PM Chat x Kurt Wournell
Based in Airdrie, Alberta, Kurt Wournell is a Program Director at Redstamp.
You started your career as a graphic production artist. What lead you towards project management in the tech space?
Well it’s definitely been a gradual progression over the years. As you mentioned I started off as a graphic production artist, working on everything from print collateral to websites. Over time I started to take on more of a leadership role within my teams, and this organically evolved into marketing management roles with a focus on delivery, strategy, budgets, and people management. This inherently required me to develop project management skills, which continued to grow with every new experience. I had the good fortune to work with great brands, clients, and exceptional teammates. At a certain point in my career I had to make a choice between a marketing management path or a project management leadership path. I gladly chose the latter and haven’t looked back since.
I’ve crossed with a lot of great Alberta folks who have all cut their chops at Critical Mass and worked there for over 3 years - you included. Is Critical Mass considered the big player in the Alberta tech scene? What made it a great place to work?
Critical Mass was an extremely valuable time in my career and is definitely one of the biggest, if not THE biggest, player in Alberta’s digital agency scene. What’s great about working for an organization like CM is not only do you work with some of the biggest brands in the world, you get daily access and exposure to a full breadth of in-house agency expertise. I loved that I was constantly working alongside the industry’s best strategic thinkers, SEO experts, marketing analysts, creative minds, tech leadership, and delivery masters.
I predict that Calgary will be as big of a tech hub (if not larger) than Vancouver in the next 10 years. I also predict it will attract massive energy sector and construction growth as well. What makes Alberta as a province and Albertan people so awesome? I am asking a local like you in case folks reading are looking to make a move ;)
Unfortunately for most of Canada, Alberta is likely just thought of as an oil and gas province. But over the past decade or so there has been a targeted and intentional effort to diversify the province, and Calgary in particular, into other business sectors with a strategic focus on tech and innovation. This, along with our diverse cultural communities and vicinity to the best part of the Rockies, make Calgary a great place to work and play.
Back to PM question - Redstamp has been around for a while and has grown into a well established agency. As a Program Director, what is your focus at Redstamp?
There’s the obvious expectations to ensure that my team is performing efficiently and providing value to our clients to the best of their abilities - the standard of keeping the work on time / on budget / on task. However, beyond that, my current focus has been to optimize and standardize our methods so we can effectively scale up as we continue to experience growth. I work closely with leadership to develop, document, and improve all of our processes, not just the ones that the PMs works with.
What type of project management processes are you implementing at Redstamp?
On a daily level I do a quick PM team standup to ensure everyone has the support needed for the day and to help share any organizational updates. We also have monthly PM sessions where we discuss new processes, or further enhance current ones. These occasionally include team members doing a mini-presentation that can then be recorded as a “learning moment” to be shared with the larger organization and included in future onboarding. We also do an annual PM Summit to plan and align with the organization’s overall annual goals and initiatives so that we are always working to improve on what we do, and how we do it.
“I think the PMs that stand out for me are the ones that instinctively lean towards seeing the bigger picture, or to put it more specifically they understand how a decision made now will impact a client or team later down the road. ”
What key values do you commit to in order to grow client trust and success of service?
At Redstamp our core values are Curious, Resourceful, Fair, and Tenacious. And our team truly lives these values everyday internally and with our clients. One of my favourite values is to always be curious. I’ve found so much success with peers and clients when I strive to better understand their perspective, challenges, and motivations. I’ve found that trust is developed more organically when people see you taking a genuine interest in what they do and why. If I have a fuller understanding of these things, it ultimately helps me do my job even better.
From your experience, what crucial aspects does the PM role bring to the success of a digital team both culturally and as a business?
Honestly I think it boils down to organization and communication. It’s been my experience that amongst other teams, project management is typically seen as the thankless job no one wants to do because we get it from all sides, and have to deal with all-the-things.
