The Beginning & End Of a Project

// May 5th, 2009 // Project Management

Sitting here at work looking through a couple projects I have… Its incredible how beautiful things start out with projects… The client loves you (based on your portfolio or how you sell yourself), the internal team is motivated and owns the project… The account manager feels good because based on your (“your” being the producer or project manager) schedule we should come in under budget and it will be a profitable project that can be showcase cause the creatives are going to do something nobody has ever seen before…

So the project kicks off, and requirements change… you still want to be a good partner, so you give, you bend… Then more changes come, the creative team gets frustrated, the developers have already built a core that needs tweaking that pisses them off… The account manager doesnt want to go back to the client to ask for more $ or time… I think any PM has gone through this… and it happens, its how you handle it, how you deal with all parties involved, that really can make or break a project.

I have worked places where producers just say yes, kill their internal resources since timelines don’t change, come in under budget, but the client loved working with them. Well… of course they did, you gave them everything they asked for… I am not saying you shouldn’t do everything you can to keep the client happy, and you can’t be that rigid where you are just saying “no” to everything… but somethings got to give. It helps when from the top down you are given the trust to manage the client relation and build and manage the internal team. If that is missing, and the producer is used as a scapegoat or punching bag (which I have also unfortunatly witnessed), then no one is happy.

So I don’t know where I was going with this.. just random thoughts about a specific topic… I guess a successful producer/project manager should not be judged on how a project or projects start, but rather how all elements related to that project end. Where the business goals met? Is the client, for the most part, happy with what was delivered? Is the internal team proud of the work they did, not burnt out too badly, and excited to work with you on another project? You will never have all three perfect, but if you can honestly say that all three are moderately in check, then you can consider it a successful project.

Good luck producers/project managers out there… A thankless job sometimes, that in this day & age is much needed with big and small projects a like.