Digital project managers must have the skills and expertise to tackle the unique demands of digital projects, which are often remote and subject to frequent change.
The demand for digital project managers has boomed in recent years, as more and more organizations have become digitally-based. That transition has been difficult for many teams, as traditional project managers don’t always meet the demands.
That’s no surprise, as digital project management has been described as the “wild west” of project management, “crazy clients, tiny budgets, and stupid deadlines reign supreme”.
If you’ve ever heard a client argue that his “nephew can make this website in two days for free!”, you’ll know that reputation is undeserved.
In the middle of all this chaos stands the digital project manager (DPM), bringing order to disorder and process to practice. That’s made them one of the most important roles in any modern digital organization.
In this guide, we’ll share the roles, responsibilities, and skills you need to be an effective digital project manager so you don’t fall short.
Key Takeaways:
- Digital project managers (DPMs) are responsible for planning, executing, managing, and implementing digital projects.
- They must have strong acumen in digital workflows, remote team management, and tracking project data via digital tools.
- They’re especially needed when teams are struggling to translate their goals into digital requirements or struggling to manage the nature of digital workflows.
- Digital project managers can expect to make between $45,000 to $135,000 per year.
- There’s no defined pathway to becoming a DPM. Instead, experience and strong technical and PM skills will be crucial in stepping into the role.
- Project management software such as Workamajig can dramatically improve and streamline the day-to-day responsibilities of the job.
What is a Digital Project Manager?
A digital project manager (DPM) is responsible for planning, executing, managing, and implementing digitally-based projects.
The role is very similar to a regular project manager, but given the digital aspect, they often work in rapid cycles, embrace changing requirements, and collaborate with teams remotely.
Any project with a digital component (such as a website, app, online campaign, social media, software, etc) can be considered a digital project. It might be wholly digital (such as a website) or partially digital (such as an offline marketing campaign with an accompanying website).
The DPM works with clients, outside contractors, stakeholders within his own organization, and the project team to ensure that the project meets its stated project goals on time and within budget.
Digital Project Manager vs Traditional Project Manager
Digital project management and traditional project management roles are very similar but differ due to the unique demands of handling digital initiatives. Here’s how:
Workflow Style
Digital project managers handle fast-moving, fast-changing environments, while traditional project managers tend to handle broader projects with a more rigid process.
For example, a digital project manager is likely to use iterative sprints or cycles, as work is delivered incrementally. In contrast, a traditional project manager follows linear phases.
That means digital project managers often work with rolling forecasts and flexible roadmaps, as user feedback and data demands require adaptability.
Change Management Approaches
Digital project managers also embrace change through regular backlog reviews and continuous stakeholder feedback.
Traditional project managers, however, often need to discourage change and use formal change control processes.
Collaboration Demands
Perhaps the biggest difference between the two roles comes via collaboration styles.
Digital project managers almost always collaborate with a portion of their team or stakeholders remotely, using cloud software, video calls, and project management tools to share reports and manage a project.
Delivery Expectations
Stakeholder feedback is continuous in digitally-based projects, as features are released incrementally as they’re completed.
This places a different demand on the project manager, compared to traditional projects, where reviews are found more at major milestones or even the end of the entire project.
What Does a Digital Project Manager Do?
A digital project manager wears many hats. He or she is a business analyst, communicator, people person, manager, leader, and strategist all rolled into one. In smaller agencies, one might also double as the account manager, and sometimes, even do creative or technical work.
However, if I had to define a core responsibility of any digital project manager, it would be “people management”.
From the first email they send in the morning to the last task they assign in the day, a manager’s work revolves around people and their effective management. They plan and delegate tasks, track their performance, and look for areas of improvement.
At the same time, the digital project manager is also a leader, understanding the strengths and weaknesses of their team members, motivating them through rough days, and helping them reach their full potential.
In short, anything that involves people in some way in a project goes through the DPM.
Besides people management, a digital project manager's day-to-day work is based on the following core responsibilities:
Defining a Project Scope
The DPM is responsible for defining the project scope and requirements for success. This is achieved by collaborating with stakeholders to understand the business goals, user needs, and technical constraints, and then translating them into clear deliverables.
They’ll also be responsible later for handling scope creep, using formal change control when needed, and pushing back on any additions that threaten deadlines or budget.
Creating a Roadmap
They must create the project management plans, including estimating workloads, budgets, project risks, and developing schedules.
Due to the nature of digital projects, this often means breaking large initiatives into manageable sprints or phases. They must remain realistic, allowing for a balance between realistic speed and quality.
Co-ordinating Teams
A digital project manager is also responsible for coordinating cross-functional teams, including designers, developers, content creators, and marketing specialists.
The DPM will be responsible for assigning all team members’ tasks, communicating with them, and assisting in removing any blockers that slow progress.
