How is project management in DH actually being done? Do project manager methods/techniques/skills in DH differ in any significant way from those of a project manager for a web-based non-academic project? Are these project manager positions the similiar or should they be similiar?
Does DH project management differ from non-DH project management?
(4 posts) (4 voices)-
I think this question ultimately boils down to the people on the project. I don't think there are any fundamentally different ways you run a DH project than any other type of project. Many of the techniques in project management (and not just software project management) come from over a century of practice in the industrial sector. I would say that where PM in academia (or at least humanities) really differs from industry (and the sciences) is in its scope. Very few DH projects have multi-million dollar contracts, so the scope may be a bit different (but one I hope we actually start dealing with soon).
You could use something like the Prince2 or the PMBOK guides and find them total rubbish (or absolutely brilliant); you could try Agile and think it is inferior to waterfall. I find all of these are really just suggestions that fall out of a secondary industry of analyzing what makes industry work. But I think its usually much more simple than these expensive books, MBA programs, and high-paid consultants make it out to be. I find that the role of the project manager boils down to motivating individuals working on, and around, the project to see its worth, and help push the project in ways that go beyond what people thought were possible. You have to have good trust relations with not only the people working on the project, but with those managing you.
Also, be sure to check out the Digital Humanities Summer Institute (http://www.dhsi.org) which has a course specifically on this type of question...
Posted 5 years ago Permalink -
Replying to @Wayne Graham's post:
...and FWIW I'll be doing a PM-ish bootcamp session at THATCamp PNW that will borrow a bit from that DHSI PM course you mention, plus my own info...and I'll throw that content up online at some point. And Tom Scheinfeldt from CHNM will be doing a PM bootcamp session at THATCamp New England, and I'm sure he'll share as well.
Posted 5 years ago Permalink -
All of the above, yes -- and I'd expand on Wayne's point about the task being dependent on the project participants. Specifically: humanities scholars who haven't worked on a (DH or other such) project before tend to have too abstract a view of deliverables. This doesn't really change any quotidian tasks of a project manager, but it is an opportunity to practice being explicit about what deadlines mean. I've found that wording things in context is usually all that's needed. ("I'm looking forward to seeing your encoding on Tuesday! John is too; he is planning to use it for his own work on Wednesday.")
Posted 5 years ago Permalink
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