Herding Cats, Professionally
A project manager’s confession: what I actually do all day.
As a project manager, I translate between humans and deadlines.
“So… What does a project manager actually do?” It’s a fair question, and one I get more often than you might think. My family reckons I send emails for a living. Developers might say I make them sit through meetings with people they don’t really like. The truth? I translate between humans and deadlines until a website appears.
If I had to put my job into one sentence, it would be this: make sure the right thing gets built, by the right people, before the client changes their mind. Again.
The project management triangle: pick two
Every project comes with three competing expectations: good, fast and cheap. The classic “iron triangle” says you can usually optimise two, but trying to maximise all three has consequences.
- Fast + cheap: Built with 47 plugins and a prayer.
- Good + cheap: Launches sometime around 2027.
- Good + fast: Please be seated before opening the invoice.
It’s funny because it’s familiar. A useful project conversation starts by being upfront about which constraints matter most, and what that means for the work.
The Iron Triangle.
The Life of a Project Manager
Traditional project management often follows five stages: initiate, plan, execute, monitor and close. On a website build, they can sound something like this:
- Initiate — Client: “Can it be done?” Us: “Absolutely!”
- Plan — Define the scope, timeline and budget. Peak optimism is reached.
- Execute — Design and build. Someone takes it live — NEVER ON A FRIDAY.
- Monitor — “Is it done yet?” Asked lovingly. Daily.
- Close — Launch party.
Old-school waterfall management moves through these phases in order. It works great… until week three, when something changes. That’s why shorter feedback cycles can be so useful.
How a Project Manager Uses Scrum
Scrum brings structure to iterative work. Instead of trying to predict everything up front, the team works in short cycles, gets real feedback and reduces unpleasant surprises.
This is where a project manager earns their keep — guarding focus time and clearing blockers.
The cast of characters
Product Owner: Decides what matters most and keeps the backlog in order. Wants everything; gets it prioritised.
Scrum Master: Coaches the process and clears whatever is blocking the team. Part coach, part bouncer, part therapist. (Hi.)
Developers: Everyone who builds the thing: developers, designers, content and marketing folks. Yes, marketers, that includes you.
One sprint, start to finish
The cycle begins with a backlog: a wishlist ordered by value and, somehow, always long. In planning, the team picks what honestly fits into the sprint. Then comes one to four weeks of focused building, with regular stand-ups to keep things moving.
At the review, the team demonstrates working output and collects feedback. In the retrospective, everyone looks at what worked and what didn’t. Then repeat. Forever.
The 15-minute stand-up, decoded
The daily stand-up is built around three short questions. The official answers, of course, may have unofficial translations.
What did you do yesterday? What they say: “Worked on the header.” What it means: “Fought the CSS. The CSS won.”
What’s the plan today? What they say: “Continuing with the header.” What it means: “Round two.”
Anything blocking you? What they say: “Waiting on assets.” What it means: “The client promised the logo three weeks ago.”
The goal isn’t to create another meeting for the sake of a meeting. It’s to surface blockers early, coordinate the work and avoid finding out too late that everyone is waiting on the same thing.
What a sprint board really looks like
A board makes work visible as it moves from To Do to In Progress, In Review and Done. A very believable website sprint might include:
To Do: Update 34 plugins (pray nothing breaks); make the logo bigger; add 2,000 products.
In Progress: Fix the mobile menu (again); build the Black Friday landing page.
In Review: New contact form. Does it actually send?
Done: Homepage hero section; cookie banner that doesn’t cover the whole site.
Nothing magical happens when a task moves between columns. But everyone can see what’s coming, what’s stuck and what is genuinely finished.
Planning poker: story points, translated
Scrum teams often size work using story points — a way to compare effort, complexity and general “ugh”, rather than pretending every task can be estimated perfectly in hours. In planning poker, everyone reveals an estimate at the same time so no one simply copies the loudest person.
1 point: Change a button colour.
2 points: Add a page to the menu.
3 points: A new contact form.
5 points: A custom post type with its own template.
8 points: Anything touching the WooCommerce checkout.
13 points: A client’s “just a small change”.
? points: “Can you make it pop?”
The final boss: scope creep
It always starts innocently. Week one: “A simple five-page site.” Week three: “Could we add a blog?” Week five: “…and a little shop?” Week eight: “Basically Amazon. By Friday?”
Scrum’s answer is not to reject every new idea. It’s to put new requests into the backlog rather than quietly squeezing them into the current sprint. The team then reprioritises together. Nothing gets snuck in, and everyone understands the trade-offs.
The Project Manager Deal
To the developers: I’ll guard your focus time from “quick questions” and make sure you get clear requirements before you start. In return, give me honest estimates and speak up early when you’re blocked.
To the wider team: I’ll take the requests to the big scary people — the clients. In return, just make it to the meetings on time and try to smile.
That’s project management in practice. Not just emails, meetings or moving cards across a board, but helping the team do good work with fewer surprises — and, if all goes well, getting the website live without anyone losing their mind.
Status: Done.
That’s project management in practice, not just emails.
