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Project Management in K-drama - Itaewon Class

I must confess…after a recommendation, I got hooked and find myself binge-watching Itaewon Class on Netflix.  For those not familiar with the show, Itaewon Class is a Korean-drama currently showing on Netflix about a high-school dropout and ex-convict who opens a small bar-eating establishment in Itaewon. Note: spoiler alert…

As the show progressed, the protagonist Park Saeroyi played by Park Seo Joon, together with his team, achieved the seemingly impossible to challenge the chaebol who caused the death of his father. The drama is a good example of how the process groups of project management (IPEMCC) are implemented.

Here is how…

Initiating

Preliminary Objective Statement: to set up an eating/drinking establishment in the Itaewon district in 7 years. The initial cost was not mentioned in the show but is likely to be substantial due to the high rental cost in Itaewon (this is an actual place in Seoul known as a tourist destination and trendy restaurants and nightlife). 

Planning

  • To work in manual labor and fishing industry for several years. All wages to be invested via a trusted fund manager
  • Once he has sufficient capital, he would set up a shop in Itaewon
  • As the business flourish, the business will be turned into a franchise for expansion

Executing

  • Setting up DanBam, aka Sweet Night (the name of the eatery) in Itaewon
  • Hire a competent manager to take care of the business and enable future opportunities
  • Perform quality control by improving the motivation of the chef when the food is found to be lacking

Monitoring and Controlling

  • Buying a shop-lot when being forced to vacate the initial premise
  • Enable nearby shops to succeed in order to improve the foot traffic in the less-popular location
  • Winning a national cooking competition for national publicity and securing an investment from a venture capitalist

Closing

In the final episode, the chaebol Jangga group was acquired by the IC (short for Itaewon Class) group. Yes…the show has a happy ending.

To learn more about Project Management, do get a copy of my book Simple Project Management where I condense pretty much the PMBOK into easily digestible bites, in about 100 pages. Book is available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo (e-book) or directly from the publisher here


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