20 Feb 2017
You're short on development resource. What's your next step? Here's a few questions to discover if you should hire a development agency, freelance developer, or full-time employee.
6 Oct 2016
Who you work with and talk to definitely matters because it will determine how successfully you will be able to communicate about project matters. It will determine how well you trust your agency with your idea, and in turn, how well they feel their expertise is appreciated and understood in the room. Any communication style can work successfully. We talk about which works best for us.
31 Aug 2016
Trust isn't always freely given and in fact, often needs to be earned. How do you cultivate that cycle of trust with a new client?
26 May 2016
Digital project managers (DPMs) know all the infinite details of their projects from the smallest feature updates to massive project builds or overhauls. When it comes to the development languages though, sometimes DPMs are a little in the dark, and that's ok! But if your project is built or being built using Ruby on Rails, there are some things you should know about why some developers go all googly-eyed over it. And why you, as the DPM, should too.
20 May 2016
In this post, I’ll explain what a requirement is and why it’s important. Then I’ll help you build a requirements document by providing a list of questions you should answer. So the next time you are asked for your project requirements, you are 100% prepared.
5 May 2016
Agile is one of the hottest buzzwords around today. Here’s what it’s all about, how we do it at Planet Argon, and some tips for you to work with this approach.
6 May 2015
Like all software companies, estimates are a challenging aspect of the business for us at Planet Argon. Why are they so troublesome? What can be done about it? The Clever PM has an interesting and informative article about this topic.
19 Aug 2014
The Retrospective Trifecta
4 Apr 2014
Our friend, Megan, over at Cloud Four opens up on what being agile means to their process.
13 Mar 2014
Tuesday night I attended the second ever PDX Digital PM meetup session at Instrument. It was beyond refreshing to meet with other project managers / producers and hear that others are facing similar operational challenges that candidly, we deal with daily at Planet Argon. During the meetup we broke into small groups and discussed various topics such as preferred tools, process, and client expectations.
The small group format provided us with the opportunity to share our experiences and work with each other through some issues that we face. Garnering such rich information from peers in the industry is beyond valuable, especially for someone who works with a small team.
One of the most valuable pieces of information that I carried away with me last night concerns a scheduling tool called 'Merlin'. Listening to the Instrument’s producers rave about this tool while at the same time voice concerns about other tools I myself have tried and immediately discarded in the past, I knew I had to try it. So far, I might just be sold on it.
Special thanks goes to Adam Edgerton, of Metal Toad Media, who took the time to organize these meetups. Prior to this, I was unable to find anything quite like this in Portland. Last night’s turnout clearly indicates that this is a much desired gathering of the minds. I'm greatly looking forward to the next one on April 8th!
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