Jordan from Keep Left

On managing time, budgets, and people.

Hi Jordan! What do you do in Keep Left? And how long have you worked there?

Hey! I’m a Production Manager. It’s a newly created position at the intersection of Clients, our PR team and our Content Production team. It’s client facing, but also requires a little bit of creativity and the ability to manage time, budgets and — most importantly — people.

What do you wish you knew when you started?

Coming from a mostly production/advertorial background, I’m still learning a lot about PR. Keep Left is more of an ‘integrated communications agency’ these days but I still wish I’d learnt a little more about the PR side of things before I started.

Creatives need attention and clients need results.

You’re working both with clients and creatives, advocating for both sides. It’s not an easy position to be in. What’s the hardest about that? And what’s your secret in staying at least somewhat sane?

As far as I can tell the key is managing expectations. Creatives need attention and clients need results. Being upfront with clients about what they can expect before you start creating content is really important. You also have to be ruthless with budgets and a real people person. It helps to love what you do too, even if that’s a bit of a cliche.

If you were to change jobs, what would you miss the most?

Do you know something I don’t? Am I getting fired?

Truthfully… I would probably miss the atmosphere of this office most. It’s as hectic and bustling as the media environments I’ve worked in previously but everyone here is kind and considerate as well as talented. I think it’s rare to find that in a modern workplace.

How do you handle estimating time, be it your own or your team member’s?

Teamweek! I’m not really sure what we’d do without it. I have an incredible team of copywriters, designers and videographers who are great at working quickly and hitting briefs. But — without Teamweek — we’d have no way of structuring and co-ordinating our calendars. I’m sure everything would fall apart pretty quickly without it.

Never stop up-skilling. I’m going to try to remember that moving forward.

What’s the most recent revelation about your job, however big or small?

I’ve realised recently that it’s important to never stop up-skilling. You can (and should) always be learning new things. I’m going to try to remember that moving forward. Keep Left is the perfect environment for this — we even provide staff with personal development budgets. Maybe i’ll learn a new language next year!

What’s the best professional advice you ever got?

Never to work with children or animals. Of course, it’s unavoidable sometimes, but from a Production perspective it makes life so much more complicated.

Describe the scariest part of your job.

Pitching new ideas to clients — but it’s also the best part.

What’s your one big job-related dream?

Haha! Nice try! I can’t tell you because it’s a secret and it will ruin my plans. But suffice to say it involves a big promotion in a few years time…

This belongs to the interview series with Teamweek users where we look at the role of project management and leadership. 💚