Improving Digital Project Management Competencies: Case Study of a Digital Marketing Agency in Lithuania

• Main Authors: Steponaitis, Simonas, Andrijauskiene, Meda
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Covid19; digital project; digital project management; Interviews; Organizations; Pandemics; Planning; Project management; project management competencies; resilience; Risk management; Shadow mapping; SME
• ISSN: 2836-7588
• DOI: 10.1109/E-TEMS57541.2023.10424612

The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated an expansion of digital technologies, with many organizations redefining the skills of their workforce. This paper analyses the case of a digital marketing agency, operating in Lithuania for more than a decade. As the company's revenue model is based on the execution of successful projects, constant employee competency development is crucial to be resilient and maintain a competitive market position. Thus, this paper aims to determine the core digital project management competencies and propose a competence development plan. To achieve this aim, a scientific literature review and a semi-structured interview with project managers were carried out. The results revealed that the most important digital project management competencies are contextual knowledge, planning and communication skills and ability to adapt to a fast-changing environment. It was recommended to implement the following solutions: form an environment conducive to learning, organize internal knowledge-sharing sessions, promote mentoring/job shadowing, use external coaching services, and provide opportunities for the employees to attend professional conferences and online project management courses. These solutions ought to narrow the gap between the available and required digital project management competencies and help in coping with the challenges of rapid technological progress.