Training and challenging ourselves with new technologies and new projects (within our position if possible, but also outside and on our own time)
The more the industry changes, the more you must adapt
Like other industries, our industry is constantly changing. That’s why you must adapt your core skillset to what the market of today demands. Here’s an example of what I mean.
Last week, I wrote social posts for a brand. To do it, I opened a Google Doc, did the writing assignment, never bothered saving it (not necessary with Google Docs) and then shared it with the account person for review.
25 years ago, I pecked away on an IBM Selectric II typewriter. When I finished typing the print ad and fixing some mistakes with corrective strips, I pulled the paper out of the typewriter and handed to the office manager who keystroked it into a Mac Plus.
In this example spanning 25 years, the function I performed, copywriting, was essentially the same. What has changed is mediums, social vs. print ads, technology tools, Mac Air and Google cloud computing vs. IBM typewriter and, finally, the style of writing is different—persuasion vs. engaging.
Yes, I’ve seen a lot a change throughout my ad career. I bet you have too, whether you’re a copywriter, a graphic designer, an art director, a production artist or a creative director. The key to career success is taking your greatest strength and molding and remolding it to what agencies or clients will pay you for today.
Your one thing
Remember that scene from the movie City Slickers when Billy Crystal’s character, Mitch Robbins, asks Curly, played by Jack Palance, what the meaning of life is? Curly holds up his index finger. Crystal’s answer was funny. “Your finger?” Cury’s point was the secret of life is one thing. He said, “You stick with that, and the rest don’t mean shit.”
Of course, what we’re talking about is your one thing applied to your ad career. As Curly advised Mitch, you have to figure out what your one thing is and nothing else matters. For me, my one thing is concepting and short copy.
I’m not a features writer. I’m not a technical writer. I’m not a writer with a book in me. I blog and write articles like this, but it’s painful. But give me an assignment that requires conceptual thinking to solve a marketing challenge and demands creating messaging, that excites me and I can’t stop thinking about it.
What’s your one thing? If it’s design, what’s your specialty?  Is it art direction? Be more specific. Is it creative direction? Sharpen your focus. There’s a lot of competition out there. You have to get to the core of your talent that’s bankable.
Not sure what your one thing is? Think back to your biggest successes or when you were praised the most. I bet your one thing is in there. I also recommend taking the StrengthsFinder test, which identifies your top five strengths. Your one thing is somewhere in that top five. I’d venture to guess it’s in your top two strengths.
What has changed
Plenty has changed in the ad industry. Like most industries, we’ve been forced to adapt to Moore’s Law, endless application updates, the Internet and now we’re adjusting to social media, cloud computing and mobile. Put it this way, I haven’t seen an art director or designer open QuarkXPress lately.
I never thought I’d stop writing in Word, saving docs and emailing them. But lately I’ve adapted to Google Drive, not saving anything, and just sharing it. Everyone where I work uses Google Drive. Sure, I could insist on using Word, but what would my Millennial peeps think? You have to fit in before you can stand out.
Change is hard but a necessity. To fit in workplaces or make money in my career, I’ve packaged myself as a copywriter, a content developer, a blogger and a marketing consultant. I just mold to whatever the title is and do my one thing.
You have to be your own change agent, always on the lookout for what’s new and could alter the business need you fulfill. What about social platforms like Pinterest and Instagram? What about crowdsourcing? How will each innovation change or reinvent what you do? Stay calm. Stay current.
Adapt to constant change
The ad industry changes every year. While sometimes you can ignore change and go about your business or craft, sooner or later, it’ll catch up with you. The key is to stay current while staying true to your one thing.  To do that, you have to be willing to adapt, repackage or mold into that shiny new penny that everyone wants.
If I can do it, I know you can do it.
This POV brought to you by a member of Boom Ideanet, “Instant bandwidth for the creative department of the future.”

The post Keeping up with complex work in a changing industry appeared first on UpSource.

