2015 Digital PM Summit highlights
This October I had the privilege of spending Canadian Thanksgiving in Philadelphia in order to attend the 2015 Digital Project Manager (DPM) Summit. The conference was a great learning experience and I got to meet a ton of interesting and friendly folks in the digital project management craft.
Nancy Lyons of Minneapolis based Clockwork kicked off the 2 day conference with an energetic talk that introduced the concept of an intrepreneur. An intrepreneur is a person inside an organization who takes risks to solve problems and grow business. Nancy told us that we should all strive to take ownership at work, to treat the business as if it’s our own, and to add value not work.
Next Rob Harr gave what was my favourite talk of the whole summit. Called “Managing a Project From The Last Responsible Moment” he told 300+ project managers to stop planning so much. More precisely, don’t plan for everything at the beginning of a project. Why? Because clients are bad at explaining what they want and we are bad at estimating, and also things change. Start with a goal in mind and build towards it. Manage expectations early. It is okay not to have all the answers.
Sam Barnes gave a funny and impassioned talk on being a good PM. Among others things, he advocated putting a stop the habit of client bashing. Being a champion for your clients as much as you are for your company will help you be a better manager. Be willing to be fired for speaking up to stop awful decisions because not doing so will lead to the dark side (there were a lot of Star Wars references in Sam’s presentation)
Dan Mall of Superfriendly gave a thought provoking presentation on pricing. He introduced the concept of value-based pricing as an alternative to the usual hourly or fixed-fee contract. Put simply, your project adds value to the client, often that value can be determined and you should price your work on a percentage of the added value. He’s currently working on a book on the topic and I’ll be sure to check it out.
Paul Boag, a UX expert and consultant, gave a great talk in which he pressed for PMs to take on a greater role in project UX decisions. The PM is positioned well positioned to bring balance to U/X decisions providing a much needed client perspective to designers.
There were so many other great presentations and sessions throughout the conference: SaraWachterBoettcher on content strategy, and Adam Connor & Aaron Irizarry (critiques & feedback from a design perspective). Breakout sessions with Greg Hoy (Team Structures), Sloan Miller (Requirements) and Aaron Parkening (Communication). Not to mention some lively panel discussions. And I didn’t even touch on Brett Harned’s super helpful workshop.
Thanks to the Bureau of Digital: Brett Harned, Greg Hoy and Carl Smith for putting together a great conference. And to the city of Philadelphia for being awesome.
