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Friday, September 14, 2018
Five Structures for Helping Students Learn Project Management
John Spencer: If we want students to think like artists, entrepreneurs, and engineers, they need the chance to design real projects. But this also requires students to learn how to engage in project management.
This article is a very interesting article. I enjoyed it so much because it is basically the same thing stage and production managers do. I think that it is important to teach kids the process because it can be applied to anything not just big projects. As theater artists, the production sets the goal and guides us on the steps to take to achieve the goal. I agree with the author that the approach is up to personal choices but the motives are similar and at the end of the day the goal should be achieved.
I know that project management is something I need to work on, especially here at CMU where the workload is much greater than it has been in the past, often having multiple projects at the same time. And while I have gotten better with it over the years, there is still much I could improve upon in terms of getting it done more efficiently. The first two components, “set goals and chart progress,” and “break down tasks and set deadlines,” have been helpful ones. It helps me to break down what I have to do and what parts of it I would like to get done and when. Keeping track of the progress has also helped with motivation to work, as I can see that I am moving forwards in the project. The third, “choose and implement strategies,” is something that I should probably work on. I don’t really have set ‘strategies’ for work other than just starting the tasks and trying to get them done when I want them to be done. And of course, like anyone else who has worked on projects before, I’ve run into “monitor, adjust, and problem solve.” There’s no way around the inevitable fact that things can and will break or not go as planned, and that you’ll need to fix it one way or another. For example, when I would make costumes just for fun on my own time, a lot of times I would run into problems like ‘there isn’t enough of this fabric but I don’t have time to order any more’ and try to figure out how I can work around it and what I could use as a substitute, or realize that I forgot to get a few key components and whether or not I have time to go get them or if I need to shortcut. Same goes for projects in the theatre; things like troubleshooting feedback that wasn’t there before, or trying to work with wood that’s just a little bit too warped.
I think this article's gist is over simplified. The author's strategic approach to project management is great as an outline of how to approach a project but it seems a little too tied up with a bow, especially for theatrical project management. What I would be much more interested to know from a project management guide/mentor is strategies to combat crises during project management. I think the most crucial part of being a project manager is being able to adapt in times of crisis and with that being able to lead a team. I agree with the author that it is important to set up clear steps in accomplishing your overall goal. However, I think the perspective of the article was a singular person's guide to teaching project management which can be a little restricting. Spencer's suggestion of using Trello is helpful but there are many other project softwares that would be effective for the tasks set forward by the project manager.
Project management is a very transferable skill, specially in our multi-tasking society, where we will find ourselves juggling more things than we can handle. Unfortunately, since this is not taught on an early age, we find college students, myself included, struggling to make projects happen, leaving assignments for last minute, and pulling too many all-nighters because we didn’t know how to gauge the size of the project. While if we were trained in this skill beforehand, we would know how to approach large projects and not postpone them, because we didn’t know how to start. One thing I would add to this, is research & reach out, after breaking down into tasks. One of the things I’ve struggled the most is approaching professors or resources once I have my steps broken down, but I still don’t understand them. Like every other skill, it gets better with time and practice, and starting students on it, will make them better students if they desire to pursue higher education, but it can also make them better employees, better partners, better humans overall.
Project management is a necessary and important skill for those of us in the theatre. As young adults and college students, project and time management are absolutely not our strong suit, except in rare occasions. This article helps students to manage their skills and time. One thing that is useful for time management is spreadsheets, and planners. I, personally keep a digital calendar on my phone as well as in Canvas, so that I can see all information consolidated in one place. Other people my keep paper planners. This helps me see information more quickly, more clearly, as well as organize with other people if need be. Especially for people who are employed in the position of Technical Director and Stage Manager or Production Manager, these skills are vital. Even as students, not professionals, these skills become more and more important as we progress through our lives and through our careers.
