Date: 29 Mar 2010 Comments: 3 so far

I came across a wonderful post from Science for SEO called Agile Marketing:  embrace chaos.  Now, I should warn any Project Managers before they read the post ,it may cause smoke to come out of their ears.  There are a few truths you learn in Project Management (never guarantee anything) and this post nicely explains that you simply cannot plan a project from start to finish and expect it to go according to whatever you have on your intensely labored over Excel spreadsheet.

You are living in a dream land if you think can predict everything.  The idea of Agile Marketing is brilliant – exceptional results in a chaotic environment.  Anyone that has been involved in a web project – SEO, site build, etc – knows that it requires a great deal of patience to manage the account on a day-to-day basis.  There is no “process” that you follow.  Chaos and constant flux is the process.

I’ll admit to being OCD about various things in my life.  I rotate my dishes and coffee mugs at home.  My closet is structured so that I know which shirt or pair of pants was worn most recently so that no item appears too often.  You are laughing, rolling your eyes or exiting my site at this point.  Fine.  But I know damn well I cannot exert the same level of control over my digital projects.

That is the fun of working on SEO projects though.  And it should be the fun of working as a Project Manager in general.  You have to love not knowing.  I never understood how some PMs take such pride in stating how structured and organized their timelines are.  Be organized.  Great!  But you have to loosen up the collar at times and accept the shit may hit the fan.  And when it does you can either start sweating over your now irrelevant spreadsheets or you can call a quick team huddle and start working off a new set of deadline dates.

Being agile and ready to respond at a moments notice is what makes great account teams.  Getting stressed out and constantly “pushing back” is what will cause you to lose clients.

I think the best way to summarize what I am trying to say is by using a quote from the wonderful film A Serious Man:  “Please.  Accept mystery.“