Case Study: Repairing Client Relationships and Managing Teams

How do you engage a dissatisfied client who is ready to take their business elsewhere? How do you support and advocate for a frustrated and overworked team? And how do you repair those relationships to deliver the project on time? This case study will review a web site project for the Penn State EdTech Network (edtechnetwork.psu.edu) that started on rocky ground. We will focus on the interpersonal skills and tools that brought the team together to build a great web site.

In this case study, Suzanne Wayne will review how skills such as conflict resolution, negotiation, team building, communication skills, and group facilitation helped her, as project manager, navigate a successful drupal web site reboot. So much of these techniques have a foundation in good communication, so we will also review how certain project management processes and documents can help align clients and developers to communicate and work together more effectively. We will also discuss a number of tips and software tools that team leaders and project managers can add to their tool belt to achieve greater success. This presentation will be helpful for anyone with any level of experience who spends time coordinating people, projects, and teams. 

About the Presenter:

Suzanne Wayne has her PMP certification and is a member of the Leadership Team of the Penn State Project Manager Working Group. Throughout her career, she has managed sites in a variety of CMSs. For the last three years, she has focused on building and managing enterprise-level drupal sites with a fantastic team of web developers, designers, and UX experts at Penn State.