Warning: Controversial post alert

This may make your blood boil, but if it does, please feel free to add a venomous comment or two after reading.

This is a topic I’ve wanted to approach for a few years now and is really more of an open question to the digital community… why do developers live by different rules than others at work?

Note: The term ‘developer’ in this article really means anyone working in a digital environment on the production side, you know, people like this.

The ‘rules’ I’m referring to are specifically surrounding the use of Twitter, blog reading, YouTube, Facebook, flexitime and all of the other things that now seem to be a widely expected, and to some extent, accepted part of everyday life in many digital agencies out there i.e. things that many view as a sign of people not doing the job they’re being paid to.

The context switching argument

As a Web Project Manager I’ve heard the two-pronged ‘context switching’ argument a billion times:

1. More efficient working:
   1. If there wasn’t so much context switching due to meetings and people coming over to me I would work more efficiently.
2. Reason for poor quality or late delivery:
   1. It’s taken longer due to all of the context switching I experienced.

As someone who, albeit unbelievable to some these days, genuinely used to code for a living, I can completely testify that both of these positions are 100% valid. When you’re coding, designing, or even writing a functional specification or creating a big project schedule – being in ‘the zone’ with no distractions is a must, and distractions are such a pain in the arse for momentum.

Is this the solution? Neat idea, or not practical as not everyone can always help with all queries equally?

However, the point to which I elude to above is that it’s not just coders who work better when context switching is kept to a minimum, but it does seem that these are who you hear about from the most – why is that?

And why is it that having a Twitter client permanently on-screen where Tweets are popping up every second, distracting you unexpectedly from your work is considered to be not context switching?

Personal experience

The only reason I’m genuinely curious to hear answers from people on this is because I personally find having things such constantly open on my screen to be a terrible distraction that seriously impedes my productivity and focus.

In fact I find it worse because it tends to be a more frequent occurrence than someone coming over to me or a short-notice meeting being arranged. If I can see a meeting is arranged for two hours time, I’ll tend to work around this necessity rather than complain about it like it’s some big surprise I wasn’t expecting, as do pretty much all other Web Project Managers I’ve worked with – incidentally these people rarely seem to have Twitter open permanently, even the ones who used to design or code.

Is it that I’m just useless as being able to balance these things with my work focus, or is it that it distracts developers just as much as me but they wouldn’t like to admit it in case this culture is stopped dead in its tracks?

Developer’s justification

I’ve discussed this subject for quite a few years with developers in various workplaces and forums, and the common reasons given for this culture being a beneficial one tend to boil down to:

1. It enables me to keep up to date with the latest goings on in the industry.
2. Having a five minute break to browse Twitter or YouTube helps me relax.
3. I can’t be expected to work every minute of every day.

My answers to these have remained fixed over the years:

1. Is there really any industry news that you or the company will benefit from by you knowing about it now as opposed to in a few hours when it’s your lunch, or after work that day?
2. Fair enough, but often it seems more like more than five minutes, just saying…
3. Why not, I do (*kind of)

*Caveat: I fully admit I think I talk more than I should at work, usually distracting my very hard working Web Project Manager colleague, and I also take 2-3 cigarette breaks a day, but you know what, many developers do these things also, on top of the ‘Twitter-thang’.

So is it that it’s simply a case that this culture is beneficial to companies, or is it one that isn’t from a commercial perspective, but is just what we’ve all become conditioned to over the years?

A beneficial culture or merely tolerated?

As an employer or Web Project Manager this is ultimately the big question. I don’t know the answer to this, but as far as I see the point and counterpoints are clear.

Point

Digital folk are a unique bunch of people who generally have a passion for the industry that exceeds the boundaries and hours of their day job.

Most people just don’t understand us and our ways

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More to the point, an employer or Web Project Manager, would rather have people with this passion on their team than those who do not as they’ll tend to go above and beyond, stay up to date with the latest trends and technologies and be more dedicated to the solutions they provide, as opposed to those who see their job as just a job and clock off on time every night.

By promoting a culture where they’re allowed to have Twitter open all day long and read blog posts during work hours means you attract and retain the passionate people in the industry rather than the clock watchers.

Developers can choose when to context switch to Twitter, YouTube or blog posts, as opposed to ad hoc disruptions from Web Project Managers, this timing makes all the difference.

Not permitting this culture would result in the passionate people leaving and a ‘corporate’ environment ensuing, and who wants to work in a corporate environment where every minute of every day is tracked.

Counterpoint

If developers spent less time looking at Twitter, YouTube and blog posts throughout the day more work would get done. If more work gets done, the company is more productive and generally more profitable, which means salaries, perks and benefits go up, not to mention the entire team is trusted more and slowly but surely allowed to run things how they want rather than being micro-managed.

By all means watch videos and Tweet during lunch, and maybe a few times during the day, but abusing this culture really impacts on the perception of how hard you’re working, or highlights the fact that perhaps you aren’t. This in turn de-motivates those who feel they’re working harder than you and to bosses who don’t understand the culture, it re-enforces their perception of you being rebellious teenagers who makez web pagez.

Bosses sometimes subtly stereotype people

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The argument that developers deploy, saying that choosing when to context switch makes all the difference seems to fall flat on its face when you cannot predict what or when a Tweet will appear and they’ll inevitably click through to read no matter what they’re doing at the time.

Each time a mistake is made, delivery is late or budgets overrun, if you cite context switching as being a primary reason, to some this will seem tantamount to insulting given that you visibly spent what seems like ‘too long’ on Twitter during either the early phases of the project of launch week.

My experience, again

Having worked with and for companies that both promote and discourage this culture, I’ve not seen any major differences between attracting quality staff and/or retaining them.

The only difference I’ve seen is in the attitudes of those at companies who discourage it, and it seems a little more commercially minded and contains a lot less ‘divas’.

On the flipside, companies who encourage or permit it tend to seem much ‘cooler’ and more akin to the Google and Facebook-esque era that we now live in.

A Web Project Manager’s perspective

It will be pretty obvious what side of the argument I personally come down on, but the truth is that’s down to utter selfishness.

By that I mean, I too love what I do, I’m a Web Project Manager and my job boils down to delivering web projects on time, on budget and to a good quality standard. There are things that happen during every single web project that seem to be demanded by the Gods to prevent me, and everyone else in the web project management world, from achieving that.

I expect it to happen, I plan for it, I fight for contingency budget to cater for it – I do lots of things, and sometimes even consider praying to the Gods, but obviously don’t – that discussion is for another time – but I don’t blame you in any way, that’s just how web projects go.

Behold the Grump PM and his infinite wisdom

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But while I’m doing all of this to try and make everything run smoothly, as things start to go wrong and the whiners start to whine, I often grumble to myself and others at how the whiners can complain about lack of time or context switching when they’ve found the time to read every Tweet that day, click through to a few links, read the posts and watch several funny videos – it infuriates me – but – I’m ready to understand…

The big five questions

If you’ve made it this far or just skipped to the end like Simon Pegg in Spaced, I’m ready to listen, and I want you to help me understand by answering these questions:

1. Why do you feel context switching when designing or coding is harder than any other context switching for others doing work that requires focussed concentration that perhaps isn’t designing or coding?
2. Why do you find it acceptable and possible to easily context switch between work and Twitter, blog posts etc. when you say you can’t possibly context switch for pre-planned meetings and general day-to-day disruptions that happen during the average working day?
3. Why do you quickly click off Twitter, Amazon, Facebook etc. back to work when you see a manager approaching if you don’t think it’s naughty?
4. Have you ever worked anywhere where this culture was discouraged? What were the big differences?
5. Do you believe there is real commercial value in this culture? If so can you articulate what it is?

C’mon, sell it to me; sell it to our bosses, please. There must be some Web Project Managers our there who also stay on Twitter all day and read blog posts etc. Why do you find it beneficial? Or, in what way do you see it as a beneficial thing for your project team to be doing?

I could arrange for this to be on your desk

Due to growth we’re looking for a new Project Manager to join our team in Windsor, UK. The Project Manager’s role is to plan and manage all aspects of web development projects, delivering quality results on time and on budget.

Reporting to the Technical Director and working closely with the Development Manager and other senior members of the department, the role will be responsible for managing multiple projects from conception to completion.

Responsibilities

• Gather requirements and scope out new development-led projects.
• Write specifications and collate all documentation.
• Liaise with the whole business to agree scope, budget and sign-off.
• Initiate and launch new projects, reviewing successes and failures.
• Motivate, support and monitor in-house and remote team progress.
• Work closely with senior members of the Company.
• Regularly present to and brief the Board on project progress.
• Keep stakeholders updated and informed of issues at all times.
• Lead inter-departmental project meetings and demonstrations.

Skills and requirements

• Degree calibre with background in computing, management, or similar field.
• Demonstrable experience of delivering large web projects on time and on budget.
• Proven project management experience in a digital agency or department.
• Qualifications such as ScrumMaster, PRINCE2, RUP etc. (ideal but not essential).
• Thorough knowledge of web industry trends and latest technologies.
• OmniPlan, Microsoft Project or similar project management software.
• Technical understanding of web development, ideally with hands-on experience.
• Excellent organisational, communication and accuracy skills.

Benefits

We offer fantastic company benefits for permanent employees. Following probation we’ll match up to 5% of your salary into your company stakeholder pension, you’ll be covered with BUPA health care with any medical history disregarded, we’ll cover you with a 4x salary death-in-service life insurance policy, and we’ll contribute to local gym membership.

Check out my bald head, skillz

You’ll get an iMac/MacBook Pro to work on with a second display if you’re on-site and you’ll sit at a big desk. We have free posh coffee machines, orange juicers, games consoles, a football table, pool table and more.

How to apply

If you’re interested in applying or would like to know more, please contact Barry Frost, Technical Director via the official Project Manager job ad on @globaldev »

globaldev can only consider candidates entitled and able to work full-time in the UK.

No agencies please.

• Name: Timothy Quinn
• Company: Transcontinental
• Job Title: Senior Director of Mobile Solutions
• Website: Process Refactored

Tim is a hands-on technical project manager with 15 years of experience in interactive media. He’s taught at CUNY and NYU, and is the author of both a book called Octopus Intelligence and the Process Refactored blog. Tim is also the founder of Project Slicer – a project “post-mortem” platform. Follow Timothy on Twitter »

Although it should be noted not all Web Project Managers are as camp as Ru Paul.

