Project Management for Artisans
Taught at King's College 2017
Introduction
Welcome to Project Management for Artisans. My name is Honorable Lady Simona della Luna. I’m from Bryn Gwlad. I’ve worked as an artisan in various capacities for several years, but I frequently found that I struggled with time management and scope creep on my projects. It was common for me to find myself scrambling to complete an outfit, in the wee hours of the morning that I needed to wear it. Time after time, I thought “If only I had another week to work on this! Then I could really bring something to be proud of!” Sometimes, when I worked on paid or bartered commissions for others, I ended up running myself ragged and badly underestimating the budget needed. The result was that I would feel resentful of the project and burned out, even when I loved the people I was working for. I had tried a couple of times to get better at my organization, but I really never made any headway with it, and whenever I tried to learn about project management, I quickly got scared away by buzzwords and proprietary software and systems that seemed like far too much trouble to bother with.
This past winter, I was fortunate enough to work at the costume shop for the theater department of St. Edward’s University in Austin. In addition to being a great group of people to work with, they have a very organized system, and they keep everyone on board simply and effectively. This class was inspired by their methods.
Why bother?
Plan your day with an eye to your tendency to procrastinate, and put in safeguards to keep it to a minimum. - John Perry Barlow
- Manage your time and resources more effectively - no more 3am sewing sessions or running out of a required ingredient at the last minute.
- End up with an item that truly shows your skills - no more “if I only had another week to work on it”
- Prevent burn out - this game isn’t fun if you’re always killing yourself to make a deadline. Plan ahead and manage things so you stay sane.
What is project management, anyway?
A project is a temporary, specific effort, with a beginning and an end. This is different from operations, which are the things you intend to do continuously - a bakery making bread.
There are many ways of organizing a project, and everyone will eventually develop their own personal style, but to stay within time we’re going to cover three main types of project management: Waterfall, Critical Path, and Kanban. These terms, as well as a lot of references for later reading, are on your handout. I’m going to run through what these are, and how to use them, and save some time for questions toward the end.
Choosing Your Tool
It's like opening up your silverware drawer and choosing what tool to use - it all depends on what job you're trying to accomplish. There are plenty of articles that talk about how "project management system X" is the only way you should ever bother to do things. But:
- Often those are written by someone trying to sell a product that runs that system
- Typically they're talking about function within a very narrowly defined world - code development, or large-scale manufacturing, rather than training someone to be able to adapt to a wide variety of different situations.
- Different situations need different tools. I don't want to cut my steak with a spoon, nor eat yogurt with a knife. Consider the type of project you’re doing, and pick the management style that will be best suited to that particular project.
For all the various project management systems, you can build in accountability for your self by including dates for progress goals along the way, and by sharing your plans with a mentor or friend.
Waterfall
`Begin at the beginning,' the King said gravely, `and go on till you come to the end: then stop.’ - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
The simplest method, in Waterfall you list out all the tasks that need to happen, in order. You complete part A before moving on to part B. You add up the time required for all the various parts of the project, and that’s your total for how long it will take to complete it. If you know your deadline - for example, the event you want to bring a scroll to - then you count backwards to know what your starting date will need to be. This method works best if you know how long the various parts of the project will take. If you don’t know, you may be able to estimate based on previous projects or practice work. This is where keeping good records will really help. If you know that you’ll need 5 hours of work to do the illumination on a late-period scroll with vinework, but you’re working with a new style of calligraphy that you’re not sure of, budget in extra time. And remember that the SCA is a hobby - you’re doing this work mixed in with a lot of other demands on your time, so be realistic about how much real work time you’re going to have in any given week. Check the calendar while you’re planning to make sure you’re not surprised by holidays, major events, or real-world obligations that will reduce the amount of time you have available. Keep records of the time and resources needed while you work on various parts of your projects to help improve future planning accuracy.
One major flaw of this style is that it can be disrupted when things change. If your toddler turns your nearly-completed scroll into a coloring page, you’ll have a scramble to recover. Budget in extra time at the end whenever possible. Ideally, every single thing that won’t spoil (i.e., fresh food) will be completely ready to go, documented as needed, and packed for transport by Wednesday before a weekend event. This gives you time to de-stress and catch your breath before the bustle of the event.
<Visual aid: example of a Waterfall, walk through the various parts>
Critical Path
“If there is possibility of the ability, I will choose flexibility.” - Deyth Banger
This method is particularly useful if you have more than one person available to work on the project, or if you want to be able to shift when you work on some parts of the project.
