Getting on the Project Management Bandwagon

Working on major events you come across people from the construction industry, who are usually working on building the venue whether it’s permanent or temporary. Mostly they are guys wearing chinos, a well ironed business shirt and a hi-viz vest and they are trying to squash what you need to do, to make the event happen, in-between a bunch of other things that need to happen, into a giant Gantt chart. They come from a Project Management background having learnt it at University, another education provider or certification through the various internationally recognised Project Management institutes and associations.

For most of us from the land of theatre, festivals and events we have learnt to become project managers in our own way. Stage Managers and Production Managers are the masters of scheduling, time management, understanding what all the other departments tasks are and what these tasks dependencies are for the next task and of course managing a bunch of people to get a job done.

Our world came to a bit of a grinding halt last year and a number of people took up studying as we had time on our hands, myself included.

I came back to my hometown after working overseas and found an opportunity to do some study, while I wanted to do some more study in Work Health and Safety, at the time, the course in Project Management was logistically easier with online study and being able to start straight away and not have to wait until the next semester. So I started my journey on the Project Management bandwagon.

Once I started, I noticed a few other people in the events and theatre industry were also studying PM and it made me wonder if this was an effect of the situations people were in due to the Covid-19 pandemic. I reached out to ask them and and it was interesting to hear their stories as to why they had decided to study PM at this time. Most had been planning to study and take the Project Management Professionals exam, which gives them the highest accreditation in the industry, which most have now achieved. While they were planning on doing this at some point anyway, the time they gained from the situations they were in, due to the pandemic, allowed them to focus and dedicate the time on gaining this achievement.

I was also interested to find out if what we are all learning is something new or just a reiteration of what we already have learnt ourselves working in our respective industries.

Across the board we have all learnt something new to take away and while most of the courses are focused on the construction/technology industries we are able to see how the framework and structure of Project Management can be incorporated into the industry that we work in. I decided to study Project Management because I think that it is somewhat universal across multiple industries and at a time where we need to be versatile and multi-skilled it will bare well to have a qualification that will help us no matter what path we decide to go down in the future.

If anyone is currently studying or looking to study Project Management and want to chat there is a few of us who are happy to answer any questions that might help people on their own journeys.

Also by Alycia Stanley:

The Time After: Dealing With Post Show Blues

This Was Not My First Ramadan

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