Digital – Brianne Larson

5 ways you’ll surprise your team as a PM

Being successful in project management doesn’t come with a rulebook to follow. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. While there are standard duties and practices project managers follow in their roles, it’s about finding a PM style that works for you and your team, and then repeating what works. You’ll try out some things with great success, and then you introduce some things that flunk so hard you’re debating whether this is really what you’re meant to do. Those days can seem like the worst, but they are really important to help you grow.

When you’re new to an organization or just starting a new project in general, it’s nice to have some ideas in your back pocket to hit the ground running. I thought I’d share 5 ways you can surprise your team (in a good way) as a PM.

Pad the timeline. This may seem simple to do at the start of a project, but you have to work it in strategically. Once you know the due date you must deliver, you’ll work in an internal deadline at least a couple days before (maybe even a week). This internal deadline is the one you share with your team. If they make this deadline – great! You can fine tune and make any final tweaks before submitting the work. If it’s crunch time and the sweat is starting to drip, you’ll grace the team with a couple extra days to wrap up. Look how good you are at forecasting.

Another benefit to padding the timeline is being able to over deliver and make your team look good to stakeholders. You’ll keep things ahead of schedule and eyeballs will only see green!

End meetings early. Don’t you hate it when your day is back-to-back meetings? We’ve all been there, whether it’s a meeting heavy day or workweek. But as a PM, a simple thing you can do is try your best to end meetings early. Do this as often as possible in order to give your team breaks between what’s next on their calendars. Now, don’t cut out important topics just to cut out early – that’s not what I’m saying here. But keep your meetings efficient and agenda driven, and you’ll have some happy faces that don’t see you extending a meeting just to last the entire hour.

Only schedule meetings when you need them.
“We could have done this over email.”

This is another important rule of meetings – just schedule what you need. If it’s really just a touch base, you don’t need an hour. Honestly, you could probably cover what you need in 15 to 20 minutes. But if it makes you feel better, you can book a 30 minute meeting. Find ways to take things offline as well. Can you open a Slack channel for your stand-up? Is your really quick question actually a good one for email or instant message?

Meeting attendees have to be selective when it comes to their calendars. A good tip I got at a leadership conference was to work on reducing my meeting times by half when possible. If I was booked for an hour, could we cover it in 30 minutes? Letting people know what time I had to give helped them restructure their meetings and cover items over email or IM when possible.

Take feedback early and often. A retrospective doesn’t have to just be at the end of a project. It can happen after every major milestone, or halfway through. Take time to set these up to hear from your team. This is their chance to offer feedback for the group, and to make adjustments along the way.

If you’re really looking inward, consider setting up a survey to obtain feedback for yourself. While this can seem scary to ask people to rate your performance, you need this to grow. And your team is going to look up to you even more knowing you’re going to take that feedback and find ways to improve.

Be reasonable and realistic 100% of the time. There’s no better way to piss off your team members than to set unreasonable deadlines for them. Being cognizant of what people have going on at work and outside of work is important. A seasoned PM is skilled at estimating levels of effort for project work. Take this skill and set deadlines, goals and commitments that are realistic. Setting people up to fail shouldn’t be in your vocabulary. Set them up for success and then hold them to it.

Let’s face it – every project manager wants to make a good impression on their team. It’s nice to be liked! You’ll need to give yourself time to find what works: what your PM style is, and how that works for your team. Don’t be surprised if this changes project to project (or team to team). PMs have to be agile and open to change no matter what. Take these tips and see how they work for your next gig.

The unrecognized project manager

When a project comes together, the feeling of bliss followed by the release from stress is hard to beat. Team members congratulate each other on a job well done, and hopefully there is some excitement and praise from the client, too. With all the positive energy from closing the project, it’s easy to applaud others for their contributions.

“The design is amazing. You did such a good job showcasing their brand in your work!”

“The content is so much better than what they had. And it’s finally optimized!”

“We built some really cool features that will streamline the process. And so far, we haven’t had any major bugs pop up.”

All of these things are part of executing the project plan. They are the shiny objects that wow a client. But the one thing behind all of the planning, organizing and budgeting is the project manager. It’s easy to leave the project manager out of the final bits of praise; after all, what is shiny about project management?

As a project manager, I struggle with promoting the value of my work. I think too often, people assume project management is easy and not a huge investment of time. But what the world doesn’t realize is what it takes to be a ~~good~~ – scratch that – great project manager, and just how quickly a project can derail from a plan and budget before it even begins.

