You Can’t Grill Everything at Once

Project management is a lot like making fajitas.

You have one skillet. That skillet is your team’s capacity: time, energy, budget, focus. PMI calls this resource management. And just like in the kitchen, you cannot dump every ingredient in at once and expect it to turn out well.

If you overload the pan with peppers, the steak will not sear properly. That is a schedule management problem, where too many concurrent activities delay completion.

If you try to cook shrimp and chicken together, someone will get food poisoning. That is quality management, ensuring deliverables meet agreed standards and do not compromise outcomes.

If you insist on starting every task right away, nothing will actually finish on time, and some of it will burn. That is where the work breakdown structure and scope management matter, deciding what gets done now and what waits until later.

The magic of a good fajita is not just in the ingredients, it is in the sequencing. PMI calls this activity sequencing and the critical path method. You start with what takes the longest. You keep the heat right for what is cooking now. You add the quick pieces, like the onions or the final squeeze of lime, at the perfect moment.

Projects work the same way. You must decide what deserves the skillet right now and what waits its turn. That means making hard calls, backed by the Perform Integrated Change Control process when priorities shift.

When you manage resources well, the result is worth it. Everything comes off the skillet perfectly cooked, at the right time, ready to serve. And no one leaves the table wondering why the steak tastes like shrimp.

Quick takeaway for managers:
• Limit your skillet load (Resource and Scope Management) Use WIP limits to keep work focused
• Sequence with purpose (Schedule Management) Prioritize based on critical path
• Match the heat to the task (Resource Management) Allocate effort where it delivers value
• Keep the flavors separate (Quality Management) Avoid mixing incompatible tasks or teams

Closing thought
Great project managers know that the skillet will never be endless. Success comes from working with the heat and space you actually have, not the kitchen you wish you had. The discipline of deciding what cooks now and what cooks later is what separates a chaotic pile of half-done work from a project that is served on time, with quality, and with the satisfaction that keeps people coming back for more.

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