Get Ready for the Seventh Annual Digital PM Summit
2019 is flying by, and the annual Digital PM Summit will be here before we know it. After months of review and scouting game-changing speakers and content, we’re excited to release this year’s agenda. With workshops, keynotes, presentations, breakout discussions, interactive sessions, lightning talks, networking and more, this year’s summit offers inspiration, actionable tactics and hands-on learning to help DPMs working at both agencies and in-house teams.
So what can you expect to gain by joining us in October? Let’s walk through six DPM truths and some can’t-miss sessions from the agenda. From process to leadership, business strategy, team management, professional growth and more—it’s all right here.
Truth #1: We Can All Get Better at Process
Process. It’s something everyone seems to struggle with, no matter how big, small, seasoned or specialized your organization may be. This year, we’re bringing together Agile coaches, certified Scrum Masters and in-the-trenches practitioners to share tactics, methodologies and insights to forever change how you do process.
Choosing the Best Project Management Approach for Your Team: The Cynefin Framework with Anita Sagar, Agile Consultant at Enterprise Knowledge
“We are going agile!” Before making a paradigm shift, it is important to recognize the context in which you currently operate. Learn how to use the Cynefin Framework to make better decisions and avoid the problems that arise when our preferred management style causes us to make mistakes.
Lost in Translation: The Handoff from Sales to the Project Team with Sally Shaughnessy & Joe Crespo of Aten Design Group
Unrealistic timelines, poorly documented assumptions, unvetted budgets, late nights and lost weekends…Revamp your sales-to-PM process and put these common project woes behind you.
Design Process in an Agile World with Daphne Bourne, Senior Manager, Design Practice at Capital One
Many organizations subscribe to the idea of a three-legged stool: cross-functional teams comprised of engineering, product management and design. But collaboration between these three teams isn’t always easy. Learn how to foster collaboration, avoid potential pitfalls and maintain the health and happiness of your team.
Doing a Lot with a Little: Project Management at Scale with Jillian Warren, Senior Project & Client Relations Manager, Duke Web Services, Duke University
Whether you belong to a PM team of one, manage a laundry list of clients or wear several different hats on any given day, sometimes the deluge of work far outweighs the resources at your disposal. Discover efficient, scrappy solutions to reduce overhead, set boundaries and add structure to achieve optimal results.
Tips for Project Managing a Native App Build with Ryan Schaefer, Digital Project Manager at Viget
Native builds are profitable, relevant for any vertical and a smart way to diversify your service offerings. Dive into best practices, technical complexity that necessitates in-depth project management, roles and responsibilities and more to gain a better understanding of how to PM a native app build.
The Cheese is Always Moving: Lessons in Change from an Agile Master with Erika Stanley, Account Manager at Big Sea
Are we really agile? How will our methods hold up under the magnifying glass of THE king of agile, Dr. Alistair Cockburn? Whether you're an agency or an in-house DPM, these real-world lessons will turn your normal process on its head.
Truth #2: DPMs are Natural Leaders
While most people lead with their titles, digital project managers lead with influence and a lot of heart. Most of us didn’t go to school for leadership, so it’s up to us to learn how to lead: how to tackle tough conversations, resolve conflicting interests, align stakeholders and protect our teams while advancing business goals.
Design Operations: Scaling Design Teams & Amplifying Impact with Philip Rowe, UX Program Manager at Google
You may have heard about design operations and wondered what it is all about. Take a look at the relationship between design operations and digital project management and find out what really matters in leading creative projects for our teams.
Surviving…Thriving in Chaos! with Patti Epstein, Project & Production Manager
When all the balls start dropping and all the best groomed plans and methodologies hit the skids, your instincts may not offer the best course forward. Develop a greater awareness of how we create our environments and why what we say may not be what is actually communicated. Explore overwhelm as an optional outcome and thinking from the future.
Floppy Disks & Cloud Storage: How Generation X & Millennials Can Collaboratively Manage Projects with Dr. Sidjae Price, Consultant at Priceless Planning
Today's business world consists of mostly Generation X and Millennial team members who are expected to work together on projects. Learn how to eliminate workplace conflicts stemming from projects, and eliminate the stereotypes of each generation.
Nailed It: Process & Team Management with Brett Harned, Director of Education at TeamGantt
In this interactive workshop, you’ll participate in group exercises and discussions to help you to set a new standard for how you work as a project lead, and how you can adapt not only your style, but also your process, to meet the needs of your project.
Bringing Personality to Project Management: Be Soft. Be Unapologetic. Be BIG. with Jenna Trunzo, Project Manager at Globant
Soft skills are a critical platform for DPM growth, both personally and also for the benefit of the team. Learn how to use your personality to become a better project manager and reframe how you lead your teams.
