Be a Better PM

This was presented at the Digital PM Summit on October 14, 2013,

You are not a robot, you're a project manager. You are valuable to your team because you're damn good at what you do. Let's think about project management as a practice, and how we can all be better at what we do, and truly support our teams and projects to make amazing products...on time, under budget, and conflict-free. This talk will hit on how WE, as a community of digital project management professionals, can better our skills and elevate the profession through solid practice in communications, stakeholder management, and a little bit of cheerleading.

**This is published under design only because the categories are...not inclusive. :)

Transcript

1. Be a DIGITAL PM SUMMIT Brett Harned | @brettharned Better Better PM
2. ★ So lonely.
3. ★ We have arrived!
4. Thank you! (high ves all around)
5. ★ You can thank @pmarsceill for this one on Twitter
6. good You are a project manager
7. better We can always be
8. 1 1 Ask questions
9. ★ PM of Steel
10. 2 2 Learn from your mistakes
11. Conduct a post mortem meeting: ˒ Quick session: Ask “What worked?” and “What didn’t work?” ˒ Compile your answers; draft a conversation guideline ˒ Conduct a 1-1.5 hour meeting ✦ Ground rules: no nger pointing ✦ Look for action items; ways to better process ✦ Accept all opinions, discuss them
12. 3 3 patient Be
13. 4 4 expectations Set
14. ★ You’ll sort it out
15. cope Understand your
16. timeline Lock down your
17. oles Establish
18. ★ Who’s doing what? When?
19. 5 5 cheerleader Be a
20. ★ Go team!
21. 6 6 Know your craft
22. methodology Study your
23. procedures Learn company
24. tools Practice using the right
25. skills people Hone your
26. 7 7 difficult Don’t ignore conversations
27. 8 8 calendar Own your
28. 9 9 process Own your
29. 10 10 Share everything
30. Share (almost) everything
31. 11 11 nacks Bring
32. ★ Feed them
33. 12 12 Vent (to the right people)
34. 13 13 fun Have
35. ★ A little bit of dancing can lighten the mood
36. 14 14 “No” Practice saying
37. ★ Practice makes perfect
38. 15 15 oofread everything
39. ` 16 16 concise Be
40. 17 17 notes Take good
41. ★ Make your notes clear and concise (happy robots edit)
42. 18 18 feedback Facilitate useful
43. 19 19 tatus Conduct
44. ★ Team status meetings: helping get things done!
45. ★ Client status calls make everyone happy
46. Every status should include: What’s important? ˒ What was done last week ˒ What will be done this week/next week ˒ Action items ˒ Update on timeline ˒ Update on budget ˒ Risks & Issues
47. 20 20 Follow-up!
48. 21 21 Understand what it takes
49. ★ Learn from your peers
50. What’s it gonna take? Sample task: Create HTML Wireframes ˒ Brainstorming Session/Sketching (1-2 hours) ˒ Follow-up session (1 hour) ˒ Set up environment to build HTML wireframes (1 hour) ˒ Code wireframes (24 hours) ˒ Internal team review (1 hour) ˒ Edit (4-6 hours) ˒ Make public, present wireframes to clients (2 hours)
51. 22 22 jerk Be a (when you have to)
52. 23 23 Keep calm
53. time you need Take the
54. personally Don’t take everything so
55. mistakes It’s okay to
56. mistakes It’s okay to make
57. perspective Keep
58. 24 24 informed Stay
59. http://cog.gd/5ns All the links... (my blog: brettharned.com)
60. 25 25 proud Be of your role
61. ★ Let your PM ag y!
62. After the Digital PM Summit, let’s... So what’s next? ˒ Connect ˒ Learn ˒ Share
63. Thanks! Brett Harned | @brettharned | brettharned.com dpm2013.com | ownercamp.com