Completing assignments using Project Management

What is Project Management?

Whether you're working as a freelancer or self-employed and running your own business, it's important that you stay on-top of your employees and projects to make sure you are giving the client the best possible product.  Project Management is the process of planning your projects out in an organized, professional manner to achieve your project goals on time.  

The main project constraints being:

• Scope - All requirements/work that needs to be completed to deliver the product or service

• Time - Amount of time needed to complete all tasks

• Quality - All activities necessary to complete the project are necessary and efficient

• Budget - Planned amount needed for resources/expenses to complete the project

There are many project management "methods", however they all follow the same basic steps and have the same main challenges of achieving the project goals while honoring the original rules and constraints. The point of all methods of project management is to plan, organize, motivate, and control project resources to achieve the best possible product or service.  

The overall "steps" to follow in good project management are as follows

1.  What is the problem/project?  

State the problem that needs to be addressed/Identify what project needs to be completed to meet the clients needs.

2.  Determine Project Goals/Objectives

State the project's main goals in an easy-to-understand way, break down the goals of the project/assignment into a step-by-step list.

3.  Determine Requirements

Identify the activities needed to complete the project.  What materials and resources will need to be purchased?  How many people will you need to help complete the project on time?

4.  Select a strategy

How will you reach the project goals?  What project management method will you use?  

5.  Determine Schedule/Budget

How much money will be needed for materials/employee pay to finish this project?  How much time will you need to complete the project?  Will you submit parts of the project piece-by-piece for review?  What is your project timeline?

6.  Execute plan / Monitor project

Begin on the project and monitor the project to make sure all rules/constraints are being met.  Make sure focus is clear and project is on-time.

7.  Close

Project is complete.  Launch the product/Submit to client.  Follow up with client to make sure they are happy with the product.  Send a thank you note to all clients/employees for the work/chance.  Close project and prepare for next assignment.

Project Management is especially important for those of us in the digital media/web development field, as many of our projects and assignments are large and require many steps to complete.  There are many project management development models, from the traditional approach to the water-fall method, and all models work great for different assignments.  I believe one of the best methods to follow for someone in our field would be the Agile Management method.

Agile Project Management

For our final project, we were asked to choose a method of project management and follow the guidelines to meet our semester goals. After reviewing all of the different ways to manage projects, I finally settled on the Agile Project Management method. This method requires the project head to create "steps" in the project, and complete the project step-by-step.

This final project involves the creation of a final graphic design portfolio, including a website, logo, business cards, and resume. Using project management, I would give myself 2 weeks to finish each "step" of the project, resulting in a working, completed product.

Following Agile Project Management, I would spend 2 weeks working on completing a finished design for my personal logo. Once the logo is completed, I would have another 2 weeks to complete 3 business card compilations and choose a single design for public use. I would follow this model until the entire final project is completed and satisfactory.

Popular Trends in Social Media

As informative as the internet can be in this day and age, it's not surprising that most web users spend the majority of their time on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.  Social Media connects us to friends, family, and in some cases, even celebrities and idols.  Social Media sites allow us to exchange information with people from all over the world, meet new friends through people we know, and even broadcast our opinions and criticisms to the public (depending on how popular your social media account is, of course.)

Social Media can be a great way to get your name and brand out to the community.  But it can also be a quick way to kill your social career before it's even started.  Using your social media account as a "sounding board" to complain about every aspect of your life will probably do nothing but cause you stress (and gain a few enemies).

In today's post, I'll be listing the top 3 most popular trends in Social Media, and why these trends are rising.

Videos, Videos, VIDEOS!

Videos are becoming the new way to explain information, share your opinion, and get your point across in a fast and easy way.  It's become popular to put video "introductions" on your homepage to explain the way your site works, and some websites use videos as their entire background image, allowing the user to view different clips depending on the page.  

Facebook noticed how popular videos had gotten, and now implements "autoplay" on videos you scroll across on your timeline.  In fact, in July of 2014, Facebook surpassed Youtube in the amount of views on a desktop for the month.  Because Facebook allows sharing from several video-mediums, they are quickly becoming a great place to post content from out-side sources. 




Blogging/VloggingI'm sure most of us remember the early blogging days, with sites like OpenDiary and Livejournal allowing us to share our opinions, feelings, and thoughts to the world.  It's surprising how opinion blogs have shot off in popularity these past few years!

Blogs allow you to share general updates about your product, give opinions on similar products (or products that work with your own), and basically give a sense of personality and humanism to a company.  People are more willing to trust a company that constantly updates them with pertinent information.

As I mentioned in my post about blogging for business, having a blog that you update regularly is shown to acquire more customers, generate more customer feedback, and start more of a dialog between customer and company.  Many websites have their own private blog separate from their site, and allow comments, suggestions, and general feedback.


Vlogging (Video Blogs) has also become a great way to share information with customers and potential clients.  The ability to see how a product works first-hand, see the companies "face", and share information in an easy-to-understand format makes it easier for customers to understand the company and identify more closely with it's employees.

Online Wallets

Given how popular internet purchases have become, it's really no surprise that social media networks have began to create their own "bank accounts" for buying/gifting contents from their site.  Sites like iTunes and Spotify offer the option of adding money to your own account for future song/album purchases, and Steam allows you to add your credit card information to instantly buy video games at the click of a button.

But now, with the implementation of the Google Wallet app as an online purchasing option, other social media sites are looking into adding their own purchasing options.  Rumors are surfacing that Facebook is looking into their own payment/transfer program, and it wouldn't be surprising if Twitter followed closely behind.  

I don't believe I would ever trust Facebook or Instagram to control my bank account, but this is definitely a huge development in social media progress, nonetheless.  


Social Media runs our world.  It's a great way to stay in contact with long-lost friends, create new job networks, and can make or break a company.  It's important for us to keep an eye out for what is trending in social media, tech, and design overall.

For more information on Social Media Trends, visit the links below:  

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/7-social-media-trends-2015

http://www.jeffbullas.com/2014/12/24/the-7-top-social-media-trends-that-will-impact-your-marketing-in-2015/