Devise a Methodology That Will Work for You
While it’s important to have a solid understanding of the many different ways to operate a project, you don’t have to feel as though you’re tethered to just one way of working, particularly in the digital space. After all, you need to do what works for your team, your clients, and your project. Maybe that means you take a Lean approach to deliverables to meet a smaller budget, or an Agile approach because your team wants to work iteratively and share work rapidly. You get the idea: do what feels right. Don’t overthink your process. Try something new, adjust when you see the need, and focus on solid communication and delivering quality work.
If you’re having a hard time deciding what steps in a process will work for you, think through these questions and scenarios:
• What is the intended outcome of your project? Is it a product you’ll create? An experience? A specific deliverable?
• What are the goals of the project?
• Who needs to be involved in the project based on the answers to the first two questions.?
• How do the people you’d like to assign to the project like to work? Is anyone certified or really, really hard core about sticking to a methodology?
• If you’re working with a client, do they subscribe to a methodology? Are you aware of how they work and how their way of working will impact your team?
• Are there any outside factors you need to take into account when planning? (Think about dependencies, project or client values, etc.)
• What is already working for your team? What is working for your clients? Also, what isn’t working?
NOTE PMPS, BLACK BELTS, CSMS, OH MY!
Many methodologies come with training and certifications. While they aren’t 100% necessary to learn about and administer a methodology, they can be very helpful when trying to understand the foundation of each and deciding what will work for you, your organization, and your projects. So, if you have the resources to be trained and certified, go for it! If you don’t, you’ll be just fine without those three letters, trust me.
It’s amazing what sitting down to think through what the project actually needs versus just doing what you always do can help you accomplish something when searching for alternative ways of working. It will take you no more than 30 minutes to answer all of these questions and come up with an approach that could work for you. Maybe you’ll select a single methodology, or maybe you’ll try pieces of a couple. Don’t get caught up in a “this or that” conversation.
If you’re lost and you want some help picking a process, think about it this way: boil the decision down to two very basic principles for understanding all of these methodologies:
• The more traditional methodologies like Waterfall and Critical Path are good for teams who want or require a high level of structure and management. They want tasks spelled out and planned accurately, and a PM who will take control of the details—both for the project and for them.
• The Agile methodologies like Scrum and Kanban are great for teams who are flexible in nature. They prefer a high level of collaboration, are open to change, and are willing to take control of the work and be held accountable for it.
Principles for Digital Project Management
Formalized methodologies are well thought out and considered from the earliest steps to the finalization and wrap-up of projects. When gaps are found on projects, the methodology provides an answer. There are strict guidelines, templates, and microprocesses for administering them, and it’s great if you absolutely must follow it by the book, or if you’re new to project management. But as you mature as a project manager, you will learn that any old monkey can kick out a templated project plan or report. You’ll find a yearning to do more, be more. But what is that? It’s furthering your role as a project manager to be an active member of the team who not only facilitates the decisions made on a project, but also contributes to those decisions, provides meaningful input, and keeps a keen eye on where the project is heading.
Project management as a whole is strategic in nature, but many individuals, teams, and companies miss or avoid that aspect of the role. That belittles the role and the value of it, and you end up with that job any old monkey can do. As digital project managers, we’re missing critical threads to tie us together and make us stronger professionally—i.e., principles. You see, we’re all operating on different planes as digital project managers. We’re approaching the job with differences in experience, practice, and attitude. This is to be expected in some ways, but by following a set of principles, you will strengthen the perceptions of the role and show what it means to be a digital PM or even a traditional PM with a renewed sense of value.
The following principles do not suggest that we all operate using a set of the same templates, a single process, or any defined tactics. In fact, that would be horrible, because we need to celebrate the fact that all projects are not created equally. But, operating under the same principles, we create a standard to be used across industries and projects, which will increase effectiveness, help achieve better outcomes, and produce stronger project managers.
1 We are chaos junkies.We thrive on problems because we know how to solve them. We are highly organized and do everything in our power to maintain order with a calm presence in the face of chaos. When things get out of hand and we can’t solve problems on our own, we know whom to pull in at the right moment.
2 We are multilingual communicators.We speak to management, finance, legal, IT, marketing, UX, design, code, content strategy, and more across a wide variety of industries and verticals. We have a broad range of skills and knowledge, and are confident in linking up different perspectives from different specialties using our base communication skills. We work hard to understand the motivations of our teams, stakeholders, and users. We can translate tech-speak to the uninitiated, discuss design without imposing an opinion, and drive conversations to important decisions that will guide our projects to success.
3 We are lovable hardasses.Digital project managers walk the line between servant and leader—caring equally about numbers and people. It’s a challenge that requires much thought and consideration about the way we behave. While we are not managers with direct reports, we work hard to build relationships with our team members to serve as confidants, counselors, and friends who have their work and best interests in mind at all times. At the same time, we challenge nonsense when we see it, stand up for our clients and our teams when it’s easier to stay quiet, speak up to save our projects, and work darn hard to keep our teams motivated, our clients happy, and our projects on target.
4 We are consummate learners and teachers.Working in an industry that moves so fast, we are inherently adaptable and open to new processes, ideas, practices, and deliverables. We follow what’s happening in our industry—from all angles—and do what we can to account for change to make our projects more successful. We’re open to bettering ourselves and our peers by sharing our work and practices openly and freely with other DPMs (data protection managers), as well as our team, clients, and stakeholders. We recognize that learning and teaching builds trust in what we do, benefits others, and leads to stronger partnerships and outcomes.
5 We are laser-focused.We expect change on projects, because we understand that business goals evolve and change, processes fail, stakeholders come and go, and new ideas arise. When asked to change, we use project goals as a basis for discussion on whether or not the change is acceptable. We wade through comments and feedback, and analyze and discuss change to help guide our teams and clients to the best decisions given our focus on project goals.
6 We are honest, always.Everyone who works with us, clients and partners included, trusts us because they know that we’ve got their best in mind when guiding process and decisions. We don’t cover up mistakes;