To do today

[feuervogel]

- Well, I *was* going to go outside and practice taiji jian, but it's raining, so that's out.

- I volunteered to be a/the project manager for Bull Spec, and Sam told me he's interested and gave me a long list of things he wants to get done for the magazine. I'd been thinking more along the lines of "making sure he gets the magazine out in due time and setting deadlines" and shit, but that works, too. I could do both. (I'm not the person who's going to do the tasks; I'm just going to make sure things happen in a timely fashion.)

So today, I'm going to sit down and sketch out some project plans, then email Sam back so we can get together with Melinda, who's been handling the advertising & stuff, and talk about things.

- Put laundry away.

- Have a celebratory beer for Hertha's 2-0 win over VFR Aalen this morning.

- Do some more research for the massive Berlin travel planning spreadsheet (which has grown and become more detailed since I posted it whenever that was). I really like planning things; this is why I should become a project manager. Clearly.

Also, project management is a very portable skill, and if I get the PMP certification (which requires 4500 hours/3 years FT experience if you have a college degree), it's apparently globally recognized.

And I just really like planning shit.

Comments

[alchemist]

PMP is an insanely valuable thing to have, and in organizations without a "real" PM, I go NUTS because noone knows WTF they are doing when it comes to project plans. Hell, I've considered getting a PMI cert just so I can do it RIGHT as well. And since I'm technical, I can understand some of the hurdles in planning tech shit.

Also? Project planning tools are your friend. MS Project, OmniPlan, etc. Use them, love them, keep them updated.

[feuervogel]

I'm getting that impression from the class I'm taking. I've applied for project coordinator positions (clinical trial coordinator), but no bites yet. Probably because Duke doesn't want non-Duke folks there. I'll keep searching, though.

The class I'm taking doesn't talk about software, and I've never done any formal PM, so thanks for the rec! Omniplan is expensive, so until I get some income, it'll be on my eventually list. (If I had an iPad, it'd be cheaper. But I don't have an iPad...) Google turns up some free ones, but man OmniPlan looks shiny.

[alchemist]

Pretty much any OmniGroup tool is good stuff. I've got omniplan on all my iOS and OSX devices. I've also got OmniFocus, which does task lists & GTD brilliantly.

[feuervogel]

Have you ever used any of these? http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2380448,00.asp

[alchemist]

Basecamp is too minimal for me but really functional, zoho is kind of cool, and I've not tried the rest. If it's for Bull Spec, I'd say try Basecamp first, because it does what it does and does it really well.

I'm a visual person, and like gantt charts and calendars when I'm planning things out. Maybe Gantt Project (http://www.ganttproject.biz/) would work for you for that....

[feuervogel]

Basecamp only lets you do one project for free, according to the site & review. I guess printing the magazine is one project, but it's recurring and slightly overlapping from issue to issue.

I'll try this Gantt one, since it's free! If I ever get another job, I'll get a new laptop & the shiny OmniPlan because shiny.

Er, it says it's cross-platform, but the download link only talks about XP and Vista. Um? Oh, nvm, the OSX download link was hiding off the front page. :P

[ranyart]

This sounds like a great idea for you! You can get your ZOMG LOVE TO PLAN energy out in a helpful and constructive way and it will be really great, when applying to paid PM jobs, to be able to give an example of fantastic work you did in a volunteer capacity.

[feuervogel]

I'd wanted to volunteer to PM for the con, but the chairs already had someone in mind. Who has no experience and doesn't, you know, need the experience for his career or anything. :/ And when I said I'd wanted to do that (and I'd also volunteered to chair programming), I was ignored. *grump*

[art-ungulate.livejournal.com]

Yay for Bull Spec project manager!!

[feuervogel]

Lord knows Sam needs help ;) We just need to find time to sit down and talk about things (me, him, and Melinda). Somewhere in our busy schedules...

[lynchi.livejournal.com]

YEAH HERTHA WIN :)))

But let's move on to the rest of the post: project management does sound interesting. I thought about that as well, but my self confidence isn't that up to the level it should be for a job like that, so therefore I decided against it. Is it something you could really do? I'm unsure due to the "Which requires 4500 hours" part in your post.

Berlin plans: Awesome! Have you set yourself a date for it yet, or is just planning so far for the time you happen to come over?!

[feuervogel]

I'm taking a class at the community college (which is about equivalent to a VHS), in which we go over the standards for project management. A lot of it is ... pretty obvious, really, but there's a standard for the best way to do it. Which, OK, whatever.

4500 hours of experience is a lot, but that's just to take an exam. You don't *need* the exam necessarily to work. I pulled out my calculator, and it's just over 2 years of full time work (40-hr weeks). But I'm currently doing it part time, so unless I get one of the clinical trial coordinator jobs I applied for, it'll take me a bit longer than that to get enough hours to take the exam. (I'm tracking my hours spent working on the convention, and once I've talked to Sam, I'll start tracking hours spent organizing his magazine projects.)

We have a lot fewer Ausbildung requirements here than over there, though sometimes it can be hard getting your foot in the door in certain places. If I build enough experience doing random unpaid things, maybe someone will realize I can do it for real.

Berlin: we're not exactly sure on a date yet! The original proposal had been to take a family trip over at Christmas, when his parents like doing things as a family, but Ben thought it would be nice to go sometime when it isn't freezing, cloudy, rainy/foggy, and gets dark at 4 pm. So he proposed summer as an alternative. I put a bunch of things together, he emailed his mom, and she'll get back to us when she's finished the grant she's working on at the moment. (Don't know when that'll be.) I expect we'll talk about it in detail when we're all together at Thanksgiving (late November), but probably not firm up dates yet. Maybe which season and what year...

Have you seen my ridiculously obsessive spreadsheet? Are there any sights you think I'm missing (as a resident)?

Ideally, I'd like to go out a day or two ahead of them so I can meet all my internet friends who live there, since I figure there won't be enough time while I'm dragging the in-laws around and they wouldn't be interested in, say, hanging out at a cafe for a few hours, then moving to a different cafe/pub for a few hours and meeting a bunch of random Germans.

I'd also ideally get one of my old phones unlocked & pick up a German pre-paid SIM and use that to SMS people where I am. And call ahead for dinner reservations if necessary, etc. There's a guy who has put together a convenient table of what carriers' rates are and where to buy SIM cards to get the best deal. Useful!