How To Hire A Great Digital Project Manager

Staffing a digital project management position with the right individual is a key factor in the success of any interactive project. Project management has become the most pivotal role on an interactive team.  It's also a very challenging and rewarding career choice, and as the profession receives more and more attention, individuals from many areas are making the migration into project management. If you are working to fill a position at your agency, or even for a single project, there are some important skills and attributes you need to look for in the ideal candidate. Here are two I'd rank highly on the list.

People skills: This is probably the single most important quality a digital project manager must have.  The PM will be working very closely with clients, vendors, project resources, and management on a daily basis.  They need to be able to motivate, inspire, and guide in a way that gets the best out of everyone.  If the individual in unable to earn the respect and trust of the all these team members, the project will suffer, and the entire experience will be one that's painful and difficult.


Master of process: The digital landscape has become incredibly complex, with new technologies, services, trends and tactics emerging daily.  A project manager must understand the basic process of digital development inside and out in order to adapt to these changes, while still delivering a quality product.  Mastering how a website is developed, as well as the skill-set and contribution of each resource, is an absolute must.  This knowledge allows a project manager to mitigate risks and problem solve if things go off-track.  Knowing how to achieve the same end result by altering process slightly is what saves many, many digital projects from disaster, but this kind of strategic thinking cannot happen if the project lead isn't intimate with the basic process.   

Every project manager needs a chance to prove themselves on the job.  Given the potential corporate process, client, team and project backgrounds they'll have to ramp up on, it will take time to get into the groove and really make a difference.  The skills described above, however, will be evident immediately.  Pay close attention, because a digital project manager will not succeed if either is lacking.

Sample Content Deck

In response to a previous entry, The Power of a Content Deck, I'm providing a sample content deck for my readers to download and use.  This sample deck is only a few pages, but the intention is to provide a format that can be replicated for each page of a site.  This format has evolved out of twelve years of interactive project management, and is the best example of an integrated document that I've been able to develop.  As mentioned in my previous entry, this document ties in the following aspects of the build:

• Information Architecture - Each page within the content deck must be numbered according to the page numbers in the final information architecture, so that the documents correlate to one another, and the team and client can easily reference both in conjunction.
• Search Engine Optimization - The deck includes page and meta description tags, which will be indexed and used by search engines to qualify and index your website content.
• Multimedia - The deck makes specific reference to any imagery or video being used on each page of the site, so that the build team can locate these assets quickly as they develop each page.

This deck format will work for most website builds, and should be amended to meet unique needs as required.  It's been my experience that this deck has saved hours of work by presenting relevant information in a single location.  I've had great success and feedback, not only from my team, but from my clients, as well.  Please share your feedback with me.

Sample Content Deck

Making Web Analytics Easy

One of the advantages the web offers over traditional forms of marketing is measurability.  This means we can understand the success of a site by how users interact with it - how many individuals visit, how much time they spend on the site, what pages they view, and even how they arrived.  No other medium offers the insight and ability for analysis like the web.  But knowing what analytics tool is right, what numbers are important, and how to approach reporting can be overwhelming.  As with most things, a logical and simple approach is the best way to begin - not only for you as a Project Manager, but for your clients, as well.

Determine what success means:  The term KPI, or Key Performance Indicator, is used to describe the measurement of success for a site.  In simple terms, it means identifying what activity on your website will be a sign of good performance.  Success varies for each website - some sites are intended to grow subscriber databases, others aim to sell product, and the list goes on.  It's important that the metrics for success are identified in the initial planning stages, so that the site can be built with an understanding of what it's supposed to achieve.  

Select the right analytics tool: There are numerous options to choose from when selecting a web analytics tool.  Important considerations include business requirements (how sophisticated will reporting requirements be?), costs (up-front purchase and ongoing licensing fees), and overall usability (determine whether the client will access reporting directly).  For many, free tools, such as Google Analytics are more than sufficient.  Do your research and try and demo the products you're interested in before making a decision.

Make reporting simple: Once you have access to your site analytics, you should standardize the format and frequency of the report that will be generated.  Not every measurement is important to all websites, so pare back to the most critical metrics, or the report will lose its focus and impact.  Remember the KPIs that were set initially - build a report around numbers that will support these benchmarks.  Once you've determined what your report will look like, create a dashboard that provides a snapshot of the report.  Most analytics tools allow you to set-up a summary screen that pulls in select metrics.  This is the screen that appears immediately upon logging in, which makes it an effective tool if your client will access analytics on their own.  Many analytics tools also allow these reports to be automatically generated and distributed via email, based on a schedule you can control.  So, if your client wants a summary report every Monday, this process can often be triggered quite easily.

I've Moved - Please Follow Me!

After more than ten years spent working as a Digital Project Manager, I've become a partner in a new firm - Rocket Digital Management, where we consult with clients on digital strategy, program execution, measurement and optimization.  Rocket is the new hub for Digital Management discussion, trade secrets, and leading industry information.  All new blog posts will be published on the Rocket site, so please reset your bookmarks and make a habit of visiting the new site often for updated blog posts. Some archived content has already been migrated over, and new articles will be published moving forward.  Also, remember to register for the Rocket newsletter, where the most important information will be delivered to your in-box.  You can also follow Rocket on Twitter.

Thanks for following,
Gina Lijoi - Partner - Rocket Digital Management