What a Scrum Master at a Film Studio Wishes They Had Known Before Entering the Film Industry
Miriam's career progression highlights the importance of project management methodologies like Scrum and Kanban, which were skills she lacked initially despite extensive business experience. The advice Miriam offers aspiring professionals is to familiarize themselves with agile approaches and tools like Jira, stressing that understanding these frameworks, even at a basic level, provides a significant advantage in navigating the complexities of corporate roles and interpreting job descriptions accurately.
Project Management, Agile Methodologies, Program Management, Leadership, Career Development
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Miriam Holzman-Sharman
Scrum Master/Program Management Office
Film Studio
UCLA
Masters of Business Administration, Loyola Marymount University (LA)
Communications
Arts, Entertainment & Media, Manufacturing, Operations & Supply Chain
Operations and Project Management
Video Highlights
1. The entertainment industry utilizes project and program management principles, including Agile methodologies (Scrum, Kanban), for managing simultaneous tasks and competing priorities.
2. Familiarity with project management tools (e.g., Jira) and Agile frameworks is crucial for career advancement in this field. Consider dedicating time to understand these concepts, even through online resources like YouTube tutorials.
3. While on-the-job experience is valuable, proactively learning about project management methodologies such as Agile will provide a strong foundation and improve your understanding of job descriptions and requirements in the industry.
Transcript
What have you learned about this role that you wish someone would have told you before you entered the industry?
I'm going to answer that question a little differently because I've been working for so long. My journey started at the bottom, and you kind of learned from the people around you and got promoted. There were certain paths to work your way up.
What happened when I left Fox and then came to Sony a few years later is I took all that business experience, but I was lacking some of the framework of project management and project methodology. So the advice I give a lot of people here has less to do with entertainment and nothing to do with finance.
It has to do with how organizations seem structured within this program management, project management mindset. It's about managing work that's happening simultaneously with competing priorities. While I had done a good job of that in email and other tools, I hadn't learned things like Scrum or Kanban or some of these agile approaches that give you the toolset.
Jira, one of our ticketing systems, was an experience I didn't have. So I had to play catch-up. I came to this role at Sony with tremendous business experience, but I didn't know the tools.
So, a lot of advice I give for folks just starting out is not to go become a certified Scrum Master or do any of that. Instead, spend an hour on YouTube listening to people talk about the approach and the theory.
Project management used to be what's called Waterfall. You'd say, "In January, I am going to build a database, and it needs to do X, Y, and Z." You would tell the IT team, and they would come back two years later. By then, your needs might have changed, and you'd realize you don't need that anymore.
The foundation of Agile is constantly working with stakeholders. I did a lot of that organically at Fox, but being able to do it at scale requires experience with the tools and technologies. I didn't have that coming to Sony, so I've had to do that on my own. I've been fortunate to get some training at Sony.
That is what I tell anyone interested in corporate or any kind of management: just understand a little bit about that stuff. It's really helpful. It also helps with job descriptions when you're looking at jobs, to translate what people are asking for.
Advizer Personal Links
LinkedIn.com/in/miriamsharman