Project Kickoffs
You have been invited to an internal kickoff. What should you be doing now?
~ Review the SOW and come as prepared as possible
Client has an invoicing question. What do you do?
~ Is it a question that you can answer?
~ If not send it to Samarah and Kari then they will respond and hopefully answer all questions.
Client forwards you an email from Apple saying that their app needs updated. What do you do?
~ Add a support ticket and assign it to Rico (or whichever developer had worked on it in the past). Add a due date, tag your name, and add all of the information to the task. Do NOT just forward the email.
~ Promptly respond to the client that it is in our support tickets and you will keep them updated on the status.
Lance tells you this is his “pet project”. What do you do?
~ All of your projects are important. Do not ignore other clients to make sure one other is happy
~ Keep Lance updated. Give him bi-weekly notifications on where we stand with the project
~ Notify Lance early on if you have any concerns.
You feel icky and want to work from home.
~ Notify Samarah and send her the list of items you are working on for the day
~ Notify Center Street Channel on Slack
After the internal kickoff, what are your next steps?
~ Identify any questions/concerns we have for the client in the internal kickoff
~ Email/Call the client to introduce yourself and schedule the project kickoff/workshop/etc.
~ Include an agenda for the first meeting
~ Request any assets the production team may need
While setting up the digital ads, the production team tags you saying that the credentials aren't working. What do you do?
~ Test the credentials yourself
~ If they still aren't working, call the client and ask them
~ If the client says they are working and it is another error, pull in a developer to help you resolve this
Support Ticket is completed. What should you do?
~ Never mark it off.
~ Double check that the production team member logged their time
~ Assign to Samarah, remove the due date and move it to “Ready to Bill” task list
Brent sends you a really long explanation of what happened on a support ticket that makes no sense to you. What do you do?
~ Do NOT just copy and paste it to the client. If you don’t understand it, then neither will they.
~ Talk to Brent until you can dumb it down a bit and truly understand what next steps are or if it is completed.
~ Notiify the client in normal language that it is resolved (and try to give an explanation) or request any items that Brent may need to complete it
You are actively working on an hourly project. What should you be doing?
~ LOG YOUR TIME!
Client wants to start running digital ads. What are your first steps?
If they do not have a signed SOW:
~ Talk to JP and get an SOW prepared
~ Get SOW signed
~ Send signed and unsigned SOW to Samarah and JP
If they have a signed SOW:
~ Review Digital Ad Setup
~ Request Billing Information (their CC will be charged for ad spend)
~ Gather credentials and add them to intra
~ Review goals with the client and the digital team
Client emails you saying that they don’t know how to add a location to their map on their website. What do you do?
~ Check it yourself first. Most maps are easy to find in the WordPress backend. Once you find it, you can test it yourself and give them a written description.
~ Once you check it, you may find that there are other issues then you should make a support ticket and notify the client.
Client is contacting the developer directly. What do you do?
~ Email the client and explain that your role is to keep things organized and on time. Ask that they keep you cc'd on all emails so that you can keep track of tasks.
A production team member comes to you and says they cannot hit their deadline for a deliverable. What do you do.
~ Use your best judgement on the employee and the project
~ Ask them why and if there is anything that can be done to still meet the deadline
~ Pull in Samarah or their team lead to see what can be moved around to still meet this deadline
~ Request that the milestone be moved out
You are taking one-day off. What do you do to prepare?
~ Notify Samarah and Center Street Channel
~ Review what is happening over that one day and see if there is anything that needs to be covered, then find appropriate coverage
~ Create an email responder saying that you are out and if there is an emergency to contact XYZ (ask who can be that point of contact)
In the project kickoff for the website, the client realizes they didn't fully read the SOW and is upset that they have to write their own content.
~ Walk them through the SOW and exactly what they signed
~ Explain the options at this point:
- EKR can help (from most expensive to least expensive): write content from scratch, write content based off of their bullet points, edit the content that they write
- We can pull content from their existing website
Website wants to launch on Friday. What do you do?
~ Explain to them the many downsides of launching a site on Friday
~ Try to convince them to launch Monday morning
Client requests a questionable add-on to the project. What do you do?
~ Review the SOW to see if it should have been included
~ Use your best judgment. Should this be a change order? Or can we move hours around?
Josh comes to your desk freaking out that he can't get the design done.
~ Review his concerns with Samarah and Clint to see if it is valid
~ Give Josh a game plan
Developer says a support ticket is complete. What do you do?
~ If possible, test it yourself and confirm that it is actually working. QA QA QA
~ Notify client that it is completed.
Client wants a 13-week project completed in 5 weeks. How do you respond?
~ Walk them through the time estimates in the SOW to help them understand what they are really asking for
~ Never make promises that we cannot keep
~ Review timeline with Samarah and production team members
Client took forever to write content and now has 50 pages of content to stuff, but the development team is overbooked and cannot get to it for several weeks. What do you do?
~ Be a team player. It sucks but it is your time to step up, own the project, and stuff some content. See if you can get some people to help you out and make a plan to get it done.
Client calls you with feedback, but the designer isn't available for the call.
~ Take the call still.
~ Take the best and most thorough notes you possibly can and even record the call if possible.
~ Give the designer all of the information and make tasks for them.
You know a task is done, but it is still open and late in Teamwork. What do you do?
~ Make sure the production team members have their time updated and ask them to mark it off
~ If this is your fifth time following up, talk to them in person and do it with them.
You are going on a week-long vacation. What steps need to be taken to prepare?
~ Add it to your calendar as PTO
~ Notify Samarah and other AMs
~ Update AM client spreadsheet
~ Discuss with AM team who can cover what
~ Add the covering AM to the appropriate projects and give each a rundown of the project/client
~ Email clients with the covering AM info
~ Add a vacation responder to your email
~ Notify the entire center street channel on Slack