6 weeks into training, I had the exciting opportunity to step into the role of Project Manager for my cohort's first external client project. Leading a team of 7 consultants, my goal was to deliver high-quality work that met the client's needs. This particular client had no prior experience with The Information Lab, so the stakes felt especially high. Below are my reflections on what made this a successful week:
- Documentation is key
Even before this project kicked off, I knew that clear, easily-accessible information would be the foundation of everything. I didn't want anyone digging through folders or repeating work that had already been done – efficiency and consistency were at the forefront in my strategy to deliver well at the end of the week. I created a system of digital and physical lists to keep track of our progress; whiteboards were a fantastic resource for immediate information: who was working on what; which tasks were outstanding, and – critically – who currently had the master Tableau file open. Because Tableau doesn't support multi-user collaboration, I needed a protocol for 7 people to work on a single dashboard. The solution was straightforward: whenever someone opened the master file, they added their name to the whiteboard, and when they finished, they updated it with the new file name so the team always knew which version was current. It worked so well that we've continued to implement this practice in subsequent client projects.
For information that needed to be copied and reused — metric calculations, color hex codes — a digital file system worked well. The following is an overview of the documentation toolkit I created for my team:
- A daily task tracker with the assigned team member/group
- A breakdown of the client's highest-priority asks, with a description of each and the assigned team member/group
- A running list of the client's 'nice-to-haves,' for anyone with capacity to take on more
One of my most impactful decisions as Project Manager is quite simple at first glance but had a lasting impact on my team. For this particular client project, we needed to deliver a single dashboard, and because Tableau doesn't currently allow for multiple people to collaborate on a single dashboard, it was imperative for me to create a system with which 7 people can together develop a single dashboard. The system was small but mighty: each time somebody was in the master file, they added their name to the whiteboard for others to know it wasn't available. When they finished working in the file, they updated the whiteboard with the new file name, so everybody knew which file was most updated. This proved so effective for my team that we've continued to implement it in subsequent client projects.
- Stay informed without touching the data
This one kept me on my toes. As Project Manager, I was the only person on the team who didn't work directly in the data, and I quickly discovered the irony in that. Being ultimately responsible for ensuring the client's asks are answered at the end of the week, it was quite important for me to understand the data well enough to speak to it confidently when presenting to the client at the end of the week. In practice, this looked like regular check-ins with each team, regular reviews of our client meeting notes, and a constant effort to connect the team's outputs back to the client's broader business objectives. The goal wasn't just to present charts at the end of the week, but to tell a coherent story with the client's data. If there's one habit I'd recommend to any future Project Manager, it's to be a meticulous notetaker. You'll thank yourself!
- Be such a good listener that you anticipate the client's needs before they do
Some of the most valuable contributions a consultant can make are the ones a client doesn't explicitly request. They might mention something in passing about their workflow or thought process that inspires recommendations for next steps they hadn't considered. In this case, the client mentioned they're the primary developer and manager of the company's dashboards. Upon looking at the configuration of their dashboards, we noticed they were exclusively using floating containers, meaning every new chart or KPI required them to manually resize every other element on the dashboard. By introducing them to non-floating containers, we were able to simultaneously save them tons of time on formatting and expand their skillset in Tableau. We also noticed that their processing times were slow due to the volume of data they were working with. Though they didn't explicitly mention this as a pain point, we took the opportunity to share a few quick optimization strategies that would improve their experience.
- Support the team consistently and proactively
Making sure my team felt supported was key to keeping the project moving and fostering a positive environment. I checked in regularly to ask whether people felt comfortable with their tasks and whether anyone needed additional help or resources. One of the most effective habits I developed as Project Manager was an end-of-day debrief with each group, where I'd collect their to-dos for the following morning and document everything so they could hit the ground running the next day. This kept the mental load off my team so they could stay focused on the data rather than keeping track of next steps.
Overall, I very much enjoyed this experience and felt comfortable managing my team. Being Project Manager is a juggling act, but a rewarding one. I was pleasantly surprised to see how naturally my background in nonprofit program management translated to the stakeholder communication and operational thinking required here. This week built on my experience in new ways, particularly around people management under pressure. The client was so pleased with our work that they began onboarding for a full consulting engagement!