Resource Management
Throughout the project, the DPM must maintain, manage, and delegate resources effectively. In most cases, this requires tracking hours against estimates, monitoring vendor costs, and spotting potential overruns early.
You can streamline and make this process dramatically easier with a project management software like Workamajig.
Stakeholder Communication
Coming back to the ‘people management’ side of the job, a DPM will be required to conduct regular stakeholder updates with demos, sprint reviews, and status reports.
The goal is to convey the progress and risks present, while gathering feedback to keep the project aligned with the core objectives.
Documentation Tracking
A DPM is also responsible for maintaining project documentation. That means ensuring there’s a record of all the tedious technical specs, meeting notes, and decision-making so stakeholders and team members have the full context.
What is an Example of a Digital Project Manager Job Description?
One of the best ways to understand what a DPM actually does is to read real-world job descriptions for the role.
For example, here is a digital project manager job description from Accenture:
Take a close look at the role description. Points 2, 3, and 5 are all related to managing people, resource forecasting, and ensuring quality standards.
This is a great example of how a digital project manager might operate in a specialized role within a large organization. Since Accenture has thousands of employees, it can afford to hire people to manage only a small portion of its business (in this case, the ‘Email Campaign Team’).
A digital project manager job description for a smaller business would be vastly different.
For example, here is one description from Cstraight Media, a Virginia-based digital agency:
This job description includes significantly expanded responsibilities. The project manager here is the primary point of contact for managing all web design/development projects, managing resources, team communication, and meeting deadlines.
This shows how flexible the digital project manager role can be. In large businesses, it’s common for them to specialize in managing specific tasks and teams.
In smaller businesses, however, the manager will often manage every aspect of the business’s day-to-day operations.
What Are Some Essential Digital Project Manager Skills?
Given the breadth of their responsibilities, digital project managers are also expected to have a diverse set of skills.
Obviously, the actual requirements will vary from role to role and business to business. But generally speaking, general project management know-how is crucial, and domain-specific skills are the cherry on top.
For example, in the Accenture job mentioned above, some of the “good to have” skills include specific knowledge of email marketing and related tools.
Generally speaking, the following digital project management skills will help you in your job:
Technical Digital Project Manager Skills
- An understanding of project management and collaboration tools like Workamajig is crucial to navigating digital workflows and managing teams and their schedules remotely.
- Knowledge of content management systems (CMS) and API integrations, so you can understand and communicate with developers and designers.
- Strong writing skills and an understanding of when and when not to rely on AI, especially in relation to content creation.
- A basic understanding of how HTML and CSS work.
- Strong Excel and Google Sheets skills and an ability to work with databases, so you can organize and track data.
- PowerPoint and presentation skills, so you can host remote presentations.
- Basic digital marketing skills, such as social media, SEO, and analytics.
General Project Management Skills
- Knowledge of project management methodologies such as Scrum, Agile, PMBOK, etc. As well as an understanding of visualization tools suitable for flexibility, such as Kanban boards
- Ability to draw up work schedules and delegate tasks effectively.
- Negotiation skills for dealing with stakeholders and getting resources to agree on deadlines.
- People skills, especially the ability to build relationships with stakeholders.
- Time and team management skills.
- Business know-how, especially an understanding of how each project affects the business's short and long-term financial goals.
- Basic account management skills, especially the ability to create proposals and quotes.
- Analytical skills to assess and evaluate projects.
- Strong collaboration skills and the ability to multitask effectively.
- Leadership skills and the ability to work with multiple people simultaneously, especially remotely.
In the next section, I’ll share courses, resources, and approaches to becoming a DPM.
How to Become a Digital Project Manager
Becoming a digital project manager is rarely a straightforward process. There are no university degrees in “digital project management”, and it’s not the kind of job you can walk into without prior experience.
So, how do you prepare yourself for a career in digital project management? What sort of career path should you take to lead projects in a digital agency or tech firm?
Let’s take a look:
The Path to Becoming a Digital Project Manager
Charles Day, a freelance DPM, writes:
“As far as I can see, there is no standard route into digital project management, and there doesn’t seem to be a specific course or prior career path that will lead you to being a PM”.
His own career path took him from a programmer to a DPM, which seems typical of digital project managers. Many of them “stumble” into the job after performing around its periphery for years.
The process is mostly the same: a talented person (engineer, marketer, or designer) works on different projects within an organization. Over time, he takes up more and more responsibilities in managing the project. Eventually, this leads to a project management role.
As you can imagine, this is a drawn-out process. However, there are a few things you can do to hasten your growth:
1. Identify and Build Relevant Skills
One of the surest ways to build any career is to find and build skills that companies you want to work for are actively looking for.