Project management in as far as how we handle with on the completion of the process of actaulizing idea into product is a fascinating thing. While this is a relatively short video it brings up some interesting points. One of these points that I often we most people don’t fully appreciate in the realms of project management is that of a manager ability to move from the theoretical concept to a final project and make plans for how to assign task that move the project more and more so it that of reality. That is often the core job of project management that many often overlook. The other aspects that the video brought up that often defines management in general is that of being able to effectively delegate tasks to people that you trust and seeing the larger picture of how all of these task interact with each other. So I’m short while not a long video this does highlight the main skills needed in project management.
To learn from project managers, especially professional and experienced ones, requires a lot of efforts to breakdown their methods, look into their thoughts and analyze their strategy corresponding to the given situations. This article gives a depth view into how a teacher outline his teaching method. At first he stated the given conditions: in a management classroom, students not meeting their requirements on the developing stage. Then is the ideal solution suggested: making deadlines and solid speeches about the milestone to be reached. Followed by the method figured out by the writer, the article gives 4 structural advice to reader. Finding parts providing the participants enough motivation to move the project forward, while visualize the project make a path of executing it. Trello makes a platform that students can practice managing skills, then the check-in list help both teacher and student monitor the progress. It's all about simple ideas and procedures that help teaching management efficiently.
The main point I really appreciated about this article was the emphasis on how to teach project management, as opposed to a simple rundown of what it is. This is something I have found to be true in many other writings: the author simply outlines the roles and responsibilities of a project manager without giving information about how to actually learn and develop those kills for oneself. I also like how the author does not try and push one hard and fast rule or a single set of standards for how to be a good project manager, but instead focuses on broader concepts that could be implemented in a variety of ways based on the individual person. I think there is no one right way to manage or facilitate projects, and I think a lot of what was said in this article could definitely give someone the tools to start learning about project management.
This article was very interesting to read as someone who is trying to learn more about project management. At CMU, Carnegie scenic has three project managers every year. I am also impressed on how well they do. Especial right now as Emma finished load in for a main stage in one day. I have read articles in the past about project management but this one was extremely helpful as it gave 4 main parts that every good project manager should follow. The first was to set goals and chart progress. Setting goals is extremely important as it gives the workers something to achieve. The second which I think is the most important is to break down tasks. And efficient project manager should be able to break down tasks well and assign jobs based on the tasks. Having a PM who is good at breaking down tasks truly makes a difference. The last two are choosing strategies and problem solving which go hand and hand. I really enjoyed breaking this down into four steps and I think reading this will help any manager become more efficient.
This article put a really interesting spin on project management. Mostly when I read about project management, it's from the perspective of an adult professional. But this article takes on the approach of teaching project management, which is a perspective I've never thought about. I think that in trying to teach project management, you are forced to think quite a bit about how project management works and how it should fit into a team dynamic. The techniques of project management that they outline are not revolutionary by any means. But in thinking about how to teach these techniques I was reconsidering my views. I imagine it would be most difficult to teach about the monitoring, adjusting, and problem solving component. It’s easier to set a system in place, but using and maintaining that system is a whole other ballpark. I struggle myself with that portion of project management, so learning strategies to teach it is really helpful.
This article really laid out some great components to project management. In theater, no matter what discipline you specialize in, you have to be good in project management. While it’s obvious you must be good at this as a stage manager or production manager, you also have to be good at this as any designer. When you are working on designing a show, you work managing yourself while you work on this project. The odds are you have a deadline, so you have to think about how to effectively break down your design process to complete the design on time. I think one of the best things he talks about is the fourth step. The author understands that things are always changing and so it is a must to have a step where you look back at what you’ve been doing an analyze if it is working properly. This is a huge part of problem-solving, something one must have to know how to do in theater.