Undervaluing great project management

According to the Project Management Institute, organizations that undervalue project management see an average of 50% or more projects fail. With this rate, the importance of securing a great project manager for your company is imperative.

Sometimes it’s hard to notice great project management until something goes wrong. Managing risk is key to successful project management, and certainly something not all team members are watching out for. If risks lead to issues in scope, timeline or budget, the team can only continue on a successful journey if the project manager handles these things and directs the team on next steps and priorities.

In addition, working around constraints can be very difficult. Whether it’s timeline-related, task-related, tool-related…constraints are an obstacle.

Hand over the keys

I think project management is one of those things that sounds simple until you’re in the driver’s seat. The duties of a great PM hit a long laundry list, similar to long and drawn out job postings that are asking for a unicorn. Regardless of the type of project, a PM can be expected to:

Form a project plan
Write and produce project estimates and scopes of work (SOWs)
Develop a work breakdown structure (WBS)
Create a project timeline
Lead a cross-disciplinary team, promoting positivity and enthusiasm
Manage resources and concurrent project schedules
Control change
Manage risk
Develop project documentation
And more!

Project managers have to master many soft skills to be effective at their jobs as well, with communication being the most important (in my opinion). Fast, frequent and friendly. And while many people might consider themselves organized, it’s no match for the level that is required of a project manager. There is actually a shelf in my brain that is dedicated to organizing my projects.

Above all else, a great project manager must be agile and quick to catch any flying tennis ball. More and more companies are moving towards agile or an agile/hybrid approach, which means incremental and iterative change is welcome, and a project plan is just the base to get people moving.

Without a doubt, the success of a project should be applauded equally among team members. All should be responsible for the project going well (or going poorly). Behind all the deliverables of a project, project management is just one of those things that frequently goes unappreciated. But when you understand what is missed without a great PM, you never want to live without it on future projects.

AHeinz57: a website redesign for our devoted companions

Josh and I finally did it. We got together and said, “You know what? We’re going to make this happen.” Laptops fully charged and paws freshly wiped, we successfully redesigned a non-profit website together!

This past weekend, we were super proud to launch the new website for AHeinz57 Pet Rescue & Transport. This is an organization led by a passionate and determined woman named Amy Heinz, and supported by a connected group of volunteers. AHeinz57 volunteers travel all across the midwest to transport dogs to other rescues, and then bring back others into their care. They then divide and conquer by housing some at their Pit Stop and many others in foster homes. Strays, dogs up for euthanization and owner surrenders end up in the hands of AHeinz57. Although their past lives may have been awful, the team is dogged on giving them the best new lives and finding them forever homes.

Our dog, Luna, came from AHeinz57. From the days we started searching, we would check the website and Facebook page for new additions. While the old website had a lot of information, it was not doing justice for the hardworking individuals that give many hours to the precious pups that need help. I knew that Josh and I could provide something much better, and not necessarily one of those “anything is better” situations. I knew we could plan this out and support something I find so important—BEING GOOD TO DOGS!

We started the project back in February of this year. Valentine’s Day 2017 was all about the love of dogs for us. I came up with a revised site architecture, which included recategorizing some pages and combining others that were duplicated. We also thought through the user top tasks and how to set content hierarchies, especially on the home page. With these ideas in tow, we had our initial meeting and walked away with a project!

User Top Tasks

The key tasks that users need to complete are:

Adopt
Volunteer
Donate

Adding three buttons directly below the home page hero image quickly accomplishes the visibility of these tasks, along with a new, clean look. The tasks are called out in the navigation as well, which should give users the easy ability to find the pet that is right for them, or a way to get involved with the organization.

Most users of this website spend time looking over the adoptables page, and to put it simply, Josh worked his coding whiz-magic to improve the user interface (UI) of the page. Let me just show you the tail wag-worthy improvement.

It sits nicely with us.

Website Goals and Objectives

Adoptables viewing experience

It’s simple enough to say that the pet viewing experience was a top priority. We wanted to achieve a smoother user experience (UX) for prospective adopters. Users can also now share links to AHeinz57 pets on social media, and the pet name will show up in the preview!

AHeinz57 is embarking on a million dollar capital campaign

Donations are so important to the organization right now. Construction has already started on AHeinz57’s new facility and they’re hoping to raise $1.8 million to cover the costs. We used the plugin Give to setup donations on the site and are impressed with its functionality and features. Users no longer have to ‘add a donation to cart’—modern day is good!

Events are scannable and mobile-friendly

One thing about using a traditional grid-style calendar is that it is very difficult to have a seamless mobile experience. We updated the calendar, now called events, to list out events with their appropriate color-coded category, and pointed AHeinz57 to EventBrite to manage events. Our hope is that the events page is visited often so people know what’s happening and when in the community.

