As Ben Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” This is a sentiment I’m sure many project managers live by. A project manager is the person responsible for planning and overseeing projects within an organization/team. This is an incredibly important task because without guidelines projects can easily get derailed. This is especially true within the graphic design field. Most would assume that deadlines and guidelines interfere with creativity. Although it can be hard to create your best work with a time limit, when working for clients it is integral to have those planning steps well outlined. Design tends to be a collaborative field. The team could consist of multiple designers as well as employees with different disciplines like marketing, computer science, public relations, etc. If the project has to pass through many people, having the timeline planned out in advance makes for an easy transition of content. Plus, it allows time for critiques and revisions so you are presenting the client with the best possible work. Overall, design teams would fall apart without the structure that project managers provide.
There are a few different ways that project managers may organize their team’s tasks and content. Some of the most common are design thinking, waterfall, agile, and kanban management systems. Design thinking is a common planning strategy that many designers use when creating a project. It contains steps like empathizing, ideating, defining, prototyping, and testing. Instead of being a straight set of steps, this management system is a nonlinear process; each step could lead to a different stage being activated. The waterfall system is the more linear option. Each step will lead you into the next stage. The agile process management system is more of a cycle of steps, showing that design projects are rarely completely done. There also is a hybrid system that combines the waterfall and agile systems. The final option is the kanban system. In this task lists are broken down into three different areas: “to do,” “doing,” and “done.” This is most often used for day-to-day tasks and organization. Any of these can be used and therefore it is up to the individual to decide which is best for them.
Project managers tend to use online systems to help them with their planning. Common free platforms include Asana, Trello, and Podio. This past week, I decided to spend time on Trello to create my own plan and schedule for this graduate class. I’ve used Trello in the past but it was already set up for me. It is used by Quinnipiac’s student government association and it is set up using the kanban system. The deliverables were initiatives and they were organized by “working on,” “on hold,” “completed,” and just “brainstorm.” When I had to make the Trello myself, I was surprised how difficult I found it to start. I was unsure how I wanted to set up my plan because I had multiple factors such as modules that I wanted to keep in mind. In the end, I made each card a different module and wrote out my different tasks. In some of the tasks, I added checklists if they were more complex. I also added color-coded tags that represent “to do,” “working on,” and “done.”
I found this activity interesting because I am always open to new ways of managing my time and projects. I am constantly changing the way I keep myself organized. There are different weeks when various methods work best for me. Last year, I kept track of my schedule using a planner. I still use a planner today, but I am also taking advantage of my computer calendar application. I think this is something I’m using more now because it syncs between my phone and computer so I can constantly check my schedule. I will also write in a bullet journal when I have time. If I’m caught up, I will write down every part of my day so I can get a sense of how much time I have for homework and self-care. In terms of individual tasks, I tend to use to-do lists. Last year I liked writing them down on a whiteboard so I could physically erase tasks when they were finished. This year, I have been using the reminders application to keep track of my required activities. This doesn’t give me the same satisfaction but, again, the syncing capabilities are beneficial. I’m not sure if I’ll transfer over to Trello, but it’s nice to have the account set up. Plus I think creating my first project management system is the hardest. Hopefully, in the future, I won’t overthink the beginning.