Get fired up
Inspiration can come from anywhere, but it is even more powerful when it comes from an industry leader. PMs find inspiration from a variety sources: historical quotes, project retrospectives and articles about leadership. They also get inspiration from conversations with peers, events, and other people. No matter how inspiring the source, project managers don’t get the respect they deserve like other professions. We get excited when we hear some nice words from non-PMs.
Business leaders should be Project Managers
This installment of PM Matters is sure to get you excited. Paul Boag, a well-known UX consultant, sat down to discuss digital project management with Brett Harned. The result is full of quotes that will make you feel empowered to be a project manager. Paul calls project managers the “last best hope” at one point during the interview. Paul says that digital transformation requires fundamental changes in organizations, and that PMs can lead those changes. Project managers can do much more than manage budgets and timeframes. We can think strategically and use organizational and communication skills to transform businesses and teams. Paul’s book Digital Adaptation will help you to imagine yourself as someone who can lead change. You will not be focusing on the details of your project but also on a larger strategy. This is exciting!
Get involved in the community
Paul and Brett also discuss the growing community of digital project managers in the interview. Listen to the interview to learn more about how to get involved. Register now to meet Brett and Paul at The Digital PM Summit. We are proud to sponsor this event and show support for the community. We believe you should, too.
The Transcript is available here:
Brett: Welcome back to another episode on PM Matters. Brett: This is Brett Harned. I’m here today with Paul Boag. Paul: How are you?Brett : It’s not a problem at all. So I’m going to introduce myself quickly. Paul has been a friend for the past year. He is a user-experience consultant and speaker, mentor, author, and author from Dorsett in England. He assists organizations around the globe to use the Web, mobile, and social media to engage users. Paul is not a project manager but has somehow become close to the digital PM community in the past year. Paul, thank you so much for joining us today. Despite not being a project manager, he has become very close to the digital PM community over the past year. Paul: Aside from the fact we drug you into our events, because we have been following you for some time and really admire some of your work in the digital community. What is it that you value about project managers or project managing? Paul: I think they are, to borrow from Star Wars, the “last hope”. I see a lot of organizations, and there are fundamental changes they need to make in their culture and in their approaches to digital. Many of my clients don’t understand or aren’t able to get digital.
They must fundamentally change the way they work. Who is going to do this? Is it the senior management team? They don’t understand digital and they won’t be able to. Is it the marketing department? They have a good understanding digital, but only from the perspective of external clients. They don’t fully understand digital. Are they going to be developers or designers? They can’t talk business speak, so it’s a no-no.
Who will that leave? Digital project managers are my interest, that’s why I am so interested in you as an organization, because I believe in your hands lies the futu
PM Matters Interview: Paul Boag Inspires
