[webproducers] Re: Producer Definition
- From: Barry Levine <engaginginfo@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: webproducers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 30 Mar 2007 04:13:00 -0700 (PDT)
In many cases, there is a big distinction between a producer and a project
manager, in my view.
"Producer" comes from the world of TV, film and interactive video.
"Project manager" comes from the world of software development and IT.
There are, of course, exceptions, but I think a producer is to a project
manager as a chef is to a cook.
Producers own the vision, the look, the purpose of the project, the creative
content, as well as the mechanics of timelines, budgets and deliverables.
Project managers deliver deliverables. I have seen a number of project managers
who felt they had done their job if everything was checked off on the
deliverables list. The text could suck, the graphical look could be weak and
the identity or positioning or educational content could be poor, but the
project was done to spec.
It's the difference, again to use a culinary metaphor, between someone being
responsible for providing a terrific dining experience in a restaurant, and
someone giving you the exact same food ingredients, but without the ambience.
Yes, some project managers deliver projects that are exactly what the client
wants, and some are attentive to creative details as well. And, yes, some
producers don't deliver what is needed, or just check off a list. But I think
the distinction still holds for most.
One final illustration: at an IT shop where I worked, a very bright woman, who
was from a PM background, kept insisting that text changes to a pharma's
content-heavy Web site be charged as change orders, each one a different change
order, because "software is software."
I kept insisting, as someone from a Web producing background, that their Web
site was only partly software. It was mostly publishing, and we should update
it as one would a regular publication, with a similar fee structure.
The fact that publishing prevailed is less important at the moment, than the
fact of our different viewpoints as PM and producer.
Comments?
----- Original Message ----
From: james scola <jscola_72@xxxxxxxxx>
To: webproducers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 10:16:51 PM
Subject: [webproducers] Re: Producer Definition
A PM with that owns both the team "and" client
relationship at the project level.
--- David Shaw <david.shaw6@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Hi all,
> The list has been a bit quiet lately, so I thought I
> would throw something
> out there to generate discussion. I know this
> subject can be QUITE a
> discussion, so job wise, what do you define as a
> Producer, especially in the
> digital space?
>
> Thoughts?
>
> --
>
> w: http://www.davidshaw.info
>
>
>
>
> --
>
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