Get the scoop on all the latest from The Digital Project Manager in February 2019—new case studies, podcasts, and articles to help you deliver better projects!

How can project managers work better with business development and sales in order to win more projects that your agency can successfully deliver? Find out in this interview with agency growth consultant Peter Levitan, who has owned his own shop, worked with clients like Nike and Saatchi & Saatchi, and has bought and sold three ad agencies.…

Do you feel like you have to prove your worth as a project manager? In this episode, PMs Ben Aston and Tucker Sauer-Pivonka make the case for project managers, talking about why the PM role is important and how to deal with negative views from various stakeholders on a project.

In this episode, PM Suze Haworth shares insight for new PMs, talking about what project managers do, how to build the right skills for the role, how to prepare for a project manager interview, and where you can plan to take your career.

Are you starting your projects off on the right foot and giving them the best chances for success? Project beginnings can be ambiguous and confusing—in this episode, Suze Haworth shows us her approach for getting clarity, setting expectations, and making sure the bases are covered, before the project is underway.…

Planning a vacation? In order to step away from work without having to answer emails during your time off, you need a successful project handoff. In this episode, PM Mackenzie Dysart walks you through the steps to make project transitions a breeze so you can enjoy your vacation and ensure you don’t return to chaos!…

When requirements are too loose, your results are undefined and unpredictable. Too tight, and you end up with blind spots. In this episode, PM expert Kelly Suter tell us how to nail the requirements gathering process so your clients know what’s being delivered and your teams know exactly what they’re delivering.…

If you ask just about any PM how their work is going, how do you think they'll respond? 'Sorry, I've got no time to talk right now, I'm totally slammed! Maybe we can touch base next week? ' My own experience of PM'ing is that it's a demanding role, we carry the responsibility of delivering a project to our best ability and we desperately want o ...…

Scope creep can be very costly and very hard to identify—and, luckily, very manageable. In this episode, we talk about scope creep, what causes it, and ways to manage scope creep with Suze Haworth, a Senior Digital Project Manager with over a decade worth of experience in web builds, social campaigns, and digital media.…

How do you draw the line between project management and becoming everyone else’s personal admin? As a PM, do you find yourself doing the “project dirty work?” In this episode, PM expert Patrice Embry dishes out valuable advice for PMs who suspect that they’re taking on too much admin work and want to get back to doing what they do best—being a PM!…

“Oh, I love being managed!”, said no one ever. How do we manage our teams effectively without being micromanager? How do we manage agile teams who don’t want to be managed? In this episode, Sarah Hoban, a PMP-certified Project and Program Manager, talks about how to do your job effectively as a project manager on the sly.…

Are you delivering projects on budget, on time, and in scope? You want your team to be able to hit their milestones—and it’s your job to guide the process with project controls. In today’s DPM podcast with project manager expert Maik Stettner you’ll learn how to use project control documents like status reports and RAID logs in order to keep yo ...…

Triumph over the contracting madness: Alexa Huston explains how an agile contract can benefit your project—and how to get buy-in from clients. This episode offers welcome advice for anyone struggling with the awkward space between fixed scope and agile projects, discussing the challenges, benefits, and drawbacks of working with different types ...…

If we don't end our projects right, we can end up going over budget, delivering late, annoying our team, and the client. Ben chats with Patrice to discuss how we can end projects better with a checklist of what to do, and what not to do.

Leading remote teams can be tough - but is it because our teams suck, or because we're not leading our remote teams well? Find out as Ben talks to Wayne, simple rules you can apply to be a better remote leader.

One way to do optimize your agile approach is to make your meetings or ceremonies more effective. Ben Aston talks to Alexa Huston about sprint planning, daily standups, sprint reviews and sprint retrospectives to give you the inside track on how you can do them better.

Sometimes projects go off the rails simply because we jump into them too fast. Ben Aston talks to Maik Stettner about how we can use a project initiation document, or project brief to get everyone on the same page at the start of the project to make project kickoffs more effective.

Projects are tricky often because we're working with teams that can inconsistent, egotistical, and unreliable. So how on earth do we manage a project when we've got all that to contend with along with delivering the project? Ben Aston talks to Suze Haworth to discuss how we can use RACI charts to clearly define roles and responsibilities, stop ...…

Are you an average project manager or one that's destined for greatness? The difference is not so much about what you do, it's all about how you do it. Ben Aston talks to Patrice Embry to discuss how we can take those everyday responsibilities of a project manager and do them better. Find out what you should really be doing to separate yourself ...…

If you've ever got yourself in a pickle on your projects because you didn't have written evidence of your discussions with your clients, then this episode is for you! Ben Aston talks to Robyn Reynolds about the often forgotten status report and how they can save your bacon. Find out what you should put in it, how you can make them less of a pai ...…