I obviously don’t share that view as I love being a part of the hub or the glue that keeps teams working well together. From my perspective the truly effective project managers are the ones who not only provide an answer to a question, or build the best workbook schedule, but the ones that can also just be there to support another team member regardless of the discipline.
What keeps you passionate about continuing to work as a program director?
I’ve always gravitated to roles that allow me to work with and develop teams of all sizes and levels of experience. I have a passion for coaching and mentoring team members, and developing solutions that make our work more efficient. I certainly don’t claim to be an expert at project management, and I’m the first to admit when I’m wrong or someone has a better idea (or at least I think I am). I just really enjoy logging on to work everyday knowing that it will likely bring a new challenge, and I’ll either learn something new or be able to share some knowledge with someone on the team that one of us didn’t know yesterday.
I’ve had to debate many folks on the fact that project managers are not task monkeys. What makes a great (and also influential) senior project manager?
We are definitely not task monkeys, and luckily I’ve never personally had someone say that to me. I think if someone has actually worked closely with an effective project manager on their team it would be difficult for them to see how to do the work as well without one.
I’ve worked with and alongside a lot of amazing senior project managers and producers. They all have their own strengths and certainly aren’t all cut from the same cloth. I think the PMs that stand out for me are the ones that instinctively lean towards seeing the bigger picture, or to put it more specifically they understand how a decision made now will impact a client or team later down the road. They inherently look for a solution to a problem before needing to escalate it or look for additional support. A really effective senior PM has the ability to put themselves in the shoes of their client or team member and understand their motivations.
Oh, and another quick thing is having the ability to work in occasional ambiguity. You know how sometimes we don’t actually get that brief at all, or we may not have been given all the info we need, and we still have to get going on those deliverables? The ability to glean enough context, and understand your client’s needs well enough to get the team going (in the right direction) is invaluable to the business.
How crucial is technical speak and understanding of the tech become within the PM role?
This can depend a lot on the team you have around you. If you’re a smaller, nimble team then it’s definitely going to benefit you to be more familiar with the tech stack your clients have you working with. However, a hungry and motivated PM that may not have all the experience with the platforms will do the homework and get up to speed quickly. On the other hand, if you're supported by strong technology leadership then this becomes a bit less critical as you may have your Tech Lead more integrated into client conversations.
I think all PMs should take the time to understand the technology that their organization provides to their clients, so that at least if we can’t answer their question we can properly articulate it back to our team of experts.
How do you excel in your work? What aspects/habits from your personal life or daily routine do you utilize to stay sharp?
One of the things I make sure to take time to do on a weekly basis is reading up on how other teams are doing things. Continued learning is something I’ve always valued, and I embed that value into my own personal life as well as the team members I work with. I love viewing the perspectives of other PMs in the Junior Lab community, and the collaboration between business owners and delivery teams on other Slack workspaces that I’m connected with.
What methods do you promote at your company to support work/life balance and reduce burnout?
As part of my weekly 1 on 1’s with my team I check in and see how they’re doing. It could be questions on how they’re doing with working remotely (since we’re all completely remote), or digging in a bit if I’m seeing a pattern of hours creeping up over 40 hours a week on their timesheets. We also usually try to carve out a few minutes in the PM syncs to just chat about whatever or catch up on what we did over the weekend. It’s important to create those moments we’ve lost by being remote, like just having a chat in the common area or going to grab a coffee together. And my current team is also really great at keeping a pulse on one another and having each others’ backs if they get concerned about anything.
Finally, what are some of your PM goals over at Redstamp? Are ya’ll looking to grow the PM team?
With Redstamp, one of our key focuses is to create a consistent and scalable environment. We’ve spent a lot of time over the last year assessing our tools and processes and consolidating a lot of what we already have into more precise, intuitive, and repeatable processes. We currently have a solid and stable team of PMs at Redstamp but are always looking for freelance PMs to help us out when we need to flex the headcount if and when the work requires it. So if you know of any great digital freelance PMs feel free to send them my way!
