Related Posts
Community Builder
More Posts
Hows the work life balance Noida location
Conversation Starter
Bowl Leader
Does Citi have Cloud Projects?? And which cloud?
Additional Posts in Project Management - Advertising
Bowl Leader
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Unfortunately, everything you described seems to be the rule rather than exception for most of Advertising, especially as it relates to poor levels of resourcing Some are a little better with process, but the rest is directly tied to how agencies operate as it’s often one issue the has cascading effects creating the other issues.
Best advice I can offer is it’s not your problem to solve; meaning, you should raise the concerns and request the help that you need, do it as often as the issue presents itself in writing to your manager or senior leaders overseeing the resources or processes you’re strapped for. Don’t hold your breath something will change immediately, but it’s important for your own sake to document the issues—because inevitably these will come to a head, something will get missed and an angry client will be raising their concerns to the agency’s senior leaders. They will be forced to address the issue and your record keeping will make it harder for the finger to be pointed at you alone for the issues.
Sometimes, as PM’s the expectation (both our own or others’) is that we pick up the slack and do what’s needed to get the job done. All that does is allow them to keep turning a blind eye because it never presents as a problem for them. Let it be their problem.
Coach
Client side will be a breeze. Especially if you come from an agency or Pharma. 9-5 or 10-6.
Some general tips on PM:
Work on building your soft skills and learn to manage expectations from everyone. Be an easy person to work with, but also as stated, learn to set boundaries when needed.
"If we do not have XYZ info/resource by this time, we run the risk of ABC."
Always leave a paper trail and summarize action points at the end of every meeting (take notes during meetings that pertain to your team.)
When speaking in a team environment, avoid using YOU statements and swap out with 'we' or 'it' to create a collaborative environment.
"It looks like we missed this" vs "You missed this part" it's subtle, but it makes a difference over time.
Try to block off time in your public schedule to do the work. If your time is blocked off it will show you as unavailable for those times and will push a meeting to another time.
Unfortunately, fires are fires. Try to see if there is a common link or issue that keeps causing them. Document and tell everyone how much time was wasted because of it.
Do the best you can and create the processes as you need them. Let your manager know when you are overwhelmed and need support. Its on them if you escalate and things still go wrong. Remember that paper trail?
100% agree with what everyone else has said. it’s easier said than done (but gets easier over time), but you have to learn to set boundaries. You are one person, and can only do so much. Once the actual people who do the work embrace that mindset, management starts to realize that they need to start setting boundaries with clients who are driving these insane requests. That typically doesn’t last long but it stops things from getting really bad. Document everything (especially risks that you point out).
Hi! PM in an advertising agency as well. You'll need to manage your time effectively across project and resource management and streamlining processes. It's okay to say 'No' to some meetings. Start questioning things like.. Can this meeting just be an email/Slack message? Recurring meetings are the biggest waste of time imo. Unless absolutely necessary, have a meeting but always have an agenda. With the extra time, you can use it to focus on actually managing your projects and streamlining processes, or gathering resources. I would prioritizing creating structure in the agency first; timelines will be better and fires won't happen as much. Set focus times in your calendar to achieve this.
Coach
How much is the salary of the headache? Right now pm roles are hiring. If you’re open to freelance. I snagged two remote roles back to back. Also. It’s only 40 hours. Q2 budgets are in as well. I say the people who quit are smart. If you landed that one you’ll land another one.