Christian Rosenthal
Ramblings of a proud amateur
Messy process

Managing the creative process–the only survival guide you’ll ever need.

🌀 Process can be messy

If you are project manager, you know that creative processes tend to get really messy (I’ve learned this in multiple ways). What should be a really straightforward “A to B” journey, tends to be something like this:

messy line

Process, can be defined as a series of actions that you take in order to achieve a result.

Merriam-Webster

Yes, that’s the technical, simplistic dictionary definition, but is it so simple? Even if you:

  • build a project plan, based on the RFP—Request for proposal—when it exists,
  • create the most perfect timeline,
  • try to foresee any roadblocks that may come in your way,
  • track every minute of your time,
  • keep a constant check on the project scope,

…something will always come up.

Doesn’t project management feel like you are constantly fire fighting? It shouldn’t be like that…

Ok, having said everything you’ve read so far, can one even create a survival guide when each and every project is different? I think you can. These are some of the key factors I’ve learned over many years of fire fighting.

📓 The creative PM survival guide

First and foremost, why do we need a survival guide? Why do so many project managers and creative agencies look for processes to help them manage their creative projects? Well, that’s easy: We all have a promise to fulfill, a goal to achieve, a project to deliver (usually, multiple projects to deliver).

Ok, so where do we start?

🧰 Choose your toolkit carefully

There are SO MANY project management techniques, services, online platforms, etc. that choosing the right set of tools can be an overwhelming task. On top of that, project management is such a broad term when it comes to the tasks you need to perform, that I in all my years of experience, I have not found THE one PM tool to rule them all.

Frodo from the Lord of the Rings
Wouldn’t it be great?

Tools like Asana, Jira, Trello, Slack, Monday.com, etc. are commonly used when it comes to managing any project, and they all have their pros and cons. Microsoft and Google also provide interesting options with their business suites. It all comes down to what your needs are how comfortable you are with the tools at your disposal (Fortunately most if not all provide a free trial period or even a free tier for life).

Now, which are the features I expect from a PM tool?

  1. Task management
  2. Time tracking
  3. Collaboration features
  4. Reporting
  5. Gantt chart creation
  6. Kanban boards

So far, I haven’t found my “one” tool to rule them all so I use a combination of services to meet my needs.

👀 Open your eyes and ears

Listen, listen, listen. Try to get as much information from your client as possible. It’s really hard to work on something if you don’t really understand it.

A while back I read an article from Steve Moskowski on LinkedIn that talked about one of the biggest PM truths. It said: “The real challenges for project managers are NOT planning tasks and tracking progress.  Those ARE important, but will not lead to a successful project.  It is about management of the conditions that produce a successful project.”

That is so true. I can’t say how many times I’ve seen projects fail or go back to the drawing board because the requirements weren’t clear from the start. Prospects with interesting ideas, that sounded great on the elevator pitch, but crashed the moment we started asking questions.

Sponge bob square pants

If the PM doesn’t have clarity when a project is starting, how can the rest of a team deliver what the clients have in their minds?

Communication—in both ways—is fundamental. This may sound like a cliché, but that doesn’t make it less true and can be the difference between the failure of a project and its success.

🗓 Remember the past

Lessons learned throughout your PM journey, should not be gathering dust in a “project notes” folder. Every project, successful or not is valuable because of the learnings you can get from it.

As painful as it may be to remember those dark times or darker experiences while managing projects, lessons should have been learned. It’s always good to keep those in mind for future projects. Also, every project is unique to certain extent, meaning that there is usually something new. Something unknown.

A couple of examples that should be taken as learnings

  • That time when the project wasn’t scoped properly
  • What about when you forgot to properly document a project (keep a tidy paper trail)
  • Maybe that timeline that was overly tight but the client insisted on launching their project on time
  • Or even that low budget project where you ended up spending twice or trice the time you had estimated

💁🏻‍♂️ (Been there, done that….)

That being said, it’s hard to predict the future, but taking steps to prevent situations like these (based on your experience) is key.

💪 Build your resilience

This one is linked to the previous item. Let’s face it—failure is hard. It can take a toll on your mind and even your body.

Merriam-Webster defines resilience as “the capability of a strained body to recover its size and shape after deformation caused especially by compressive stress”. But, it also defines it as “an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change”.

resilience

Resilient people don’t dwell on a problem. They accept the situation, acknowledge it and learn from their mistake. This allows them to move forward and learn (like that happy taco).

By experience, I know that you need to build your resilience if you are working as a project manager. How? Here are some pointers that could help:

  • Learn to relax
  • Learn from your failures
  • Develop strong relationships
  • Rely on your team

🙋🏻‍♂️ Don’t try to do everything by yourself

Repeat after me: asking for help is fine. If you try to do everything by yourself, eventually the weight on your shoulders will be so monumental, that you will break.

Atlas Titan

Some people might think this will make them look weak or less capable, or even lose the team’s confidence. Well…asking for help does neither of those things. If anything, it makes you look more confident, more in control, because you are not afraid of admitting that you are overwhelmed, that you need a hand.

So the next time you feel like you are swamped, or that you are stuck in an impossible situation, don’t hesitate to reach out to your teammates. Speak up, and find the best solution as a team.

🤷🏻‍♂️ The end?

Yeah, I don’t know about that… I am pretty sure there are so many things that could be added to this list, that I can’t close this article. Maybe I’ll revisit it in a couple of months and keep adding things to the list.

I am sure of one thing, though, you need to keep going. This quote pretty much describes the feeling:

Don’t stop. Pause. Breathe. Cry if you must. But keep going forward.

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As a side note: I know that I am not the only one who experiences the creative process on a daily basis. If you have any great stories, please make sure to share them on the comments.

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