Web Project Management Blog Stats n Stuff

Back in April 2009 I started this web project management blog thinking it would probably die a quick death and no one would read it. To my surprise, and with some shameful self-whoring, it’s had a few visits and some people seem to like my over-opinionated arrogant waffling. A few ego stats…

• 51,295 Unique visitors
• 124, 125 Page views
• 446 Comments
• 3 Server deaths due to Smashing Magazine tweets
• 95 Visitors from George W. Bush’ Axis of Evil countries
• 3 Articles published on Smashing Magazine:
  • Guidelines for Successful Client Communication »
  • How to Explain to Clients They’re Wrong »
  • Effective Strategies To Estimate Web Projects »
• 1 Article published on Think Vitamin:
  • New Technology and Commercial Competitiveness »

The top five most popular posts are:

1. GTD for Web Project Management Revisited »
2. Estimating Time for Web Projects more Accurately series »
3. What Makes a Great Web Project Manager »
4. Pragmatic Web Project Planning series »
5. The 37Signals Planning Philosophy Mistake »

Recent Mobile Web Project @globaldev

I left Volume this year to join Global Personals as a Web Project Manager. I’ve been there six months now and so far so good. Good company, great people and a whole new set of web project management challenges having only had agency experience previously.

Fancy reading what it’s like to be a Web Project Manager at my gaff? A Day in the Life of a Web Project Manager »

I’ve launched several web projects to date, but recently delivered what was my biggest to date so far and under pretty extreme circumstances – a completely new Mobile platform for the business that currently serves over 10 million users.

This is one I believe both the @globaldev team and I can be proud of for a bloody long time.

• Announcing the WLD Mobile Web Platform »
• Building an API and Mobile Platform for 10 Million Users »

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Talking of which, @globaldev are growing rapidly and we’re opening a new London office in Waterloo this year and have a load of positions to fill, both for the London and our existing Windsor offices. So if you fancy any of these, or know of anyone that does, get in contact ASAP!

• Ruby on Rails Developers »
• Lead UX Designers »
• JavaScript Developer »
• Development Manager »

SXSW 2012

Regular readers will know a few of us lowly Web Project Managers submitted a panel proposal for this year’s SXSW: Web Project Management Lessons from Darth Vader. However, despite making it to the very final cut, once again it was access denied boooooo.

Next year I’m going to try again, only this time I intend to use some negotiation tactics I’ve recently learnt!

Web Project Managers Group reaches 1500

Started by Antonio Volpon on LinkedIn, back when I think both of us thought we were the only two Web Project Managers out there, I’m pleased to say the LinkedIn Web Project Managers Group has now grown to over 1500 members and is proving to be a really active community.

I highly recommend you check it out as there are new discussions going on daily where we can all learn a few tips and tricks about our dark art.

Web Project Manager Blogs Discovered

Finally I want to let you know about a few web project management related blogs I’ve come across recently that I’ve really enjoyed reading.

First up we have Suzanne Hayworth. So far she’s only posted a few short articles, but I’d like to encourage her to keep at it :)

Next, while not specifically on the topic of web project management, each post is an absolute gem that contains more expletives than you can shake a stick at and is generally directed at marketing and digital agencies alike – honestly people, have a read and you won’t stop giggling I assure you – for example:

When an agency offers you research, what they’re actually offering you is justification for their shitbrain, cowspunk, sexwater ideas – and they want you to pay for it.
Things I Don’t Want from an Agency, I Am The Client

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you… I Am The Client

And on that note, I bid you farewell until the next post.

What’s more annoying, the crap cliché or font style and position?

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While I’m not going to dispute this, I do feel this life lesson is often misunderstood and even abused in the workplace with the result being failure in the short-term, and in the long-term a very damaging self-perpetuating culture that actually hinders businesses everywhere by scaring employees into silence and creating a delusional mindset – or as described in the fascinating article by Jason Yip…

…a systemic inability to confront brutal reality.
Jason Yip, Why does problem-hiding occur?

To bring it back to a web project management level, I’m talking about a situation where a client or your colleagues give you what looks like an impossible web project-based mountain to climb and when you begin to raise anything other than positive sugar coated comments you’re labelled as being negative.

I’ll say it now – I think this is utter BULLSHIT.

But hang on a minute, how do you know you’re not being negative? How do you know what’s being asked of you and your team is not feasible? How do you know by immediately taking this approach isn’t dooming the challenge to failure before you’ve even tried?

Negativity Explored

The dictionary describes ‘negativity’ as:

Expressing, containing, or consisting of a negation, refusal, or denial – indicating opposition or resistance. Lacking positive or constructive features, unpleasant, disagreeable, gloomy, pessimistic.
The Free Dictionary

Pretty depressing huh, kind of makes you feel like the below made me feel as a child, FIGHT AGAINST THE SADNESS!

Horrific! If you want to take a few minutes to recover at this point I completely understand.

However when it comes to web project management I sincerely believe it is a Web Project Manager’s job to execute most of the actions listed in the first sentence of the dictionary’s definition when necessary, and absolutely at all costs never any of those in the second – thus throwing the very essence of ‘what is negativity’ in web projects into a spin.

It’s my belief that there are two types of people labelled as negative in digital agencies:

1. A person who’s never positive about any web project or agency strategies
2. A person who’s realistic and isn’t afraid to speak up while others are afraid

A feline representation of a Type 1

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For the purposes of this article I’m going to ignore the Type 1 people and leave them with their dehumanised droid-esque title but want to emphasis just how different these two types are.

The Dangers of Blind Positive Thinking

Before I get into why negativity isn’t always bad, let’s look at the benefits of blind positive thinking. I use this term to refer to the mentality adopted by some whereby no matter what the challenge they believe simply by being positive means they will prevail – an attitude commonly associated with entrepreneurs.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that adopting this mindset will see both you and teams working for you through tough times. It is infinitely nicer to work in an environment where everyone is positive rather than negative, it motivates people, it encourages people to excel beyond their previously self-imposed limits and, just like negativity it’s highly infectious.

But, and it’s a big but, at what point does positivity drift into the delusional? I’ll tell you when, it’s at the point where no amount of positive thinking in the whole wide world will revert a doomed situation into a successful one.

To focus 100% on positivity, to try to trick your brain into thinking everything is great, is to prevent yourself from making an impact in your life and in the world. When you turn a blind eye to what’s wrong in the world and what’s wrong in your life, you’ll never be able to do anything to fix it.
Joey Weber, The Case for Being Negative

Positive thinking will not fill your tank with gas when you’ve run out, nor will it get your £100k web project complete for £10k – in steps the realist – or in the context of this article, the Web Project Manager.

Weeeeeee… donk!

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There will be points in a Web Project Manager’s career where they have to be the ones to put a total shitter on everyone’s ‘positive’ plans by getting annoying logical on their ass, some will call this being negative, but it isn’t, it’s just fact.

Sometimes you have to ram home the dangers of blind positive thinking and stop people making huge mistakes on web projects, but the method you choose to do this can seriously make or break your reputation as a Web Project Manager – play it wrong and you’ll be labelled as negative and future sceptical stands will be ignored, play it right and over time your judgment will be trusted.

The Confession

As with any lesson in web project management I’ve ever learnt, I learnt it the hard way, by making mistake after mistake. For example, when being given completely unrealistic budgets or deadlines I’ve made a ‘you must be mental‘ face and pretty much said that.

I was told to stop being so negative and to get on running the web project. I ran it to the best of my ability and of course it ran massively over schedule and budget. Was I right 99% of the time? You bet your sweet ass I was, but had I played this situation well? Hell no.

What I had done was de-motivate my boss, my team, myself and spent the whole project uttering bad things and occasionally getting accused of actually causing the overrun due to my negativity – total nonsense but also a total fail on my part.

Naughty Web Project Manager

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So what exactly did these painful lessons teach me… they taught me how to communicate realism.

How to Be Negative (Realistic)

Below are the lessons I’ve learnt when it comes to expressing huge concerns about web projects. If only one or two Web Project Managers out there can put these into practice and save themselves from some pain, I’ll be a happy little Englishman.

It’s Not Obvious to Everyone

First of all, when I was pulling my ‘you must be mental’ face I was making the mistake of assuming that the ‘mission impossible demand’ was so obviously unachievable only a fool could think otherwise.

Later I realised this is not the case and that was actually my experience managing web projects that meant I could see it immediately from a proposal, an estimate or proposed timeline, where others could not.

Think Before You Speak

Before you pull your version of ‘the face’ take a few minutes to consider the very real possibility that it’s not common sense but actually your skill, your expertise and the very reason they hired you that make it so clear to see – even if you’re completely right, holding back from reacting quickly will save you oodles of pain.

Her Twitter profile says “CEO of my vagina” – genius

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Ignore Your Instinct, Maybe It’s Possible

Instead of immediately going toe-to-toe with a positive smiley person and ruin their mood and your reputation, start by being humble and consider the fact that your instincts may be wrong.

Approach the problem logically i.e. take all of the requirements, break them down into smaller chunks and assign money, time or people to it on the absolute happy path where there is zero resistance and see if in fact you’re right.

Try your damndest to make it work on paper, and only when you’ve sincerely tried every trick in the web project management book and still you find gaping holes can you start to take the next steps.

Don’t Use Your Opinion, Use Cold Hard Numbers

Once you’ve done all the calculations for the happy path, save it and format it in such a way that it cannot be disputed by anyone regardless of their sunny disposition. Although taking longer, this is the maths equivalent of the ‘are you mental’ face and is much more powerful, unless you’re Chuck Norris.

Chuck Norris can use Comic Sans

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Offer a Real Solution, and Get Positive!

This is one of the most important lessons in web project management, if not life… if you flat out disagree with something, don’t waste the limited time you have on this planet whining about it unless you’re willing to try and fix it.

As a Web Project Manager it’s your job to solve problems just as much as it is a designer’s or developer’s job.

Always follow the unveiling of your dream crushing numbers with either a proposed solution or a forum where a solution can be derived. Be it by adding more resource to a web project, using clever workarounds to achieve the same goals, getting more money or phasing the solution.

But don’t stop there, do the numbers on this too. Get the web project into a position where, even if it’s still going to be a mission, everyone, including you is able to get genuinely positive about it again!

The Crux of the Matter

Anyone who hides behind the mask of eternal and permanent positivity claiming that anyone who protests are all negative, aside from getting right on my tits, need a swift kick up the behind.

There is a very real difference between being negative and being realistic.

A negative person is rarely positive, a realistic person is sometimes positive and sometimes not, but when not, always tries to get things into a state where they can feel positive about it as opposed to constantly ‘thinking positive’ and screwing up time and time again.

Being realistic does not mean limiting your dreams; it simply means you make sensible steps to reaching them.

To be realistic is to think about things that you feel are really possible to achieve.
Difference Between Negative and Realism

There are only two things known to excite the human race that take nine months to evolve from a seed into a fully formed being; a baby, and a SXSW Panel. However, babies only proceed to talk non-stop around six months later whereas successful SXSW Panel members begin immediately!

