PM Flashcards
What are you looking for in your next job?
I am personally looking for a job position that challenges me. I want to be able to grab my skills and take them to the next level. I am looking for a workplace that challenges me, in order to grow not only professionally but also personally by expanding my interpersonal and professional skills. I do not mind learning new process and skills.
That being said, on my previous job positions I have been able to work on different kind of teams, between coorporate and creative teams. And even though I did enjoy both, I felt more aligned to the creative workspace. So being surrounded by creative minded people would be something I am looking for.
And most importantly, I want to be part of a workspace I can grow along with, with this i mean, being able to look back 5 years from now and being able to say ‘wow,look how i have grown but how has this company/festival grown’
Tell me about a time your scope was increased. How did you handle the increase in workload?
SITUATION
There was this time when I was working as an event coordinator, and it was Christmas season, which is peak season. And I was overseeing over 5 different events and projects. And I had my colleague, who was also overseeing other independent projects. And halfway through the peak season, he had to be rushed to the hospital and was on a leave for about two weeks. So I had to overlook his projects plus my own.
TASKS
So I had to overlook his projects plus my own.
ACTION
We both had our own team of people. So the first thing I did was gather my team and his own, like get a whole team together. I wanted to get informed on the status of each project and let everyone know how would we proceed.
I used time and project management skills for the procedure.
Once I knew status from each project, i created a calendar with due dates and deadlines.
Next i categorized each project by priorities and urgency. Once i had that I divided the team in sub teams, each team was given a project. I tried to assign each project based on the team’s expertise and key strengths.
Once each project was delegated, I met with each team individually and together we dissected each tasks and divided each task by priorities and urgency.
That allowed me to be aware which projects required more hands, time and overlooking.
RESULTS
It took a lot of planning, time, hard work, and effort, but we were able to complete each project in a timely manner.
Tell me about a time you made a mistake. How did you communicate that mistake.
When I first started my first job position, my manager asked me to do a project report and presentation for the client and the executives. When I started my career, I was very insecure, and I felt like saying yes to every task would validate my skills. And I didn’t like to ask questions because I felt like it was a weakness. That being said, when the manager asked me to do the report, I had no clue how to do it, much the less I had no idea the company had a very specific way of creating and presenting reports. So I went ahead and did it without asking for help. And when the day came to my present my report, it was a fiasco, it wasn’t under the company’s guidelines and it wasn’t what the client was expecting. Luckily, my manager intervene and the meeting ran smoothly.
After the meeting I went into my manager’s office and I asked for forgiveness and I came truthfully to him, and explained the reasons why I didn’t ask for help.
Ever since then, I learned a very valuable lesson about, no question is foolish, raising my hand whenever I have no clue what to do or how to start a task, and most importantly, about having a clear communication between co workers and knowing when to ask for help and acknowledging my limits. Beng able to say I have no clue how to do it, but if you give me 5 minutes of your time to explain me, we can move on.
What are your career goals for the next 5 years?
One of the main reasons I want to work for SXSW is because what it stands for, helping creative achieve their goals through innovation, creative thinking, feeding the curious minds and more.
That being said, I look forward to the opportunity to work not only with you but with other creative mentors and immersive myself in learning new skills.
So over the next 5 years, I genuinely see myself taking various complex assignments that the position of innovation project manager allows me to.
And by the end of that period, I want to be able look back and be able to recognize how much not only I have grown but also the festival has grown and we both have expanded into new creative areas.
Why would you be a good fit for this role?
The skills and qualifications I possess are a great match for the requirements for this position. In particular, my organizational skills. Over my years of experience I have been able to polish my organizational skills and processes and know what really works best for me and what doesn’t. In my previous job, I oversaw a team of 10 employees and created a new organization process that increased productivity by 15% over the course of two months. I’m confident that I can bring this type of success to this position.
Throught my career I have been able to oversee different projects for different kinds of industries, events (corporate to small to large events), innovation projects involving software development, and digital marketing projects. Being able to oversee so many different events has allowed me to not only increase my skills but has allowed me to make room for flexibility and being able to pivot. This experience will also allow me to bring new fresh ideas into the table.
