When I was coaching the local high school boys soccer team, one of the traditions was to host an Alumni Game. One of the alumni was very gratuitous and would donate $2,000 every year I was the coach. The cost to put on the game as it was prior to my arrival was about $300. So I felt the need to make it more extravagant. I was the Project Manager, but without as much power as a traditional PM. The Booster Club, Alumni Group, Parents, Players, and Athletic Director were very involved. So my idea was to make $1,000 of it a scholarship, and use the other $1,000 to do exciting things for the game. Of course I had to okay it through our donor, and then all the other channels that had their eyes on the money going elsewhere. So I had to play politician to make everyone happy. Yet, the game money was subject to crazy ideas.
The donor, a Vegas club GM, was just happy to help and said whatever I decided was fine. So to make him feel like he was a part of the process, even though he's thousands of miles away, I included his sign-off on each part of the process. The Scope Creep came when I asked for suggestions from him and the booster club. We already committed to a trophy, MVP award for the game, catered food buffet, and free jerseys for all participants. Then suggestions like money to the winning team, a dinner the night before for all players and families at an expensive restaurant, plaques to players who made all-district or better, and [my personal favorite] give the money to the football team. I was in a predicament because I needed all of the team members to help out and contribute, but needed to stay focused on realistic ideas. The toughest part is explaining to an unreasonable request why their idea was nixed and other ideas were accepted.
In the end, I was able to reason with people and explain that I would be the one doing all the leg-work with the approval of our donor. Few people tried to argue with the logic, and things ran smoothly. During the event we did find out that some ideas that sounded great in theory did not work in reality. For example; We wanted each participant to fill out a biography on themselves to be read before the first game. When all 46 participants had their 2 minute biographies lined up, we cut it to the basics to save time. Even a 1 minute description was beyond too long. It was painfully dull and long. So after the event the team agreed that there should just be a recognition of players who made all-district or better.
In the future, if I was a PM will the control a typical PM gets I would have changed a few aspects of how we prepared for the event. I would allow for a brief brainstorming session before we got started and prepared a report for the following meeting. This way I wouldn't have every parent/player/alumni coming up to me with ridiculous suggestions. I would also be more clear when assigning and describing roles of team members. At the time people were scrambling to get things completed, now they would each have a part and focus on that. Other minor issues would allow it to run smoother and more efficiently. Last, and most importantly: I would expect more from the AD and powers above my pay-grade. I got very little help from them, and they went underutilized. I am looking forward to coaching again and putting on more events like the Alumni Game.
