Define: project management

Every 3rd week of January, several towns in the Philippines celebrate the feast day of Sto. Niño, Jesus depicted as a child. Among these places, two stand out for me: Cebu City, the original place where the Sto. Niño was brought by Magellan's fleet, and Tondo, one of the oldest cities in the Philippines, and where I grew up.

The Tondo version of the fiesta has notoriety for riot. Wait, that is, Tondo has always had notoriety for riot. People have a notion that it's a place of violence, crude manners and neighbors yelling back and forth. There is some truth in that. I'm not about to debunk those notions.

Consider this, though: The Tondo fiesta has always been a successful town event, despite the place’s reputation for lack of organization and hard-to-manage townspeople. When it comes to planning, we can learn a thing or two from this town event:

1. Project leaders. Barangay captains act as fiesta leaders. The parish priest heads the different committees that plan all the festivities. Once elected or assigned to these posts, these people know no hesitation and no saying no.

2. Timelines. In my toot-something years of observing the town fiesta, the predictability of events is certain: the banderitas always go up the week after New Year's. Concerts and contests are held in the town plaza. A Friday night grand concert takes place. A costume parade happens in the morning of Saturday, followed by a 2-hour long procession in the afternoon. People follow these timelines strictly, without succumbing to common excuse-able barriers like rain or traffic.

The banderitas always go up, no matter what. And they're always pretty!

3. Forecasted resources. Committees are set up in advance to make sure that every mass that happens hourly is manned with readers and ushers, processions are manned with security, and every other event is staffed well.

4. Contingency plans. With these events dependent on a few people who serve as leaders, one would think that the changing mayoral, barangay captain and parish priest posts can cause disruption with how the town fiesta is celebrated each year. But, still, every year, regardless of who's leading it, the fiesta happens according to timeline and tradition.

Of course, I am oversimplifying. For one, the magnitude of tasks involved in hosting a fiesta may not be as big as a setting up a new call center, or starting a new development project. Second, religion plays a big part as to why town fiestas become easy to manage. Fiestas are largely a profession of devotion to a patron saint. Everyone cooperates when they're asked to demonstrate their faith.

There are things within every project that stay the same though, regardless of magnitude and scope. Apart from those listed above, ownership is one basic element. Someone has to be responsible and accountable, for a project to be successful. Someone has to own it and tell the world "I'd like to see this happen." Likewise, people should be able to go to this someone and tell him/her "I have a road block", and be confident that they will get a sound advice on how to tackle it, without adversely affecting the project.

I had wanted to demonstrate this ownership in our household, and help out in the cooking. But my parents have too much ownership, and had the kare-kare and palabok ready even before Saturday was starting. There was nothing else to do but eat. Maybe next year? :)