more time with the grandkids, working in our gardens, taking care of our chickens, hiking, and fishing. But there is no definition of done with any of those. Those are enjoyable and repeatable activities I will do to keep me busy and content. However, I must also participate in activities that offer purpose and meaning, much like I did while I was part of the workforce. And if it can be measured, for me, it will be a bonus.
Many retired people volunteer at an organization that is special to them, or they may take a part time job where they feel like they are contributing to something meaningful. I do not have all that figured out yet, but during the next couple years I will be thinking through and narrowing down all the possibilities and options.
I also realized that activities requiring a good amount of physical activity will need to be done earlier in my retirement while I am still physically capable. I anticipate the same will likely be true about my mental activity. In project management, factors such as physical and mental health, mobility, and location could be risks, assumptions, issues, or dependencies. So, I will start considering those.
Then there is this Bucket List. It is the list of things we want to do before we die. I guess this works for people who need to have a time when it would be OK for them to die. For me, it never made much sense. The date of my death will be unknowable until it happens. Therefore, completing a list of things to do before the unknowable date of my death is, for me, a frantic and likely unachievable proposition. Why would I set my direction toward probable failure in the last leg of my journey here on earth? No thanks.
I will skip the bucket list idea. Instead, especially since my heart surgery twenty years ago and other health issues since then, I have been intentionally trying to live my best life every day - retired or not.
Closing
And I am also very sure that after I am retired I will continue to refine and improve what I may have missed or set aside for later. But that is normal and it is all part of the plan. Happy retirement to me!
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