My hands on experience with events make me a valuable team member. The main goal of an event manager is to give event attendees the best experience ever. That being said, I am confident that this department has the same goal to give a unique and wonderful experience to their users. And as I have worked behind. multiple events before, I understand exactly how they run and their needs for them to be successful. And I am confident I can transition this knowledge to the innovation department.
I am an experience seeker. The best way to stay relevant is by being outthere and trying new things.
Innovation for a massive global event, being able to transfer my event knowledge to
and hand’s on experience within event production makes me a great candidate for the job. In my previous job, I oversaw a team of 10 employees and created a new organization process that increased productivity by 15% over the course of two months. I’m confident that I can bring this type of success to this position.
Outline projects via requirements gathering and documentation.
Actively prioritize requirements and manage to delivery timelines.
Responsible for managing multiple vendors and business partners to deliver work on schedule and within agreed upon scope.
Review work and all project key decisions to ensure company objectives are met and execution of program/project budgets and schedules for each approved initiative.
Work independently to track project interdependencies, milestones, and deliverables to ensure successful implementation and deployment.
Communicate progress through weekly status reports to VP, Innovation.
Act as liaison between stakeholders and vendor technical teams.
Assist with daily tasks within any of the areas under the Innovation team.
On Site Responsibilities
Plan, produce and coordinate vendors for onsite projects
Monitor and support Innovation projects
Work shifts for and support other departments onsite as necessary
1+ years of technical project manager experience, across key project stages, from concept to delivery.
Bachelor’s degree in a relevant field or a minimum of three (3) years of experience in a similar position or a combination of relevant education and work experience
Highly motivated, independent individual
Proficiency with common business and communication software (Microsoft Office Suite) and apps (Google Docs/Sheets/Slides), Filemaker
Ability to drive cross functional collaboration across a large group, problem solving, decision making
Ability to work and communicate well under pressure internally and externally
Tell me about a time you performed a feasibility analysis. What tools did you use?
There was once I was hired as a freelance event project manager. The client was looking into creating his own conference, by bringing in different speakers. I was hired to help the client to perform a feasibility analysis and then execute event.
I used a few tools:
- For market research: Think with Google and Surveymonkey ( surveys)
- Projected Income/Budget: Spreadsheets
-Risk Assessment reports
-Gantt Chart to understanding timing - SWOT analysis
-Inventory: to make sure we have the skills, tools, assets to execute project.
How do you keep track of information and tasks when working on a project?
First, I like to break down the project into phases. Ex. Ideation, implementation, delivery, etc. By creating a database for each project.
Then I like specify general information such as objectives, time, parties involved, budget etc.
Gantt chart to have a visual representation of schedule, to keep track of time and deadlines
Once I have this, I like dissect every phase of the project with the team involved, this includes specifying roles, priorities, deadlines, deliverables, etc.
I divide tasks per week, I normally work this on kanban boards and project management tools such as Asana, or Trello and I keep track of all the tasks within the project also through a spreadsheet or filemaker (when it applies).
I have weekly status meetings with the team involved, checking in on tasks, reporting status and communicating the follow ups and more.
With every meeting, I do my best to send an agenda out at least 24 hours in advance and notes sent out no later than 24 hours after the meeting. So we are able to keep meeting short, and straight forward.
I also like to make space for flexibility, specially working with creative teams, I understand that there has to be room for unforseen ideas, implentations and flexible deadlines when applicable
how do you close out a project when do you know you are done
1) Go through your project plan to identify all deliverables and make sure they have been fully completed and handed off.
2) Each person involved needs to agree on the project’s completion before I can formally close it out and move on. Stakeholders, executives, clients, mananger, anyone that is involved. I like to document this step so I have proof that the project close was formally signed off.
3) Review all the project documentation to ensure all parties have been paid for the work and there are no outstanding invoices.