Part 3 of a 4-part series on Project Management by contributor Annika Vaughan, MBA, PMP
Find or grow?
So, now that you are convinced of the benefits of project management in your team, you may wonder where to begin. While there are many project management tools out there, there is no technical solution to replace the human interaction needed to manage your clients and projects. So, the very first thing you need to think about is establishing project manager roles in your team. And most probably, you will be faced with two choices— recruit new project managers or train/assign existing staff to work as project managers.
[membership level=”1,2″]
Hiring project mangers
The benefit of hiring project managers from the outside is that you will instantaneously gain someone who is trained and experienced. An ideal candidate will be someone who has subject matter expertise in the creative industry gained in an agency or in-house team, is familiar with project management software, and has solid communication, scheduling, and estimating skills. Other qualities to look for are organizational skills, logical thinking, and the ability to work under pressure.
At a recent project manager event, I participated in behavior assessments. The test was based on DiSC methodology which centers on four different personality traits: Direct, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness. Guess which category 80% of the room fell into? Dominance (direct, strong willed, and forceful) and Influence (sociable, talkative, and lively). This probably shows that determined extroverts are more suited for project manager roles than those who are introverted.
Unlike recruiting designers and photographers where you can see their portfolios, assessing project managers’ skills can be a challenging task. You can check references, but if you want to go the extra mile, challenge your candidates with case studies. For example, give the candidate mock scenarios to see how they would handle negotiating scheduling, delivering bad news to a client, meeting a tight deadline, etc. Alternatively, you can look for candidates who are certified. Project Management Institute offers robust certification programs starting from Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM), to Project Management/Program Management Professional (PMP/PgMP). These project management certifications are not directly geared toward the creative industry, but they are widely recognized globally across different industries. Candidates with these certifications have gone through professional training and demonstrated technical understanding of basic project management principles. However, this can be a bit pricy. A certified Project Management Professional’s average salary was $110,000 USD in 2013, so if this is within your budget, hiring a PMP to lead your project management team could be an excellent option.
Training your existing team
Another option which could be cheaper and easier to gain management approval (Adding a headcount is always a hassle, isn’t it?) is to train a team member who is currently working in another capacity. I have heard of teams who have trained receptionists or customer representatives to become project managers with great success. In other instances, designers and other content specialists who are interested in growing their careers in more operational/business roles can be trained into project managers. You may also be able to find an experienced project manager in other departments such as IT to transfer to your team.
Sourcing project managers internally can be advantageous because your team knows your business process and clients well. Also, you avoid the risks involved bringing an external candidate into a new function, where clashes with the existing team and culture are possible. If you have a training budget, you can send your future project managers to crash courses or have them set a goal to be certified. There are many training institutes that offer online training as well as group training at your organization.
Deploying technology—useful project management tools
Once you have the right people in place, the next item to consider is which project manager tool to use to reduce manual input.
A good project management suite should take in requests from clients, map resources, create project schedules, store project information in one place, and possibly offer a platform for collaboration. Other fancy features offered are invoicing, cost planning, and online approval tools.
Up until a few years ago, many creative teams had no options but to use Filemaker or Excel to aid project management. Today, many companies are offering tailor-made project management and collaboration tools for the creative industry. Just Google “creative project management software” and you should find a dozen products in the market. The prices vary depending on the packages or number of licenses you purchase. Note that on top of the costs for the software, there is quite a bit of manpower required to implement a solution. It helps to talk to other users and read write-ups on project management tools to learn more about the pros and cons of each product.
The key here is to know what you wish to achieve through the tool. Is it for collaboration, to introduce digital proofing, or simply to track project progress? Do you need a workflow tool, or simply a place to track and report time and expenses. Ask these questions to your team and clients before bringing in a new system.
You should also appoint a champion on your project management team to lead the system implementation and maintenance. If you are lucky enough to have a robust IT team to support the tool, you may be able to get away with having a liaison appointed internally in your team and have your IT department do the heavy lifting during implementation. Alternatively, you might be able to use your IT department to develop a custom solution.
[/membership]
Once you have a team of project managers and set of tools to use, you should be all set to deal with your next challenge—change management!
Coming up next on March 17th: Part 4 – Change management: marrying the left and right brain successfully

About the author: Annika Vaughan, MBA, PMP
Annika works as Media Officer at the International Monetary Fund, in a project management team of an in-house agency with 40 + staff providing design, photography and video production services. Her previously held positions include TV reporter, PR manager and UN Communications Officer.
Disclaimer: The views expressed herein are those of the author and should not be attributed to the IMF, its Executive Board, or its management

The post Project Management Pt. 3 – Implementing project management in your team— tools and resources appeared first on UpSource.