Hacks

I think I’ve mentioned once or twice that I’ve been in the “trenches” for over 15 years. Here are some hacks that I’ve uncovered during that time that have helped me be a better creative project manager. Here we go, in no particular order. 

People Hacks 

Give work to busy people. 

Give people work they like to work on. 

Don’t ask all your favors from one person.

Make sure you’re speaking the same language as whomever is speaking. If two people aren’t speaking the same language, be their translator. You should be able to "speak" creative and "speak" stakeholder.

Acknowledge that people have lives outside of work. In a personal setting (and only if they’re willing to share), ask about someone’s personal obligations. You may find someone has their kid’s school pickup and that’s not a good time to schedule a meeting. They’ll appreciate it.

Personal rule: don’t schedule meetings before 9:30am, and don’t schedule meetings after 2pm on Fridays. There are, of course, exceptions, but make them few and far between. 

If you’re told files are “done” and good to grab, wait 10 minutes, then grab them. Half of the time someone has a change.

Be “Captain Obvious.” Just because you think that the timeline is clear or everyone knows their action items, say it out loud (or write it down where it can be referenced). 

At the beginning of every meeting, level set by stating the objectives and the agenda for the meeting. You’ll look buttoned up, and for those higher-level people who are running from meeting to meeting, it will help them focus. You’ll set everyone up for an efficient meeting.

Find times to be casual. Whether in a 1:1 meeting or in an email, using a conversational tone or gifs or emojis (am I dating myself?) can take the pressure off and make you not look so transactional. But make sure you use this in appropriate settings. 

Make yourself indispensable; become the team’s “help desk”:

• Read all company comms and company-issued documents
• Find the quirks of the company
• Know your resources and assets (i.e. an intranet or where people can find templates)
• Send reminders to the team for everything (even for things like benefits elections deadlines, company event RSVPs or birthday cards). People like to know they’re not forgotten.

Learn to wear different hats and be comfortable in them: the lead, the enforcer, the cheerleader, the watcher, the proofer, the psychiatrist. 

Make an effort to know a little bit about everything (print, packaging, merchandising, legal, operations, localization, experiential marketing… the list is, of course, endless). Be curious.

Find the patterns. If your AP team requests all contractor invoices be submitted on the first of the month, communicate this to your contractors and get ahead of it for the finance team. When you start to anticipate, you can get ahead of the work instead of being reactionary. 

Do your best to be on your legal team’s and finance team’s good sides. You never know when you’ll need a favor.

Put yourself in the recipient’s shoes. Think to yourself: what would this person need to know in order to do what I’m asking of them (i.e. make a decision). 

Find where/how people like to communicate and meet them there. 

Remember that no two days are the same, especially in a creative role.

There are no dumb questions, only dumb work for not asking clarifying questions.

Err on the side of over-communication and transparency.

Try to come with solutions to problems, instead of just coming with problems. 

Know when to escalate or raise a red flag, and when to just dig in and get the job done.

Don’t let bad or sloppy work get past your desk. Speak up and clean it up. 

Remember you’re not doing heart surgery or rocket science. Sometimes it helps to remind your team of this too. 

If it can wait until the next day, let it wait until the next day. In the business world, 5pm on Friday is the same thing as 9am Monday.

Don’t let people take advantage of you in your project management role. 

Someone may say “you’ll know how to do it right/better” – don’t get stuck doing their work on top of yours.

Learn how to say “no.” 

There’s always more work for tomorrow.

Process Hacks 

Templatize as much as you can. By this I mean, trackers, documents, ticket set-up, the formatting of your meeting notes, etc.. When you use repeat formatting, your team will start to see a pattern and become familiar with where to find information (instead of asking you). 

But don’t over-templatize. If you’re sending a recurring email to the team, personalize the email, especially if it has action items for people and you’re asking for something (note: you’re usually always asking for something). 

For high-visibility, high-urgency projects, create a Slack channel with everyone in your RAM. You’ll be able to manage the project in one place and in real time and you won't become a bottleneck for information.

Work to better understand the creative process. Ask questions. Sit in on critiques. It’ll make you better understand the team’s efforts, how much work is required to do something so you can better scope projects, and it will arm you with empathy.

Be a stickler for process, but also allow some things to action outside of the process. Learn to know when to skirt the system.

Have a hack not listed here? Send me a note and I’ll add it in.