Digital Project Management:
Written on the 28 of May, 2009, by Bree Davies
I always get asked what I do, and when I say I’m a Digital Project Manager, it generally attracts a blank stare, followed by a comment along the lines of: “I’d never picture you to be a web geek. So you build websites and stuff? Did you study IT at Uni?”
I always struggle as to where to start explaining, because there are so many different parts to the role of Digital Project Manager. I’m definitely not a developer, but can talk the talk, even though I can’t walk to walk. That said, it probably helps we have a great team of developers who are great at ‘translating’ for me. Or maybe I just know the right questions to ask. Either way, we seem to understand each other.
Here’s the five main aspects of my job:
Project Management
This is probably the biggest component of my role. I keep our clients happy by getting their projects completed on time and to budget. This involves managing the developers’ time everyday, and asking lots of very annoying questions like: ‘How long will this take?’ and ‘Are you done yet?’ or ‘When will this be finished?’. I liaise with clients about the status of their project and organise the things which we need them to do in order to get their digital project completed such as content, logos or getting domain name access.
Testing
I make sure your digital project works. This involves doing lots of testing, making sure that the end product looks the same as the design and it works the way we said it would it the site map. This is a time consuming part of my job, due to two words: Internet Explorer. If you’d like to do your part for the web community right now and you’re an Internet Explorer user, please download Firefox or Safari right now. Having one less IE user on the interweb makes my job a million times easier (and that’s no exaggeration).
Content Integration
One part of my job I always think will be really quick – and it never is. Once I’ve got the content from the client (which is the hardest part by far) I then use Symphony CMS to integrate it and make sure it’s laid out and formatted correctly.
Search Engine Optimisation
We’ve got a pretty good track record with search results, and to keep up our reputation, I write all the search engine optimisation rules for our websites. This involves setting up the ‘rule’ in Symphony (via a very clever SEO Manager module we created) and using keyword research to create custom title tags, meta data and keywords for each page of our clients’ sites, driving more traffic their way through high ranking search engine results.
Training
Using a CMS is usually pretty foreign to most people, so I create custom screen cast training videos. But as clients get the hang of using the CMS, I’m always on the phone or over email helping out as they get more familiar with the system.
The Rest…
Then there’s the seemingly millions of other little bits and pieces I do everyday – keeping up with new technology, dreaming and writing blogs for the R&B site, copywriting, maintaining the R&B site, meeting with clients, putting together estimates for new work, setting up email accounts, managing hosting, registering domain names and problem solving with the developers about how we can continue to push the boundaries of web development.
All in a day’s work really.
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Bree Davies
Digital Project Manager
As R&B’s Digital Project Manager, Bree Davies brings experience working for some of Australia’s most high profile organisations including Morrison Media, Endemol Southern Star and the Virgin Blue Group.
