The Way I Manage My Projects with brightpod
Rancho Valencia is a luxury resort just north of San Diego, California. We have 49 guest casitas, two restaurants, a wellness-oriented spa, 18 tennis courts, and 45 acres of lush Mediterranean inspired grounds. We are fortunate to be both a Forbes Five-Star and AAA Five Diamond resort.
A morning meeting with department representatives begins the workday in our office. We discuss the day's happenings including incoming guests, VIPs, special events, engineering projects, spa appointments and more. Then, it's on to our respective days! There is always something exciting going on at the resort, which is one of my favorite parts of working in hospitality. No day is ever the same.
After a few cat cuddles at home, it's all about the trifecta: coffee, yogurt and email. Mornings fly by as we update managers on their projects, work through edits and brainstorm new ideas. As the marketing team for an independent resort, we have the opportunity to be involved in a multitude of opportunities, which keep us on our toes and constantly inspired.
I always try to find some time to walk around the resort each afternoon to see what is happening, meet a guest or two and say hello to team members. We are so lucky to be surrounded by such gorgeous grounds, it's important to get out at least once a day to see it. There is no better way to end the workday than one of our amazing Yoga Flow classes at the spa. Any stress from the day just melts away.
1. There is no substitute for simply getting up and visiting another department for a quick pow wow. Each department has such different schedules and various priorities from internal to guest-facing, and some don't rely on email as much as others. A well timed check-in can be extremely helpful for connecting.
2. Honestly, Brightpod is a major timesaver. It provides us with an easy referral for status updates, final documents, due dates, and more. As we serve multiple departments at the resort from Spa to Food & Beverage, it is important for us to have visible content deadlines as well as art deadlines to keep us all on schedule.
3. Finding the right partners and vendors you can trust and lean on.
We have 9 team members with access to Brightpod. It is primarily used by two. Currently, we are working on 18 pods.
We have a dedicated event/project pod for our Room Reservations, Spa and Food & Beverage teams which is treated more like a calendar. This helps us see what we have coming up throughout the year, and what items need to be prioritized. Projects like wedding brochures, spa menus or event planning each have pods for tracking budgets, tasks, content due dates and go-live dates. I love how flexible the pods are, the format can be adjusted to suite a variety of needs.
The classic Excel spreadsheet was my tool for years. We then layered in project request forms, both online and in pdf form, in an effort to manage needs in a bit more organized fashion. It became clear that a program that allowed communication and transparency, along with the ability to mark projects and tasks with due dates, was necessary to streamline our efforts. I did some research, tried out a few different programs, and landed on Brightpod.
I recently began using it to begin budgeting and planning for 2018.
It was quite quick, really. We are a small team of two people and we picked up the program easily after a day or two. We introduced several managers to the program, and we've been glad to see a few become comfortable using it. Not everyone is there yet, but we've seen some solid engagement.
The overall style of the interface is simple and streamlined, which makes it pleasant to use. The task feature is fantastic, and it is really helpful to have the ability to load final artwork for reference later. Being able to communicate with other members on the project is great.
But, in all honesty, the most delightful feature is the confetti that streams down the screen when a project is completed. We live for the confetti!
No thank you. It's just too good.
I would love to see an app.