Comments on: Web Project Management: Seven Deadly Sins – Part 1

By: 7 deadly sins of beginning a web project | Rob Smith's blog - Digital Media, E-commerce and entrepreneurship

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 22:22:36 +0000

[...] is unashamedly inspired by Sam Barne’s 7 deadly sins of web project management. While Sam wrote his post from the position of being a project manager on the agency side (as you [...]

By: thesambarnes

thesambarnes — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:05:58 +0000

@Web Design, but that is somewhat of a comfort I find, hearing others in the same boat!

By: Web Design Maidstone

Web Design Maidstone — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:26:10 +0000

Some great observations all sounding dreadfully familiar!

By: thesambarnes

thesambarnes — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 23:20:54 +0000

@PM Hut, I totally agree with your comments about the Account Management and Web Project Management roles often being combined, in fact, I’ve just finished writing a three part series on that very subject that I’ll publish after the Deadly Sins one is done :)

Thanks for the link about writing proposals for web projects, I thought it was REALLY good!

There really just is’nt enough posts specifically about web projects so it’s great to see posts like yours…

By: PM Hut

PM Hut — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:31:00 +0000

For your second sin, the Account Manager and the Project Manager are often combined into one in small to medium sized companies (eg. the PM is the same as the Account Manager). Although stressful, this combined role will definitely add a lot of value to the web Project Manager AND s/he doesn't have to envy anyone anymore. I personally think that dealing with the client is fun for the others, but not for the person actually dealing with the client. Clients can be quite stressful, not to mention that whoever dealing with the client has also to deal with internal resources, which is another story... PS: I've published an elaborate article on how to write proposals for web projects, which I think your readers might find useful.

By: badchoosed

badchoosed — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:02:00 +0000

Hey, a very valuable piece of information, eh?

By: Michael Dlugosch

Michael Dlugosch — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:38:06 +0000

@Stuart: in such a fast-paced industry it occasionally feels like luxury to think for a minute, indeed. But I’ve always found it worthwhile, too.

@Karine: that might make another nice post. Being busy with integrating sales processes and PM processes at the moment I will surely give this topic a lot of thoughts in the upcoming weeks anyway…

@Allyson: Fully agree! I am constantly surprised how little “expectation management” is considered an important domain in Project Management…

@thesambarnes: Yep. It is the ability to see all the facets of “What”, “How” and “Why” which makes a good PM, isn’t it?

@Corey: Education and elaboration, yes. Did you yet write that other thing, “How to talk to employees without being a jerk”?

@ all: thank you very much for your kind words. Hope you’ll enjoy the next couple of posts as well.

By: Corey

Corey — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:13:54 +0000

Keeping projects headed in the right direction seems to really come down to education for me typically. Whether it’s educating clients on how things work and processes or educating team members on why a trivial request from the client is soo important to them, it’s about education and keeping your cool.

I recently wrote something in much of the same vain you may find amusing, http://www.departika.com/blog/comments/how_to_blank_without_being_a_jerk_1/

Great article and looking forward to the next part.

By: thesambarnes

thesambarnes — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:35:29 +0000

As a Web Project Manager I don’t think you can ever read enough articles, like this one from Michael, that remind you always to make it your mission to educate your client, make them look good to their superiors and consider why people may be meddling in your projects… I think all of us at one time or another lose sight of these important cornerstones of good project management!

Look out for the next part in a few days, it’s just as good :)

By: Allyson Smith

Allyson Smith — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:13:09 +0000

I love this article. Great post. The relationship between client services and project management is so crucial to the project’s success. At the end of the day what matters most is delivering to the client what was agreed on time and on budget while exceeding their expectations. Stay focused on that and everything else will work itself out.

By: Karine Simard

Karine Simard — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:28:12 +0000

Thanks for this well-written article! Your description of sales VS project management is right on the money. While the sales job may look glamorous from the outside, there is a lot of hidden work (which comes with the company phone and the expense account). It would be interesting to see how we can explain the job of project management to the sales team.

By: Stuart Morgan

Stuart Morgan — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:26:37 +0000

This is a very wise article (whom I happen to know also). It reminds us to look at the needs of others through the eyes of others, to respect their needs with our patience, time and courtesy. I have moved around in production, project management, account management and client roles myself, and this is very true from all perspectives. To me, the one thing to remember is to stop and think before you respond to people. It’s not always possible, of course. But equally it’s true that seeing things from the other guy’s perspective is habit-forming if you give it a try. Sound advice, Michael. Looking forward to the next chapter.