Driving Consensus: Using Design Thinking to Solve Your Largest PM Problems with Tracy Hennessy, Director of Delivery at Handsome, & Christine Holcombe, Producer, Human Centered Design Education Team at USAA
Discover tactical problem-solving methods to better identify user needs, gain alignment with teams and stakeholders and prioritize ideas for project success.
Driving to a Schedule & Minimizing Accidents Along the Way with Kathryn Murphy, Senior Digital Project Manager at Orases Consulting Corporation
How do you keep your stakeholders and team accountable? How do you motivate your team? How do you stay within budget? These are just a few of the tough questions we ask ourselves on every project. Get tangible takeaways that can improve any project, especially those that are under intense schedule pressure.
Don’t Just Manage Your Team, Manage Your Client with Dean Schuster, Partner, User Experience Strategy at truematter
The best DPMs understand the art and science of managing client expectations, fears, time and budget. Let’s stop complaining that clients ruin our projects. Let’s do something about it, starting with better management.
Truth #3: Project Management is a Critical Business Role
Today, companies recognize DPMs as the front lines of business, secondary business developers, early-stage strategists and more. As a project manager, your work is critical to the success of the business. Learn how to tap into operations thinking, non-traditional project management and lean processes to take your organization to the next level.
Operations Thinking for Better Projects with Rob Harr, VP of Operations at Sparkbox
The goal of project management is to deliver successful results for the project, while the goal of operations is to deliver successful results for your company across a portfolio of projects. During this workshop, we’ll cover how to adapt all of your amazing DPM skills to include thinking about operations.
Business Agile: Driving a New Way of Delivering Change in the Digital World with Peter Taylor, Head of Global PMO at Aptos Retail
Move away from a traditional, centralized control of projects to promote the value of open team collaboration, and realize far greater business gains.
Turboboosting Your Teams with Robert Sfeir, Group Delivery Director at Huge
Today’s market is causing many shifting pressures on business. The method by which we can more effectively and efficiently deliver our work can lead to an ability to better compete in the market, improve margins, run leaner teams (without placing further undue pressure on them) and take on risks with larger projects to help grow your enterprise.
Truth #4: Some DPM Tools & Technical Training are Helpful, Others…Not So Much
There’s certainly no shortage of DPM tools and tech training out there. So how do you decide what’s best for your projects, teams and organization? If you struggle with how to best manage the complexity of teams, priorities and programs while providing visibility, transparency and accountability across a portfolio of activities, then you might need to up your tool and technology game! Connect with DPMs from across the globe to learn what people are using, developing expertise in and which tools might be right for you.
Managing Internal Projects & Agile Teams using JIRA with David Harned, PMO Director at Monotype
In this interactive session, David will show you how to set up your Agile projects in JIRA, create and prioritize your backlog, run Scrum or Kanban, broadcast team performance and look at how much value is being delivered by your program. If you already use JIRA, bring your experience and questions so we can get into real-world examples!
How Technical Should a Digital PM Be? with Matt O’Bryant, Director of Strategy at Oomph, Inc.
is it important for you to push the boundaries of your technical and tool expertise? If so, just how far should you go? Dig into some tangible things you can do to become more technically proficient and to increase your skill set.
Truth #5: It’s Up to Us to Shape the Future of Our Careers—& the Industry
Choosing to be a digital project manager is a bold choice. In fact, if you’re a DPM, you have taken on a role that many cringe at, a role that often offers limited education, support and certainly no fanfare. But that’s okay because we are a unique breed of hardworking rock stars. Get together with fellow DPMs to set—and go after—your professional and personal goals.
Be Bold. Be a Digital PM. with Lynn Winter, Freelance Digital Strategist
From the shadows, we take care of our clients, our team and numerous projects. But how do we make sure we challenge ourselves and level up our community? In this session we will answer the ultimate question, what should we be?
Choose Your Own Adventure: You're the Star of Your Career Journey with Crystal Richards, Principal & Owner of Mosaic Resource Group
Get real about assessing your values, steering clear from the comparison trap and putting yourself in the driver’s seat when it comes to your career path. After all, YOU are the star of your career journey.
Panel: The DPM Career Path with Patrice Embry, Freelance DPM
Explore everything around your career path: education and training, job titles and descriptions, characteristics of great DPMs and the many possible paths you might take. Join a subset of our Digital PM Summit speakers as we talk about career progressions.
Truth #6: Business is Better with a Community Behind You
Last year’s Digital PM Summit brought together DPM leaders from all over the world: Argentina, Australia, Canada, England, Italy, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and 35 states in the USA. Join us at this year’s summit to gain access to an unparalleled community of support and get the help you need.
Don’t Miss Out
What sessions are you most excited about? Share your thoughts by commenting below. We still have a few big announcements for speakers who will be joining us—and some special surprises for attendees—so be sure to register, and stay tuned for updates.