Imposter Syndrome, Vulnerability, and Project Management: Leading an Institutional Repository Migration
Working as a project manager involves vulnerability, emotional risk, and exposure, particularly if one is new to project management and leadership roles. This presentation will briefly review project management strategies for those new to project management and discuss imposter syndrome and vulnerability in the context of technical projects. As a former ‘front-facing’ librarian charged with overseeing the migration of the library’s institutional repository, overcoming imposter syndrome and accepting vulnerability were as much a part of the migration story as data transfer and metadata crosswalks. Without formal project management training, and nominal knowledge of linked data and repository technical infrastructure, I led a team of three programmers, three metadata specialists, and one repository administrator. Managing vulnerability was not only an individual exercise, but one that extended to the team as they grappled with building the first linked data project to run in production at the institution. Therefore, this presentation will also briefly discuss managing vulnerability, emotional risk, and imposter syndrome as a team as we navigated learning new technologies, programming languages, and metadata standards.
