BarCamp Philly: Highlights

This weekend I had the opportunity to go to BarCamp Philly, my first ever bar camp, and it was baller. Here are some highlights.

Fabulous People I Met

• Thomas Dixon, an adorkable guy who suffered a traumatic brain injury when hit by a car while running who has replaced  his episodic memory with a private Twitter account.
• Ruth Kalinka, who waxed poetic on the importance of women negotiating (amen... and teach me!) and acupuncture.
• David Dylan Thomas, who gave a fantastic talk about links as language and is working on ContentCamp (I'm so in).
• Sarah Feidt, organizer extraordinaire and holder of the most delicious proprietary homemade booze blend for cider.
• Austin Seraphin, a visually impaired guy who's using echolocation to see with his ears.
• Chris Bartlett, a leader in the Philly gay community who had some powerful thoughts about the importance of being "the only one like you" in a group.
• Kelani Nichole, who gave me some awesome ideas on how to talk about types and importance of content before sitemapping and wireframing even happens—and an unexpected perspective on presenting scope statements the way designers and strategist present their work.

Concepts Worth Crystalizing

• Lagom design: Non-American cultures have a much greater appreciation for the values of moderation and humility. "Lagom" is the "Goldilocks Principle": not too much, not too little, just right. A good designer/writer/what-have-you understands how to make their solutions "lagom." Balance is important... or, as I tell some of my clients, non-lagom design and copy often feels like "you're trying too hard."
• The web doesn't exist purely to mirror the physical world. Instead of simply replicating your content on the web (think PDFs), embrace the fact that web is a unique medium that can offer opportunities other forms of communication cannot. The web should offer non-linear ways of finding and digesting information; connect you to people you should meet, not just the ones you already know; flat-out solve problems differently!
• "Yes and": I first learned about this improv comedy technique from the much-adored Tina Fey, but was reminded of it during a session on serendipity and community-building. I'm good as "no but" to compromise while not being pushed over, but trying "yes and" has the potential to foster more creative solutions.
• Structured content: Kelani Nichole showed off some beautiful content mapping concepts for getting client participation on content meat early on as well as the future of structured content in mobile.

New Reading Recommendations

• Secrets of Six-Figure Women: Surprising Strategies to Up Your Earnings and Change Your Life by Barbara Stanny
• The Anti 9 to 5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube by Michelle Goodman
• My So-Called Freelance Life: How to Survive and Thrive as a Creative Professional for Hire by Michelle Goodman
• Color Image Scale by Shigenobu Kobayashi
• Clout: The Art and Science of Influential Web Content by Colleen Jones

Besides walking away with a sweet monkey hat, I ultimately gleaned a great sense of connection to people doing impressive things and a new goal for myself: present at BarCamp Harrisburg in April!

What a Project Manager Isn't

Project management as a discipline is fairly new to the creative world, and in fact, a lot of the skills I've learned come from PMs in software development (thanks again, nerds). There are a lot of misconceptions about what project managers do and what we bring to a team. To clear up some of the confusion associated with defining the role,  here are some things I, as a project manager, am not.

• Account Manager: This is probably the most commonly confused role with PM so I want to address it first. While many of the tasks I perform as a PM are similar to those of an account manager, many are not. An oversimplification (and one that I'll contradict shortly) is that account managers are externally focused (i.e., the client) and project managers are internally focused (i.e., the company's project team).

  A pessimistic person might say that an AM's primary goal is to keep the client happy and a PM's primary goal is to keep the team sane. We all know that these things can feel at odds, and in actuality, a PM's job is to facilitate a successful project (notice the lack of sides).

  A few AM skills that PMs must possess as well include communicating regularly and reassuringly with a client (though I might contend that PMs have a tendency to be more honest and less bullshit-prone), providing a client voice/perspective during internal reviews of work, helping ensure client feedback/requirements are addressed by the project team, and looking for sales opportunities.

