Solid advice is something that can help you no matter where you are in your career—if you accept it openly and use it in a way that will actually help you. It’s personal, and it has to come to you at the right time.
Some of the best advice came to me, personally, from peers at a conference I attended right after I had transitioned out of a role and into something completely new and challenging. The advice spoke to me in a profound way, and I often credit the person who gave it to me as a person who helped to shape the trajectory of my career.
I think the same thing can happen to you at the Digital PM Summit. You’ll have the opportunity to not only speak to fellow attendees and speakers, but to truly dig in on challenges and opportunities that will transform the way you practice your current role, and carve out a path for you in the future.
Whether you’re new to DPM, or you’ve been managing people and projects for years, there will be something for you. Check out the quotes from some of our speaker alums, and you’ll see that there is a ton for you to uncover at the Digital PM Summit.
“Stay up to date with your skills through networking. I recently attended a DPM Role Call meeting and it was such an enlightening conversation about better practice tips and tailoring agile within our work. I was pleasantly surprised that a conference call of 30+ people would have me leaving excited and with tips to immediately implement on my client projects.”
— Crystal Richards, Choose Your Own Adventure: You're the Star of Your Career Journey
“Find the part of the job you like and then figure out how to do more of that. That means you’ll eventually end up doing less of what you don’t like. There are a lot of differences between people, styles and projects. At DPM Camp, Tracy Hennessey (another Digital PM Summit speaker) said, ‘What’s your superpower?’ and I think that really stuck with me. Figure out what you do best and do that. Also, find this in each team member you work with and you’ll unlock greatness in your projects.”
— David Harned, Managing Internal Projects & Agile Teams using JIRA
“Always look for ways to push your team and your client. There’s always a reason why something cannot be done. But the best people simply find a way no matter what. This is true of digital PMs because they are constantly on the front lines engaging the difficult issues.”
— Dean Schuster, Don’t Just Manage Your Team, Manage Your Client
“Get to know your teammates! And then get to know them better! Learn to read their motivators and communication style. REMEMBER THAT LEVITY IS YOUR FRIEND!”
— Jenna Trunzo, Bringing Personality to Project Management: Be Soft. Be Unapologetic. Be BIG.
“Remember that as a DPM it is not your job to have all the answers. It's OK to ask questions to your team and your clients. It’s OK to say ‘I’d like to check in with the team to confirm a few things and get back to you on that.‘ It's OK to say ‘I‘m not sure I understand what you mean, would you mind explaining it to me again?‘ You and your projects will be better because you took the time and had the confidence to get to the right answers.”
— Kathryn Murphy, Driving to a Schedule & Minimizing Accidents Along the Way
“While process and documents are essential to do your job, your ability to navigate relationships is the most important tool in your toolbox.”
— Lynn Winter, Be Bold. Be a Digital PM.
“Set boundaries :) And learn as much as you can about the various roles and skills of people working on your projects. I know you have your own skill set, but the more you can understand the challenges of the people you work with the better you can communicate with them.”
— Matt O’Bryant, How Technical Should a Digital PM Be?
“Never keep info from people out of fear. Something like going over budget or taking more time is definitely not great, but remove your emotions and just treat it factually. Focus on the solutions. If you can remember that, you’ll be less stressed and overall will have better results.”
— Patrice Embry, Panel Host: The DPM Career Path; Optional Q&A Session: Freelance DPM
“I think we’ll see more specialization in the field. An example would be design project management (or design operations) where discipline, knowledge and project management skills will create new and interesting roles for DPMs.”
— Philip Rowe, Design Operations: Scaling Design Teams & Amplifying Impact
And, hey, maybe you’ve got advice of your own to share. Sound off in the comments and tell us the advice you’d provide to a fellow digital project manager. And get excited to talk about these things at the upcoming Digital PM Summit.