Here are five facts:

1. SXSW 2012 is here!
2. Web Project Management talks are in demand
3. I have submitted a panel and it’s called…
4. Web Project Management Lessons from Darth Vader
5. You like this and must vote for it now

After the phenomenal success of the 2011 panel submission, Project Management for Humans (that became a Core Conversation but had people queuing out of the door!), this year we hope to get onto that panel list as clearly there is a demand for web project management-based talks.

Brett Harned presenting at last year’s SXSW, like a boss

So, in preparation for next year’s event, once again I call upon you to login and cast your vote for a web project management-based panel I’ve submitted with a few familiar Web Project Manager faces.

Web Project Manager Force

Below are the details of the web project management-based panel, please head on over and place your vote by going to URL, logging in (or creating an account if you don’t have one yet) and clicking on the little thumbs up icon.

Panel Title

Web Project Management Lessons from Darth Vader

Web Project Manager Speakers

• Sam Barnes (Project Manager at Global Personals)
• Brett Harned (Senior Project Manager at Happy Cog)
• Ani Moller (Project Manager at Shift)
• Cola Richmond (Head of PM at View Strategic)

Panel Description

Many web designers and developers do the unthinkable and join the dark side, they become Web Project Managers! However most underestimate its powers. Web project management is dark art and there’s no better master to teach us than Lord Vader himself.

The Sith are well known for their flipchart brainstorming prowess

In this discussion a council of battle-hardened Web Project Managers will look at what tips we can take from Darth with regards to the processes and challenges we face every day when planning, designing and delivering both small and large websites and web applications.

Working with internal senior management and Emperor-esque clients, managing Stormtrooper productions armies like a boss, dealing with Bounty Hunter contractors and making brave decisions based on mystic instinct – this guy has all the skills.

Not to mention the job that must have been the sitemap, wireframe and functional specification that resulted in the launch of the Death Star v1.0.

Join us in the digital Jedi temple to find how web projects can be delivered smoothly.

Some Questions That Will Be Covered

1. What are the best ways to manage multiple web projects?
2. How do I manage difficult clients?
3. What makes web designers and developers happy, and angry with Web Project Managers?
4. Agile or Waterfall, what works best for web projects?
5. What are the common pitfalls when managing web projects and how can I avoid them?

Target Audience

Web Project Managers, Digital Producers, Account Managers, Senior Web Designers and Developers, Digital Freelancers and even Managing Directors – if you work in digital it doesn’t matter what skills you have, if you can’t effectively manage projects you’re in trouble. This talk will have something valuable for anyone involved in the management of web projects.

• Cmon, get voting already!

Other Web Project Management Panels

As well as my own, I’m happy to say there are a growing number of web project management-based submissions this year that you may want to check out:

• Dealing With The “F” Word: Feedback
• Digital Project Management: Commonly Made Mistakes

My role as a Web Project Manager is to make the web developer’s jobs stress free.

At the time I thought this was just a fancy little trick to make the guy give me an interview gold star from his point of view, however, in my subsequent years as a Web Project Manager I’ve come to realise this wasn’t just a nice line to use – it’s actually one of the core principles of being a good Web Project Manager and actually extends further than web developers.

I now believe that one underlying line in any Web Project Manager Job description should be:

My role as Web Project Manager is to make everyone’s job as productive and stress free as possible.

With focus on web designers and developers, but true for the whole project team, let me explain…

Web Team Expertise Focus

Over the years I’ve seen digital agencies making big mistakes when it comes to effective web project management. One of the most common mistakes was having production team members e.g. web designers and developers performing web project management tasks rather than keeping them focussed on what they do best, designing and developing.

Web designers and web developers are highly skilled people and nothing will destroy their passion, productivity and morale quicker than having them involved in areas of a web project that stop them from doing what they love and do best, designing and developing.

The range of tasks that can stop these experts from doing what they’re hired to do are endless, but what is finite is that when it comes to web project team management, one primary goal of a Web Project Manager is to do everything within their power to ensure these guys and gals don’t get sidetracked or bogged down in things that will reduce the quality of their work.

The minute this happens the effectiveness of the team is diluted, momentum is reduced and Web Project Managers need to understand this.

Whether you used to be a web designer or developer or not, you have to appreciate that when these guys are in the zone and working hard to meet deadlines you probably set out for them, stopping to answer the phone, an e-mail or an ad hoc question can seriously break their flow and it takes time to get back into it.

Web Project Managers Are Stress Sponges

Another key aspect to being a good Web Project Manager is keep the production teams as stress free as possible by absorbing as much stress for them as you can.

This should be included in Web Project Manager induction packs

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Although never on any Web Project Manager Job description, it should be assumed that part of the role is to basically take crap on behalf of your team in such a way that they don’t even get a whiff of it, even if they’re the cause of it.

During a web project there are a zillion things that will happen that will cause stress, but a test of your team management leadership skills is to see how much of this stress you can personally absorb in such a way that your production team don’t feel the heat, why?

Simply because a stressed web designer or developer will not work as well as a happy one.

Why Should I Take All The Crap!?

Many Web Project Managers out there have asked this question and it’s a valid one, but the answer is because it’s your job.

Think about it, your boss right now, do you think he or she is completely open with all members of their company about all the issues that exist right now? Of course not. While they may be transparent with many about certain workflow or revenue concerns they don’t bother the design or development teams with tax or buildings insurance issues.

Web Project Managers must shield their teams

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There is a reason for this, it’s because it would serve no purpose other than to make everyone worry, and what happens when people are worried? They start to feel negative and this will only result in negative impact across the entire company.

Although a rather elaborate example, the theory is the same as to why you as a Web Project Manager should take all the crap you can and shield your web project team from it – because your job is to keep your team positive, motivated and focussed on their job – and if this means taking some crap you know you don’t deserve then so be it.

If you don’t like the sound of this then you have no business being a Web Project Manager, or a manager of any kind for that matter.

Web Project Managers Play Rhythm Guitar

If you want to be a good Web Project Manager you should try to aim to be a rhythm guitarist rather than play lead guitar or sing lead vocals.

By this I mean you should understand that your job is to sit behind the boys and girls that get all the attention for finished products and make sure everything runs smoothly without expecting any glory – for example, in the video below I’m not the pretty boy on lead, but his much wiser looking band mate on the left… cool eh!

Or as my Dad once told me, a good rhythm guitarist keeps the song going in such a way that when they’re playing you tend not to notice, but if they were taken away you immediately notice and the song falls flat on its face.

I’ve worked on many web projects in the past where the final website or application was delivered and all the praise was focussed around how beautiful the end product looked or how amazing this or that piece of functionality was – and the point here is that despite no one saying how great the web project management was, I didn’t mind one bit – I took an enormous amount of silent pleasure at the smiles on the faces of the designers and developers as they were patted on the back.

In many cases only I knew what stresses there was along the way and how much crap I’d taken on behalf of the team, and on occasion how I’d opted to make myself look at fault rather than make sure blame was assigned to who it should’ve been, but I kept it quiet and sat there smiling to myself because I had done my job.

And while this may all sound like some kind of self-proclaimed nobility and humility, it really isn’t. I just adamantly believe that a Web Project Manager’s greatest success should come in the form of being able to sit back and watch others be praised knowing that behind it all was you – I get more pleasure and satisfaction from that then receiving praise myself and have noticed this is a common trait among Web Project Managers the more I meet.

But I deserve some credit surely!?

People Aren’t Stupid, Respect Will Come

Of course Web Project Managers deserve credit for successful web projects, but I personally find that this comes over time, but if you’re like me it’s not so much credit that you want, it’s respect, and respect from not only management by the production team too.

Respect lil man!

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In the heat of the moment when you’re taking the crap from someone or for someone it can often make you question why you’re bothering, after all Web Project Managers are just human too. Every part of you wants to shout out that actually it’s not your fault and it’s his or hers, and why should you be suffering all the stress when you’re not at fault.

But if you continually stay strong and show strength of character your manager and production teams will start to notice just what part you play in the success and appreciate it.

This not only means you can look yourself in the mirror at night knowing you’ve retained your dignity when others would’ve play the blame game, but you also gain an awful lot of respect that in the long term will actually reduce your own stress levels as people want to work for you more and more.

It’s kind of a strange philosophy but it seems to work – make your mission to make everyone else look good without ever expecting reward or credit, and somehow you end up looking good and receiving reward and credit.

Anyone who sets out on a mission to make themselves look good and receive reward or credit above their team – always seem to end up looking like dickheads.

Web Project Managers – don’t be a dickhead

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So what can you do to minimise getting a ‘dickhead’ label?

Web Project Manager Anti-Dickhead Tips

Below are my top ten tips of how to make web designer’s and developer’s jobs as easy and stress free as possible by keeping them focussed on what they do best, which of course makes your web projects run smoother – if you get some respect along the way then consider it a bonus, not a birth right.

1. Try to pick the right moments to disturb them with questions e.g. be observant enough to realise when they’re in ‘the zone’
2. Don’t just forward website or application issues to them, try to identify the problem yourself so they can easily replicate the issue and get to work on the solution rather than investigation
3. Don’t drag them into meetings they don’t need to be in. If questions come up that they’re best to answer, take a note and get back to whoever once you have the answer
4. Be willing to push back clients or other teams if they need more time
5. Never say something is urgent when the truth is it’s easier for you to pressure them than to have an awkward conversation with someone else
6. Don’t let them work too much overtime to hit a target, if burn out is looking possible, send them home and take crap from the boss yourself
7. Have the balls to defend your team to management when it would be easier to blame them
8. Don’t gossip with them about web project politics, keep that to yourself
9. Put yourself in their shoes and make sure they get the files and documents they need in an organised manner
10. Never ever see yourself as above them

Have you got any anti-dickhead tips for keeping web production teams focussed and stress free? Let me know in the comments.

Is it about how to manage clients? Or maybe how to spot bad clients? Or what about how to handle client meetings? You could do an article that was more client-focussed.
@ioptics, Every single bloody night, 2010 – 2011

I then let him beat me at FIFA so he doesn’t go to bed crying. However, as much as it pains me to say it, he does make a good point.

The Game Genie is the only way @ioptics can win

There are an awful lot of web project management articles out there that are focussed on client management, as well as estimating, scope creep and budgets etc. but one area that is often overlooked is what part a Web Project Manager can play in team management.

My next series of articles will focus more on the internal aspects of web project management.

This article focuses on why and how a Web Project Manager should resolve common issues that cause internal team conflicts that ultimately stall web projects and lower team morale.

Dysfunctional Digital Families

Web designers hate developers, developers whine about designers and both bitch about the Web Project Managers – this is the stereotypical view of the relationship between these three parts of a web project team that resembles what social workers would undoubtedly call a dysfunctional digital family.

Why can’t we just all get along like this?

