My Reflection On The workshop: “Managing projects in the media production industry, How Harakat do it”

• Name: Raneem Alfriah.

• Event:, Managing projects in the media production industry How Harakat do it.

• Date: 28, Oct, 2018.

• Organizer: Princess Noura University.

• Presenter: Ms. Alanoud Alshowaier.

• Location: PNU, A6, BA Building theater.

Before attending this particular workshop, I believed that I had enough knowledge about project management. I was surprised to learn that I was missing out on a lot of information that the workshop provided me with. Including that vision 2030 has an official Twitter account and I did not acknowledge that what I am currently studying in DICE was practiced in many companies around the world.

Ms. Alanoud Alshowaier was a speaker in a one-hour workshop, she started with presenting herself, then she talked about “Harakat” company, finally, she provided us with a lot of details in project management, Risk management and Project life cycle.

As Ms. Alanoud Alshowaier presented new details I started to write down every single word, to review in the future, she provided time at the end of the workshop to answer any questions.

I gained a lot of information, which increased my knowledge and awareness, in the project management, ‘Harakat” Company, Project life cycle, and Risk management.

In general, I learned that proper project management has to have a project life cycle, every phase depends on the phase before it, if one phase fails, the whole project fails. A project manager should be able to deal with project risk in an easy and fast flexible way. Harakat company is a company that was made by creative and motivative people. it is really important to be updated and to gain experience from other project managers to avoid their mistakes and be ready to find solutions in case a mistake occurs.

First of all, in project management, there are many main tools to help manage a project for instant usually government sectors use the “PMM” (Project Management Microsoft), However, other Non-government organizations use “Trello”, “Slack”, and “Teamwork”. Second of all, there are important phases that are required to follow, to complete a project successfully, it starts with a proposal phase, which is a written offer from a dealer to a prospective consumer, then the project charter phase, which defines the stake holders, what are the stake holders’ interests and the project manager’s role in the project. Then the project planning Phase, which covers a lot of the project details, it contains the project time line plan, the risk management, Marketing plan and Financial plan, Then the phase before last is to execute the project, which is the work that delivers the product, service or wanted result to be carried out. the final phase is closing the project, after closing the project we prepare a delivery note, to make sure that the project met the expectations of all sides involved. The delivery note is delivered to the clients by a detailed printed paper or delivered to their drop box by a link. After that we evaluate our performance on the “keep eyes” that was marked down at the beginning of the project.

• Newman, Larry. Shipley Associates Proposal Guide.
• Projectsmart.com, (2018)

Third of all there are several characteristics needed to become a successful project manager, for example, the project manager must be flexible, accept opinions from others, socially intelligent, being able to work under stress, knows how to manage time, and is motivative and innovative. Also, here are tips to be a successful project manager, coordinate projects well, gain experience that will help with promotion.
“Harakat” company is a Saudi company that was established in 2011, specialized in visual production, they produced more than 500 minutes of production and served more than 45 clients. In “Harakat” company that produces animated videos and the present 3 services includes “communication and engagement products, informal communication and develop electronic courses”, They have 3 types of projects, first one is the big project that needs 2 years or more to be established, and the budget is more than 3 million sr. Second one is the Medium project that needs 1-2 years and costs less than 3 million sr. Third type the small project needs less than a year and costs less than 500 thousand sr.

As for Risk management, it is a very important step that is required in the Planning phase of the project life cycle, it is a document that the project manager prepares to oversee any possible risks. Ms. Alshowaier provided us of a risk management incident, (The Ministry of Communications asked “Harakat” company to produce a Historical video for national day that contains a serial of pictures that were taken from the year of 1940 during the era of king Abdelaziz to the current year, involving the development of technology during that period, the risk was that they requested that the production is delivered within 6 days. They considered the Ministry of Communications a very valuable client, they were worried of losing them. 6 days was a very short time to produce a video. The demanded images were not available in “Harakat” official photo Library, and they would have to ask the Television company to provide them with the requested Photos. After they gathered to find a solution, they made a Creative problem-solving step. They drew the missing pictures. The client was very satisfied by the video).

PMBOK, Guide 5th Edition.

“Harakat” company has encouraged the 2030 Vision by establishing a trend called “I Believe in The Vision” and they have made a Video for the “Alqidiya” Project, that involved a change of request incident during that video.
As for my evaluation of the workshop, I really enjoyed acknowledging new information, it was a really good experience. And I personally agree with her notes because creativity solves a lot of issues.
The changes I will make after attending the workshop includes Thinking in a more creative matter. And I will follow the Project life cycle in every future project I may manage.

Refraining list:

• Newman, Larry. Shipley Associates Proposal Guide, (Proposal Guide Archived 2008-11-11 at the Wayback Machine).

 

• Projectsmart.com, (2018), Available At: http://www.projectsmart.com/project-management/the-stages-of-a-project.php

 

• PMBOK, Guide 5th Edition, Glossary pg. 373.