Thanks to Covid (1 star out of 5 – do not recommend) I binge watched the first season of the Netflix Dynasty reboot (and even that was exhausting so I had to take naps every couple of episodes, like I said, don’t recommend Covid at all). As I prepare to go back to the office, let’s see what my brief break has taught me about project management (and I’ve attempted to keep this as spoiler free as possible).
What I learned about project Management from Fallon Carrington
Project management isn’t about managing projects at all. It’s about managing relationships and through other people, projects get delivered. An understanding of what motivates stakeholders and how their needs might be met through working together and being able to share that clearly is key to a project’s success. Now, to be completely clear, I’m not advocating for bribery or any other (NSFW) method Fallon might employ to get her way on a project. Out here in the real world, stakeholders are motivated by a lot more than just personal wealth or power (or sexy times). So both in reality and in Dynasty, really understanding stakeholders, being invested in positive outcomes for them and being honest about how working together will help all parties achieve their desired outcomes can only be a good thing.
What Crystal Carrington has to teach us about project management
Without a project team, anything bigger than a trivial project is going nowhere. Thankfully for Crystal (because, if we are being completely honest, for a COO of a multi national billion dollar firm, Crystal is a bit, well, hopeless) she has a team of people around her that can support her when her decisions are questionable (I’m doing my best to be charitable but I’m really #TeamFallon over here). Whilst the project manager is responsible for the day to day decisions on a project, it’s important that the whole project team understands the limits of their roles and responsibilities and knows when to escalate when projects exceed their tolerances.
What I’ve learned about project management from Sam Jones
Benefits realisation is the end goal of all projects. We are doing this difficult change (it must be difficult otherwise it wouldn’t need a project manager, we could just snap our fingers, make the change and get on with our lives) for a reason; the expectation that life will be improved for our customers, service users and or staff. (Or no spoilers but, If you’re Sam, you expect that life will improve for Sam…)
Lessons on project management from Blake Carrington
The executive is key to project success. They have to understand what you’re doing and believe that the project continues to serve the ultimate aim of the business or organisation. If you’re off merrily doing your own thing (yes Crystal, I am talking to you) the executive has every right to wonder what on earth you are doing. Or cancel the project altogether.
What Joseph Anders can teach us about project management
We love Anders, mostly because he looks a lot like Jim from Neighbours but we are a long way away from Erinsborough here….
The project must deliver to quality. Now maybe *your* project doesn’t need fruit to be perfectly gold leaf-ed from every angle (just watch the show) but there should be agreed quality standards and the project outputs should meet these. And checking these standards is the job of the project manager. And not to be an awkward sod putting barriers in place. The project is meant to deliver a change for the stakeholders, the way the project delivers the change is through delivering outputs which then realise the benefits further down the line. Holding the team to the agreed quality standards is the best way to serve the generations of Carringtons / stakeholders yet to come.
