Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Last week, Andy Sweeting, our Head of Digital and I made our way to the Comedy Store in Manchester for a conference on project management. I’m unsure if the choice of venue was in some way related to the 300 attendees…
There were six main speakers (and a Q&A session), all of whom were excellent and made some brilliant points. But for the purpose of being a better project manager, I’ve focused on the first two – as these were the most specific about project management.
First up was Brett Harned, whose title was simply ‘Be a better project manager’. Pretty handy for a room full of PMs. Brett had 25 tips – I agreed with them all, but four stood out.
Ask questions – To your team, stakeholders and client. Right from the brief to the project review. You must be knowledgable and in control throughout. Be a facilitator, not a gatekeeper.
Learn from your mistakes – We’re all human. We make mistakes. What’s important is how we react and that we learn from them. Use these experiences to be a better PM.
Own your diary – You have to learn to say no. You can’t do everything and attend every meeting. You need to block out time to tackle your priorities. Now I’ve mentioned meetings – always have an agenda.
Have some fun – Projects can become very intense. It happens. You need to know when it’s time to have some fun, laugh with your colleagues and lighten the mood.
Sam Barnes was next with ‘vice/versa client management’. This was funny, with insightful observations and serious messages throughout. It was about what it’s like to be a client. The short version is that it’s hard. But it’s important to realise this and understand things from the client’s perspective to be a better PM.
The common theme about good project management and working with clients is managing expectations. The take home here is simple. Just be honest. It’s inevitable that any kind of inaccuracy, half truth, even if unintentional, will come back to haunt you. Directness is a differentiator – managing clients is easier when you’re direct. It’s important to be open with clients; it builds integrity and trust. This comes down to doing the right thing. And then keep doing the right thing.
If you do all this, then you can’t go too far wrong.
The post DPM:UK: Better project management appeared first on Clock Creative.