This was a meaningful project for us to work together on, and we so appreciate all the help we got from the AHeinz57 team, especially Amy, Jen and Becky, among many others. Please visit the site www.aheinz57.com and consider adopting or getting involved. There are a lot of opportunities to give back to the pups that make our lives whole.

Why process fits my personality

I’m one of those people who really likes a routine. Not necessarily doing the same thing everyday. No, that would be boring. But more waking up around the same time everyday, eating a morning banana with the dogs, driving that predictive 10-15 minutes into work, leaving at a suitable hour for lunch with the pup (pee pee), and watching a quality television program at night. And if a small gathering should pop in every once in a while, well that’s perfectly fine.

I’m sold; sign me up.

This doesn’t just balance out my home life. You’ve guessed it: I like routine in my professional career as well! I like to call this process, or a process, for taking care of necessary business. Keeping projects on tighter than tight schedules, on budget and under control. It’s what keeps those knots in my upper shoulders/neck region stronger than ever.

A process to handle various situations is what keeps me going when managing multiple projects at once. Without process, I would literally be a screaming monkey.

But processes don’t always work out. It’s just the nature of the game, kids. I think the typical reason is due to communication. And it may not be internal—it could be something you were unable to control. Variability. Unpredictability.

Oh process, what are you even good for?

This is key in my pivot here. Ever heard, “People over process”?

This phrase is common in the Agile Methodology where “Individuals and interactions over processes and tools” is the first bullet in the list. This method of course spins me both ways since I value people, their thoughts and feelings. And I want people to collaborate, share their thoughts and make cool products without that feeling of constraint. But I also know that in the advertising, marketing and web world it is difficult to obtain new work without demonstrating that you know what you’re doing (sometimes known as, “What’s your process to get this done, sir?”)

So it’s just a little struggle. It’s where I look to let a little more flexibility into my process-driven workflow. Because, why not?

The more time and experience you have with something, especially the people you’re working with, hopefully the more predictive they will be, and thus, less process needed. But if things derail, because why not, then reel those fish in again.

What about dogs? How do they fit into this?

Oh lots of ways and thank you for letting me end with this thought. Balance, routine and process. Happy dogs. But the simple thing here is trust. Why would anyone follow your lead unless they could trust you? Dogs will do a lot more for you if they can trust you. So you need people to trust your process. Gain some trust and then let them run off leash for a bit.

Image via freeimages.com

Talking it up on Above The Fold Podcast

A guy. A girl. Two microphones. A laptop. Garage Band running on that laptop. Another laptop. Two pairs of headphones. Two glasses of water. Maybe some candies. An electric piano. Smiles because we’re having fun.

ONE BIG DREAM.

So recently Josh and I started a podcast. Together, we chat about our lives and things attractive to young professionals. We made an official announcement by video. Talk about multichannel promotion! What!

What is this podcast all about?

I’m so glad you asked. Let me tell you. It’s called Above The Fold Podcast. Each episode, we discuss a marketing-related topic with some comedy on the side.

Josh and I both work in the advertising world, specifically on websites for clients. He has the angle of web developer, and I have the angle of interactive project manager/SEO strategist. Together we cover a lot of ground!

We both like listening to podcasts, and through analyzing our own conversations, thought it would be neat to start our own. Plus we are pretty funny. Multiple sources have confirmed this for us. We even have a website for the podcast, so you know this is serious stuff.

What have I learned so far from podcasting?

Sound is everything. The first things we bought were microphones. You don’t have to spend thousands of dollars, but you do want to invest in quality. There is also an art of speaking into the microphone correctly.
Recording the podcast can be done right on your laptop. We use Garage Band to record the tracks, then edit in Adobe Audition. By “we” I mean Josh leads the way.
Keeping the conversation flowing takes talent. In normal, non-recorded conversations, you may pause a lot. But when you’re recording yourself, lots of dead air can leave listeners less engaged.
Headphones help you adjust your voice. Plus you also look more legit and B.A.
Guests on the show…that’s the next step!

Would you like to be a guest? Would you like to be our guest? What’s your favorite treat?

Subscribe on iTunes!

And have a great day!

The lost diaries of our youth: a forgotten hobby

When you were a kid, there was probably a week in your life that you kept a diary or journal. Remember what you said? It was something like: “I’m going to write about my day, everyday, and lock it up with a key. This is my new hobby. And if you don’t like it, then get out of here!”

