A new job for a unique industry
We’re all familiar with the term project management and can probably give a rough definition of the discipline. But what it looks like in action—and what it should be in the interactive industry—is not well understood. Yet.
In this chapter, we’ll discuss
■ How we define interactive project management
■ Required skills for managing real-world interactive projects
■ Critical tasks that drive action
■ The qualities of a good project manager
On interactive projects the project manager is the epicenter of activity. She is the all-knowing, all-seeing eye. She anticipates the needs of the team members and solves their problems before they can blink. She is a stealthy ninja, ready to strike with precision at a moment’s notice, rapidly refocusing as she fights off the attacking gang of risks and roadblocks.
Defining interactive project management
If you seek out project management resources, you’re likely to come across lengthy tomes like the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), PMP certification, and holy wars over software development methods like waterfall versus agile (and can we please agree that scrum is just a terrible word?). It’s not that those things are wrong. It’s just that in some ways they’re too much, and in others they’re not enough. Interactive, as a discipline, has emerged and evolved so quickly that industryspecific standards around how to manage projects haven’t yet been established.
What is it?
The discipline of interactive project management aligns a complex assortment of factors to create effective end products that must evolve to remain effective. It requires special attention to
■■ Numerous expertise areas working on the same thing at the same time
■■ Clients who have varying degrees of knowledge about, and interest in, technology
■■ Technology that changes daily
■■ Business objectives and project goals that must be accounted for atevery step
■■ End users who are an amorphous group of stakeholders with a variety of needs
We’re all familiar with the term project management and can probably give a rough definition of the discipline. But what it looks like in action—and what it should be in the interactive industry—is not well understood. Yet.
In this chapter, we’ll discuss
■ How we define interactive project management
■ Required skills for managing real-world interactive projects
■ Critical tasks that drive action
■ The qualities of a good project manager
On interactive projects the project manager is the epicenter of activity. She is the all-knowing, all-seeing eye. She anticipates the needs of the team members and solves their problems before they can blink. She is a stealthy ninja, ready to strike with precision at a moment’s notice, rapidly refocusing as she fights off the attacking gang of risks and roadblocks.
Defining interactive project management
If you seek out project management resources, you’re likely to come across lengthy tomes like the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK), PMP certification, and holy wars over software development methods like waterfall versus agile (and can we please agree that scrum is just a terrible word?). It’s not that those things are wrong. It’s just that in some ways they’re too much, and in others they’re not enough. Interactive, as a discipline, has emerged and evolved so quickly that industryspecific standards around how to manage projects haven’t yet been established.
What is it?
The discipline of interactive project management aligns a complex assortment of factors to create effective end products that must evolve to remain effective. It requires special attention to
■■ Numerous expertise areas working on the same thing at the same time
■■ Clients who have varying degrees of knowledge about, and interest in, technology
■■ Technology that changes daily
■■ Business objectives and project goals that must be accounted for atevery step
■■ End users who are an amorphous group of stakeholders with a variety of needs
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