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The reasons for these notoriously frosty relationships have been well documented over time in articles such as:

• Two Cats in a Sack: Designer-Developer Discord
• Why Project Managers are a Barrier for Designers

However, as my comments in the latter article suggests, I believe the reasons for issues all boil down to four things:

1. Conflicting priorities
2. Arrogance
3. Lack of competence
4. Low awareness of the bigger picture

Guess what, these four things are here to stay and as well as having to manage multiple web projects, several clients, a handful of suppliers and even your boss to some extent – I sincerely believe it’s down to the Web Project Manager to also manage these aspects of a digital team dynamics.

As some of you may be thinking right now “Why me!?”, well here’s why…

Web Project Managers: It’s Your Job

The simple answer to why it should be you, is because as a Web Project Manager you are responsible for the successful delivery of the web project and failure to manage the four issues will almost certainly result in either web project failure or a lower quality result than it could’ve been.

Not only are you responsible, but you’re often the only person with the full overview of the situation and thus are best placed to start resolution and below are some approaches to each.

Conflicting Priorities

As a Web Project Manager you are smack bang in the middle of web projects. Your boss just wants the project to go well, the client wants what they paid for, designers want to produce something they can be proud of and developers want to create elegant efficient code that solves the problem.

You have to manage bitches like this and their priorities

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Unfortunately these priorities often clash and this is where the problems start, but the resolution approach is generally the same…

First you must understand the priorities of each party, then empathise completely, and finally educate all on everyone else’s priorities and feelings – and you have to do so in a way that leaves each party empathetic to all sides of the equation and willing to compromise.

To effectively achieve this you have to believe and champion the notion that no one is looking to screw anyone else over and all parties are just looking to produce the best thing they can – and you know what, this isn’t fantasy land, this is pretty much always the case but for some reason it’s rarely communicated.

Arrogance

We’ve all met them, the arrogant designer, developer and even the occasional arrogant Web Project Manager :)

They think they know it all and when challenged they see it as almost an insult, dig their heels in and seemingly set out on a mission to be as obstructive as possible to a smooth web project process.

Look at him, he so thinks he’s it!

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However the truth is, pride and a high level of skill mixed with confidence is often mistaken for just arrogance. But whether these people are good or not is irrelevant really when it comes to eliminating this as a cause of web project problems.

Your mission is to remove barriers to momentum and get things going again and so, when faced with an arrogant team member just take them to one side and talk to them with respect about what their issues are – and when I say talk to them, really talk and more importantly listen first, and then once you’ve fully understood their issues make sure they know you’ve understood and then proceed to explain how all you want to do is move things forward.

Try offering up parallel issues that another team has with the project, try to make them appreciate it’s not just them in a bit of a situation and then finally make sure to leave the room with a deal that removes the barrier.

Lack of Competence

Sometimes a designer will hate a developer for putting the brakes on a design element that would require certain rocket science functionality, or a developer will get annoyed with a designer because a PSD has been poorly organised – while these situations can arise due to poor communication or squeezed time, it can also be a simple case of a lack of competence.

“Seriously guys, I swear I did it right this time, ya feel me?”

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In either case there is one sure fire way to make matters worse and that’s to bitch and whine with either party about the other. Instead of enflaming the issue look at positive ways to solve it.

Immediately quell any slating of anyone and start to guide the conversation to a vibe of “Ok, how are we going to fix this now and make sure it doesn’t happen again”. Again, by default take the position that the person who has caused issues with low competence probably meant well and what’s needed is education not crucifixion.

Get the two parties together and facilitate a little informal session on why this element causes issues and what approach can be taken in the future to reduce them.

You’d be surprised how quickly the tone turns from spiteful and toxic to something a little more positive and constructive when a Web Project Manager gets two people together and facilitates a little education session, that leaves both parties feeling a little bit more empathetic towards the other.

Low Awareness of the Bigger Picture

Aside from conflicting priorities this is probably the most common reason for internal squabbling on digital teams and having been on the production side myself I can think back to when I was the biggest culprit.

I would build a site in superbly clean front-end code and then get annoyed when I was told there was no time to ensure the site passed a heap of accessibility checkpoints, be it through testers or by human testing – outrageous!!

“Oh no you didn’t just ask me to use inline CSS!!!”

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Despite meaning well and knowing what best practice was I just didn’t understand that from a commercial standpoint that there just wasn’t the budget to allow me to do this. The mistake my manager at the time made was not to explain this to me in a way I could understand – I was totally peed off and thought he didn’t care about best practice.

From experiences like this I learnt that in similar design or development situations where a Web Project Manager will make a decision that makes production teams vomit, it’s important that you communicate that you’re fully aware it’s not best practice and then move onto explain why you’ve made the decision.

It really annoys me when any management person talks about production teams as if they don’t care about the commercial side of business, or even worse, wouldn’t understand it – bullshit.

Web designers and developers are very smart people and if they’re talked to as such I’ve yet to find one that doesn’t end up appreciating why they have to ‘code it dirty’ from time to time. No, it doesn’t make them happy to do so, nor will it stop the same frustrations next time as these people have passion and pride, but it does get the job done and compliance should always be rewarded on a future web project with some breathing space to do the right thing.

I genuinely believe if a production team member seems to not care about the bigger picture, his manager or Web Project Manager has simply not found the right way to communicate it and they should keep trying before assuming the worst of the person.

Summary

While there are many more common issues experienced within digital teams, the main points I wanted to get across are that as a Web Project Manager you should see it as your responsibility to try and resolve any issues that are causing problems with your web projects.

Please do not immediately go bleating to your manager or colleagues about these issues, first try and resolve them yourself.

Running to your manager each time not only puts more on their already busy plates, but it also loses you massive respect points from your team, the very people you’re meant to be leading and keeping motivated to work for you – the manager route should be your last point of call, not first.

Web Project Managers should never run to Lumbergh

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Always start by being empathetic to Jedi levels when any issues arise. So often I see in-house fighting between two parties that turns nasty when all along both just wanted to do what they saw as the right thing – stop it before it turns nasty by genuinely (not falsely) listening and understanding the reasons for the feelings – a powerful weapon in the Web Project Manager’s arsenal is the ability to empathise where others cannot.

Make sure to resolve each conflict with education. This education could take many forms, be it on the skills front or business angle, but make sure that by the end of it all parties involved have a heightened awareness to the feelings of others and increased knowledge on how to avoid it next time.

Do you have any golden tips on managing internal issues in production teams?

What I especially loved about Rafael’s article was that as well as being funny, it actually was a pretty accurate list that I bet so many web developers can relate to, and he was using this approach to raise awareness among visual designers about what makes web projects go tits up from his perspective.

Rafael Mumme: My kinda man (no not like that!)

Although a different tactic, the desired result is similar to that which I will discuss in a new article I’m currently drafting, on resolving issues in web project management teams – one major point being to always educate colleagues about why certain things they do cause issues on web projects for others.

Of course, I just couldn’t help but jump on the bandwagon and immediately start drafting a list of the things that production teams do that really gets up Web Project Manager’s noses.

So, before I finish off some articles that defend you… Visual designers, Front-end Specialists, UX teams and Web Developers – please make sure you follow these guidelines if you want to get on the wrong side of your Web Project Manager :)

1. Make sure to only fill in your timesheets at the end of the week, it adds excitement to a web project when on Friday morning we think we have 20% budget left but by the end of Friday we’re 5% over.
2. When we chase you to make sure you’ve filled out your timesheet, remember to make the insightful point that while you’re doing this you’re not working. For bonus points ask how long you should add into your timesheets for the task of filling out your timesheets. As Web Project Managers we sometimes forget that the only reason we find the time is because we’re not as busy as you.
3. When we ask you to complete a task, please don’t let us know when you’ve completed it – let us chase you, we love being kept on our toes.
4. Keep drumming it into us that no one uses Windows or Internet Explorer anymore. Despite the analytics saying different, if you keep saying it, preferably with a sneer, then one day we’ll realise we’re wrong and thank you.
5. Don’t waste time reading our detailed functional specifications, scan read it and get the general idea of the features, then just get coding as soon as possible – neither the client nor us will mind.
6. Try not to open your work e-mail client more than once a day. Our e-mails to you are rarely important. But so you can stay on top of your industry, please keep your personal e-mail , Tweetdeck and IM client open at all times – you never know when that game changing Tweet will be published.
7. Please do not spend twenty minutes setting up any rules in your work e-mail client. Having an Inbox with 3000 auto-generated messages from 40 applications has efficiency value that we just don’t want to admit.
8. When finishing off a feature don’t waste time testing it thoroughly, that’s what we’re here for and we rely on to fill our days.
9. When it comes to the boring part of a web project like content entry or browser testing, make sure to lower the quality level of your work – it highlights to us that you’re above it and that we should hire a junior to do this kind of work.
10. No matter what, never ever test a website or web application on staging or production servers after deploying – if it worked on your local development environment it will definitely work on staging and production with no issues.
11. If asked to make a change halfway through development of a template or feature, always assume this is due to Web Project Manager incompetence rather than client-lead.
12. Keep pushing to go ‘lean’ and ‘agile’. Web Project Managers are old fashioned and always want to plan in detail despite the fact it’s incredibly boring and has no value. The real secret is to just start coding and see how it goes from there.
13. If you find yourself with nothing to do, don’t come and tell us. Instead make use of the time by watching a few videos on YouTube or reading that blog you like so much.
14. To help us keep our feet on the floor, please look at us with disgust and complain to someone on your table that we are useless because we don’t know web development like you – we know we really should be experts in all digital fields and are simply too lazy to learn.
15. When we give you more work please take the time to look horrified. Web Project Managers often get so far up the senior management’s asses they start to believe it’s more work that keeps us all in jobs.
16. When at lunch in the office and you’re sitting on a beanbag playing Xbox, don’t forget to mention how much better it probably is to work at another place where you don’t have to put up with the hardships you do at your current place.
17. Never give up stating how constant interruptions break your flow. The trouble with Web Project Managers is they just don’t realise that it depends on what kind of interruption it is. Work-based interruptions from managers are disruptive, Twitter disruptions are not – it’s obvious when you think about it.
18. When replying to e-mails that a Web Project Manager has CCd two other people on, don’t hit Reply All. This is tantamount to you being in a meeting and is a waste of your time.
19. Absolutely never agree to “just code it dirty”. You know as well as I do that all Web Project Managers care about is their precious schedule and budget, and if they’re asking you to bypass best practice it’s probably for no other reason than because they don’t care about standards and isn’t a commercial decision.
20. When anything goes wrong on a project, always blame the Web Project Manager just like Sir Alan does – this earns you big respect points amongst your peers.

As I said, my next few articles are all about defending you guys, so go easy on me :) actually don’t, blast me to hell and back in the comments, it’ll be fun.