The leading part in that new hobby was that it likely lasted a week, or maybe only a little longer. Writing things down got tedious, and frankly, you just didn’t have the time! You were a really busy kid. I know. Tell me about it.

Letters my grandma wrote

I recently finished reading a book my grandma put together. It is a compilation of letters that she wrote to her mother back when she was raising her kids in the 1950s-70s.

Let me first just say, this was a real treat to read! If we ever needed proof that life was much simpler back then, then let me also say, on the record, that yes indeed it was. (Please make sure that is on the record.)

After my grandma got married and moved into her first home with my grandpa, she started writing letters to her mother twice a week. Phone calls were expensive, and this was the best method of communication at the time.

Now hold on, OK? Think about this type of communication: a letter, after mailed, would take a few days to get to its recipient. Immediacy was a luxury. Phone calls only came with emergencies or moments of really big news, like engagements or new babies. But here’s the thing: people were OK with receiving a letter a few days after news was hot. Even the babies were patient.

In these letters, I learned that my grandma’s kids always had a job. The kids needed spending money and started working when they were young. My grandma sewed a lot of their clothes, and was in fact quite the seamstress. My mom would work hard to get the lead in school plays so that her mom (my grandma) would sew her a pretty dress to wear. The kids were outside a lot, and seemed to stay very busy.

All without mobile phones. All without the Internet. Only a little TV.

My grandma noted that she thinks kids today are entitled. And to be honest, I agree. The whole descriptor around Millennials is especially relative to that notion of entitlement. Could you guys just get the scissors and cut it out? I mean, could you care a little less about all your gadgets, positive self-image, need for entertainment, and worry over acceptance? Also, could you stop being so electronically literate and talented at multi-tasking? And I won’t even start on the younger generation, Gen Z. Remember, I’m not a fan that those younger kids are getting smartphones.

To all my Millennials out there: our parents have been pretty great to us. However, times are really different.

The technology and high-speed life that surrounds us today is the result of years of research, testing and improvements to regular commodities. And just like the dinosaurs, we’ve adapted to our environment, so much so that we really won’t go anywhere without our phones. You never know when someone is going to call!

But back to the letters.

Writing things down, such as a recount of your day, is a lost hobby. I can’t say I know anyone who has a diary or journal. I like to write, but never got into journaling when I was younger. And looking back now, I wish I did. I think it would be really neat to read my entries and remember my thoughts back in the day.

That’s one of the reasons I started this blog. To at least have a place where I can record some thoughts about things I’m interested in. And maybe every so often, include a personal bit about myself. Because writing is good for you.

Saturday Night Live has a buddy. And it’s social media.

Saturday Night Live’s 39^th season (2013-2014) was one of fresh talent. Why so fresh? There were a lot of spots to fill. Lots of key players decided to carry-on the season prior (Bill Hader, Fred Armisen and Jason Sudekis) as well as a couple fan favorites settling their leave the season prior to that (Kristen Wiig (!!!) and Andy Samberg).

Now, I know this was a big deal for you. Because those people really enhanced your decision whether or not to tune-in to the program each week. Especially Wiig. She was what they call “uncanny” and “very good.”

Could the show survive without all that talent?! Stay with me here!

Let’s think about how people watch TV today. People today watch a lot of TV, but the actual tube itself may not be the top device of choice.

Consider this: the idea of your TV as the “first screen” and all other screens as “second” or “third” is dead. A report from eMarketer says the first screen is whichever one you are looking at, and then all others fall into succeeding order.

This puts a twist on the idea of our “second screen culture.” Traditionally, or tradigitally, we have viewed smaller screens as the second screen, such as a mobile phone or tablet. But viewing time on those devices keeps going up, and will only continue to increase. So we must change our thought process.

TV shows today need to play nice for the social TV crowd.

A growing population makes their digital identity known by talking about TV content via social media. You could definitely put me in this group. It’s a culture shift that puts those with FOMO (fear of missing out) into a sweat storm. Don’t make me sweat! This means Sunday through Saturday, 2-4-7, people need to know what all the haps are on every single device they own. If these people are true brand advocates, they will share / like / retweet / favorite / +1 / reblog / pin / (man this is exhausting) content they enjoy and want others to experience joy with also. Social currency is a thing and face-to-face just doesn’t cut it anymore!

So for a TV show like SNL that seems to go through a trust barrier at the start of each season, a multi-device, web-friendly video content social strategy is one of those “no question” practices.

Even though it’s the off-season right now, I have to say, I love what Saturday Night Live has been doing on social media for the TV crowd. Let me explain why.

