Category Archives: Project Management

How to write emails that get read (and responded to)

On January 15, 2020, I participated in the NetSquared “Trends” event in Vancouver, Canada. We each had 5 minutes to share our message. As a project communications geek, I spoke about writing email for mobile.
Here are the key takeaways:

  • Ensure the subject line is clear and memorable – this could be the only thing that gets read
  • Include a one-line summary or Call to Action (CTA) at the top
  • Address the salutation to the person with a CTA – leave those being looped in for informational purposes only on the CC list
  • Use bold formatting or bulleted lists for skimming so the key points jump out of the prose
  • Put the story, detail or other background at the bottom (after the CTA)
  • Avoid responding to an existing thread with a new topic

Edit: I was snowed in the day of the event, so I recorded my presentation to share instead. The event was later cancelled due to the blizzard, however here’s the content anyway!

The return to freelancing

It’s with mixed emotion that I announce my departure from OXD (formerly OpenRoad Communications), where I had the privilege to be on their leadership team as Director, Client Services for almost five years.

I’m very proud of our work together—formalizing the PM team structure and professional services team operational process, and being involved in all aspects of the business from sales opportunities and pitches, through staffing for execution, and measuring revenue and reporting results of closed projects.

This was a challenging decision that I didn’t take lightly and took months to finalize. However, I can state with 100% confidence that now is the right time. The team is in good shape and the structure is in place to continue to support them without needing me personally at the helm.

It’s a huge leap to leave a stable, familiar, full-time job to leap into the unknown. I’m confident that my existing network will lead me to opportunities so I can experience and realize the sense of accomplishment with many clients.

So here I am! Happy to work with you on Project Management coaching, project management for hire, and/or operational consulting. I’m excited for the opportunities that this change affords me.

Get in touch! 🙂

The unicorn of jobs

At some point when I was little, someone (a distant relative?  a friend of my parents?) decided that I collected cat figurines. Event after event I would be gifted cat figurines. It isn’t that I had anything against cats, I just wasn’t sure what all the cat figurines were about. Eventually I even had a little shelving unit in my bedroom where I displayed my collection – proud but confused – why so many cat figurines in my life?

A couple years later, the cat figurines were replaced by turtles. I vaguely recall commenting that I thought turtles were cool and slowly my collection of dustables converted to turtles. I still have a few kicking around that have made it through the many purges between life chapters. Why people chose to gift me turtles, I may never know.

Lately it’s been unicorns.  I swear it started as a joke, because, you know, UNICORNS. They’re a bit ridiculous and more than a bit adorably mythical. They became my signature and I enjoyed working them into presentation decks like little prancing easter eggs – just to see who was paying attention. They’d flash between slides Fight Club style, just because I believe in having fun at work. Unicorns were fun! However, I didn’t understand what happened when one plays with unicorn power – they start showing up in life and now they’re tightly woven into my identity.  At the time, unicorns celebrated a renaissance and they were taken on in common language to identify that which is tough to find or believe it exists.

This summer I took a short term contract with a Gastown agency. I found that http://www.openroad.ca was really special – the people and their approach to business. When my contract was up, I didn’t want to leave, and I recently accepted a position there as Director, Project Services.

I’m excited because the role is the right balance of challenge with familiarity.  I couldn’t get this involved in a company without being an employee so here I go!

A big thanks to the clients I worked with while freelancing.  Thanks to my accountant and my lawyer for teaching me how to start and maintain a corporation. The business is now dormant because, you see, unicorns do exist.

Jessica Evans, PMP

Know when to fold ’em

No no, project management isn’t a gamble in terms of either winning or losing, but at any point after the initial planning phase, you’re continually measuring, gauging and thinking through options.  Most projects are longer than a poker game, so the cycle of evaluation repeats itself.  Do the goals we set at the outset still make sense?  Are we still going in the right direction or have we course corrected so many times that we’re in a trajectory perpendicular to the one we set out on?

… and know when to walk away.

I announced earlier on this blog that I was super stoked to be leading this year’s TEDxSquamish.  Now I’ve put this project to bed.  Within the two months that I was building the project, I met some really cool people in Squamish.  One of them was Craig, who is basically the godfather to TEDxSquamish – it was his blood, sweat and tears that brought TEDx to this town in the first place.  But then a series of Super Awesome things happened in his life and he had to leave the project.  I moved forward for another month but during this month things stopped flowing.

I had set a go/no-go regarding the team that needed to be in place in order for me to well, have a team to lead.  Especially in these volunteer roles, it’s easy to take on so much “cause I can”.  Yes, these are positions that I’m capable of doing but I can’t do them all.  A few people from the first year were available but most weren’t able to take on the commitment.

It was a tough decision.  I had spoken of that Go/No-go point so many times but I really didn’t believe that I’d be faced with a No-go.  Wow, I’ve announced this on my blog, I’ve affiliated myself with it on Facebook… but I know better than to continue with something just because I said I would.

Things stopped flowing.  My gut feel kicked in.  I knew that if I carried on, the work would pile up and I’d begin to resent the cause.  Nothing good can be born from a place of resentment… I’m not sure I have proof of that, it just doesn’t seem like something worth dabbling in!

However!  The Project Lead position for TEDxSquamish is now available.  If you believe you can build a team and see this thing through, I would love to attend.