Digital Project Managers like CID’s Steven Wirth help keep our teams focused, develop timelines, and navigate obstacles to keep projects humming. Find out what makes Steven tick.
Q: How would you describe your role at CID?
A: I am a digital project manager. I wear a bunch of different hats from PM to Product Owner, but at the end of the day, all those words just describe different ways that I support our development teams on a day-to-day basis. It’s not a perfect analogy, but I’ve always thought of digital development as running a kitchen. The team plans a menu, orders come in for food, and the chefs cook it. It’s my job to keep the kitchen clean and the orders organized, make sure the chefs have the ingredients they need, and ensure the food is getting out on time (and occasionally remind a customer that they most definitely asked for a steak cooked well done when they send it back to the kitchen).
Q: What is something that you wish everyone knew about your role, your work, or your team?
A: My role is multifaceted and I need to speak with a variety of voices. Digital project managers are at the confluence of development teams, customer service, account teams, and clients, all of whom can be on different wavelengths. A good DPM has to figure out a good way to speak to all those people with disparate expectations, sometimes all at once.
Q: Tell us a bit about how you and our web development team work together. What’s the secret behind your long record of success?
A: A big part of it is that our Dev teams utilize and embrace agile methodologies. A key aspect of agile thinking is that you bake in daily and weekly touchpoints to ensure the team is always aligned and talking with each other. Dev work can often feel transactional, so it’s important to get past that and develop relationships as fellow humans. We have a scrum meeting each morning. We have sprint reviews and sprint retros. We’re always talking and sharing where we’re at during the dev process which creates a collaborative working environment.
Q: What’s a hobby, interest, or hidden talent we might not know you possess?
A: I’m a baseball nut and a casual baseball card collector. My pride and joy is a 2011 Topps Update Mike Trout rookie card. If you know your baseball cards, you know the one!
Q: What’s been bringing you joy and fulfillment lately outside of work lately?
A: I have two goofy little kids who are growing like weeds and keep me on my toes. My daughter has been playing piano since she was 4 years old and takes classes at the Milwaukee Ballet Company, so watching her develop a love for the arts is a great joy of mine these days.
Q: Who do you draw inspiration from? Do you have any professional mentors or personal heroes you’d like to shout out?
A: Anyone out there fighting the good fight and using their creativity to bring value to the world. Visual artists, musicians, writers, tattoo artists...we’re living in a Golden Age of opportunity for people to create art and get it out there. I’m always excited to see my artist friends make a name for themselves.
Q: Last but certainly not least, what is a mantra, motto, catchphrase, or personal code that motivates and inspires you?
A: If you are familiar with the Canadian TV Show Trailer Park Boys, you may know that John Dunsworth, the actor who played the beloved Trailer Park Supervisor Jim Lahey, passed away recently. A lovely soundbite of John Dunsworth speaking on set made the rounds and it has lived in my head rent-free ever since.
“The best currency, the most valuable of all, is gratitude…and when you’re dead you’re dead. But you’re not quite so dead if you contribute something.” - John Dunsworth
Want to work with Steven and our Dev team on your next project? Contact CID to get started.
"Bring in the Klinkhammer," they said...and we did! Amy is part of our award-winning marketing & strategy team where she writes for ads, email, the web, video and so much more. She also drinks too much coffee and spends too much time debating the Oxford comma.