Working with Project Managers: Q&A with Erin Kissane

“I believe that clear, honest, thoughtful communication—online and otherwise—can make our lives better (and good businesses more profitable). I believe that poor communication wastes time and money, damages relationships, and hinders our ability to think clearly as groups and individuals. I believe we can do better.”

With a credo that reads like a project manager’s own personal diary, how could I not interview Erin Kissane?

Erin is a brilliant and sometimes pink-haired content strategist who lives in New York. She has worked independently on projects with Happy Cog for years and recently took a position with Brain Traffic where she’ll focus on major content strategy projects with many like-minded people. In her work, Erin helps companies and other organizations figure out appropriate online editorial strategies, create great content, and build sustainable publishing workflows. And she’s darn good!

Erin’s resume reads like one that most web nerds dream about: She was lead editor of A List Apart for 5 years, has edited books, including Designing with Web Standards by Jeffrey Zeldman with Ethan Marcotte, and John Allsopp’s Developing with Web Standards. And…her new book, The Elements of Content Strategy, is being released on March 8. On top of that, she blogs at Incisive.nu. I’m so happy for Erin, and really so selfishly happy for myself because I was able to work with her on a really great project.

Needless to say, I was ecstatic that she accepted my request for this Q&A. Continue reading

Working with PMs: A Q&A with Whitney Hess

I am so happy to post the first of what I hope to be a series of project management-related interviews with web development professionals. To me, a lot of what we do as web project managers relies on an understanding of what our team does on a daily basis, and how we can ultimately help them to achieve their project goals. My hope is that these interviews will offer some insight on how project managers can facilitate great work.

First up: Whitney Hess. I’ve had the pleasure to work with Whitney over the past year. Not only is she a great person to work with, but she’s a friend who offers great advice and perspective on what we do. She’s not just a highly regarded experience designer; she speaks, she blogs, she writes, and she tweets with the best of them! I knew she’d be great to talk to, because she has provided some great feedback to me on the subject in the recent past. And really, in a way, Whitney gave me some inspiration to start this blog. So, without further ado, here is the interview. (Settle in, it’s not short.) Continue reading

Coming soon…

I am working on an exciting new project and will be posting the first installment this week. No, it’s not a new design (Aw, shucks! I know!). In my opinion it’s better because it’s about the content (but, yeah, I still want a new design). It’s an interview series that focuses on the role of Project Management in the life of other web professionals. I’ve recruited some great friends and colleagues to dish the dirt on what makes them tick and how project managers can make sure they keep ticking. I’ll be speaking with designers, developers, user experience designers, writers, account people, and any one else willing to talk to me. Continue reading