Video content on social media

Saturday Night Live is big just one day of the week: on Saturday night. It’s unlike other primetime shows that air Monday-Friday or on Sundays. Saturday is a unique day. Do you usually have plans Saturday night? Do I usually have plans Saturday night? Here’s my answer: Yeah, sometimes I do.

So if a lot of people aren’t going to tune-in for the live show at 11:30 PM/10:30 CST on the National Broadcasting Company network, SNL has to be on the ball. This means posting videos of their content right away for the Sunday crowd ready to catch-up on what they missed the night before.

SNL does this well, in addition to posting content leading up to the show each week. This is where the social TV audience is going to need their fix in order to keep engagement spirits high.

The show teasers always get me excited, like this one featuring Lena Dunham and Kate McKinnon. Spots like this are very important in order for the audience to connect with SNL throughout the week, not just on Saturday nights. I particularly like SNL’s backstage series. The videos are tailored for the YouTube club we all hold a membership to these days. The backstage videos are put into subcategories like #AskSNL and Follow Friday. I love these vids.

All of this continuous posting of content, and opportunity to share with our beloveds, keeps our undercarriages fired up for Saturday. Without an active social presence for the younger digitally-centered audience, I think SNL would fall flat these days. Each cast member has a backstory, and if you are eager enough to search, you’ll be surprised how funny and smart they are. SNL’s social media strategy lets us see the cast on a deeper level and get to know them as people. We also get to know the writers and producers – jobs that sometimes go unnoticed.

Go follow SNL’s Instagram account

On a final thought, SNL’s Instagram account is quite awesome. My favorite part of following nbcsnl on Instagram is seeing all of the behind-the-scenes photos and videos. Especially the photos of writers’ night and the table read-thrus. The plates of food (and I mean PLATES OF FOOD) on the table during the read-thru are interesting just on their own. Whoever is in charge of ordering all that food is going places in life.

View this post on Instagram

Final read-thru of the season! #SNL

A post shared by Saturday Night Live (@nbcsnl) on May 14, 2014 at 6:05pm PDT

My new life goal is to make my way into that room some day. And stare at the food. And sneak some into my pocket. And maybe tell a joke.

Anyway, SNL – keep up with the videos and behind-the-scenes content. Es muy bueno.

Kids and their smartphones. YOU GUYS.

I have a worry. Just one worry. Ready for it? Kids and their smartphones. What are we doing.

Now, I work in a field where my smartphone is pretty crucial to my organization and success. I use it everyday for email, keeping track of my calendar, phone calls, and testing/learning about the web through the small screen. But I was 21 years old when I got my first smartphone. Up until then, I managed just fine without mobile Internet access. My thought process was, “I don’t need to check my email on my phone. I can go home and do that on my laptop.” Oh how things have changed.

The other day I got a haircut. This is something I do from time to time. It’s prom season for the high schoolers, so on this day, there were lots of teenage girls also at the salon getting fancy up-dos and fantastic face paintings (makeup) done.

I noticed one girl getting her hair done, and her faced was glued to her phone the entire time. Neck pointed down, thumbs tapping away like fire. First of all, how is that helpful for the stylist trying to fancy up her hair? COME ON, SHELLY.

Sorry, this is not about the hair.

But this was ridiculous. It’s out of the habit stage of checking your phone, to being a full-blown obsession to stay connected AT ALL COSTS.

Why are kids getting smartphones at such young ages? What ever happened to using pay phones or calling from the front office of your school? Or how about, just having good communication with your parents, and leaving the need to check in out the door?

The term “App Generation” comes from a book written by Howard Gardner and Katie Davis: The App Generation: How Today’s Youth Navigate Identity, Intimacy, and Imagination in a Digital World. While I haven’t read the book, I got the details from a Huff Post article explaining the main issue at hand: Are smartphones hurting our kids?

We use apps to solve many of our problems, such as getting directions to the new restaurant we’re meeting our friends at for lunch. Kids are adept at using smartphones to solve these problems, but when it comes to real life, they’re behind at defining or solving problems for themselves.

What’s at risk here is building relationships, and not using your phones’ camera as your primary method of eye contact.

I fall guilty to the ease of texting and snapchatting, too. I love the convenience that these modes of communication offer. So even I must make time to grab someone’s face, hold it two inches from my own, and make plans for lunch. (Kidding, I would want a solid three inches of separation.)

My goal is to not get suckered into gifting my future kids with smartphones too soon. That’s quite a ways down the road, so I can’t say what the norm will be at that time. But for now, if you are a parent, could you just relax for a sec?

Image courtesy techmortal.com