Meet the Team | Nimbler. Lauren Riedling
Home to diverse people from all walks of life, Nimble. is excited to introduce Project Manager, Lauren Riedling. Raised in a house full of engineers, it’s no surprise that creative problem solving anchors her approach to tackling internal scheduling and external troubleshooting on the daily. Fun fact – Lauren is celebrating three years with the Nimble. crew today.
Get to know her through this 4 minute Q&A below.
👋 Lauren!
Tell us a little about your role at Nimble.
LR: I'd call my role at Nimble. a central point of contact for both our internal and external teams, focused on internal process development and fostering collaboration and teamwork across all of our teams and partners (while keeping timelines and priorities in check).
Tell us about your background. Where’d you find your start in project management?
LR: I went to school for Industrial Design and chose an engineering school because I appreciated the grounded-in-reality nature of Georgia Tech’s program. What really resonated about the design process was creative problem solving. After school, I went into project and account management for a global trade show company where I was able to lean into problem solving on behalf of our clients throughout the design and installation process — working with tight deadlines and constantly evolving needs. I really thrived while solving issues on the fly during installations as changes and challenges inevitably arose. When I shifted gears and came to Nimble., I was interested in uncovering how holistic process development could impact a small team — while maintaining the role of internal and external problem solver.
Your role is both technical and creative, in that you are bound by schedules but so hyper-focused on troubleshooting. Talk to us about the value of a PM in the creative process.
LR: Creative project management is a giant juxtaposition. You're trying to make the unpredictable predictable and establish a framework, while allowing enough flexibility for the creative process to take shape as needed. A phrase I’ve coined Elastic Framework™!
I plan to write a book about establishing pillars for success and making those predictable but providing enough flexibility to stretch in each direction without containing our team of creatives.
You’ve been responsible for more than two dozen signage projects coming to life this year. Tell us about some ‘do’s and dont’s’ our readers might find helpful in designing spatially (for end-production).
LR: While so much of our work is digital, it's imperative that you break beyond the screen to depict a scaled space. Sometimes it takes physically drawing it out on a wall to see if it feels right. That's one of the many reasons we have floor-to-ceiling IDEApaint walls at Nimble. — to test eye level placement and whether the size of something feels overwhelming or not. Human scale is imperative to testing designs before they move beyond conceptual phase.
And that process doesn't stop at production file release. Having a connected thread and voice throughout the production process is critical. Maintaining active design involvement as needs/budgets/install constraints change helps to ensure the overall creative intent carries through to the finished product.
In Lauren’s Elastic Framework™ above, the defined milestones allow for flexibility to bend ––not break–– when real life stressors enter the mix.
If you had to choose one, what is your most prideful project to-date?
LR: While I don't like to pick favorites, recently our Eastside Chamblee project stands out to me because of the way it’s successfully evolved over a long period of time. This project has changed hands across multiple designers and vendors, and I’ve really enjoyed assuming the role of that ‘connected voice and thread’ on something that we’re all going to be really proud of. Signage and FF&E are coming into place now, so stay tuned!
Hardest lesson you’ve learned through experience thus far?
LR: Don't be afraid to ask for help even when you're supposed to have it all together! Everyone thinks the project manager is supposed to keep everything together (and generally we’re pretty successful in doing so!), but there are situations where you do need to wrap in a larger team so you can collectively work through a challenge together and reach the quickest but also strongest resolve.
If you could offer one piece of advice or guidance to Nimble. clients reading on, what would that be and why?
LR: I’d say — always be upfront with your expectations, but also stay flexible. Things will change. Make your goals for success clear, but stay open minded about how they might come to fruition.
Who do you most admire and why?
LR: It’s cliche, but my dad…because we're the same person - HA! He's the epitome of calm and logic and intention, but he's a wildly creative person who can do and build beautiful things because his drive is to ‘figure it out’. In almost the same breath he can re-fiberglass an old boat, fix your computer, and decorate a mean birthday cake.
What’s the one thing the Nimble. community should know about you?
LR: I work hard to be a dedicated and focused right hand each step of the way, but that all goes out the window as soon as a cute puppy — and yes, all dogs are cute puppies — walks by.
Thanks for reading the fourth interview in our Meet the Team series. Next up is CEO and Creative Director, Candice Riley Campbell.
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For questions or to add to the conversation, contact Candice Riley Campbell, candice@nimbledesignco.com | 404.445.3400.