If you’re based in the UK, live in, or fancy re-locating to the lovely Berkshire area (the term “lovely” excludes Slough) then check out some of these great opportunities at some great local digital companies I’ve had dealings with in one way or another.

Global Personals

My new place, heard it’s nice :)

Global Personals currently have a whole heap of roles to fill! They need a Development Manager, Ruby on Rails and ColdFusion web developers, Software Engineers, PPC Executives and more…

• Global Development vacancies »
• Global Personals vacancies »

Volume

My favourite place to work so far

With an ever expanding list of clients, web projects and products, Volume have a shed load of jobs right now and, as you may be able to tell from my previous post, I enjoyed working there loads and have no doubts you would too. Technology, Client Services, Creative or Social Media – Volume has a role for you!

• Volume vacancies »
• SociView vacancy »

Rawnet

Good people, nice offices, cool projects – FTW

Based in Windsor, Rawnet are currently looking for a New Business Development Manager and Web Designer to work in their fantastic offices that contains the Holy Grail, an on-site Costa Coffee! Nomz.

• Rawnet vacancy »

3seven9

Ahhh, my first love :)

3seven9 is where I was born into the digital world full time. They have a great team and are looking to hire a Digital Project Manager and Social Media Executive.

• Digital Project Manager vacancy »
• Social Media Executive vacancy »

Creative Jar

Friendly people and exciting projects lined up!

I’ve admired Creative Jar’s work for years and from their offices in Twyford they continue to knock out great looking websites and applications time and time again. They’re currently looking for a Mid-level Web Project Manager.

• Creative Jar vacancies »

Brandwidth

Already iOS app legends

Having met with a few people that work there and worked with another, I can honestly say Brandwidth seems like a cool place to work with a great set of talented people. No specific jobs advertised right now but they’re always on the lookout.

• Get in touch with Brandwidth about a job »

Langland

Award winning pharma marketing agency

I’ve worked with Langland and at their luxurious Windsor-based offices (right opposite Windsor Castle) and in the last year they’ve really ramped up the digital side of their service offering for their clients in the pharmaceutical sector. At the moment they’re looking for a Digital Product Manager, Digital Designer and Senior Creatives.

• Langland vacancies »

Nine Four

Always producing top quality work

Nine Four are a cool little agency in Berkshire who are currently looking for a part-time PHP / MySQL Web Developer.

• Contact Nine Four about a job »

Oh, and I’ll also be working on a Mac for the first time ever – yeah laugh it up fuzzballs, you know who you are!!

To get myself back into the article writing zone I thought I’d write transparently about my experiences at Volume, why I chose to move on and what I’m hoping to gain from my new role… plus do a little bit of pimping for both companies on the job front in a subsequent post.

I can’t promise any web project management tips here, but perhaps can shed some light on the experience of moving from a small digital agency to a larger one – something I know many wonder about but fear. Would it be what many small agency teams think; red tape and processes getting in the way of real work, or not?

Well no, it wasn’t any of this, in fact it’s been a completely positive experience and, despite a serious shock to my system in the early transition days, I can honestly debunk the myth that working for a larger digital agency cannot be as much fun, creative and rewarding as the smaller ‘cooler’ places. Or to coin an ex-colleague’s phrase, it wasn’t “corporate hell” as many thought it may be.

Of course this is only my one personal experience… please post yours in the comments.

Before Volume, the smaller agencies

For years I’d worked solely in small digital agencies as a Web Project Manager where I would be given web projects, either just before pre-sale was complete or just after, and pretty much told to run it from there – I loved it.

Learning the ropes at small agencies is way fun

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During my time at these smaller agencies I picked up invaluable skills in client and team management, plus got a swift kick in the naivety area with regards to commercial realities for both clients and agencies.

Despite being a tough manic life in a smaller agency, I don’t regret a minute of it as its hardcore valuable deep-end learning and you make friends for life by overcoming massive challenges.

It got to a point where I felt that despite the constant challenge that is being a Web Project Manager in a small agency, I’d tested many of my theories on running projects with reasonable success and it was time to enter into a new area of the industry at a larger agency to find out what it’s like.

I went to Volume twelve months ago with absolutely no idea what to expect. My goals at the time were to experience bigger agency life; see if I liked it, see if I could survive and ideally see if I could thrive and excel in it.

Volume, the bigger agency

Volume is a digital marketing agency based in Wokingham, UK. As well as working with clients like Dell, Oracle and Zebra they’re currently developing a quite frankly amazing social media mapping application called SociView, definitely check it out and tell your boss to!

SociView by Volume == sexy

My first few months at Volume were some of the most humbling of my career to date. I went from feeling comfortable, knowledgeable, competent and pretty much at the top of game, to realising my expertise at that stage was very much small agency-based and that this was a whole new ball game!

I was back to knowing nothing and feeling very green indeed – a bit like Luke blasting off from Mos Eisley and losing a laser battle with a retarded looking floating ball.

A humbling experience for even a Jedi

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For the first few months the senior members of my team had to endure questions from me almost every five minutes on who I should speak to, what I should do with this enquiry, what happens in the standard workflow now, what does this site or application do – and so on – but the support I received was amazing.

Within a few months I was working away while the frequency of questions slowly but surely became less frequent and then before I knew I was just one of the team running projects and dealing with queries with little support.

Not only was I getting on with work, but I was also observing how a larger digital agency operates and it sure was an eye opener and I highly recommend it to anyone who works at small agencies and think they have a rounded view of how businesses are run – I’m sure you do, but body shape jokes aside, my experience is now all the more rounded.

Volume is a really great place to work and I learnt so much. Not only new skills but also on a human level. Going to a company of one hundred people I fully expected to seriously dislike at least ten, but to my complete surprise that number was zero!

Thank you Volume, you showed me people are nice!

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Everyone there is so hard working, supportive, friendly and the management set out plans and actually follow them through. The offices are stunning and the employees are treated really well. Of course I heard a few gripes in my time there (and yes uttered a few myself), but I wouldn’t mind speaking to those people in a few years after they’ve tried a few other places and asking them for a revised opinion – trust me, it’s a very good place to work and there are much worse out there!

On a personal level, from working in such a friendly and positive environment, I also noticed my own personality and outlook on things in general change quite dramatically over the months.

I remember presenting an early detailed web project schedule to a Senior Management member and feeling really defensive from the start, as if I was ready to fight my corner as to why I felt it had to be detailed and why it would take as long as my schedule suggested – but I wasn’t challenged, in fact the realistic approach and detail was appreciated, boy was I embarrassed at being aggressive – and from that moment on I felt I had exorcised any demons I had, felt valued, motivated and actually positive! Yes I know, me, positive! The mind boggles ;)

…and to anyone reading this and thinking “Wow, what a total arse licker!” – all I can say is, if you know me then you’ll know that licking boss’ arses is not something I do and that I always speak my mind truthfully and openly whether you’re a junior or a CEO, perhaps too truthfully on many occasions. My old MD once described me as:

…having about the same amount of tact as being hit in the face with a brick.
My old MD

This still makes me giggle because he was spot on at the time :)

Watch the video below and imagine you’re the dog, I’m the cat, and I want to communicate with you I disagree strongly…

Subtlety is key in web project management

Watch the video on YouTube

Simply put, if I didn’t honestly think this about Volume I just wouldn’t have written this post.

All in all at Volume I picked up more invaluable skills than expected. I now have experience in working in that larger environment and the different pressures, priorities and challenges that come with that.

I’ve now worked with comparatively huge budgets and large teams, plus with multiple departments, all with their own set of priorities, and learning how to traverse these tricky waters so that everyone remains happy and gets what they want – trust me, this requires a whole new set of skills to small agency life but is an extension to agency / client relationship management.

Also I learnt what it’s like to have a formal team structure with support lines in place. Coming from a small agency background, this is one of the best things about a larger organisation – never was I alone with a problem, never did I not have people to help me left right and centre – bliss!

I really could go on and on about the benefits of working for a larger digital agency. So what are the downsides? Well for me personally there really was only one and that was no longer being in full control of all aspects of a web project.

Are Web Project Managers control freaks?

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No longer was ‘I da man’ but instead I was now part of a much bigger project team, all playing their part to bring the project to delivery. But this was my small agency mentality, and to be quite honest, my arrogant side coming out. No, I wasn’t the man anymore, I was part of a large team and this is how larger agencies operate – I had to grow up a little.

But the great thing about working for a larger organisation is if you air these concerns at the appropriate time a good management team look for opportunities in future projects where you can flex the muscles you want to – and that they did for me too.

So what the hell Sam, why are you leaving a job that you appear to love so much!? The simple answer is that despite being pretty damn happy in my job I had this little voice urging me to try and step up again, to venture into uncharted waters – believe me, a part of me wants to punch that little voice right on the big fat nose but I think that may constitute self-harming.

The Mindf*&k

After being given an offer for a Senior Web Project Manager position at medium-sized well respected agency, that was more similar to the smaller agency environments I’d worked in previously and clearly full of lovely people, I suddenly had this horrible feeling that this perhaps was not what I wanted right now after all – this was a massive surprise to myself and for weeks I just couldn’t unscramble all my feelings and decide what it was I actually wanted – extremely frustrating for all those involved.

On one side I had Volume, a great place to work with great people where I felt happy and on the other, a Senior Project Manager position – a step up in position, responsibility and for an agency whose work I’d admired for years.

Confusion is a total bitch

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What I slowly figured out was that I didn’t want to go back to the smaller agency side of things just yet, not to say I never will, just not quite yet. I felt it was something I’d spent years doing and if I wanted to would hopefully have the credibility to go back into if I wanted.

What I actually wanted was to be a Web Project Manager in a company like Volume, in terms of size and organisation and all the plus points over small agency stated above – not something I’d done before hence brand new skills. From the Web Project Manager interviews I’d started last year I’d noticed a few interviewees working in this capacity and I remember thinking at the time “Hmmm that sounds interesting, I’ve never done that”.

This is the primary reason why I became interested in my next role at Global Personals.

Global Personals, the next challenge

My Web Project Manager role at Global Personals will be familiar in some ways in that I know quite a few people that work there, know they’re top notch at what they do and more importantly I genuinely like them, however quite unfamiliar in other ways…

Global Personals, not Personnels as I keep saying

At Global I’ll be a Web Project Manager who has no clients and isn’t creating a new site or application for various businesses from scratch. Instead I’m swapping clients for management and new builds for new delivery of new features to a large existing platform.

Like with my journey to Volume, my expectations at this point are quite open. All I know for sure is that this seems like it will require a hybrid of my web project management experience (schedules, budgets and scope) combined with my more recent skills I was able to develop at Volume and particularly relished and enjoyed e.g. liaising between departments, understanding and communicating both technical and commercial requirements to those that need it and generally helping the existing web project management team deliver projects, and if I’m lucky, try to improve a few things for everyone along the way.

