Day 1 of the inaugural Digital PM Summit is in
the books and it was impressive. The event is being held in Philadelphia and is
billed as "The first conference for a community of people who manage all
things digital". I've attended and spoken at a lot of IT and PM related
conferences in the past and there is definitely something unique going on here.
There are a lot of conferences that focus on design and a lot that focus on
development, and what they offer covers a wide range of subject matter and are
delivered in a variety of formats. There are also a lot of PM conferences that
focus on project management from the more formalized approach to managing work.
And there are the Agile conferences which cut a slice across those areas.
However, those conferences don't really speak to the audience that is present
here in Philly this week. For the folks who manage projects at digital
agencies, there is a different need. The agencies tend to be small to medium
sized businesses with projects that can last anywhere from a month to a year
(on average). The teams tend to be smaller in nature and many of them are
caught in a space where a "just do it" can work for awhile, but it
brings a lot of the pains you'd expect (stress, marathon last minute efforts,
and technical debt). They could go the route of moving towards a more formal
approach (like PMI), but the process burden doesn't really fit with the needs
of the client or the work culture. They could also address a lot of their
challenges with Agile, but this is not an ideal fit for many of their clients
who are often more traditional minded and aren't compelled to change. So, what
they end up with are a need to be able to manage work using a variety of
approaches based on the needs of each specific project and client. At a larger
organization (upwards of 50), it might be possible to bear the overhead of
staff who are expert in different areas and approaches, but most of these
organizations have a more lean approach that requires them to be able to
develop a broader range of options in how they manage work. Coupled with that
is the fact that the medium they work in is in a constant state of flux and
they are expected to always be on the edge of what is the new, best way of
designing things that leverage the latest tech.
The PMs in this space have to have one eye on
design (maybe one and a half) and the other eye on technical practices. And
somewhere in the middle, they still need to develop PM skills. Going back 10-20
years, my experience in this space was that the project management side of
things involved a lot of floundering around, establishing a new approach every
time things went really side-ways. The agencies that garnered all the attention
back in the boom were places like Razorfish that kept a keen eye on the design
side of the medium. That was, and remains, a valid approach, but this field has
grown and evolved and is hungry for a better way. Unfortunately, none of the
primary options can holistically solve the challenges they face.
What I have found to be truly unique about this
event is the programming and the attendees. The way yesterday began offers a
great example of what I believe makes this event a valuable and interesting
alternative. The day started with Jeffrey Zeldman giving a talk that was rooted
in design and UX standards. It was followed by Jared Ponchot that also skewed
towards design as well, but dealt a lot with the creative process and how to
approach creative work. The third speaker was the Conference Chair, Brett
Harned, who gave talk called "How to be a Better Project Manager".
Each of these talks would be at home in a variety of separate conferences, but
putting programming like that together for this sold out event is what set the
tone. These are not PMs who want/need to spend an hour learning about a better
way to do Earned Value or, Critical Chain or managing projects that deal with Sarbanes-Oxley,
CMM, ISO or (insert process here). These are design centric PMs who are deeply
involved in the creative process who, while they may not self-identify as
servant leaders need an approach that enables and supports their creative and
technical leaders. Agile has a place here, but these folks are not Agilists.
Traditional practices have a place here, but these folks are not PMPs (mostly).
They are also not (mostly) designers or developers. They are creative PMs in
the digital space. While it would be great to be able to develop expertise in
each individual area (design, development, traditional PM and Agile), the years
of work that could take would definitely be at odds with the realities of
serving their clients.
One of the things I found most impressive
yesterday morning was that for during the first 3 talks, there was the level of
attentiveness and engagement of the people present at the conference. That is
not to say that people who attend other conferences aren't engaged and
attentive, but this was different. My experience has been that at a traditional
PM event, career PMs look for a few new ideas and go to validate what they
think they know. At an event like Øredev, technically savvy knowledge workers
who are more on the advanced end of the spectrum go to be challenged with new
ideas and ways of working that are often a few years ahead of the curve. At an
Agile Conference or Scrum Gathering practitioners of Agile get together to work
on how to get better at applying Agile. What I saw yesterday was a room full of
people who were all there to find better ways to help the work that are fully
respectful and supportive of the creative and technical process. They were not
so much looking for ways to change how others work, but more for ways to change
how they approach their own work.
Five or ten years ago, I'm not sure if
something like this would have sold out so quickly to an audience that includes
attendees from all over the US and some from Europe as well. But this community
of Digital PMs is a segment of the PM community is definitely hungry for the
opportunity to share and hone their unique spin on the field of project
management.
Kudos to Greg Hoy, Brett Harned, Allison Harshbarger and the folks
at Happy Cog for having the vision to create this event and for having done
such a great job with it. #bigdamnheroes