4) Formally release resources from the project, including suppliers, contractors, team members, and any other partners. Notify them of the end of the project, confirm any final payments or obligations, and officially release them so they are free to work on other projects.
5) Post event/project evaluation: review outcomes/objectives, review challanges, failures, analyze surveys, reviews, how can we improve. Communicating results to corresponding parties.
6) Archive documentation, making sure this is accessible to everyone
7) Celebrate
tell me about a time when you delivered results despite a challenging environment or context. what was the situation, what was your goal and what were the results?
There was this time in my previous job, were I has overlooking a corporate conference. The client had requested a catering service from a specific business we have never worked with. The goal of this event was to introduce stakeholders to a new wellness product, so the whole event gravitaded around the catering and food service.
When we were setting up, the catering service arrived and their product was so tiny it wouldn’t achieve the goal we were aiming for with the catering service. And they refused to bring more items because their product required a lot of preparation time. So, since catering was very important for this event and client, we couldn’t just ignore this. So my solution was to call a contact I had with a close by hotel and ask for special catering. We had two hours for the hotel to come in and bring their food. Luckily, they were able move quickly and their catering came in right before the client and event started.
At the end, the event success was high and I communicated the challenge to the client and she understood and she was very grateful for the fact that we acted quickly and solved the problem very creatively and smoothly.
Tell me about a time you had to deal with a challenging/difficult client?
There was this time we were producing a conference for a specific client on a hotel. Before the event we had gone through venue scouting with the client and she said she was very happy with the rooms we had offered.
A day before the conference, as we were setting up, she came in and she said that she had just seen another hotel room that she liked even more, and if it would be possible to swap rooms, as we were already setting up.
I first understood where she was coming from and understood here needs.
Then I talked to our venue manager and asked her if the other room was available, which it was.
I analyzed what it meant for us to move everything to another room, plus having re coordinate all vendors and suppliers that were meant to come in and set up in just a few hours.
So I talked to the client and comminicated with her that the room she liked was available, but I also pointed out the pros and cons about swapping hotel rooms. When I mentioned that the attendees invitations said the name of the current room, it would probably cause confusion and irritation on he guests.
She agreed with me and said it would be best to just keep the room we already had.
Clear Communication is the key when dealing with difficult clients.
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
I consider my leadership and organizational skills as my strengths.
Organizatinal skills: Over my 3 years of experience as a PM I have been able to polish my skills and know which tools works best and which ones do not work for me. Most importantly, being able to create organizational processes that works best for the team adapts best to team and their needs. Being able to execute the project successfully but trying to make the process as lightweight as possible.
- Adaptability: I am up to new challenges, I am not scared of technology and I am always ready to pivot when necessary. If I don’t know something I am able to recognize my knowledge limits and be able to raise my hand and ask for help when necessary, and always up to learn new skills.
-Experience seeker: The best way to keep up to date with the industry is by going out there and trying new things.
- tell about merging teams and overseeing different projects at once.
I can be quite critical of myself, especially when things don’t come out as expected. which can lead to negative self-talk and eventual burnout. I’ve found that I can avoid this by recording my goals, objectives, and key results and setting aside time to celebrate milestones and achievements, big and small. This not only helps me focus on how I’m benefiting the team, but it also has also helped me get better at prioritizing my most impactful tasks.
What live music have you seen recently?
Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival - Manchester, TN: Gryffin
SXSW 2022
Favorite thing about SXSW 2022
The excitement of not knowing what to expect aside from the fact that most probably, it will be something great. The excitement To discover the next big thing.
New music find: Le Pain - Is that how you want me to feel?
Conference Talk: Impact of “Instagram Syndrome” on Entrepreneurs’ Mental Health and Challenges about space colonization
Wellness conference
Film: Everything Everywhere All at Once
What would you line SXSW to innovate ?
Foodie at heart and I think there is so much more space to talk about and make movement around.
SXSW groundbreaking movement around the food industry, products, experiences and more.
Favorite Movie?
I am huge fan of Christopher Nolan, my favorite movie would be interstellar or inception.
