I became a project manager at a digital marketing agency fairly early on in my career, but I didnââ¬â¢t go through any preparatory courses or anything like that. It was just my second job out of school. I didnââ¬â¢t know much about the business world yet, and even less about project management.
My boss saw potential in me, and trusted me to quickly grasp the real-life lessons thatââ¬â¢d get thrown my way. And hard lessons they were. Lessons like:
Rank doesnââ¬â¢t automatically mean respect
Ià kindaà new this from an employee perspective, but it wasnââ¬â¢t until I became a project manager that I appreciated how hard it is to gain (and keep) your teamââ¬â¢s respect. Donââ¬â¢t get me wrong: people would follow instructions and stay polite. But I was quickly able to tell those who trusted my judgment and respected me as a leader from those who paid me lip service. It wasnââ¬â¢t until I cut my teeth on actual projects and demonstrated that I wasnââ¬â¢t a total basket-case that I won over the moreà skepticalà members of my team.
There is no ââ¬Åwarm up periodââ¬
Our agency had demanding timelines and was extremely short-staffed. I didnââ¬â¢t have the luxury of training time or test projects. Every project I worked on was real, with running deadlines and concrete consequences. The only slack people gave me was in answering my questions or coaching me through an email. I had to learn how to pick things up fast, and not to dwell on eachà mistake.
Learn. Constantly.
I was pretty much a wet-behind-the-ears project manager when I started. I had some knowledge of graphic design and video production, but web development was a complete mystery. I didnââ¬â¢t know how long it took to build a website or how one worked. And I had toà learnà these things in order to manage projects effectively.
So began my web development crash course. I didnââ¬â¢t have time to read any textbooks, but Iââ¬â¢d constantly look over my web developerââ¬â¢s shoulder and ask him questions. It annoyed him a couple of times, but I think we both knew that it was for the teamââ¬â¢s benefit that I know as much as I could. And as more new trends popped upââ¬email marketing, Flash, streaming videoââ¬my colleagues and I had to be in a constant state of learning.
Be prepared to do everything. Because you will.
Itââ¬â¢s a good thing I learned so much, because the job pretty much required getting my hands dirty (so to speak). Clients didnââ¬â¢t care if developers got sick. If there was a deadline, that stuff needed to be in their hands promptly. Being short-staffed was no excuse for missing a deadline. At the most basic, I needed to know how to apply edits like swapping out links and images. I also had to learn my way around the various graphic design programs like Photoshop and InDesign, just to make sure I could keep up with my deadlines. I certainly hadnââ¬â¢t been expecting that when I signed up!
I was able to keep up with the pressure and stress, largely because I admitted my shortcomings and opened myself up to learning new things. Had I remained closed and aloof, the job wouldââ¬â¢ve been impossible.
What lessons did you learn when you first started as a project manager?
Image credit, Flickr,Ã Alan Clark
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