Start with the earliest task, then determine which tasks can't start until that one is completed. The longest of these tasks is the next task in the critical path. Figure out what tasks depend on completion of that second task and the longest of them then becomes the third step in the critical path. Continue this until you reach the end of the project. - The Balance (https://www.thebalance.com/critical-path-project-management-cpm-2276128)
Just because something isn’t on the critical path doesn’t mean it’s not important - it just means that you have a little bit more flexibility in when you work on it. If I’m making a doublet, I may be able to delay when I decide on what buttons to use. But eventually that decision needs to be made. If there are delays in tasks that weren’t on the critical path originally, they may become part of the critical path, and they may delay the whole project.
The Gantt chart is the usual way that these various time requirements are tracked. Henry Gantt developed this method in the 1910s, and it can be drawn out by hand, though there are now lots of computer programs that will track the chart for you.
<Visual aid: example of a Gantt chart, walk through the various parts>
Kanban
Lists are how I parse and manage the world. - Adam Savage
The word “kanban” is Japanese for “note card”, and many people who use this method use a literal stack of notecards or sticky notes. This method is most useful if you have many separate tasks that all need to get done, but you’ve got some flexibility in the exact order. It’s particularly helpful if you’re trying to make sure that tasks make it all the way to completion, rather than stalling out and getting forgotten in the rush. It’s also good for coordinating work by contributors of varying skill levels, since they can choose tasks according to their own ability. The costume shop I worked in used a type of Kanban to organize their work. Inspired by their example, I made my own version of a to-do list styled after Kanban principles. This list helped me have my least-stressful Gulf War prep ever. I got everything done on time, without last-minute panic. And I got to the event without forgetting anything!
<Visual aid: example of a Kanban poster board with post-it notes, walk through the various parts>
<Visual aid: example of my Gulf War to-do list, walk through the various parts>
Triage
Triage: The process of sorting people based on their need for immediate medical treatment as compared to their chance of benefiting from such care. - medicine.net
Ok, you’ve got a great plan setting out. But something goes wrong along the way. Don’t panic - remember the old saying that no plan survives contact with reality. All that planning you did at the beginning helped you to define your project well enough that you will know which parts are critical, and which parts can be completed later or left off entirely. If possible, try to arrange large projects so that they have “acceptable failure” states - a gown might be wearable even if the sleeves are not yet complete, a feast may still be great even if there’s one less choice of desert. Do not set yourself on fire to keep other people warm. Your sanity is a precious resource. If you are working on a time-sensitive project that involves other people, keep communicating, and let them know if you’re drowning. They may be able to help you complete the project on time. Or, they may need to put contingency plans in place to accommodate the absence of whatever you were working on. The worst thing you can do is to go silent and then surprise them with an incomplete or absent project.
Review
This is really more of an Operations thing rather than Project Management, but it’s still really important. After the project is complete, make a point to schedule time for review and reflection. Gather and organize your notes on time, resource use, and suppliers for future projects. Reflect on how well the project went, and how well you feel the project management process went. Make notes about what you would do next time, written as if you are giving instructions to a friend - if you do a similar project in the future, enough time may have elapsed for you to forget details. Re-set your workspace to prepare it for the next project. If you have materials left over, find a proper home for them. Clean off your whiteboard. Check tools and regular supply levels for any needed upkeep - sharpen your scissors, or knives and re-stock paints. If you were making a physical object, don’t forget to take photos! Some people like to write up a short post for FaceBook or their personal blog.
Suggestions for further learning
Good overview to project management in general
Free online intro class
Articles about project management, lots of info
Microsoft Project
How my mother plans for Thanksgiving dinner
This Gantt chart is my favorite non-technical demonstration for what the tool does.
All about Kanban
My personal Gulf War preparation list, written out as a variation of a kanban bulletin board.
This handout is from Friday, June 9, 2017. The most current version of this handout is here:
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
You should read all the specifics on the website, but the quick version is that you can use this document, or part of it, as long as you say where you got it (text author is Simona della Luna m.k.a. Star Maddox), and as long as you let other people use the thing you make with this work (“share alike”). So if you want to use this handout for your class, please do! It’s not required, but if you find this handout useful or have suggestions, I’d like to know. Email me at Star.Maddox@gmail.com.
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