Roles & Responsibilities of a Creative Project Manager
- Adilla
- May 9
- 6 min read
Updated: Oct 7
Have you ever wondered what creative project managers’ roles look like? In short, they are the bridge that connects client ideas with their creative teams, turning them into reality.
Creative project managers plan and organise ideas to make visions come to life. Whether they are managing a new marketing campaign or coordinating an event, these professionals mix creativity with organisation to make sure every detail is perfect.
Their job is to balance new ideas with practical steps, helping teams through the creative process. They aim to deliver projects that not only meet expectations but exceed them.
Or if you are not in a corporate team and working independently, you would call yourself an artist project manager. The skills of a creative project manager and an artist project manager are interchangeable.
Table of Contents
What is Creative Project Management?
Creative project management involves planning, coordinating, and overseeing tasks and resources to execute creative work effectively. It shares similarities with traditional project management but is less rigid and structured.
The reason why ‘traditional’ project management has branched out to be CPM is the creative industries' need for harmony of both freedom and structure. Creatives require flexibility because of the unpredictable nature of their creative process, but a project would still need to have structure to ensure it reaches its goal.
For example, some creative project managers would give a time range rather than a hard deadline, so it encourages them to explore new ideas and innovative approaches, all while staying firmly aligned with the project's timeline and objectives.
Main Responsibilities of Creative Project Managers
What does a creative project manager do? A creative project manager’s duties are spread throughout the project. They not only manage the project and assign tasks but also handle clients while ensuring the project runs smoothly. Here are a few of their responsibilities:
Managing Client Relationships
Creative project manager roles require being clear about the client’s expectations before laying out the groundwork of the project. As the project progresses further, they will need to keep track of the project metrics and update their client.
This will ensure the project is aligned with the client’s needs. It is recommended to schedule status updates with both clients and team members to prevent any mistakes or miscommunications.
Brief Team Members
Creative project managers would be the go-to people who could brief on the goings-on of a project. When the layout of the project has been determined, they must ensure team members are informed and assigned tasks that fit their skills and capabilities.
Additionally, whether it is introducing a new project to the team members or recruiting freelancers to assist with the project, creative project managers need to brief them, too.
Ensuring Project Quality
Part of a creative project manager's job description is they ensure that projects finish on time while also achieving the expected quality and goals set by their clients. When the project goes through its stages, bottlenecks or issues will occur, whether the team is careful or not.
Other than having good risk management skills, creative project managers would need to be hands-on when identifying issues and repairing them with the team to prevent delays or affecting the quality of the project. When the manager is familiar with the project details, misunderstandings are less likely to occur.
Balancing Creativity with Deadlines & Budgets
A challenge for project managers for creatives, but with their understanding of the creative processes, they are well prepared to structure creativity with a timeline and allocated budget. When assigning tasks, they must take note of their team’s skills, capacity and the project’s priorities. A skill that not all ‘traditional’ project managers would be able to do effectively.
Moreover, these creative leaders would need to monitor budgets and track expenses when issues arise of changing the direction of the creative production or design. So, productivity would not be affected while maximising profitability.
Facilitating Feedback and Collaboration
Creative projects require feedback loops and collaboration to produce an outcome that is unique and competitive in the industry. To have that, creative project managers would combine different teams and departments to gain input and insight.
For example, in animation studios, there are multiple departments and stages that creative project managers would have to facilitate to ensure a smooth transition and collaboration. Like, approval stages of character creation.
Illustrators would draft out different characters with colours that go with them. When feedback sessions roll in, animators would have to consider if each design would take longer to animate it. Additionally, stakeholders must approve the designs if it fulfils their requirements for the animation project.
Thus, each stage of the animation process: pre-production, production and post-production are phases that creative project managers observe collaboration and communication that encourage idea-sharing and prevent creative conflicts.
Essential Skills of a Creative Project Manager
If you’re looking to improve, here are the skills for project managers to focus on to build a career in creative project management:
Knowing The Basic Principles of Creative Processes
One of the skills for creative project managers that stands out from their traditional counterparts, creative skills vary depending on what creative projects the team is developing. Thus, a solid understanding of their workflow will ease the process of delegating tasks, giving guidance to the team or deciding on key resolutions for issues when they come up is an important skill for creative leaders.
Grasped The Fundamentals of Project Management
All forms of project managers should master the basics of project management. Earning a certification is not essential, but it will boost credibility. Learn all the methodologies, frameworks and key duties of project managers to apply them towards the creative industry. For example, the agile methodology can be implemented with animation teams.
Establishing Good Communication and Feedback
Communication skills are essential to ensure all teams are aligned with their goals, tasks and deadlines. And when a conflict arises between teams, creative project managers should be ready with the right communication know-how before mediating or resolving the conflict.
So, interpersonal skills like verbal and non-verbal communication help foster an environment where the team can trust each other and their creative leader.
Key Takeaways
Creative project managers or artist project managers are essential for bridging the gap between clients and creative teams.
They remove the hassle of constant communication, allowing teams to focus on their projects.
Creative PMs also oversee the entire project, and if there are issues that need to be addressed, team members can remain focused on their tasks without interruption.
Start Your Creative Project Manager Journey With TESSR
If you are ready to become a creative project manager (or already are and want to streamline your creative projects), our free creative project management software, TESSR, can assist you. When considering project management tools for creative projects, take note of the features that your team would need to boost their productivity.
For example, one of the key features of TESSR that assists creative project managers is the TESSR Woohoo module. It helps you calculate the completion percentage of projects for all team members, providing managers with valuable insights into work progress and team performance.
If you are interested in starting your creative project management journey with TESSR, sign up here and join our creative community!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the difference between a project manager and a creative project manager?
As the name suggests, creative project managers are more catered for creative projects that require a team leader who understands the creative processes that team members do. Meanwhile, a ‘traditional’ project manager follows a structured and fixed process when planning and executing a project.
Can a project manager become a creative project manager?
It is possible as long as the project manager has the right understanding of how the creative part of a project is executed. The creative project manager career path is not as straightforward as its traditional counterpart.
Creatives need to trust that their team leader understands the creative workflow that is needed when producing creative work. When reviewing their work, it is encouraged for creative project managers to have a hands-on approach in assisting their creative teams.
Our project management software, TESSR, assists managers in providing space to have open communication with TESSR Review and transparency in workload distribution through the Woohoo module.
Is it difficult to be a creative project manager?
While it is a challenging role to fill in, it will only be hard if they do not take the time to understand the project goals and their team members’ capabilities. Without a good leader, a project will not be executed properly, whether a creative type or not.
Do creative project managers need project management certification?
No, creative project managers do not need a project management certificate. However, it will boost your credibility and a proof of your expertise. Plus, if you have been a creative project manager for a while, picking up courses to better boost your skills and abilities is good too.
Author Bio
With a background in Arts English, Adilla has been a casual writer for various hobbies, including parodies of animated shows and plots for board games like Dungeons & Dragons. She loves to read anything and everything from fantasy stories to articles on tips and tricks. Currently, Adilla resides in Malaysia and is a creative writer at TESSR. One day, she is eager to publish her book. To know more about her, check out her LinkedIn.
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