Project Management Tips
- Communicate, communicate, communicate. Keep an open line of communication with your client, designer, production manager, and supervisor. Update the status of your job in Filemaker Pro frequently. Give people as much advance notice as possible about the status of work so they know when they’ll be expected to do their part.
- Ask questions and confer before making promises. If a client has a question or request about something on your project that will affect your designer or production manager, let them know that you will need to discuss this before getting them an answer. If they have a request that can affect the larger picture of the work we do as an office, check with your supervisor.
- Monitor your budget. Check your expenses in Filemaker Pro frequently to make sure you a staying on track with your budget and that the correct expenses are being charged to your job. If you see any problems, discuss with your supervisor. If your client changes the scope of work, adjust your budget and schedule. Sometimes a client will make a change that goes beyond of the original scope of work you agreed to. In this case, discuss with your supervisor before promising any work, and then adjust your schedule and budget accordingly. Submit to your client. If the budget will need to increse, the client will need to issue a supplemental IPO to cover the costs.
- Creative Services doesn’t arrange distribution. We produce print and web communications projects, but the only distribution we arrange is for the printer to deliver finished products. We don’t secure mailing lists or arrange for snail mail or email distribution unless your supervisor gives clearance.
- Always think about how your notes might help a future project manager. When you are using Filemaker Pro and your project file, think about the kinds of things that might be important to a person coming to your file with no previous knowledge of the job, and include them.
- Say “thank you.” Send notes to everyone that helped on the project thanking them for their hard work. Be specific. This includes internal help as well as external support, i.e. students, faculty, or alumni who were photographed in your printed piece.
- Paper issues. Paper vendors sometimes change the names of their papers, or discontinue certain items. Especially when working with reprints, it is advisable to get a sample of the paper to make sure it is still the same as it was the last time the job went to print. Paper dummies from printers are generally provided at no cost. Just ask the print production specialist to request this when you’ve chosen a vendor for a job.
- Sharing files and images with clients. Sometimes clients want to use images from the job you work on together, or want to retain a copy of the digital file. This is not commonly done, so check with your supervisor before you agree.
- Be flexible. Everything in this manual is intended as a guideline. Some projects don’t follow the logical progression outlined here. Sometimes questions arise that don’t have clear-cut answers. If this happens, just stay open-minded, weigh your options, and seek input from others to help you decide how to proceed.