Have you ever taken over a project and realized you don’t know where to find the SOW or deliverables at all? What about all those times you’ve picked a project back up after launch to add a feature and had to do your best impression of Sherlock Holmes to dig out what went down on the project before it launched? If you’ve experienced these things, then you’ve experienced project management debt. The idea of content debt and technical debt are decently well-known in the world of web projects. Technical debt refers to the extra work that builds up as a result of code that’s implemented due to the ease (in time or practice), rather than implementing the overall best solution.…
After another year of freelancing, building client relationships, dealing with both great and difficult projects, working with incredibly strong partners, moving halfway across the country, and a whole host of project management/tech events, I’ve really refined my approach to work that I take on. I’ve found that all of the work I do and projects I take on have patterns that are shared across contracts. Certain things are important to me in how I work, how others interact with me, and it’s become a core foundation in how I work—the principles that shape what I do. I look at these core principles as my personal set of project management standards. This core approach is something that I think we should…
A few months ago I was messy-bun-deep into a web project that was consuming all of myself and my team’s time, energy, and resolve. The project was tough for a number of reasons (actually, all of the possible reasons) and led to a lot of emotional highs and lows for everyone involved, as well as a good amount of frustration. Luckily, I was working with an amazing team. Our collective frustration led to long talks while venting, but also talking through processes and analyzing the avenues that had brought us to where we were. I knew as we worked through the project that we shouldn’t walk away from these discussions once the project launched. Having worked with other teams using…