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