Work shadowing in Amsterdam
9 February, 2009 in Interviews, Perfect Fools, Project management, Sara-Lee in Amsterdam with one comment-
Perfect Fools office in Amsterdam.
I’ve just arrived from a two week trip to Amsterdam. We, the project managers, had an assignment to do work shadowing at an agency somewhere in the world. We all went to the same city but visit different agency’s.
I went to Perfect Fools who recently have opened a new office in Amsterdam.
My main goal with the trip was to learn more about project management; the important skills, common mistakes (so I might avoid them in the future) and how to make a good project plan.
At Perfect Fools I mostly did interviews with the employees and attended their internal meetings. I found the interviews very useful, especially to get input from a developer and a creative on what skills they want a project manager to have.
Here is my guide to become a great project manager, based of my interviews and observations:
- Have an overview over the whole project. As a project manager you need have an overview of the project. You need to know what will happened tomorrow and the week after that. You are the one with all the answers regarding deadlines and meetings. It is important to always be two steps a head and kind of be the smartass in the team.
- Divide the project into as small pieces as possible is very important when you make a project plan, both for the team and for yourself. The purpose with this is to keep the project opened for everyone in the team and to make sure that they always know what is on their schedule. Small pieces leaves no question marks. And it is good for you to keep track on what is happening at the moment and and at the same time be able to focus on the next steps in the project.
- Listen to the creatives and the developers and be opened for input and dissimilarities. It is better to see it as a learning experience and an opportunity to see something new. It will also make you and the team work better together and make the project even better.
- Clear and good communication to both the team and the client are crucial in a project. Everybody needs to know in what direction the project is heading and what their common goal are. Clear communication will help you avoid unnecessary misunderstandings and the motivation in the team will be higher.
- Be passionate. This goes for every roles at an agency. If you are passionate and love what you are doing it will spread into the office and to the people around you.
- Don’t say Yes to the client without asking the team first. The client always want more for their money and as a project manager you want to keep them satisfied. It is easy to say yes without thinking about how much time the team needs or if it is even possible to do. If you are in a meeting or situation like this it is better to just tell the client; “I need to talk with my team about this, let me come back to you <time>”.
- Basic knowledge in both design and technology. The knowledge of what is possible to do in the different programs will help both you and the team. You will get a better understanding for how much time a certain design or technology part takes and it will help both you and the team during meetings and discussions to understand each other.
- Don’t expect people to do something just because they say they will. This is something I have recently experienced in the work with our promotion site for the class. As a project manager you want to trust the person who is given the assignment but far to often the person haven’t done what they say they would do. To avoid this problem you first of all give the assignment and it needs to be clear without question marks (this goes along with the communication part). In the middle you do a follow up and ask the person how things are going, if he or she have any problems etcetera, and in the end you do a follow up to make sure that the thing is done and in the right format. Of course the follow ups needs to be adjusted for the person and it is important to do it without acting like you are the persons mother.
- Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Be opened if you have made a mistake. Everybody makes them and instead of seeing them as a failure, see them as learning experience.
Feel free to drop me a comment if there is anything you disagree on or if there is something I have missed.
I have learned so much during my two weeks in Amsterdam and I am full of new ideas, inspiration and knowledge. I’m longing more then ever to start my internship and learn even more!
Tags: Perfect Fools, Project Management, Sara-Lee in Amsterdam
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