Agile Project Management of Going to The Taylor Swift Concert – Part 1
Take the Pokey or Swiftie Survey
The lyrics in Taylor Swift’s song Mastermind, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail, Strategy sets the scene for the tale,” is a big tell she is at her core a Project Manager and part of the reason for her tremendous success. I also noticed, many “Swifties” are also innately good at Project Management – the “projects” they pull off in the spirit of being fans are remarkable. It makes sense why my children, now adults and professionals soaring in their own careers, took like fish to water with Project Management, after decades of being Taylor Swift fans. Her messaging is clear – you need to have a good plan and execute it to make it in the world. There is nothing at all wrong with that – it’s not being manipulative or Machiavellian. It’s being smart, proactive, and on target. No apologies are required.
To illustrate this observation of how being a Taylor Swift fan can help people in their careers, I’m doing a three-part series of using Agile Project Management to show how my adult children and I, planned and executed going to the Taylor Swift Concert in Las Vegas.
The Vision – My oldest daughter wanted to surprise my youngest daughter with tickets to the Taylor Swift Eras Concert for Christmas. Her friend had purchased ten tickets and was looking for other buyers, so I asked if I could join as it seemed like something that would be fun to do with them. (According to the Article “How to Build a Fan Base that Can Break Ticket Master”, the demographics spanned generations).
The User Stories
Both offspring also have Project Management certifications (one is PMI Agile Certified and the other is Project Management Professional certified, so we went at planning this experience with a level of Project Management rigor that may seem just a little off to other families – but may seem normal to most “Swifties”).
User Story 1 – Part of the fun of attending the concert is preparing our “look” for the event. I was told to be ready to do this!
User Story 2 – Since I was going and was recovering from an injury, the kids insisted we needed to stay at a hotel close to the stadium.
User Story 3 – We had to fit traveling there in with remote working requirements, as the progeny did not want to take any more time off work than absolutely required. (Wow talk about instilling a work ethic).
The Agile Release Plan – Iterations
We had several iterations to pull off this epic adventure:
Iteration 1- Accommodations and Reservations – The daughter who pulled off getting the tickets did the research for where we needed to stay. I covered their hotel room as their Christmas present from me. I had those tickets booked shortly after the oldest daughter got the tickets four months before the concert. I also had two restaurants I wanted to take them to while we were there and took care of getting those reservations well enough in advance so we could go when we wanted.
Iteration 2 – Individual event readiness – We decided we each got to prepare our “Swiftie” look in our own unique way. One daughter knitted a special Taylor Swift Cardigan (I had no idea this was even a “thing.”). The other wore this amazing leather mini-skirt and spent many hours at the gym to look super fabulous. I decided to take my hair off script from the standard “businesswoman” number five hairstyle and wear more fringe than I have since the 70’s. Plus we all got fun heart-shaped sunglasses.
Iteration 3 – Getting There – One flew in and the rest of us road-tripped there. Being a foodie and into my special teas – I had prepared a bunch of snacks and drinks. These did not survive long into the trip and we made a compulsory stop for Taco Bell road trip food (inside family joke). We left after work on Thursday for the six-hour drive and made haste to get there so the remote worker could be rested and refreshed enough to participate in their mandatory Friday all-hands staff meeting.
We’ll cover four more iterations– tomorrow – stay tuned……
Michelle LaBrosse, PMP, CCPM, RYT
Chief Cheetah, Cheetah Learning – www.cheetahlearning.com
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