The Art of Juggling:
Week 8 at Made by Many
Good jugglers make it look elaborate. They know how to put on a good show. They can juggle a lot at a time, but often scramble for a catch.Great jugglers make it look effortless. They know the art of juggling. They manage to keep all the objects under their control. They’ve mastered the laws of the universe. They don’t have to know the science behind physics to control the momentum of the ball. The timing becomes natural to them. The power behind the throw is second nature.
I’m a Good Juggler
As we delved into our first sprint this week, I needed to learn to juggle. I didn’t expect it to be difficult. It seemed to be what I lived for. I live with a constantly updating schedule in my head. Every minute I am late or every time something goes on for longer than expected, I refresh and adjust to make sure deadlines are reached. I’m really good at making sure the ball gets caught and I can handle juggling many things at once.
This week was a productive one. My team and I managed to finalize some details of our brand image, begin brainstorming real names (sponsor shuffle ain’t cutting it), and prep for and conduct two user interviews. On my end, I talked to a handful of sponsors, started some quality assessment, discovered some great opportunities to meet possible sponsors, and revamped our sponsor hitlist. I also squeezed in an awesome networking event courtesy of Leslie Bradshaw and a goodbye lunch for my brother who is now officially west coaster! The middle of the week had a lot to juggle.
I’m Not a Great Juggler (Yet)
What I forgot about the art of juggling is that not only is the catch important, but the power and timing of the throw is too. If you get the throw right, you’re a lot less likely to be scrambling at the end for the catch.
A big part of my job as a PM is bridging the designs with the development. Currently that means making sure designs are at least completely drafted before development on that part starts. Earlier into the week I realized that I hadn’t gotten Emily, our designer, to power through designs and gotten myself to power through user interviews at the rate which Billy, our developer, needed. This made “the catch” hard.
How to Improve
Like mastering juggling, finding those weak points and improving on them is the only way to get better. I’m looking forward to the retrospective of our weekly sprint. I’m hoping to encourage some honest feedback about how I’m doing and what I can do to make their lives easier while they continue to crank out some great work. Four sprints to go guys. Wish us luck!
