Ahh it is siesta again...

I am working remote this month from our office in Brazil. One of the things I am growing accustom to here is siesta, which is a 2 hr break in the middle of the day from noon to 2pm. As an American, when I first experienced this I thought it was rather inconvenient since I was used to working through the lunch hour and it always seemed to be when I was able to get the most done.

Well it has taken several trips here now for me to get used to it and rethink my planning of a regular work day. However, what I have found is that it can actually help me be more productive with less stress and better insight since the "down time" time allows me to recharge a bit and enables me to be able to jump back to my work with new perspective and fresh ideas.

When I think about this concept I can not help but notice how the same mindset or process can be effective with Project Management. The tendency with most projects is to charge forward and get everything done in as short of a life cycle as possible and then transition into maintenance mode. While there are many advantages for this methodology there is also value in shorter spurts of forward progress with brief cooling off or reflection periods to help you gain perspective and evaluate where you are and where you are going. This can reduce the potential for mistakes and add more insight and creativity to your outcomes.

Of course every project is unique and there is not a cookie cutter solution for every project.  There is value though in taking time in your process to reflect in a way that is not under intense pressure for a deliverable.

There is a old saying about "not seeing the forest through the trees" and it is my opinion that a little "Siesta" at appropriate times in your project life cycle is a good idea for seeing both with clarity.