The Pivotal Role of a Modern Day Digital Project Manager

The Pivotal Role of a Modern Day Digital Project Manager Project management doesnt sound like the most glamorous role in the world, and  in truth it often isnt and it can be a thankless task unrelenting job. However, the  role has a pivotal part to play in the modern day Digital landscape and it is becoming an increasingly sought after skill set in both agencies and client side businesses. The skill set required to be not only a highly competent, but a successful digital PM is  diverse and takes a fine balance of mental agility, commercial flair and strategic  nous. If you are the kind of person who thrives on being the main catalyst behind the  scenes, you’ll find an immense amount of satisfaction by embracing the challenges  that every new project will bring. In return, you’ll be able to carve out a great career  path for yourself as the opportunities are endless in this arena and you are worth  your weight in gold to your employers… So what does the current role of a Digital PM look like? No day tends to be the same  as ad-hoc challenges and problems are thrown up off the bat and it encompasses a  diverse array of job duties. However, as a Digital PM at an agency with a business  built around creating the web, youll be crossing over into the realm of a number of  job titles skills in your day to day work, including: Project Manager:  You will certainly spend plenty of time tracking budgets  and schedules, managing scope, creating project plans, calling out risk, and  managing a development team to successful project completion. Youll need  to master the delicate balance of too much process and not enough process  you’ll need to be a flexible thinker to foresee issues, plan contingency plans  most importantly, “make it happen”! Account/Client Manager:  In most cases you are the front lines for client  contact and the conduit between your Technical Team. Some clients are a  pleasure to work with, however as in all walks of life, some can be a more  difficult prospect. This is where your diplomatic skills and carefully executed  expectations that you set out at the outset of the project kick in… Your job is  to keep all parties happy aligned with the overall objectives, even in the face  of delivering bad news when a project is behind time and over budget. You  have to know how to steer projects while always keeping the clients needs in  mind. Youll need to be strategic about when you can handle issues cropping  up, and when its time to escalate before its too late. Digital Strategist:  Occasionally youll find a client who has crystal clear vision  for their project and a perfect list of requirements and implementation  suggestions. However, in the vast majority of cases, youre going to be hand-holding the client through the discovery and design process, to arrive at a  business/technical specification that developers can execute upon and turn  into a reality. Developers will generally have your back on the technical side,  but from a marketing standpoint, the more strategic and knowledgeable you  are around everything Digital, the better, more credible and compelling you  will be. The client knows what they want, but asking the right questions to get  all the answers is crucial to the planning process and improper planning will  always set you up for failure on the project management side of things. Quality Specialist:  QA engineers can test and test again, but youre the  person who owns the clients vision for the end product and you will know for  sure what response you’re going to get from them. Is it up to quality standards  that we all agreed upon at the outset? Does it look good how is the  customer experience looking? Has thought been given to the clients ease of  use when entering content? Youre the key holder who makes the last call on  when a site is ready for client demos, review hopefully a big pat on the  back. As you can see, the modern day PM isn’t just your ordinary project manager  position. Youll get to own every part of the project if youre up to the task and you’ll  take all the plaudits once the project is rolled out. Author:  Leon Milns is the Co-founder and Director at Adam Recruitment, which was borne out of his  desire to launch, build and scale a brand in Manchester London that people view as a talent partner, and also synonymous with hard work and results. Heading up the London office of Adam, Leon has become a specialist in Search, Selection Headhunting in the Digital Marketing sector, over a 15 year career in recruitment. Generally operating at mid to senior level appointments across Digital, Marketing, Advertising Business Development. Image Credit: Shutterstock