BECOMING A TECHNICAL PROJECT MANAGER

ABOUT SCOTT• Current: Director of Customer Success @Pantheon

• Support Manager, Promet Solutions, Drupal dev shop

• Service Manager, MSP in Chicago

• IT Project Manager, Consultant; Oilily, Chiasso

• Management Consulting

• Certified Scrum Master

RAREST ORCHIDS

Kinds of PMs in Drupal:• Previous Tech Exp• Owner• PMbot• “Assistant”

WHAT IT TAKES

1. PM skills

2. Technical knowledge

3. Soft skills

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

WATERFALLit just flows!

• Discovery• Planning• Development• Implementation

DUNDER-MIFFLIN ♥’S WATERFALL

Document ObjectiveSOW What client wants

Charter Attributes of ProjectPRD

What you will buildTRDFunc Spec

WBS Fantasy timeline

Change Requests Reality

AGILE• Encourages Stakeholder Accountability• Sets Expectations• Opposite of Fixed Bid• Easy to Learn• Nobody Really Does It

WHICH TOOL TO USE

• Whatever. Excel, Basecamp. Just know it inside and out.

COMMON LESSONS LEARNED

• Estimation by definition is ________.

• Have your clients do The Rubber Duck.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

ALWAYS BE LEARNING

• Projects aren’t the best place for it

• Build your own plan

• Things you should focus on:

JUST LEARN:

LinuxApache/NGINXVimHow to codeDrupal: Entities/Taxonomy/UsersDrupal: Site BuildingDrupal: Theme LayerDrupal: Panels? Domain Access? Display Suite?Drupal: the config & content database knotDrushIDEMySQLApplication layer IP: http, ftp, ssh, ssl/tls, dns,telnet, ldap

WireframinghtmlCSS javascriptPHPSASS/lessxmlrssREST/apiCRUDCIcachingreverse proxy cachingperformance testingNew RelicMVCux/ui

SEOVersion controlPhotoshopprovisioningQA/seleniumbehat/linting/unit testingCLI/cURLPCI complianceVirtualizationVagrantRedisComposerLoad Balancing

SCOTT’S RECOMMENDATIONS

• 1,000,000 questions

• 90 days of …

• Books:

• D7 Module development

• Front End Theming

• Build a Megasite

• Do your own retrospective

• Immersion: Podcasts, Blogs, Meetups, Classes

• Camps/cons

TRACKING PROGRESS

守: Obey 破: Detach 離: Depart

Drupal X

Linux

Apache/NGINX

MySQL X X

PHP X

SOFT SKILLS

• How to handle 11th hour stakeholder

• Working with the enemy of success

• How to handle black swan events 

• How to handle the 11th hour stakeholder brought in by the project enemy during a black swan event

7 HABITS1. Constant Self Improvement

2. Confrontation: Get Good At It

1. Practice: “No,” “Not yet,” “That is out of scope”

3. Be Fun & Interesting

4. Ask, Listen, and Repeat

5. Relentlessly attack blockers

1. People can be blockers

6. “Success” is subjective:

1. Detach with Love

2. Champion the project

7. The last 20% is what makes you a great PM

PROMISES

• Projects will succeed

• Authority and Trust will grow

• You will be surprised at what comes out of your mouth

• You will work more efficiently (so you may be busier, but less reactive!)

• You will be able to create the stuff you have in your head

QUESTIONS?