We all know communication is a massively important part of our project manager role. But what are the tools we can use to be better at it? One of them is a communications plan. Ben talks to Natalie about how you can use a communication plan to manage expectations better - keep listening to find out how you can stop clients badgering you for inf ...…

Do you feel like your team is making the same mistakes over and over again? It's probably because they are - and it's probably because you're not helping them change! Ben and Alexa talk about how we can use sprint retrospectives to highlight opportunities for change, generate process improvements, and move the team in the right direction. Liste ...…

Being productive isn't about doing more, it's about being smarter. Ben talks to Tucker to discuss how - the time management hacks we can use to be (nearly) as productive as Beyoncé! Listen up for for really practical tips and simple hacks that are going to save you stacks of time and get you back on top of your PM game.…

Starting new projects can be incredibly daunting, particularly if you're working on a new client, new in the agency, or on the receiving end of a shoddy handover. Ben Aston talks to Joanna Leigh Simon to discuss the questions to ask about the project plan, team, client and work to get your bearings and get a project in order. Listen up to learn ...…

As project managers, we're in the business of managing teams. But are we managing them, and leading them well? Ben Aston chats with Karl Sakas, author of, 'Made To Lead', to discuss how can we lead our teams be more effective, cast vision better, and manage with strategies that are effective for delivery.…

Project managers are masters of getting stuff done. But what are the tricks for getting more stuff done, better? Ben Aston chats with Cédric Waldburger, founder of SendTask, to discuss everything from crypto currencies to founding companies, and how we can get more done by making our lives simpler.

Are you actually good at what do you do? Deep down, do you sometimes wonder if you're actually a project manager charlatan, or in the wrong career altogether? Ben Aston chats with Lina Calin to discuss how we can know if we're really doing a good job of this project management thing.

The pressure to do the right thing and be seen to do the right thing is immense. But should we be doing all those project management things, all the time? Ben Aston talks to Patrice Embry to discuss how you can save yourself time by cutting the extraneous things from your PM routine.

Beyond managing projects, how can we use our emotional intelligence to be project leaders? Ben Aston talks to Colin Ellis, author of The Conscious Project Leader to discuss building a positive project culture and leading our projects so that our teams are engaged and motivated to succeed.

Ben Aston and Robyn Reynolds introduce an anonymous advice column for digital PM's to ask awkward questions and share their own stories of managing tricky situations in the life as a digital project manager.

Ben discusses the life of a 'remoter' project manager with Natalie Semczuk, and her new DPM(ish) newsletter. After a tragic internet malfunction, the conversation pivots to unpacking typical project problem areas, why and how it's important to document lessons learned, and what to do with those lessons, to stop making the same mistakes.…

How you can make Scrum work in an agency, and how do you make any process change effectively? In this podcast, Ben Aston talks to Alexa Huston about her introduction of Scrum at the agency Crema and you can make process changes with your team and tools work for everyone.

The relationship between a project manager and their development team can often be a tricky one - so how can we make it better? Kelly Suter joins Ben Aston to discuss techniques you can use to build a better dynamic with your development team and tools she's using to run projects.

Solid relationships are crucial to the success of projects - but how do you put that into practice? Lina Calin joins Ben Aston to discuss the techniques you can use to build a stronger, more dynamic and successful team.

Will our jobs as project managers be taken over by artificial intelligent PM bots? Discover in this podcast with Dennis Kayser from Forecast.it and learn about how they're using artificial intelligence and machine learning to help project managers make better decisions and automate repetitive PM tasks.…

Is project management a thankless job, and should you strive to be an invisible PM? Ben Aston debates with Justin Handler how to do invisible project management; understanding technology, setting your team up for success, client and expectation management, and having difficult conversations.

Ben Aston chats with Brian Kessman about the best ways to build and scale a project management team, particularly within in agency. They cover everything from defining the purpose, getting the right people, establishing the right partnerships, setting in place the right processes and monitoring the PMO's performance.…

Ben Aston chats with Joanna Leigh Simon, discovering her personal DPM story and chatting about the project management best practices that you should be doing each month. Covering the whole gamut of a monthly project reset, discover how to enhance your workflow, decrease the daily stress, and keep your projects running smoothly.…

Emily Carbonell-Ferguson hosts a roundtable discussion with Patrice Embry, Abby Fretz and Ben Aston on the sometimes confusing job titles we use as we progress through our DPM careers; digital project manager vs senior digital project manager vs producer vs account manager - what's it all about? Is there really any difference between us? Or sho ...…

In this episode, Ben Aston chats with Natalie Semczuk about project management hacks, diving into the details of automation you can setup, tools you can use, techniques you can apply and philosophies to adopt that'll make your DPM life a whole lot easier.

In this inaugural Digital Project Manager podcast, Ben introduces the vision of the Digital Project Manager site, http://www.thedigitalprojectmanager.com, shares his story of becoming a DPM and gives an overview of what you can expect from this podcast.