I find this article and the steps listed very helpful, and very appropriate to what we are currently learning in class. In general, I struggle most getting from Step 1 to Step 2. For instance, I am a Stage Manager taking a Technical Direction class, and we were tasked with completing Unit Element sheets for every design piece in the groundplans and draftings we were given for a specific production. While I understand the visuals of the designs, I had no idea how it translated into what specific lumber, hardware, and steps were needed to get the drawings from paper to reality. This utter uncertainty usually stops me in my tracks, and puts me into the paralysis that the writer here speaks of. My group helped a great deal with this. Unknowingly, as a group we followed the steps listed here: we analyzed the drawings and set goals for what we had to accomplish along the way. Since we were paired two Managers and one Technical Director, we then used our combined skills to break down the components into the how of each one's construction. After the first two examples, I found it easier and easier to move forward on my own units. We agreed to have all of our assigned units complete well ahead of the deadline. We met to look over each other's work, see how the work came out in summary and comparison to our allotted budget and linear time constraints, and will move forward in adjusting our design from there. I agree wholeheartedly that, had I not been put on such a "scary" project, I would have never learned how to work through it using these strategies and discovered how, in fact, I am capable of trying new forms of project management in unknown areas.
Project management, just like many other forms of management tend to be hard to describe and a bit elusive as to what they exactly entail. I think that this article does a really good job of helping to understand the roles of a project manager in a way that is easily talked about. I like the focus on how to teach project management. Teaching skills that have much less tangible parts to accomplish can be difficult but this article does a fairly good job of laying it out. I also agree with the sentiment that giving students and opportunity to design and work on real projects gives them the ability to not only get hands on experience but to begin to think about the work they do in new ways. Students need the experience to practice problem solving, communication and design in ways that just simply cannot be taught, but rather have to be learned.
I think this is an extremely valuable article and perspective. It seems that the general paradigm for learning both project and time management skills is just a sink-or-swim, figure-it-out-as-you-go structure. While this works for most people eventually, I do not think I would be alone in saying that I would benefit (and certainly would have benefited when I was younger) from a more explicit and directed approach to teaching time and project management. While I use many of the strategies mentioned in the article (for instance, making spreadsheets and todo lists), I had never even thought to try many of them (visualization techniques, actual check in sheets). It seems a lot of teachers/professors try to work basic managements skills into their projects and classes, but I think that a full class devoted to time and project management would be one of the most valuable classes that most people would ever take no matter their profession, especially if it were taught in high school or even middle school.
14 comments:
This article is a very interesting article. I enjoyed it so much because it is basically the same thing stage and production managers do. I think that it is important to teach kids the process because it can be applied to anything not just big projects. As theater artists, the production sets the goal and guides us on the steps to take to achieve the goal. I agree with the author that the approach is up to personal choices but the motives are similar and at the end of the day the goal should be achieved.
I know that project management is something I need to work on, especially here at CMU where the workload is much greater than it has been in the past, often having multiple projects at the same time. And while I have gotten better with it over the years, there is still much I could improve upon in terms of getting it done more efficiently. The first two components, “set goals and chart progress,” and “break down tasks and set deadlines,” have been helpful ones. It helps me to break down what I have to do and what parts of it I would like to get done and when. Keeping track of the progress has also helped with motivation to work, as I can see that I am moving forwards in the project. The third, “choose and implement strategies,” is something that I should probably work on. I don’t really have set ‘strategies’ for work other than just starting the tasks and trying to get them done when I want them to be done. And of course, like anyone else who has worked on projects before, I’ve run into “monitor, adjust, and problem solve.” There’s no way around the inevitable fact that things can and will break or not go as planned, and that you’ll need to fix it one way or another. For example, when I would make costumes just for fun on my own time, a lot of times I would run into problems like ‘there isn’t enough of this fabric but I don’t have time to order any more’ and try to figure out how I can work around it and what I could use as a substitute, or realize that I forgot to get a few key components and whether or not I have time to go get them or if I need to shortcut. Same goes for projects in the theatre; things like troubleshooting feedback that wasn’t there before, or trying to work with wood that’s just a little bit too warped.
