{"id":208,"date":"2015-03-18T21:37:04","date_gmt":"2015-03-18T21:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/redonkmarketing.com\/blog\/?p=208"},"modified":"2015-07-16T21:05:34","modified_gmt":"2015-07-16T21:05:34","slug":"herding-cats-the-life-of-a-project-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/redonkmarketing.com\/blog\/herding-cats-the-life-of-a-project-manager\/","title":{"rendered":"Herding cats: The life of a project manager"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Typically when you think of project managers, you think of someone responsible for making sure everyone does their part in some huge, time consuming, possibly life-altering initiative. The kind of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ctbuh.org\/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=Xy%2B1TUTebVY%3D&amp;tabid=2684&amp;language=en-US\" target=\"_blank\">mind-boggling project<\/a> where budgets consist of numbers too large for me to comprehend and a mistake could cost more money and cause more safety issues than I\u2019d like to be on the hook for.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s not the type of project manager I am. I work on a slightly smaller scale, managing Redonk projects and generally making sure everyone does what they\u2019re supposed to do when they\u2019re supposed to do it. But working in a smaller digital shop also brings its own set of unique challenges and opportunities.<\/p>\n<h2>We need to be scrappy and tenacious<\/h2>\n<p>Redonk is lean by choice, and that means one of the main differences between the PM role here and that in other fields \u2014 or even other agencies \u2014 is that PMs are both the account and project manager all in one. We are brought in at the first sign of a new client request and stay involved through the project launch. We serve as the main point of contact for the client and the internal team, which means we basically have to know everything that\u2019s going on at all times.<\/p>\n<h2>We have to embrace our inner cat whisperer<\/h2>\n<p>Working with ego-centric creatives and awkward developers isn\u2019t as bad as you\u2019d think. (Just kidding, I\u2019ve rarely seen those stereotypes play out in real life. Though I can\u2019t deny the kernel of truth in <a href=\"http:\/\/bigorangeslide.com\/2011\/10\/infographic-the-anatomy-of-an-agency\/\" target=\"_blank\">this little gem<\/a>.) In fact, working in a creative atmosphere is what I love most about my job at Redonk. It\u2019s kind of like \u201cthose who can\u2019t do, teach\u201d only for me it\u2019s \u201cthose who can\u2019t do, help others do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Agencies are quick-moving, priority-changing, passion-driven environments where a project managers\u2019 strengths (organization, prioritization, details and communication) balance with those of their creative and technology teams (designing and developing incredible work that makes our client\u2019s and their customers happy). Establishing a close working relationship with your team and figuring out how to bring out each person\u2019s strengths and work around their weaknesses (because we all have them) is one of the keys to being a strong project manager.<\/p>\n<h2>We must elevate the user experience\u2026even our own<\/h2>\n<p>I once had an interview candidate ask me what it\u2019s like to tell people to do things that you aren\u2019t actually skilled in and are unable to do yourself. It was a great question and obviously stuck with me. The answer is simple. By providing value to your team, the process, and the agency as a whole, you ensure the discipline and role of project management thrives within the agency as opposed to becoming a \u201cprocess for process\u2019 sake\u201d roadblock.<\/p>\n<p>The more you know your team, your clients, and the projects you manage, the more you are able to anticipate the needs of those you work with and help them do their job better. And that makes the overall outcome that much better. When we get it right, project managers create a more seamless experience for our team, just as the agency strives to do for our clients\u2019 customers.<\/p>\n<p>Have your own PM tricks? Do tell. Tweet us @redonkmarketing #catwhisperer<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Typically when you think of project managers, you think of someone responsible for making sure everyone does their part in some huge, time consuming, possibly life-altering initiative. The kind of mind-boggling project where budgets consist of numbers too large for me to comprehend and a mistake could cost more money and cause more safety issues [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-agency-life","category-featured"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Herding cats: The life of a project manager - Redonk Marketing | Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/redonkmarketing.com\/blog\/herding-cats-the-life-of-a-project-manager\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Herding cats: The life of a project manager - Redonk Marketing | Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Typically when you think of project managers, you think of someone responsible for making sure everyone does their part in some huge, time consuming, possibly life-altering initiative. The kind of mind-boggling project where budgets consist of numbers too large for me to comprehend and a mistake could cost more money and cause more safety issues [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/redonkmarketing.com\/blog\/herding-cats-the-life-of-a-project-manager\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Redonk Marketing | Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-03-18T21:37:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-07-16T21:05:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amanda Hempel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amanda Hempel\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redonkmarketing.com\/blog\/herding-cats-the-life-of-a-project-manager\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/redonkmarketing.com\/blog\/herding-cats-the-life-of-a-project-manager\/\",\"name\":\"Herding cats: The life of a project manager - Redonk Marketing | Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redonkmarketing.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-03-18T21:37:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-07-16T21:05:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redonkmarketing.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/60209c5f9509b351476cc1b4830c4b0e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redonkmarketing.com\/blog\/herding-cats-the-life-of-a-project-manager\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/redonkmarketing.com\/blog\/herding-cats-the-life-of-a-project-manager\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redonkmarketing.com\/blog\/herding-cats-the-life-of-a-project-manager\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/redonkmarketing.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Herding cats: The life of a project manager\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redonkmarketing.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/redonkmarketing.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Redonk Marketing | Blog\",\"description\":\"Redonk Marketing\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/redonkmarketing.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redonkmarketing.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/60209c5f9509b351476cc1b4830c4b0e\",\"name\":\"Amanda Hempel\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/redonkmarketing.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70e5929a092441345c0559e200d2bb908d433ed3ff899f2186a8dfa1390e8264?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70e5929a092441345c0559e200d2bb908d433ed3ff899f2186a8dfa1390e8264?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Amanda Hempel\"},\"description\":\"A University of Kansas alum, she has a fondness for all things KC.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/redonkmarketing.com\/blog\/author\/amanda_hempel\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Herding cats: The life of a project manager - Redonk Marketing | Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/redonkmarketing.com\/blog\/herding-cats-the-life-of-a-project-manager\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Herding cats: The life of a project manager - Redonk Marketing | Blog","og_description":"Typically when you think of project managers, you think of someone responsible for making sure everyone does their part in some huge, time consuming, possibly life-altering initiative. 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