We asked Digital PM Consultant Sloan Miller what makes him tick and sets him up for a better day at work. Here’s what he told us.
Vitals
Name
Sloan Miller
Occupation
Digital Operations, Strategist & Project Management Consultant
LinkedIn
@sloanmillerpm
Twitter
@pmowned
What is your role and title?
I’m a digital operations, strategist, and project management consultant. Before that, I spent many years in business development and project management at several digital agencies and on in-house marketing teams.
What gets you out of bed in the morning?
Human beings fascinate me. I love people, hearing their stories, what they are passionate about, and getting to know them as individuals. I’m excited to play the role of ‘party host’ and act as a human super-collider in terms of meeting and introducing people to one another.
How did you get into this field?
For me, it was all about being in the right place at the right time and having the right mindset.
I graduated college with an engineering degree just as the dot com bubble of the late nineties burst. Technology companies with great ideas and products were searching for ways to prevent the mistakes of the past. Adding structure, process, and problem-solving skills seemed to make sense.
At the time, I was working in the customer service department for a small fantasy sports technology company. I had a solid understanding of their products and services, so I was asked to organize and coordinate a multi-disciplinary team of writers, designer, and developers to execute a few client projects. It felt natural, it played to my strengths—and there were more successes than failures.
What did your mom or dad teach you that you still think about?
My mother was a college professor, an education consultant, and single mother of three kids. She was and still is, tough as nails while being amazingly compassionate and empathic. From her I learned the value of formal and informal education, and that the seemingly impossible can be accomplished by the combination of sheer force of will, good vibes, and a little help. She also taught me how important it is to make time for the little things that bring joy to your life, like family, friends, and the occasional indulgence.
I believe that the right mindset and soft skills wins out over a tool any day — like gathering requirements for a project or working out the core problem before prescribing a solution. And once you know what you’re trying to solve for, find the best possible tool.
Does your team/company understand and respect what you do/why you do it? Explain.
I’ve always felt that this is one of the most important factors in the success and development of young project managers and producers.
I’ve worked for places that didn’t understand the role, the needs, or the associated skills. In those organizations, I spent lots of time justifying my and my team’s existence, the ebb and flow of the work, and how to best integrate the project management practice. It wasted hour upon hours of time, kept much of the workload in ‘firefighting mode,’ and was emotionally and physically exhausting for me.
I’ve also worked for agencies, clients, and teams that trusted and respected me, that felt what I brought to the table in both soft and hard skills were what they wanted and needed. That made for great partnerships, long term stability, and a greater chance of success. These days I choose to turn down work that puts me in situations where the values of the project management discipline aren’t respected.
What kind of tools do you use daily and why do you love them?
I’ve always believed the key tools to success in project management are a pen, a piece of paper, the right people in a room, and the appropriate amount of time to plan.
I believe that the right mindset and soft skills win out over a tool any day—like gathering requirements for a project or working out the core problem before prescribing a solution. And once you know what you’re trying to solve for, find the best possible tool.
So outside of a Moleskin, post-it notes, and a whiteboard, I’m a big fan of Evernote for notes and documents, Trello for visualizing tasks, Google Apps for a collaborative workflow and ‘low tech/low cost’ proof of concepts, Harvest for time tracking, Basecamp for communications and as a repository and Zapier (assuming that you like or need to keep your collection of independent online tools, but needs to “map” data from one app to another).
What kinds of workflow or methodologies do you use with your team?
I’ve worked within waterfall, agilefall, modified agile, and a hodgepodge of other combinations. I prefer a blended approach that suits both the team and client’s internal workflows, the goals of the project, and a project’s constraints like budget and timeline. Something along the lines of the defined stage or phase structure of waterfall, combined with the flexibility and adaptability that iterative agile sprints with routine check-ins create.
Listen twice as much as you talk. Take the time to empathize and understand where someone else is coming from, and ask insightful and well-intentioned questions.
What’s your best tip for being better at managing projects?
As a member of a project team, you have two ears and one mouth for a reason. Listen twice as much as you talk. Take the time to empathize and understand where someone else is coming from, and ask insightful and well-intentioned questions.
What annoys you about this industry? What needs to change?
I think that Zulu Alpha Kilo’s recent video on the ridiculousness of spec work and the insanity of the proposal process hits the nail on the head. Understanding the nuances of this industry is very difficult. Beginning a relationship with miscommunication and misaligned expectations can only lead to tough conversations and some large obstacles to overcome down the road.
I also think that resisting and revising the traditionally defined and separate roles of Account Managers and Project Managers is a must to ensure better collaboration, sympathy, and empathy.
What do you want to be when you grow up? If you could be/do anything?
From an early age, I wanted to be a marine engineer. As a career, I thought that it would’ve been the perfect combination of practical and real-world problem solving, with both a rich history and the possibilities of adventure on the open seas.