I think this article's gist is over simplified. The author's strategic approach to project management is great as an outline of how to approach a project but it seems a little too tied up with a bow, especially for theatrical project management. What I would be much more interested to know from a project management guide/mentor is strategies to combat crises during project management. I think the most crucial part of being a project manager is being able to adapt in times of crisis and with that being able to lead a team. I agree with the author that it is important to set up clear steps in accomplishing your overall goal. However, I think the perspective of the article was a singular person's guide to teaching project management which can be a little restricting. Spencer's suggestion of using Trello is helpful but there are many other project softwares that would be effective for the tasks set forward by the project manager.
Project management is a very transferable skill, specially in our multi-tasking society, where we will find ourselves juggling more things than we can handle. Unfortunately, since this is not taught on an early age, we find college students, myself included, struggling to make projects happen, leaving assignments for last minute, and pulling too many all-nighters because we didn’t know how to gauge the size of the project. While if we were trained in this skill beforehand, we would know how to approach large projects and not postpone them, because we didn’t know how to start. One thing I would add to this, is research & reach out, after breaking down into tasks. One of the things I’ve struggled the most is approaching professors or resources once I have my steps broken down, but I still don’t understand them. Like every other skill, it gets better with time and practice, and starting students on it, will make them better students if they desire to pursue higher education, but it can also make them better employees, better partners, better humans overall.
Project management is a necessary and important skill for those of us in the theatre. As young adults and college students, project and time management are absolutely not our strong suit, except in rare occasions. This article helps students to manage their skills and time. One thing that is useful for time management is spreadsheets, and planners. I, personally keep a digital calendar on my phone as well as in Canvas, so that I can see all information consolidated in one place. Other people my keep paper planners. This helps me see information more quickly, more clearly, as well as organize with other people if need be. Especially for people who are employed in the position of Technical Director and Stage Manager or Production Manager, these skills are vital. Even as students, not professionals, these skills become more and more important as we progress through our lives and through our careers.
Project management in as far as how we handle with on the completion of the process of actaulizing idea into product is a fascinating thing. While this is a relatively short video it brings up some interesting points. One of these points that I often we most people don’t fully appreciate in the realms of project management is that of a manager ability to move from the theoretical concept to a final project and make plans for how to assign task that move the project more and more so it that of reality. That is often the core job of project management that many often overlook. The other aspects that the video brought up that often defines management in general is that of being able to effectively delegate tasks to people that you trust and seeing the larger picture of how all of these task interact with each other. So I’m short while not a long video this does highlight the main skills needed in project management.
To learn from project managers, especially professional and experienced ones, requires a lot of efforts to breakdown their methods, look into their thoughts and analyze their strategy corresponding to the given situations. This article gives a depth view into how a teacher outline his teaching method. At first he stated the given conditions: in a management classroom, students not meeting their requirements on the developing stage. Then is the ideal solution suggested: making deadlines and solid speeches about the milestone to be reached. Followed by the method figured out by the writer, the article gives 4 structural advice to reader. Finding parts providing the participants enough motivation to move the project forward, while visualize the project make a path of executing it. Trello makes a platform that students can practice managing skills, then the check-in list help both teacher and student monitor the progress. It's all about simple ideas and procedures that help teaching management efficiently.
The main point I really appreciated about this article was the emphasis on how to teach project management, as opposed to a simple rundown of what it is. This is something I have found to be true in many other writings: the author simply outlines the roles and responsibilities of a project manager without giving information about how to actually learn and develop those kills for oneself. I also like how the author does not try and push one hard and fast rule or a single set of standards for how to be a good project manager, but instead focuses on broader concepts that could be implemented in a variety of ways based on the individual person. I think there is no one right way to manage or facilitate projects, and I think a lot of what was said in this article could definitely give someone the tools to start learning about project management.
This article was very interesting to read as someone who is trying to learn more about project management. At CMU, Carnegie scenic has three project managers every year. I am also impressed on how well they do. Especial right now as Emma finished load in for a main stage in one day. I have read articles in the past about project management but this one was extremely helpful as it gave 4 main parts that every good project manager should follow. The first was to set goals and chart progress. Setting goals is extremely important as it gives the workers something to achieve. The second which I think is the most important is to break down tasks. And efficient project manager should be able to break down tasks well and assign jobs based on the tasks. Having a PM who is good at breaking down tasks truly makes a difference. The last two are choosing strategies and problem solving which go hand and hand. I really enjoyed breaking this down into four steps and I think reading this will help any manager become more efficient.
