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Vivian Chen, Co-founder and CEO, Hepta Protocol
Vivian has a strong professional background in project work and leadership roles. She began by participating in project work at the Foundation for Women's Rights Promotion and Development. Building on this experience, she then served as both a project manager and project director at SparkLabs Taipei and Girls in Tech Taiwan Chapter. In 2021, Vivian founded Hepta Protocol, and she is dedicated to utilizing blockchain's potential to foster positive social impact.
Beyond her project management expertise, Vivian has also played a significant role in international advocacy and collaboration. She served as a youth representative of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, representing Taiwan and engaging in international negotiations.
Project management is a highly valuable skill in both the corporate and non-profit sectors. In our internship program, students had the opportunity to engage with various non-profit and non-governmental organizations (NPO/NGO) through project-based assignments. However, due to the nature of internships, their involvement was limited to specific aspects of each project. To offer students a more holistic understanding of project management, we designed a specialized course. The primary objective of this course was to provide participants with a comprehensive grasp of project management principles. To accomplish this, we invited Vivian, an experienced professional with a significant background in project planning and execution, to serve as the course instructor.
Vivian shared her personal experiences and highlighted the crucial first step in project management: identifying the primary "project goal." By clearly defining this goal, it serves as a guiding principle for the team, effectively keeping them focused on the desired direction. Furthermore, the project goal should be examined more deeply to uncover the most critical issue that the project aims to address. Vivian emphasized the use of the "5 Whys" technique to dig deeper into the underlying causes and motivations. She encouraged students to adopt a "Start with Why" approach when engaging in project writing, ensuring they always keep the ultimate goal in mind.
They engaged in discussions, sharing the issues their respective projects sought to address and the societal factors associated with them. For instance, Jason, who participated in the Step30 internship, wrote a project with the goal of "enabling donors to understand the current social situation in Africa." He then shared with his classmates the reasons he had identified, such as "donors' expectations for transparency and impact when making charitable contributions.
Furthermore, Vivian delved into the concepts of project principles and execution strategies, providing us with valuable insights. In the latter half of the course, she meticulously explained each step of project writing, urging students to actively practice and document their progress along the way. By engaging in actual project execution, students were able to enhance their understanding of each project component.
Vivian emphasized that the internship experience was not solely about tasks like video editing or marketing. Instead, she encouraged students to recognize that every assignment they undertook during their internships contributed to their overall mastery of project management. Each task served as a building block, enhancing their capabilities and preparing them to become well-rounded project managers in the future.
#StartwithWhy #SDGs #ThinkSustainably
