Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to manage our weekly client project and would like to share my experience. It started on Monday with the kick-off call during which the client's requirement for the project were gathered. The next few steps were in my opinion very important for the successful project.

Project Planning

I communicated with my DS team and came up with a draft plan for each day on the project. I tried to keep it flexible and it worked out well at the end. It is important to make simple and clear steps and agree with the team. Since I was also working on the project, I had to make time for my PM tasks: Documentation, creating a template for the dasboard, preparing the final presentation, communicating with the client when necessary. Remember to make time for this to avoid too much overtime.

To manage the project activities, I shared a word file with the group in which the main tasks were written down and tracked. However, there are many apps available for backlog such as Trello, Jira, Tasks by planner in Teams and more.

Team communication

I set up Follow-up meetings on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday after the Client check-in call so that the team stayed up-to-date with the progress and to check that we are on the right track. Aside from this, the team communicated constantly on Teams if there was any issue. This was great as everyone was kept in the loop and we could help each other spontaneously when needed.

Project requirements evaluation

This part was quite challenging. After the check-in call with the client on Wednesday, some adjustments were required by the client. However, we didn't properly evaluate the load of the work it will require which resulted in the team working a lot overtime on Wednesday and Thursday. It is important to evaluate the client's requirements and explain to them what can be delivered in the given time. If during the week some changes are required, recall to the client that these were not part of the original requirements and let them know if you can include it or not.

In summary, it was an enriching experience as a project manager. It challenged my time management, decision making and leadership skills. This was just my experience and some lessons I got from it. Remember Convo is a very useful platfrom if you are not sure of what to do at any moment.