Welcome

- Hi my name's Rich Harrington, and welcome to this class on project management. We're going to be taking a look at project management from a creative's point of view. Now, the examples I'm going to use today are particularly well suited for both video and photography professionals. However, if you're performing or managing any type of creative work, you'll probably find this course helpful. I'd like to give you a little bit of perspective on how we're going to do this, by taking a look at things today. First off, let's start by giving you a little bit of my background. I've held a lot of different jobs in the creative industry.

I've worked as a reporter, a director for television, a graphic artist, a video editor, a magazine editor, a producer, a publisher, And I've also served as a production manager, a writer, a blogger, and a podcaster. While these jobs were very diverse, the one job that I didn't list was project manager. However, what you'll probably realize is that all of these jobs actually have something in common. They're all about telling stories. And if you're a photographer or a video pro or even a graphic designer, that's probably your ultimate goal.

To either capture a story or a message, or to create something that's compelling and engaging to others. And while you might serve as a communications consultant, helping people to understand how everything comes together, or perhaps an entertainer, or a documentary film maker, capturing a story and sharing it, or preserving it for future generations, they still all come together, and they're all about managing the message, and the process. Now ultimately these things are about capturing stories and educating or informing people.

However, they do have some other things in common. I've had to manage people, manage resources and assets, and I've also had to serve as the team leader. What I want you to realize, is that while you might think of yourself as a creative, you probably have had to manage projects in the past. And that's okay. It's important that you understand the essential skills necessary, in order to pull off a proper project. And understand what's important here. That you have resources, that there are constraints that you're going to have to function under. There's a budget you're going to have to work with, and ultimately, profit.

And remember, along the way, hopefully the work is enjoyable. And you've balanced out the deadlines with the schedule. I'm going to share with you some core principals that I've learned as a project manager, so hopefully it can make your projects run more smoothly. Now let me briefly complete my biography. Through the years, I've authored multiple books on the creative arts. Most of these have been on topics of interest to video and photography professionals. I've also authored many video courses to try to pass on my knowledge to my peers.

I routinely publish two websites, which requires me to manage multiple contributors. In the past, I've been an adjunct faculty member at University. As well as a speaker for conferences for both the video and photo industries. I enjoy photography immensely, and occasionally provide services to our clients on this front, but I'm involved in the day-to-day operations of three creative businesses. My visual communications company, Rhed Pixel, has helped other organizations inform and educate by creating commercials, fund raising videos, and educational projects.

I'm co-owner of a video production facility located in the Washington, DC area, called Media Factory, and I'm also a partner in a technology startup called Piqsure, that's trying to change the way that photos are delivered on the internet. While I studied journalism and history as an undergraduate, and worked in broadcast news and traditional protography and video production for many years, I did force myself to go back to school and become certified as a Project Management Professional. I hold both a degree in project management and am certified as a Project Management Professional by the Project Management Institute.

Now, I don't want to bore you with a lot of details or really theoretical processes today. Instead we're going to focus on practical tools. Simple things you can use to get the job done. However, everything I share with you today, is rooted in traditional project management practices. So, think of this as the project management essentials course for creative people, who probably don't enjoy project management, and would rather be doing the act of creating content. But before we begin, I'd also like to invite you to connect on linkedIn.

This will give us a chance to continue the conversation for the topics raised during this course. Okay, let's jump in.