To do this, first, make a list of companies you want to work for. These can be specific names (such as ‘Google’ or ‘McCann’), or they can be companies in a specific sector or geographic location (“San Francisco-based digital agencies”).
Next, look for any open or recently filled digital project manager roles in these companies. Go through their jobs/careers page or run a search like the following:
Site:[company_website.com] “project manager”
Alternatively, you can search for this role on job boards like Indeed or AngelList.
Once you find an open position in a company you want to work for, look at their skill and experience requirements. Make a list of all the technical skills, theoretical knowledge, degrees, and certifications they demand for the role.
For example, Huge wants its senior project managers to have an understanding of project management tools and web development:
Make a list of all such skills you find. Then work your way up by learning them.
2. Reverse Engineer the Careers of Successful Digital Project Managers
If you want to get somewhere, follow the people who’ve already reached the destination.
This rule applies as much to building careers as it does to navigation.
Search LinkedIn for project managers working in companies you’d want to work for one day. Trace their career path. What sort of roles did they have before becoming project managers? What was their educational background? What skills have they listed on their public profiles?
You’ll find that a lot of DPMs specialize in a particular digital domain, like marketing, design, or development, and then work their way up to managerial roles.
Learning one of these core digital skills and joining an agency would be your first step in becoming a DPM.
3. Get Certified
Getting a project management certification won’t get you a project management job. But it will make the process much, much easier. Between two similar candidates, the one with the certification is more likely to get the job.
There are several project management certifications you can get, such as:
- Project Management Professional (PMP), offered by PMI. One of the most widely recognized and respected certifications in the industry.
- Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM), also offered by PMI. A less comprehensive certificate focused on the basics of project management.
- Certified Scrum Master (CSM), offered by the Scrum Alliance. This certificate is focused on teaching Scrum best practices that are often followed in technical project teams.
- PRINCE2 Foundation/Practitioner, which focuses on the PRINCE2 project management methodology.
There are several other certificates, such as MPM (Master Project Manager), PMITS (Project Management in IT Security), CPMP (Certified Project Management Practitioner), etc. In most organizations, however, the above certificates will help you stand out.
Besides these, a management degree, especially an MBA, will significantly increase your chances of landing a DPM job.
4. Take on More Project Management Duties in Your Current Position
Demonstrating proficiency in project management tasks and becoming a leader will greatly help your cause. If your boss sees you taking on more and more PM-focused duties - managing resources, developing schedules, assisting the PM in making work breakdown structures, etc. - you will have one foot in the door.
Take stock of all project management duties currently being performed by your team. Ask yourself: what duties can I assume responsibility for?
The more work you take on, the faster your climb to a PM role.
Here are some crucial digital project management resources to help you learn more:
Digital Project Management Books
Here are a few must-read books on digital project management:
- Digital Project Management: The Complete Step-By-Step Guide to a Successful Launch by Taylor Olson
- Interactive Project Management: Pixels, People, and Process by Nancy Lyons
- Web Project Management: Delivering Successful Commercial Web Sites by Ashley Friedlein
- Pro Web Project Management (Expert's Voice in Web Development) by Justin Emond
- Real Web Project Management: Case Studies and Best Practices from the Trenches by Thomas J. Selford
Refer to this article for a more comprehensive list of project management books.
Digital Project Management Courses
In addition to the PM certificates I shared earlier, there are also several courses you can take to hone your digital project management skills:
- eMarketeers’ list of digital project management courses
- DPM’s Digital Project Manager School
- IDM’s intermediate-level course on digital project management
- eConsultancy’s course on ‘Mastering Agile.’
- QA’s 2-day course on mastering digital project management
How to Hire a Digital Project Manager
Whether you’re looking to hire a digital project manager for your organization or want to know what to expect from an interview, here are some key tips behind the hiring process:
Define Your Priorities
Start by defining what a DPM means for your organization. That can vary significantly between, for example, a creative agency managing websites and a marketing team running ad campaigns.
So, determine if your priorities lie in technical depth, client management skills, creative know-how, or marketing analytics.
Experience Over Certifications
Hands-on experience in your niche and strong communication skills will go further than just a project manager certification (especially in remote agencies).
We recommend verifying their understanding of your industry by asking about common pitfalls in projects like yours, and how they’d resolve them.
Assess Technical Proficiency
The last thing you’ll want is a digital project manager who stumbles through tech and PMS.
We recommend asking your candidates to explain their preferred tool for project management, so you can determine their ability to understand software, data entry, and managing project health.
Evaluate Problem-Solving Skills
Evaluate your candidate’s problem-solving skills with scenario-based questions, like “Walk me through how you would manage a client-requested major scope change two weeks before launch.”
Listen out for structured thinking, communication skills, and creative solutions that impress.