Time will tell if this is how things pan out, but it’s a brand new experience for me, in areas I’ve not walked before, and as sad as I am to have left the awesome Volume team, and as scared as I am to enter the unknown, I do so with excitement, enthusiasm and a whole fresh outlook on what a workplace can be like and how much I enjoy learning new stuff – how can this be a bad thing?

I don’t imagine many comments on this post, but I would love to hear about any experiences anyone has had going from the small agency life to the bigger one, or perhaps vice versa…

You sign contracts and NDAs, and it’s time to actually get to work kicking off the project… the first question comes “When can I see some designs?”

To which many a Web Project Manager out there will reply “In a week” – I believe this is a big mistake.

I’ve experienced this approach, and taken my own enough times to back this belief up, let me explain…

The Speculative Work Trend

Before we get onto why I think providing mock-ups too early is a mistake we’ll deal with something some of you may object to right from the off – speculative web design work at the pitch stage.

There is a strong feeling amongst the web elite that providing visual mock-ups as part of the sales process is wrong for many reasons. Back in 2009 Ryan Taylor wrote a very concise article called Why Speculative Design is Wrong listing reasons like:

• It costs everybody money
• It’s about selling not delivering
• It’s wasteful
• It’s uninformed
• It ignores the collaborative nature of design

I happen to agree with every single word of this post and there have been focussed attempts to champion this approach in the industry, by the likes of NO!!SPEC, in the hope it slowly but surely changes our industry’s attitudes about providing this ‘free’ and misguided work and ultimately eradicates it from the prospective client’s expected sales process.

However, back then, as much as now, I couldn’t help feeling that this would be a hard nut to crack for the very fact that it relies on three things:

1. Enough web agencies and freelancers get on-board and refuse to do speculative work
2. Those same agencies and people have a solid enough portfolio that they can rely on as sales aid
3. They’re skilled enough in sales and client management to sell the ‘no spec’ position and still win the work

I would love this shift to take place and never have to do any speculative design work again, but my gut feeling is this just will never happen on a permanent basis.

Unfortunately some things will never go away

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The fact of the matter is I believe it really is only established web agencies and freelancers who can pull this off and the majority of lesser known people out there will always submit to the request for mock-ups and see it, as do most clients, as an integral part of the web sales process.

But while I don’t believe this tradition will change anytime soon, I do believe many agencies then make their first crucial mistake – and it isn’t producing speculative designs, but beginning the web project based on the speculative designs that helped them win the work in the first place.

The First Mistake

I understand it because I learnt the hard way, but some people don’t seem to learn. Three of the reasons Ryan Taylor states as a reason to not do speculative work are actually the exact same reasons why using a pitch design is precisely the wrong thing to base the final design solution off – in fact the “It’s wasteful” reason IS often the result of following this path.

What was the point of producing a piece of design only to discard it? Because ultimately you (the client) are paying for the design it is absurd that you would then choose not to use it.
Ryan Taylor, Why Speculative Design is Wrong

However this statement was made on the assumption that all those who produce speculative designs throw them away upon commencement of the web project, well unfortunately they don’t.

Many out there seem to think it’s best to keep the designs in place for one main reason – if the client loved the designs; it must be what they want. Well maybe yes, but it’s important to identify what the client liked about it before proceeding to base the rest of the web project on it.

All too often it will transpire that the functionality implied by those very early designs, based on probably only 3-4 hours of communication with the client, will actually be built without nearly enough thought given to if they really need it.

What you’ll usually find is the client actually loved the style and colours used in the speculative designs – the final design and functionality should not be set in concrete at this stage.

The Second Mistake

The second mistake often made is to start a won web project by briefing your designer to create a homepage and perhaps some sub-page designs for client approval – no no no!

Yes, this is me, and yes I’m designing far to early

Why not? Well because at this early stage of the project you still have an awful lot of research to do in order to clarify exactly what the best solution is, from a design and functional perspective, so how can you really expect to produce designs that satisfy the user requirements and ensure that the business goals are aligned with the agreed functionality when they haven’t all been completely agreed yet? Quite simply, you can’t.

Good design comes from being well informed. The designer needs to understand business objectives, success criteria, brand personality, competition and numerous other factors in order to provide the right solution.
Ryan Taylor, Why Speculative Design is Wrong

What invariably happens next when adopting this approach is what I believe to be one of the biggest causes of budget overrun in web projects – the designs will be ‘signed-off’, the functionality will then be agreed and defined, and then come the budget and time sapping design revisions that bring those early homepage and sub-pages in-line with what will actually be built.

Don’t rush straight into solution design and build before you’ve done the groundwork. Take time to create a good plan, gather customer requirements, and create solid functional and technical specifications.
Duncan Haughey, PMP: Six Cliches That Make You a Better Project Manager

Why not just skip these unnecessary revisions altogether with some confident web project and client management skills!

The Alternative Approach Bombshell

My approach is to win the web project and then definitely not agree to produce a single design for quite a while.

Web PMs often have to be stubborn for a project’s sake

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Now I know what you’re thinking “Haha you naive fool Mr. Barnes, none of my clients would accept your ridiculous approach, they will insist on designs early and throw a complete hissy fit if I don’t do this for them!”

Well yes, in my experience most clients will not expect this approach easily but that’s when the confidence in the approach must show itself in the form of articulate explanation as to why you follow this approach.

The Alternative Approach

It’s at this point, usually in a kick-off meeting, I will explain to the client how the web project will be managed, what phases are involved, in what order they’ll occur and why, and it goes something like this:

1. I will take the budget and deadline and cast them in concrete (for now)
2. We’ll then talk, and talk for quite a bit and as we’re no longer in sales mode our conversation will almost certainly be more valuable. In these talks I will discuss your business goals and then cross match them against the functionality laid out in the proposal, crossing some off (with your complete approval and buy in) that actually don’t align with any of your goals and keeping those that do
3. We’ll then explore those that do in more depth and also discuss other functionality that may not have been in the proposal that would help you achieve your goals, to the point where I can visualise what your requirements are from a design and functional perspective, and have a pretty good idea of how the functionality will work, both in front of and behind the scenes
4. I’ll then vanish into my web project management Batcave and create an initial project breakdown that lists all the things we’ll need to complete and my estimated hours and hope and pray the total matches the agreed budget
5. If the numbers match, I’ll walk you through this list and explain that this is the first step to confirming what exactly we’re going to build and deliver and eventually you’ll approve this initial list
6. Then we produce a sitemap and functional specification for sign-off

I truly love your project approach Mr. Web Project Manager m’kay

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At this point the client may protest and insist on designs much earlier as they “need to know what it will look like” or the “board of Directors want designs” – this is when you start the explanation for wanting to take this ‘crazy’ approach.

Convincing Clients on the Approach

Now this is a debate you may win or lose. Losing means the client listens to your point of view and then says they don’t care, they must have designs first – but winning means you have not only almost certainly and immediately stopped precious web project hours being spent on design revisions, but you’ve also gained the client’s trust and respect – both the most valuable digital account and web project management commodities.

The actual explanation itself is nothing short of a crash course for the client in web design and functional separation. During the crash course you need to communicate five key points:

1. Achieving the business goals are the primary aim of the web project
2. The pages that need to be included to meet these goals can be decided independently of what they look like
3. The functionality (what the website or application must be able to do) is completely irrelevant to any design that will essentially be overlaid on top of the moving parts
4. By the mere fact the client has hired you means they’ve seen, and liked, the agency’s creative and UX capabilities and need to trust that the same quality level will be applied at the right time
5. When designs are eventually produced and presented they will be perfectly aligned with the required functionality, sitemap and business goals and thus reduce web project hours required and minimise budget overrun and thus more money needed

I won’t lie to you, most of the time this conversation is not easy and the client will challenge you at certain points, but the real secret lies in your ability to convey absolute conviction in your approach and if possible back it up with examples of previous web projects where the process was, and was not followed.

Web Project Managers must be able to control clients

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For example you could show the client some previous speculative design work, followed by the first set of post-sale designs produced too early, then all subsequent revisions right up until the final version – and then show the amount of hours spent, and duration in work days / weeks, to reach the solution.

This can be followed up quickly by an example where the unorthodox approach was taken and, having used it many times before, I can assure you both the total hours and duration will be comparatively less.

When you start talking in a client’s language about best use of their money and quicker time to market they’ll invariably take a keen interest.

Of course with any web project management approach come challenges and so here are a few tips to help you with this one.

Don’t Be Afraid To Rip Up the Proposal

One thing I’ve learnt over the years is that the sale is the sale, and the project is the project – and both are very different beasts.

A successful sale can spell for project disaster if badly sold

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By this I mean in my early days as a Web Project Manager I used to take a sold web project proposal, with included speculative designs, and pretty much attempt to use those as a statement of work.

As the web project progressed it transpired that some requirements had been misunderstood, were no longer in the same priority and other requirements would emerge – and by the end of the web project, the final solution was often quite far from the outlined solution set out all those months ago – bad times.

Over time I began to view all of the sales documentation as a guide more than a blueprint.

Nowadays, upon receiving all of the sales ‘stuff’ I’ll open talks with the client and define their business goals, target audience, marketing plan and required functionality again. As described earlier in this post, I’ll then create a web project task list with time estimations and see if they match the numbers in the proposal – often they don’t and this is the point at which I’ll start talking to the client about what it would be best to deliver to them for their budget they have.

This may all sound a little odd, and perhaps if the people selling your web projects are amazingly accurate in requirement gathering then you’ll rarely have to go through this step, but in my experience sales documents are pretty high-level and numbers are ‘ball-park’ estimates.

Project budgets in proposals are rarely this detailed

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At the end of the day, when I’m given a web project to manage I consider that it has an initial scope, rough budget and ideal timeline, but that none are final and all are negotiable – and ultimately if I can deliver a solution that the client is happy with, produces commercial return, and my agency can be proud of, then I’ve done my job well and my boss will be happy no matter what he originally sold.

Don’t forget, a happy client is not always one that you delivered a web project for as per the budget and timeline set out in the proposal, but one that is happy with how much they spent on the project and when it was delivered – these numbers and dates are in your control as a Web Project Manager, as is the relationship you form with the client.

I’ve delivered many a web project where it was delivered for twice the cost and weeks or even months later than the original proposal stated, but the client was a very happy person as the process was managed and communicated clearly and the eventual solution was the right one – food for thought.

Ultimately you’re looking for the following client reaction at the end of the web project… is this too much to ask for? I don’t think so.

Collaboration is Key

Moving ahead on a web project without any designs is not easy for some people, but it can also come across as a very waterfall-based approach where the Web Project Manager works in a silo with the client until such times as he or she are ready to hand over to the web designers and developers – but this is most definitely not the correct path.

