“2022X. T-24 days and counting”
The countdown has begun…
Elon Musk does it often. Jeff Bezos did it once. Richard Branson beat Bezos in a race to do it. Now it’s your turn to do it… It’s time for the Christmas countdown!
The X-mas countdown clock is activated. Beep.
- Begin final catering and Secret Santa purchases for launch
- Review last year’s incident reports
- Load Xmas operating system onto application server
- Check BBQ gas bottles are full and the grill is clean
- Export outdated food from freezer to bin
- Refresh and restock the drinks fridge
- Find and test indoor cricket equipment
- Complete preparations for Xmas ham storage and distribution
- Complete staffroom preliminary inspections and buy extra bin bags
“CHECK!”
Less than a month until Christmas and you recall handling the silly season rather well last year. Unfortunately, everyone had such a good time they unanimously vote for you to host it again this year.
Don’t panic! You can copy last year’s Xmas budget in Expert Estimation (Genesis) and get your costings done even faster this time.
You just need to take into account the special requests…
Talaya and Josh have requested Moreton Bay Bugs, in addition to the prawns. What is this, a seafood buffet? Gabriel only seems to consume cola soft drinks and donuts. So you put those all into a spreadsheet. “CHECK!”
Alex and Ken have gone ‘upmarket’ wanting Grey Goose and Canadian Club, but Aunty Leanne will still drink rum, so those all go into the spreadsheet.
The Xmas tree only just survived a 2021 nerf gun battle (you didn’t hide them well enough) but the tinsel was destroyed as Chris used it to set booby traps, so you need more. Might go with a blue and silver theme this year, rather than the classic red and gold… But then you’d need different baubles. Unless you go for the eclectic look?
Ugh! You are better suited to deciding what kind of crane is needed on a slope. How about you just budget for fresh tinsel and baubles and you can always cut from the total if you decide against. Better to build in some provisional sums, hey.
Marcel wants to make a German dish ‘kartoffelsalat’, so you can take that off the list. Joey has threatened to poison you if you dare serve cheesecake again so you’d better think of something else. Maybe, you can ask Cousin Charli to knock together a trifle?
Lauren wants crackers, cheese and quince paste: “Check!”
Gift vouchers again? Seems like a safe option.
Okay. You open Expert Estimation and create a new project, using the ‘Based On’ function to copy the previous Christmas budget. Within the Resource Explorer, you use ‘Clone Resource’ to quickly add the special requests, ignoring your colleagues sniggering at you using a highly sophisticated piece of software to manage a simple Christmas plan.
“It was so good staying on budget last year,” you comment, as if to yourself. “No big credit card debt in January, hey!” You notice colleagues staring as you ‘snort laugh’ loudly at your own internal monologue. Hopefully you kept other comments inside your head! You stare with serious intent at the monitor. The sniggers cease.
With the Resource Explorer up to date, you quickly remove the things you don’t need from the cost schedules and add in the special requests. Back in the Resource Explorer you ‘Remove Unused Resources’ just to make things neat. The checklist appears and you realise you’ve left out wrapping paper and ice. Quickly popping them back in, you remove the rest of the unused resources and finish all your items.
Christmas budgeting done! Now wasn’t that easy?
Last thing to do in T-minus 576 hours and counting… and celebrate 2022X together!
Then take a well-deserved holiday!
I wonder how Musk, Branson and Bezos plan Xmas?
We’d love to hear what’s on your radar for 2022X—get in touch with us at marketing@pronamics.com.au
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