If you’re ever invited to a long Friendsgiving weekend two states away, you might not want to invade your hosts’ kitchen for two days making batches of German Christmas bread.
However, since it was our only chance to be with our college-grad-working-in-the-real-world daughter before Christmas, that meant this Friendsgiving trip is the only chance to carry on our family tradition together.
We’re thankful that our hosts surrendered their kitchen. And they’re grateful for the gift of almond paste, rum-soaked raisins, and love.
The entire process screams Project Management. She didn’t study business but this is a truly fun way to understand the basics.
Clarifying the Scope
We probably need 30-ish loaves to get us through the gift-giving season, and that’s just not possible within the time frame. One batch makes four loaves, and one oven can handle two batches a day. So a realistic goal is 12-16 loaves before hopping on a plane.
Time Management
Over the years, she’s figured out the project’s dependencies. There are two long dough rests between kneading – first two hours, then four hours. The raisins and cherries need to soak overnight at minimum (any leftovers? They can stay in the rum and keep soaking). Bake time about an hour per two loaves. Working backward from those dependencies is her timeline.
And she uses the downtime well, to prep the next step, record her vlog intros or transitions, spend time with the loved ones, and to rest up.
Stakeholder engagement
Recipients have different needs – some need less salt, some are away from home and need the bread frozen to receive later or sent to another address. These are all stakeholder needs to be considered.
Many of those logistic questions can be handled by her assistants – Dad and Mom. We are her assistants, her budget officers, her procurement team. That means a lot of strategy and communication when setting up for a project two states away.
Our hosts? Crucial resources. They surrendered their kitchen for two days and helped with logistics: rides to stores, appliance guidance, and where everything lives.
Tangible Resources
Ingredients, appliances, accessories—essential tools we all coordinated. We did have one communication snafu: she thought we’d bring almond paste from Spokane, Dad assumed it was available in Arizona. Oops.
Google to the rescue: homemade almond paste. Manageable, less expensive, and looks the way it’s supposed to. The real question: will it taste the same?
That’s Quality Management. Standardization matters. Different ovens, different ingredients—those variables could affect quality. She certainly knows what each product milestone needs to look like so we’re thinking positive.
Delicious deliverables
What started as a family tradition turned into a mini case study in project management: scope, time, resources, stakeholders, quality. I think she nailed it. She’s working in a retail bakery now, and these types of life experiences are moving her forward.
Communication By Design 