As a student of project management I wondered what type of project I might study and explore. Could there be a more important project during a persons life? Finding and committing to a partner perhaps for the rest of a persons life. The definition of term project within the professional project management field is slightly different than the use of the word project using the vernacular. For the average person a project might be any task. The word might apply to any job that needs to be accomplished.

In the field of management a project is unique, different from the routines duties that need to be performed. Project Management includes the discipline of initiating, planning, executing, controlling, and completing the work  within constrains.

Some of the constrains for a wedding are  scope, time, quality and budget and keeping certain persons happy. The determination of what these are is usually described in project documentation which is created at the beginning of the process. After which calculations might be performed optimize the allocation of resources to meet the pre-defined objectives.

There are well know charting and planning techniques such as PERT and CPM. CPM includes the date perhaps hour that each activity would be perform while PERT allows for uncertainty. These techniques defines what and if there must be an order to the events. Must a certain task be completed prior to the next task beginning? Can the tasks occur concurrently?

David Cohen is currently an associate at Century 21 of Sewell, New Jersey