This article put a really interesting spin on project management. Mostly when I read about project management, it's from the perspective of an adult professional. But this article takes on the approach of teaching project management, which is a perspective I've never thought about. I think that in trying to teach project management, you are forced to think quite a bit about how project management works and how it should fit into a team dynamic. The techniques of project management that they outline are not revolutionary by any means. But in thinking about how to teach these techniques I was reconsidering my views. I imagine it would be most difficult to teach about the monitoring, adjusting, and problem solving component. It’s easier to set a system in place, but using and maintaining that system is a whole other ballpark. I struggle myself with that portion of project management, so learning strategies to teach it is really helpful.
This article really laid out some great components to project management. In theater, no matter what discipline you specialize in, you have to be good in project management. While it’s obvious you must be good at this as a stage manager or production manager, you also have to be good at this as any designer. When you are working on designing a show, you work managing yourself while you work on this project. The odds are you have a deadline, so you have to think about how to effectively break down your design process to complete the design on time. I think one of the best things he talks about is the fourth step. The author understands that things are always changing and so it is a must to have a step where you look back at what you’ve been doing an analyze if it is working properly. This is a huge part of problem-solving, something one must have to know how to do in theater.
I find this article and the steps listed very helpful, and very appropriate to what we are currently learning in class. In general, I struggle most getting from Step 1 to Step 2. For instance, I am a Stage Manager taking a Technical Direction class, and we were tasked with completing Unit Element sheets for every design piece in the groundplans and draftings we were given for a specific production. While I understand the visuals of the designs, I had no idea how it translated into what specific lumber, hardware, and steps were needed to get the drawings from paper to reality. This utter uncertainty usually stops me in my tracks, and puts me into the paralysis that the writer here speaks of. My group helped a great deal with this. Unknowingly, as a group we followed the steps listed here: we analyzed the drawings and set goals for what we had to accomplish along the way. Since we were paired two Managers and one Technical Director, we then used our combined skills to break down the components into the how of each one's construction. After the first two examples, I found it easier and easier to move forward on my own units. We agreed to have all of our assigned units complete well ahead of the deadline. We met to look over each other's work, see how the work came out in summary and comparison to our allotted budget and linear time constraints, and will move forward in adjusting our design from there. I agree wholeheartedly that, had I not been put on such a "scary" project, I would have never learned how to work through it using these strategies and discovered how, in fact, I am capable of trying new forms of project management in unknown areas.
Project management, just like many other forms of management tend to be hard to describe and a bit elusive as to what they exactly entail. I think that this article does a really good job of helping to understand the roles of a project manager in a way that is easily talked about. I like the focus on how to teach project management. Teaching skills that have much less tangible parts to accomplish can be difficult but this article does a fairly good job of laying it out. I also agree with the sentiment that giving students and opportunity to design and work on real projects gives them the ability to not only get hands on experience but to begin to think about the work they do in new ways. Students need the experience to practice problem solving, communication and design in ways that just simply cannot be taught, but rather have to be learned.
I think this is an extremely valuable article and perspective. It seems that the general paradigm for learning both project and time management skills is just a sink-or-swim, figure-it-out-as-you-go structure. While this works for most people eventually, I do not think I would be alone in saying that I would benefit (and certainly would have benefited when I was younger) from a more explicit and directed approach to teaching time and project management. While I use many of the strategies mentioned in the article (for instance, making spreadsheets and todo lists), I had never even thought to try many of them (visualization techniques, actual check in sheets). It seems a lot of teachers/professors try to work basic managements skills into their projects and classes, but I think that a full class devoted to time and project management would be one of the most valuable classes that most people would ever take no matter their profession, especially if it were taught in high school or even middle school.
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