At all times a Web Project Manager should be working very closely with everyone in their team, in fact failure to do this will always have a negative impact on the web project – no matter what your approach is.

With regards to my own approach, although I will not produce designs for a client until a sitemap and functional specification have been approved, this doesn’t mean I haven’t been talking to the web designers, UX and development teams while producing both – far from it.

Web project collaboration also has unseen benefits

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For example, when writing a functional specification you have to, to some extent, be able to visualise and define certain parts of the website or application that will influence or perhaps even dictate an eventual design or UX factor – but that’s fine – talk though these aspects with the teams, and talk through functionality with developers.

Not only is this collaborative approach getting the key people involved early, which always help to gain buy in and motivate teams, but in most cases a Web Project Manager is not the best person to define any of these things – this is not their expertise.

Part of a Web Project Manager’s expertise however is to get the right people involved at the right time, to utilise the experts in their field and to gently ensure the solutions provided by the experts are within the web project boundaries such as budget, scope and timeline.

This Works For Me, What Works For You?

So this approach works for me, and works well, but as always in web project management different people have different approaches – so tell me

How do you manage the design phase to be as streamlined as possible?

So here’s a little (well, a lot) more on why they work, what should be in them and a few tips on producing them.

Why a Weekly Web Project Report?

Well first of all it should be said that a web project report does not necessarily have to be compiled and sent to the client on a weekly basis, however I believe this only applies to large projects with big budgets that are spanning over more than six months, but even then the web project report should be sent out once every other week at least!

But let’s assume we’re all talking about your bog standard website or web application project (if there is such a thing), isn’t sending a weekly web project a little too over the top?

Well quite frankly, no.

I’ve lost count of the number of times this approach has made certain conversations with clients infinitely easier, which I’ll explain below, but there are other beneficial reasons too.

Conveys Professionalism

When it comes to web industry (or any industry for that matter) there are varying quality levels amongst us suppliers, some great and some absolute cowboys – a key part of maturing as a business is to make clients feel looked after to the point where they give you repeat business and referrals to others.

I’ll build you a website pilgrim

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Achieving these key points come from a multitude of factors but consistently coming across as professional when it comes to web project management is one of the most important.

You can deliver the most amazing looking or functionally cutting edge product to your client, but if the road to that delivery leaves the client feeling anything less than 100% confident in your approach to business in general, they could very well think twice before giving you more work or staking their reputation with peers by recommending you.

You’d be surprised how organised ‘paperwork’ (or lack thereof) can influence a client’s impression of you – weekly web project reports contribute to that professional approach that is not only beneficial for you but also your agency.

Internal Web Project Status Communication

As you’re going to all that trouble of compiling this ‘easy to digest’ web project report, why not send it to your boss and project team also. By all rights it will contain exactly the information both of them should be interested in and you need to keep them regularly updated on.

Use your red stapler for multi-paged web project reports

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Highlights Issues

For anyone involved in running web projects you know that on a daily basis any number of issues can rear their ugly head no matter how well it was planned. The weekly web project report can highlight these issues and instigate the conversations that need to happen in order to find a solution.

One benefit of this approach is that all issues are collected and communicated at one time rather than via several conversations at different times and by different means. This is often a more efficient way of dealing with issues and has the added bonus of acting as a high-level ‘in writing’ web project issue log that both you and the client can be held accountable for.

Web Project Schedule Visibility

It should go without saying why everyone involved in a web project would want a regularly updated understanding of if it’s ahead, on or behind schedule and why. But all too often I see one or two project schedules created (as I described in Part 3 of my Pragmatic Web Project Planning series), in the proposal and for the kick-off meeting, and that’s it for a while – this is a mistake.

What often happens next is milestones are dated, the work begins and the schedule is not communicated again to the client until the first milestone is approaching, which could be weeks from the start of the project – and as we all know, a lot can happen in web projects on a daily basis, let alone weeks.

Selling a project is only the first part of a successful project

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There are clear benefits to providing a weekly schedule update for agency and client alike.

For both parties it provides the obvious view into the status of the project’s progress and allows decisions to be made on a regular basis that allows for the smoothest path to completion, including needing to secure more resource or de-prioritise requirements to stay on track.

But crucially for the agency and client, a weekly update will aid any conversations that need to be had with regards to schedule revisions, as opposed to ringing the client weeks after starting and trying to explain why you need an extension to a particular phase or task.

As with web project budgets discussed below, if a client is updated on a weekly basis, any changes to the initial project schedule are far easier to sell if they’ve been fully aware of the road that led to this request.

Web Project Budget Visibility

The web project budget update again is pretty self-explanatory and project management 101, but the real benefit of providing regular budget updates is best seen when, like with schedule, budget revisions are needed.

Again, you’ll find it far easier to negotiate additional funding if the client has received a weekly update on budget and was always kept informed of any phases or tasks that were potentially running over, and why – as opposed to if you get to 90% of your design budget after allowing more changes than you wanted and then suddenly drop the “we need more money” line.

Clients have a subtle way of showing their anger

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With web project schedules and budgets, the key thing to understand is at the start of a project they should both be thought of as ‘initial’ and that only at the end of the project will you know the actual!

Its how you navigate to those ‘actual’ numbers, how happy the client is at the end and how effective your solution has been that really are the true measures of a successful web project.

I’ve witnessed web projects where the solution was delivered a week or two late and only a little over budget, but where the client was left feeling thoroughly in the dark and unloved and thus it felt like a failed project.

However I’ve also seen instances where timelines overran by months and budgets doubled, but because the client had been kept well in the loop and understood along the way why these situations had happened, they were happy bunnies by the end and this was a successful project.

Actions Encourage Momentum and Accountability

Part of the weekly web project report should be actions. This part will list actions for both agency and client, at a high-level, which were completed in the previous week, and actions for both parties to be completed in the following week.

The reason for including actions is simply for web project momentum and accountability.

By this I mean that although a web project schedule may have been produced that has a zillion tasks on it, many clients will be busy with other work and a short list of ‘things they need to do this week’ can be a handy tool for them.

As well as a makeshift to do list, these action lists can also serve as conversations linked to the web project schedule, for example, if in one weekly report a client has an action to deliver content to you and fails to do so and you know this affects the schedule, you can point to specific un-completed actions as causes for slips – again, this transparency and communication helps you out too!

Forces Good Web Project Management Practice

As busy chainsaw juggling Web Project Managers, one of our constant challenges is sticking to processes when time is short. At times like this it’s all too easy to cut corners and the weekly report is understandably one of the first things deemed as not critical.

Some Web Project Managers like to exaggerate

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However discipline is something that separates average web project managers from great ones.

Not only will the weekly report prove its weight in gold when things don’t go to plan, it also forces the web project manager to keep an eye on every project they’re running and trust me, to effectively stay on top of the multitude of projects you’re likely to have on at any one time you really have to be aware of the most minute detail on a regular basis.

The weekly report forces you to catch up with everyone and analyse the numbers when without you may take the “I’ll review it next week” approach and then one week becomes two – and then the earth falls in on itself and suddenly you’ve lost control of the project.

…and if you don’t believe it’s possible to lose control of a web project a little bit by taking your eye off the ball just for a week or two, you’re sorely mistaken!

Weekly Web Project Status Report Contents

From the previous section it should be somewhat clear as to what should be included in a weekly web project report, but below is an example list of contents.

• Client, web project name, date range the report covers
• Actions completed last week
• Actions to be completed this week
• Web project schedule update
• Web project budget update
  • Complete budget and broken budget down by phase
• Questions, comments

Remember, these reports can be delivered in any format you feel is appropriate – some like to use a slide deck or PDF template, but you may find a message template on Basecamp or e-mail template work just as well.

Dilbert would make a great Web Project Manager

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As long as the format remains consistent and clear you’re all good to go!

Producing Weekly Web Project Reports

There are many reasons why keeping disciplined enough to produce weekly web project status reports can be a complete ball ache and so below are a few tips that may help you.

You Don’t Have to Create the Report Yourself

Many Web Project Managers have executives or support staff, use them. You setup the template, you create and send the first three or four, but after that there is no reason why a competent executive couldn’t be the ones to dig out the data for you leaving you to adjust schedules, polish up and send on.

Adapt Per Client

All clients are different and as with web project management approaches, they’ll all react differently to methods of communication and you have to adapt accordingly.

While the fundamentals of the weekly report shouldn’t be changed too much, the way it’s written and delivered should match what you feel the client will be most responsive too. For example, if your client isn’t a ‘details person’ avoid lengthy reports, or if they’re not technical at all, make sure to not include technical web jargon as much as possible.

Sexual PM tips from Dan

Dan Storbaek on Twitter

Adaptation also extends to how you deliver the report, some clients will be happy to just receive it in an e-mail with a short summary, whereas others respond better to the report and quick call to go through it.

Personally I’ll call the client for the first few and then just send through thereafter, unless there are specific elements I’d like to talk to them about.

The important thing is that the client doesn’t see the e-mail arrive in their Inbox, or meeting request reminder pop-up and groan, but instead feel like they’re receiving a professional service and the information included is important.

Don’t Drop Bombshells in Reports

Although weekly web project reports are the place to capture vital things such as project and budget updates, make sure you don’t let the client find out these facts from the report alone. If any time I feel the total, or phase budget is at risk of overrun, or the schedule is slipping and needs revision, I’ll speak to the client when I realise and not surprise them in the report.

Summary

Producing and sending weekly web project status reports to clients seems like an obvious one, and something many of us start out doing at the beginning of a web project, but as the workload builds up and other projects on your plate are starting or ending, it can often fall by the wayside. This might not seem to be a problem in the short term, but it will become one the minute something doesn’t go according to plan.

From the very beginning it’s important to remain disciplined and send your client a report every week. In this report you should highlight key information such as actions completed, actions to do, schedule and budget updates.

Web project management, discipline is the name of the game

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It may seem over the top to do this the week after the web project starts, as very little has changed from the initial plan; but as the web project progresses and things inevitably slip, because there has been an on-going weekly summary it’s in no way a surprise to the client and makes negotiating additional time or budget a lot less painful.

Too often I see people running web projects that don’t send weekly reports with it invariably ending up the same way – the project slipping in various places, small places, but building into significant schedule and budget problems over time. Then, after a few months, the client suddenly asks “Are we on track for go-live?” or “Are we on budget?”

This is when the shit hits the web project fan as the client, quite rightly, says “I assumed all was OK as you hadn’t mentioned anything before!”

Not only do you have to fumble your way through an awkward phone call or meeting but you’ve put yourself in a weak position and damage has been done to your relationship with the client and their level of trust in you – bad times, and all because you weren’t disciplined and clear from day one.