Determine Which Tools You’ll Use
Finally, you need to set clear expectations about the project management tools you expect them to use. Any pushback on this may suggest an inappropriate fit.
How Can You Measure a Digital PM’s Performance?
- Project delivery satisfaction and timeliness should be your primary measures of success, with strong digital PMs achieving 85-90% on-time delivery.
- Was the project within the estimated budget? Success is often seen at a budget spend of 90-95% or less.
- Client satisfaction scores can be used through post-project surveys to determine the level of project success and satisfaction.
- Team utilization rates can be used to determine how well labour hours were allocated. High rates may indicate burnout, while low rates suggest the team was underused.
- Scope change frequency suggests how well a digital PM managed change requests. Fewer requests suggest clearer upfront planning and communication with the stakeholders.
- Stakeholder engagement metrics like ‘response time’ and ‘meeting attendance’ show how well the digital PM kept key individuals engaged and involved, without overwhelming them.
Digital Project Management Tools
What sort of tools do digital project managers use?
The answer will vary from organization to organization. At the very least, they’ll use a project management tool like Workamajig to manage the overall project.
Given the importance of Gantt charts in the project management process, they might also use a Gantt chart software if their PM tool doesn’t already offer one.
Digital project managers will also be required to use some sort of content management system (CMS) to manage projects. The exact CMS will vary from organization to organization, but familiarity with WordPress, Drupal, etc. can’t hurt.
Most managers will use a range of communication tools, ranging from email to chat apps such as Slack, HipChat, Skype, etc. They’ll also have to be familiar with video conferencing tools such as Zoom and GoToMeeting.
And of course, a knowledge of office tools, especially Microsoft Excel, is a must.
Common Challenges Digital Project Managers Face
Managing Scope Creep
Digital products are prone to additional feature requests that are outside the original agreement. It’s almost inevitable, given that each version inspires new ideas.
Digital PMs have to get around creep by documenting the scope clearly up front. By using tools like Workmajig, you can also track and approve scope additions while understanding the impact on your budget and deadlines.
It can also be wise to build flexibility into your initial estimates by including contingency buffers and using iterative delivery.
Coordinating Remote Teams
Working with teams and freelancers across different time zones requires a flexible approach to communication. Without it, days can pass without communication, and things get misaligned fast.
To avoid that, you can set up daily async updates, weekly check-ins, and use tools like Workamajig that clearly show status updates in real time.
Preventing Team Burnout
With the frequently changing demands and timelines of digital projects, burnout is always a risk.
DPMs should carefully monitor resource allocation to identify when team members are overallocated and push back on unrealistic and unsustainable timelines.
Tracking Profitability
When working with remote teams, it can be difficult to track labor and hourly rates, which affects profitability.
To solve this, you need to calculate labor costs frequently by tracking hours logged and understanding if projects are trending up towards a profit or loss.
Workamajig makes all that simple, via automation in real time.
How Workamajig Can Support You as a Digital Project Manager
If you’re about to take on the role of a digital project manager, you’re going to need project management software to organize, track, and review your day-to-day work.
Workamajig is by far the most advanced yet simple option. Here’s a look at how it can help:
All-in-one Project Management
Designed to bring everything into one platform, you’ll gain tools for project management, resource planning, time tracking, finance management, CRM, and communication.
That’s all under one hood. So there’s no need to flip between separate apps or dig through email trails and spreadsheets.
Real-time Integration
With Workamajig, data is monitored and updated in real-time.
Every update, from team members logging hours to billing and task completion, is reflected on your dashboard in real-time.
That means you’re always up to date on project health without the need for manual data digging.
Visualization, Made Simple
Digital PMs will benefit from our visual tools that make resource management clear and easy to track.
From Gantt charts and Kanban boards, to color-coded project health status and alerts, you’ll be able to quickly track current assignments, team member availability, and resource use all at a glance.
This can help you strategically allocate your resources across multiple projects and optimize your team’s potential.
Client and Vendor Portals
Team members, clients, and vendors all have access to a Workamajig dashboard that enables easy collaboration. So they too can see project statuses, join discussions, and access deliverables.
All that, without compromising security or cluttering your workflow.
Vast Customization
While every Workamajig user gains access to our templates, there’s a vast possibility for customization.
That means you can really fine-tune the system to your needs and preferences. So, tasks like client reporting, calendar integration, and invoicing can all suit your workflow.
We’ve only touched the surface of what Workamajig unlocks here. We welcome you to a free demo to learn more.
Over to You
A digital project manager is one of the most important roles in any digital organization. And hiring or applying for the role is a wise choice.
Because of their wide-ranging powers and responsibilities, digital PMs are among the best-paid people in any organization. Consequently, becoming one is also hard and requires years of experience.
If you’d like a free demo to see how it can significantly aid your success in the role, feel free to contact us today.