(on Project Management & Plogs [Progress Logs])

I was the project manager (PM) for the client project during the third week of March, which also happened to be the same week as Learn What the Data School Learns, which is an all-day event where the cohort in training teaches Alteryx and Tableau to the public. What a week!

I had been putting together a Project Management checklist ever since the week we got the run-down on Consulting/Project Management, but didn’t realize I’d be needing it so soon! I felt a bit nervous (as I do about everything), but I also have prior experience running my own (small) department, so I had a good idea of where to start. I knew organization would be essential to help keep everyone on track, especially since half of us would be presenting for LWTDSL at the same time the other half would be working on the client project before switching off after lunch.

I first broke down the objectives for each of the client’s asks into smaller tasks before deciding who would work on which ask. Next, I paired DSNY3 with each of the asks, based on both the size of the ask and some of DSNY3’s requests, as they wanted to do something different from the previous client project the week before.

(I then had to do it again, as I later realized it would make more sense for each team to have one person working on the client project while the other person presented in the morning, and then have them switch off after lunch.)

Then I:

• Created a schedule for the week, adding in blocks for group check-ins, a bubble tea break, other breaks, meetings, LWTDSL, rehearsal time, and filling in the newly minted Progress Log (or Plog, as I prefer to say)
  
  I wanted to help DSNY3 prepare for the presentation earlier in the week, so I created a spreadsheet called the Progress Log and asked everyone to spend the last 10 minutes of Project Time every day documenting the progress they made, the questions they encountered, etc., so that they could use what they wrote in the Progress Log as the foundation for their parts in the presentation.
  
• Set up Google Drive folders for the data, dashboards, slide deck, etc.
  
• Uploaded branding guidelines docs and dashboard/slide deck templates to the appropriate folders
  
• Prepared some documents for taking notes during the kickoff and follow-up meetings, and listed some questions on the kickoff meeting notes docs that I felt we needed to know answers to before it ended
  
• Threw together a quick slide deck regarding file naming conventions, which files should be uploaded where, how to share .excalidraw files, etc., to serve as easy reference
  

The Week Itself:

The kickoff meeting took place on Monday morning. After the kickoff meeting, we started exploring the data, formulating the questions we wanted to answer, and brainstorming designs for the dashboard layouts right away. We had a lot of questions by the end of the day, and our stakeholders were great in this regard, clarifying our questions in a timely manner. I also reworked the schedule as we now had a better idea of what their asks entailed and did a bubble tea run for morale.

I collected and organized everyone’s questions for our follow-up meeting on Wednesday afternoon, and made significant progress in exploring and understanding the data. We also experimented with different prototypes for the dashboards, which were invaluable for helping us figure out what was and wasn’t working.

Thursday was hectic! We were presenting the content we’d prepared for our Learn What the Data School Learns sessions, so I checked in on everyone whenever I could. I’d arranged it so that each team comprised both morning and afternoon LWTDSL presenters, but I hadn’t realized just how hectic the day would be, as it was a bit difficult coordinating the teams while everyone was working on the project or rehearsing for their LWTDSL sessions (or presenting in the session itself).

On Friday, I set a deadline for 10 AM and had everyone read through their Progress Logs/come up with their presentation notes/scripts, a deadline for 10:30 AM to do individual rehearsals, and a hard deadline of 11 AM for our tech rehearsal. We had some issues setting up the tech for the tech rehearsal, but we got through it and were able to get in some rehearsal time. I also talked through the transitions between presenters and teams, gave feedback on a few individual presentations, and sent the others off to find other DSers to rehearse with.

The Presentation:

I was on high alert for a good half of the presentation, since we’d had some minor technical issues at the beginning (I was on the lookout for more), but as I listened to everyone talk about the work they’d done this week, I started to relax (a little). I felt that having the time to rehearse paid off; everyone spoke clearly and concisely, and I’d heard from some that practicing in front of other DSers had helped them prepare for questions the stakeholders could (and did) ask.

Final Thoughts:

It was a hectic, stressful week, juggling both a client project and LWTDSL, and it definitely put my organizing skills to the test. I’m still not great at handling stress, but I realized this week that I’m not alone—people would come and check on me regularly, and I didn’t really appreciate it in the moment as I’d been too busy checking in with DSNY3/preoccupied with keeping the project on track, but now that it’s over and I’ve had some time to process, I’m grateful and thankful for it.

Going into the week, I thought I would just be bringing in my past supervisor experience. However, as the week grew more stressful, it brought back memories of the old stress as well (i.e., I’d forgotten how I’d gotten all that organizing/supervising/etc. experience); I didn’t manage it well then, and having everyone around me here at the DS offering support made it easier this time around.

I’m also really proud of DSNY3. Everyone knew this week was going to be hectic and dove straight in. I worried a little bit that my plans/schedule/etc. would be a little too much, but everyone wanted to adopt my system/structure for future projects, which was a nice surprise! I also learned to trust my team (I’m very used to relying only on myself); even though the PM is in charge, I am not (and should not, and cannot, be) responsible for everything because it’s a group effort, and I definitely felt like 🎵 we were all in this together 🎵 this week.

I went into the week with a few goals in mind and think I did some things better than others:

• Bring in what my previous experience as supervisor of a small department wrt planning, organizing, and structuring tasks with many moving parts, and supporting my team…
  
  …while also being more flexible than I have been in the past
  
• Build in more time for rehearsing presentations (and also give feedback/suggestions for improving presentations)
  
• Keep morale up and stress levels low(er)

So, if I had to do this week all over again (fingers crossed that I don’t), here are some things I would have done differently:

• Reduce the scope after exploring the data, as LWTDSL was practically a whole client project all on its own.
  
• Have everyone upload to Tableau Server earlier. Because of the sheer amount of data (a few million rows—the most I’ve ever worked with!), finding out it would take a while to upload hours before the presentation was not a good feeling.
  
• I received feedback that the Progress Log could also be used to list the first three things one would like to do the next time we had Project Time, which I thought was a brilliant idea.
  
• I would’ve also thought through how the afternoon and morning LWTDSL presenters were going to communicate about the project more. Some components hadn’t been finalized yet when the afternoon LWTDSL presenters were working on the project in the morning, and I wasn’t there to provide direction because I was presenting at the time. I think they managed beautifully, but if I had to do this all over again, I’d definitely have made this part easier on them.
  
• While I would’ve still broken down tasks into smaller chunks, I would not have been so quick to put together the schedule before the kickoff call, as some of the tasks I’d put into the schedule were not relevant to the project (e.g., cleaning/prepping the data with Tableau Prep); reworking the schedule was annoying after the call due to having already merged some cells in the Google Sheet.
  
• I’d wanted to find DSNY volunteers on Wednesday/Thursday, for us to practice our presentations with on Friday morning, but we ended up being too pressed for time. I’d wanted to find volunteers early for two reasons: to 1) give our volunteer audiences advance notice and 2) hold us accountable for rehearsing with other people.
  
• I think I did a better job anticipating/accounting for different things happening for the team than for myself; it took me a while to recognize signs of stress in myself that weren’t my usual levels of nervousness, as I’d gotten so caught up in making sure that the team/project was on track that I’d forgotten to stop and breathe. If I had, I could’ve gotten a little more sleep that week!
  
• Related to the previous point, I would’ve also been kinder to myself. I don’t think I’m alone in this; everyone was pretty hard on themselves this week because of our two priorities, but we all did amazing, so please, BE ON YOUR OWN SIDE, TOO!!!