Send those weekly reports from week one, to the end…

Awwwwww, look at cuddly lil Jabba

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Ok now that confession is out of the way, I’d also like to let you know how using a digital voice recorder in web project management meetings has proved invaluable time and time again for me when compared to old skool method of note taking with pen and paper.

The Problem with Note Taking

Don’t get me wrong, when it comes to being a Web Project Manager I never go anywhere without my notepad and pen, despite it being a cheap notepad and having never actually owned a pen like a proper grown up.

However there are just some web project management meetings where I get back to the office, look at my notes and realise they no longer make sense as they did in the meeting, but look like a cross between that guy’s tattoos in Prison Break and the scribbles on the wall of a mental case who didn’t leave his room for twenty years before being separated from society.

The web project management meetings I’m talking about are the long ones where you’re required to understand your client’s entire business model, current technical and business workflows and rules, design brief and the oodles of new requirements they have – and all in the space of one or two hours.

Now perhaps I’m just useless at note taking, but the fact is I just can’t remember all that information word for word and got a little scared when I had that inevitable moment we all have from time to time where your eyes glaze over, you see people talking, you nod profusely, but you’re literally hearing nothing.

It was moments like this that resulted in me buying a digital voice recorder – ladies and gentleman, I present to you Excalibur!

Behold Excalibur – she’s beautiful… innit

The Digital Voice Recorder Solution

Due to my note taking being not great, the primary reason I use a digital voice recorder in detailed web project management meetings is because I want to focus 100% on the meeting and I’m not senior enough to have a PA.

In all seriousness, when I’m talking to a client about their business, project and requirements I genuinely want to immerse myself into the process and really get down and dirty in the details, for two main reasons:

1. I know off the back of the meeting I will have to probably create a sitemap, functional specification and creative brief and I will need to get the details right
2. I want the meeting to flow smoothly and be an organic conversation. I find this type of meeting to be brilliantly productive and invariably ends up with both parties getting excited about the web project

Once the meeting is over, I press ‘Stop’ and head on back to the office. I know all that detailed goodness is captured and will be there for me when I need to sit down and write some documents or brief the team – in fact, the team can also listen to the meeting themselves – double efficiency bonus points!

I won’t drone on much more about the why, needless to say the number of times I’ve sat with headphones writing a big functional specification and literally enjoyed capturing a complex piece of functionality perfectly, first time – high bloody five!

Alternative Recording Solutions

Of course nowadays digital voice recorders look a little archaic and alternative solutions are available for all you smartphone and tablet people.

Clever iOS note taking apps are

Translated using the Yoda Speak Generator

These range from simple voice recorders to awesome apps that let you record a meeting, type notes, draw diagrams, and even highlight the notes and drawings you made in sync with the playback. A few decent ones for the iPad are:

• Audionote
• Noteability

However, I did try using these and personally found it a little more cumbersome than pen and paper and also made me come across slightly detached from the client, like typing away on a laptop does – but maybe this type of solution will work for you.

Navigating the Excalibur Unveiling

Although the theory and practice of recording web project meetings is solid, it’s still a little bit of a taboo when you mention the idea to a client, and to be honest I’m not surprised – it’s not exactly standard practice and there are confidentiality concerns.

But I find, as always with clients, honesty is the best policy and by simply explaining that you want to concentrate 100% on the meeting itself and not note taking, and that it will ensure you capture all the fine detail and enable more efficient briefing and web project documents, you’ll generally get agreement.

In fact clients tend to fall into three camps when they see Excalibur, the:

1. Happy and understanding type who say “Ooo good idea!”
2. Tentative but accommodating type who say something along the lines of “Ok, but I won’t see this posted on YouTube will I?” while laughing nervously
3. Very freaked out type who simply say they do not want to be recorded

The first two types of clients end up not thinking about the recorder 30 seconds into the meeting, and the third type, if you’re smart, you’ll identify before even being silly enough to get the recorder out.

Sometimes, recording is just a bad idea

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But in case you’re not too smart (like me, trust me I learnt the hard way) here’s a few handy tips on when to suggest recording and when not too.

The Dos and Don’ts of Recording

Do

• Be completely honest about the fact you’d like to record the meeting, even if it’s a conference call
• Make the point to mention you will be discreet with the recording
• Name your recordings semantically so you don’t have to trawl through “untitled.mp3″ only to find out it wasn’t the meeting you needed after all
• Use your instinct to determine if it would feel appropriate to get the recorder out

Don’t

• Try to record pre-sales meetings and conflict resolution meetings
• Record meetings where it isn’t necessary e.g. budget discussions
• Ever use recordings to try and settle web project disputes
• Send recordings to non-employees
• Covertly record, ever – it’s just plain wrong and illegal I think

But come on, I’m probably just a bit rubbish when it comes to note taking, and because it’s just not always appropriate to record web project management meetings…

…what are your tips for note taking in web project management meetings?

Belle works as a Managing Partner at BeansBox. As well as being addicted to English football and interior design blogs, she can also be found regularly posting at belleliu.com. Follow Belle on Twitter »

Article includes obligatory Star Wars image of course

I had the idea for this article back in November last year and it was originally meant to focus on the reality of using HTML5 and CSS3 on projects at that time, specifically issuing a cautionary message about using it too early on real life client web projects for the sake of it, rather than making an objective decision that it would ultimately benefit the client’s business.

However, as mentioned in the article, the web world is different to others and moves fast and even since November the commercial practicality of using these new technologies has increased due to advances in the industry’s rapid knowledge gathering and sharing culture – amazing.

However, both then and now, adopting and using these new technologies currently takes more time than not using them and this gives web agencies running projects a real dilemma and became the focus of the article – how do you find the time to learn these (and any) new technologies while remaining commercially competitive in terms of healthy cash flow and agency strategy, and when should you use them…

As well as discussing why exactly the web world is different when it comes to new ‘inventions’ and the dilemmas digital agencies face, the article also discusses the following:

• Sensible approaches to adopting new technologies
• Using new technology where commercially appropriate
• Being honest with clients
• Adding value through incremental experiments and metric tracking

While I expect a heap of feedback from folk about how you can use HTML5 and CSS3 now without incurring additional time and cost, I think this is a bit of a fantasy mostly only those monitoring web project budgets and agency bottom lines will recognise.

But it is these same people’s challenge to keep their business, and staff, technically up to date and able to offer their clients all the advantages of new technology while keeping the cash flow positive – and that is not an easy thing!

Read the article now innit »

Nick Pan works as the Director of Projects at Qais Consulting. As well as being addicted to aggressive inline skating, when not with his three daughters, he can also be found regularly blogging at nickpan.com. Follow Nick on Twitter »

Well I’m back on the grid now…

This is a great example of how to agree web project targets with client’s and get a signature on that all important contract.

Interview in New Media Age Magazine

January saw two personal appearances in NMA Magazine, once on a list of favourite websites by Rob Smith (cheers Rob!), and then Justin Pearse, Editor of NMA, contacted me about doing a QnA on being a Web Project Manager, which of course I was only happy to do!

My printed chubby face “sponsored by round” lolz

SXSW 2011 News

As some of you will know from a previous post, back in August 2010 I was invited by Brett Harned, Senior Project Manager at Happy Cog, to be a part of a SXSW panel submission called Project Management for Humans (No Robots Allowed).

SXSW 2011, where all the cool kids gather

Well after months of waiting and several announcements by SXSW we suddenly saw our panel pop up on the accepted list this month. We reacted with dignity and composure, and videoed the actual moment we heard the news.

However, we then noticed as little “CC” next to our panel’s title and it turns out this is code for a SXSW ‘Core Conversation’. This means there would be no panel as such, but instead a more informal meeting in a room, with two original panel members, and between 50-200 people – the two panel members being the organiser and one panel member picked by SXSW.

The informal discussions that pop up in the hallways between, during and after panel sessions have traditionally been one of the most productive parts of the SXSW Interactive Festival. In 2008, we formalized this process with the Core Conversation program which has quickly become one of the more popular aspects of the event. In these less formal hour-long sessions a single moderator will introduce the topic to be discussed and then facilitate the conversation.
SXSW 2011 Interactive

In the end they picked Brett Harned and Pamela Villacorta to host the Core Conversation so that means no SXSW for me this year. But it does mean for the first time there will be SXSW time dedicated to the subject of web project management and that’s a real achievement – next year we’ll have a panel, then some key notes… then a Hollywood movie? :)

Good luck to Brett and Pamela, hope it all goes great! Don’t forget to get a video and pictures for us!

Looking for Guest Authors

Fancy writing a blog post but can’t be arsed to set up WordPress? Then how about being a guest author on my blog?

Stick to what you know for that first blog post

Image source

If you’re interested then mail me and we can start talking about possible topics, and it could be anything to do with the web industry, not just web project management.

Still looking for Web PM Interviewees

For regular followers of my blog you would’ve seen quite a few Web Project Manager Interviews published over the last six months, well I’m still looking for more people to interview, and this includes anyone running web projects; from freelancers, to Web Project Managers, Digital Producers, Account Managers and Directors.

If you’re interested just mail me and I’ll send you the questions and answers template, and don’t forget how cool being a Web Project Manager makes you!

This stuff will make you a god damned sexual Tyrannosaurus
Blain, Predator, 1987

Ok, that’s all for now…

I start this article describing a scenario I bet we all recognise…

Your mission: Spot the movie references inside the article :)

A Common Scenario

Most of us have been there – we’re working on a project for a client, we plan it, we set down a timeline with milestones and everyone is happy. We then complete our first task that requires feedback and wait for the response on the date mutually agreed, one that would keep the project on schedule… then it happens, the response doesn’t come or it does and it in no way helps the project along…

It makes you want to go and hibernate for a few months in a warm safe place and put the client into carbon freeze.

Go On, Read My Article Fool

Other topics I discuss in the article are:

• Regular Schedule and Budget Updates
• The Client Is a Project Team Member
• Shifts in Schedule Isn’t Always Bad
• Help the Client Out, Be Pro-active
• Get Real, Get Commercial
• Dealing with Multiple Stakeholders
• Identify the Client-side Project Manager
• Make Your Primary Contact Look Good
• Face-to-Face Sessions and Meetings
• It’s Not Always the Client that’s the Bottleneck!

Sometimes you just want to put someone into carbon freeze

Image source

Guidelines for Successful Communication With Clients »

Let me know what you think of the article, or what you topics you’d like me to write about next.

• Name: Brett Harned
• Company: Happy Cog
• Job Title: Senior Project Manager
• Website: Brettharned.com

Brett Harned has more than 10 years of experience in communications and creative team management. At Happy Cog, Brett has managed projects for Zappos, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and the Presbyterian Church of USA. Brett also served as Senior Project Manager at Razorfish, where he managed multi-resource teams and implemented creative strategies to produce websites and comprehensive digital advertising campaigns for companies such as Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Aetna. Follow Brett on Twitter »