On the 19th of October we had a lecture by Bryan Rudd. His focus was on the importance of project management and the ability to adapt quickly to any given situation/problem that might occur during a project. He spoke about a specific case study – Producing “Chronicles of Freedom” – a radio drama project which he took over with little time to spare until the completion deadline. The main issues with the project were Problem and Time management on a tight schedule. Bryan Rudd pointed out that there are a few questions that we have to ask ourselves in similar and/or generally other situations –
1. WHAT is the problem and WHY is it a problem?
2. What choice do I have and what difference will my decisions have in the short/medium/long term?
And finally
3. Reflections and Further Adjustments
These could be very useful if there were problems during the audio production for my group’s project – (LO5)
The outcomes of Bryan’s experience were that we should always aim to work in advance – i.e have content ready for editing/mixing etc. at least 2 weeks before the given deadline. He also suggested that having a second opinion on the progress of the product and on the final piece always helps as others will approach it with a “fresh set of ears” and will give you valid feedback which you could take into consideration before you submit the project. Furthermore he emphasized on the importance to seek help if needed – we shouldn’t take on more jobs than we can handle, but if we do bite off more than we can chew sharing the workload with an assistant/casual helper will greatly impact the project (in a good way) (LO5). Another important prat in project management is also not being afraid to put our foot down when dealing with others from the production team – if we think we are correct and that our opinion will impact the better development of the project in a positive way then we should stand up for it.
In conclusion Bryan Rudd’s lecture was very helpful in a sense that I gained a bit more insight into project management and how to deal with pending issues and unexpected occurrences. His advice will most certainly come in handy during the production and post production processes (LO4) (LO5).