It sounds easy, but as a matter of fact it takes a lot of effort. So this is what we are talking about today.
Taking the project, a project manager clarifies with a customer what result they expect and then they answer the question how to achieve this result and how to distribute time and effort in the most efficient way. Actually, there are two types of tasks to tackle this:
– tactical
daily routine, solving issues, removing obstacles, adapting actions;
– strategic
with the project goal in mind coordinating the path to it.
There is one more classification of the PM’s tasks which depends on who a customer is. It looks like this:
- Achieve the goals of the project and of the client;
- Achieve the goals of executive management (financial performance, client loyalty);
- To achieve the goals of the team members (exciting and motivating tasks, career development, increasing salary).
So, a project manager is a person who has to wear three hats and makes everyone satisfied by competently managing the process which is challenging!
The duties of a project manager in different companies may look different. Here is an approximate list:
- Project documentation, project planning, synchronizing terms;
- Possible risk assessment;
- Analysis of the necessary resources, their distribution across the team;
- Participation in the selection of the project team;
- Organizing the working process;
- Prioritizing tasks;
- Supervising the workflow (terms, prioritizing tasks, etc.);
- Motivating the team, resolving conflicts within the team, building strong relationships between colleagues;
- Communication with a customer, managing his expectations;
- Keeping a customer informed about completed solutions,
- Presenting demos, prototypes, etc. to a customer.
PM might be also involved in the development, prototyping, and testing of the product, or they might even issue the customer’s invoices. However, this kind of multitasking is rather an exception, and it occurs only in small projects.
As you may have understood, first and foremost, PM is an administrator, a manager. That is why soft skills for this position are particularly important. This job would be perfect for those who:
a) enjoys communicating with people
b) is able to take on the responsibility for making decisions and gets satisfaction from this. So, it is a constant emergency, because PM is a person who receives information about all the issues and delegates the tasks to solve them. However, being the captain of this ship is a rewarding job as they decide when and how the ship arrives at the final destination (i.e., the time frame and resources to finish the project).
As PM is a leader and the main communicator on the project, it is absolutely important to have leadership skills, ability to inspire and persuade people, to negotiate and work under pressure, communication skills, responsibility, time management . The required minimum is knowledge of English. That’s why there are a lot of former linguists and philologists among project managers.
The “hard skills” of PMs can include experience in work planning, knowledge of development processes, and the ability to assess risks and mitigate them.
Technical knowledge at this position is not as important as managerial, but it is certainly an advantage. After all, the PM with experience in developing, or, for example, in testing the product understands how his team works and customer’s expectations which is more challenging for an administrator. So , such person is more effective at managing the process.
If you are a technical expert you can easily become a project manager. Moreover, you can grow both horizontally (expanding your experience and expertise) and vertically with PMs: into product owners, CTOs, COOs, CEOs.
In fact, there are several successful project managers among our graduates. So if you are dreaming of a career in project management, you can start your way to your goal with our courses!
