A big thanks to everyone in the Portland DigitalPM community who came by our office in the Eastside Exchange for the August meetup! Each of the three breakout groups led by our facilitators had some really great conversations about the intricacies of working with three common personas in the digital world – engineers, creatives, and account strategists. For those unfamiliar with the monthly meet-up, PDX DigitalPM is one of Portland’s best resources for project managers and producers in marketing, tech, and creative.
Tips from Engineering
The engineering breakout group gave a unanimous knowing nod of the head when Ethan, our Director of Engineering, mentioned that there are programmers and then there are “sloppy” programmers. The solution? Pair a sloppy programmer with an experienced programmer to get them to straighten up. Ethan was glad to see that everyone agreed that developers are “just people, man,” with the usual range of communication styles and preferences (though ALL developers appreciate concise and precise communication).
Tips from Creative
The creative breakout group, captained by our Art Director Jennifer Erts, discussed how best to utilize creatives in the process of delivering great work. Frequent communication with the design department is key to getting a final design that accomplishes all requirements; and this often means getting your devs in the same room as your designer. There was agreement in the group that designers are natural problem solvers and getting the involved in the process – even if it doesn’t seem within the scope of their normal role – can be very beneficial. Your art director and creative director are born strategists – don’t underutilize them!
Tips from Account Services
The account strategy breakout session, led by our Account Director Carole Hardy, discussed how best to answer the question that is at the core of every account manager’s role: how can I help to deliver on-time, on-budget, great quality work while maintaining harmony between the team and the client? There were a wide array of answers, with some of our favorites being:
- Promote using agile methodologies for increased flexibility and transparency
- Deliver working prototypes as opposed to comps
- Encourage ongoing dev and design collaboration
- Involve the client early and often in reviews
- Always represent the client favorably to the team
Thanks again to everyone who participated! We hope you all had as much fun as we did. See you all on October 6th at Struck’s office in southeast for the next PDX DigitalPM meetup!
