Project Management archive

adam's picture

The Successful Digital PM, Part 1: What is a Digital Project Manager's Role?

by , Director of Project Management

Project management. Is it a dark art? Is it science? Probably some combination of both. Across the web/app/software development industry, consensus seems to be that finding project managers is easy, but finding great project managers is hard to impossible. At Metal Toad (and likely many similar organizations), a project manager needs a much broader skill set than the ability to create Gannt charts, track budgets, and manage scope. Metal Toad project managers are truly directors of their projects, owning them in their entirety from inception to go-live and beyond. The vast responsibilities of our PMs (see below) make it difficult to find and retain the right talent. Read More…

katie's picture

Leading with 'Why'

by , Project Manager

When clients come to Metal Toad, they're looking to get something done - improve or add features, upgrade their site or perhaps build something new all together. As a result, our conversations with clients often begin with a statement and a question: "Here's what we need" and "How is Metal Toad going to get it done?" Unfortunately, leading with the 'What' and the 'How' has several pitfalls, the greatest of which is scope creep. A client not starting a web development discussion with "Why are we doing this?" increases the likelihood of changes to what is needed and ultimately, how Metal Toad is going to deliver the results. Read More…

katie's picture

Clients and Killer Sharks: The Charisma Myth

by , Project Manager

Are leaders born or made? In my search to answer this age old question, I stumbled across 'The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism' by Olivia Fox Cabane. Cabane takes the side of nature versus nurture, with the book giving step-by-step instructions on how to be more charismatic. The majority of her lessons focus on what is essentially manipulation - mimicking body language, feigning attentiveness, etc. While useful, this really isn't anything new. Read More…

adam's picture

Hey Project Managers! Let's Not Talk Tools.

by , Director of Project Management

I recently attended BADCamp where I had the opportunity to talk shop with project managers from a number of different agencies. I had some insightful conversations and a few really good takeaways that will help me improve project management at Metal Toad. But for the most part, the go-to conversation seems to be about project management tools. Do you use Basecamp? How about Trello? Jira? MS Project? Any of the other five hundred options out there? The tools conversation seems to come up over and over again because it's easy; it doesn't force the participants to get at the meat of project management. Read More…

adam's picture

Mastering The Metal Toad Project Life Cycle

by , Director of Project Management

We're in the middle of interviews for our open project manager position and we've been talking to a lot of great candidates, all with diverse project process backgrounds at various companies. Not to toot our own horn too much, but one thing that I've realized as a result is just how great our project life cycle model is! We've made great strides in the last several years, and at this point we have it dialed-in for the type of projects that come through our door. Without further ado, in the spirit of open-sourcing not only our software contributions but also our processes, here's what we do and why it works: Read More…

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