• Task Manager: This relates to thing I'm not number one. I don't work in a production shop and that's not my career aspiration. I work with smart people who can solve problems, not just push pixels. That means my job is not to create the world's greatest to-do list and bug everyone until everything is done. That's a) boring b) bad karma c) a poor use of everyone's time.

  Yes, my job includes identifying deliverables and the work required to produce those items. But I work in a service business, not a factory. My job is to look for, identify, and remove roadblocks for project progress. My job is to help a client recognize the expertise my team provides in solving their problems. My job is to make sure everyone feels listened to and respected. And what's more, if I don't do all of these things well, we cannot hit project deadlines and milestones (you know, those dates your task lists are all driving toward?).

• Your Mother: Again, this relates to the previous point: I do not want to micromanage.Let me repeat that: I do not want to micromanage.

  Project managers shouldn't be telling their team members how to do their jobs. While they should make sure a client understands input deadlines and the impact of missing those deadlines, they shouldn't be responsible for reading over a client's shoulder to make sure they've done their homework.

  This comes down to a very simple point: project success depends on everyone doing their job well.

• Secretary: I set up meetings, take notes, write up travel itineraries  and anyone who's worked with me knows I'd make (and deliver) the coffee for anyone on my team. I am not above these things. These tasks, however, are not my primary or even secondary focus. I do them because someone needs to, and hell, I'm just a nice person. Also I want coffee.

  Don't get me wrong—I have tremendous respect for administrative assistants because they're usually the most helpful people in any given office. But if all I'm doing is coordinating schedules, I'm not providing the full value of a PM.

It's not always easy to realize that somewhere I've gone wrong when I find myself playing one of the above roles. Whether it's an internal team or an external client, it's ultimately my responsibility to help define my role in any given project. I can only hope that other bright-eyed PMs feel the same, and together, we can make this a more PM-friendly world.

I don't know that there's really any other way to end except to offer this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBr3MM9_zd4

The Editors' Mile High Club

I’ll admit it: the editor’s version of the Mile High Club just isn’t as sexy as the original. We try, what with all that sensual red ink and bumpy-looking notes from the turbulence, but it just doesn’t have the same kind of allure as bonking in the bathroom at 37,000 feet.

Still, editing on a plane is where most of my really great intellectual intercourse happens. Why is that? Here are some of my theories:

• I’m stuck in one place. As a kid, I was way more effective when I did homework in the car on the way to whatever extracurricular my mom was toting me to that day, and I think this efficiency-from-confinement has carried on into adulthood. I can’t go clean something or walk the dog or any other form of constructive procrastination because I’m literally strapped down. Middle seats are especially effective.
• Distractions are minimized. Wireless service becoming more widespread threatens to change this fact, but until they make it free (probably never since they all airline carriers seem one barrel of oil away from charging for carry on luggage), my sanctuary is safe. Though some passengers express curiosity about the large stack of paper binder-clipped in front of my, most are busy sleeping open-mouthed or reading the latest John Grisham novel.
• When traveling, less is more. I edit fiction by hand, and there are times when the analogue way of doing things just plain pays off. I don’t have to watch my computer battery or buy those overpriced, poorly designed headsets for the in-flight movie. Plus, I can concurrently eat and edit on that little tray table; can you?
• I find really great character details to pass on to my writers. You just see great stuff when it comes to traveling, like a woman eating a salad from Cinnabon or the smell of a middle-aged businessman obsessively crunching corn nuts washed down with tiny bottles of whiskey. Or the word “lavatory,” which only seems to be used on airplanes.

Writers have their favorite places and ways to write, and the same is true for editors (we’re not paper-pushing desk monkeys!). Many of these conditions can be achieved in other, less expensive settings (like when riding the bus or a sitting in doctor’s waiting room even if you don’t have an appointment), but for me, it’s still a sure shot to stick me on a plane with a manuscript.

Of course, a plane is not the strangest place I’ve ever chosen to work my editorial magic; editing in a bar is sure to set the stage for pick-up lines. Maybe there’s hope for sexing up the mysterious world of editing after all.