The value of a good PM
Too many former big-advertising-turned-digital have a lot of the old team structures in place. But lately, even the up and comer digital agencies have assimilated similar org charts. I’m speaking specifically about the role project management plays in the success of a digital campaign.
All to often, the emphasis is on creative and account management, that the essentials of any business – making money – fall by the wayside. The person best positioned to manage the effectiveness of the project team and handle the myriad of fires that can come up.
This Andy Gould post on AdAge sums it up best.
“Project managers, project managers, project managers. Digital work can be so much more complex to produce than, say, a TV spot, and project managers are the glue that holds it all together. Trust me, with so many moving pieces, it’s helpful to have someone whose sole focus is getting every job done on time and on budget. ” -excerpeted
All those AEs and Marketing folks may think they are doing a bang up job running a schedule, but project management is so much more than that. After all, you don’t ask a PM to push pixels do you? (no offense to those PMs who moonlight as awesome pixel pushers)
Now that doesn’t mean you or your organization should get mired in process-land, and spend more time creating paper than actually being effective. The best project managers know how to use the tools to get the job done most effectively, and don’t use process as a crutch. And it doesn’t matter if you are a serialist (waterfalls) or an agilist (SCRUM etc.), people remember when process works and when it doesn’t – not what process name was used.
We crave order. We organize chaos. We herd cats. We crack whips. We’re the conductors of the orchestra; when we’re allowed to do our thing well – it’s positively symphonic. But when the french horn is trying to supplant the first violin – don’t e surprised when we say no.
Think you can handle it? Up for the challenge? Take the plunge. Volunteer to lead a project under the guidance of a seasoned PM. It may mean long nights, lots of sympathetic ears and absorbing the friction when things heat up. But it can also mean basking in the afterglow of a beautifully executed masterpiece. There’s something masochistically special about it. Or as Chuck Lorre would say, we fuv it.