Agile Project Management of Going to the Taylor Swift Concert – Part 3

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The Agile Retrospective

When I was a kid, for five years, my friends and I threw an annual Halloween party. While I don’t remember all the details of every one of those parties, I do remember, it was the day after clean up when we had fun sharing memories of the party and ideas about what we’d do differently for next year’s party.

We naturally did this with no prompting from the adults in our lives so I’m inclined to believe post-event retrospection is the natural flow of life. Plus it’s a good way to share lessons learned and to create even better experiences the “next time.”

We also naturally planned in time to do our own “retrospective” as I had made reservations for breakfast at my favorite place on the strip for Sunday morning before we each had to go our own separate ways. Like all retrospectives, we looked at what went we enjoyed most and shared what we were going to do differently going forward from the whole experience.

What Went Well

The Concert – At breakfast, we shared some of our best pictures of the actual concert. The kids were still teasing me about the drunk guy who wanted to dance with me (which was very funny). What was more interesting – he was the only drunk guy we ran into. While we are not into overindulging – drinking, drugging, etc – it seemed we were the norm for most of the folks at the concert. This was nice as we don’t enjoy being around people who are out of control. One drunk guy in a group of people who are not into that is easily reined in by everyone else. But being the sober and responsible one around a bunch of out-of-control people is no fun and we each prefer to avoid those situations.

The Connection – As the kids grew up and flew the nest, we stopped sharing our daily drive to school where part of the experience was the music on the radio. We had songs we loved we’d all sing along with (often at the top of our lungs). We moved to a small Alaskan town when they were in high school and used to laugh that we couldn’t argue about the radio station anymore on the way to school as there was only one radio station in town. It was fun to reconnect with them around Taylor Swift who we had each gravitated to on our own since she emerged in her stardom as the kids were graduating high school. They were surprised that I was so into her too when I expressed interest in going to her concert – especially since it’s pretty well known I’m not all that into going to large events. (The risk manager in me sees all the potential for problems).

The Planning – My oldest daughter has been taking on increasing positions of leadership in her profession (and in the family). It was really nice to have such a competent person at the helm so I got to relax and enjoy myself. My youngest daughter and I both realized this pretty early on and said, “we’re just doing what she is suggesting as she’s done all the research.” I also very much appreciated her communication of what was happening far in advance so I could be prepared – like leaving for a concert starting at 8 PM at 2:30 in the afternoon.

The Hotel and Restaurants – Making reservations so far in advance we were able to get the hotel we wanted and to get reservations at my two favorite restaurants in Vegas. We all realized how rare this was to get to do this so it made sense for me to help make the experience the once-in-a-lifetime event that it was.

What We Could Improve On in the Future 

VIP Authenticity – Granted since we don’t do all that many big concerts, and we were getting tickets from someone who had already purchased them, we didn’t have a choice in the VIP experience. But it’s not something I would pay for again, had I the option. To me, a real VIP experience is box seats with catering – not a cheap folding chair 2/3 the size of a regular stadium seat, being forced to show up 4 plus hours before the event starts, having to wait in a small space with hundreds of others just for the benefit of getting to our seat hours before the event starts. I will be better at researching actual VIP options in the future as depending on the VIP experience, I may (or may not) be willing to pay for it.

Veteran Benefits – We had breakfast reservations at another property on the strip and since we were all leaving from breakfast we checked out of our hotel and drove to the restaurant doing valet parking. On my car, one of the kids got me a license plate cover about being a Women Air Force Veteran. The valet attendant informed us that we could valet park for free given I was a veteran, but we’d have to be registered with the Caesars Palace Veterans program to do so. Having left the Air Force decades ago, it just doesn’t occur to me to look into this (except I am registered with Lowes and Home Depot as it gives me 10% off).

Expanding Creativity in All Its Forms – One of the things I loved learning more about Taylor Swift was how much she unleashed her creativity during our  Covid lockdown. While I enjoy her music, on the fandom scale, I am a serendipitous fan as her songs would resonate with me at different times in my life –  they would magically appear to uplift me just when I needed them. I didn’t seek them out or follow her like a true “Swiftie.” The collective malaise about the Covid lockdown was not my experience, since like Taylor, I took the time sequestered in solitude to write two new books – one with a colleague and one on my own. Seeing how she used the Covid lockdown to drive her own creativity and then how she busted out in such a grand way is inspiring me to do the same in my own way in my world. Going to her concert energizes me to play to the biggest version of who I can be in my own unique creative pursuits.

Michelle LaBrosse, PMP, CCPM, RYT

Chief Cheetah, www.cheetahlearning.com

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