Some people may aim to become a project manager as they advance their professional status. The idea of managing multi-million dollar projects, meeting with customers, creating schedules, and hiring the right people for your in-house team sounds exciting. Project management often looks like a “well-oiled” machine to outside observers. Because the process is systematic, one step leads to another, and ultimately a final product that is delivered on budget and ahead of schedule.
When you take on the role of a project manager, you quickly realize that many places on your machine need oil frequently and you don’t have time to stop and repair it. Yes, we complete projects on or within budget and ensure each project is delivered on time. However, in order to achieve these goals, we spend a lot of time doing everything we can to keep the machine moving forward.
Project management often feels like someone who rushes things.
We simultaneously focus our attention on team members, customer needs, scheduling, deliverables, “pop-up” tasks, and tasks that only project managers can perform. On slow days, I may only touch on two or three of the areas listed above, but I may touch on these areas across multiple different projects. For a few weeks, every day is Monday, we’ll touch on every area of every project we manage, as well as areas we never expected. You must keep the product moving, tasking team members, and answering emails while attending kickoff meetings, update meetings, project meetings, and staffing meetings.
Plus, an unexpected task or meeting starts 15 minutes after the invitation arrives.
Unexpected events require a project management style that is flexible, responsive, thoughtful, proactive, and knowledgeable in all areas of the project. Although it is not necessary to know every detail of the project, it is important to know enough about the current work and status to be able to respond to any requests from the customer.
When customer demands cannot be met, professional project managers can predict “what happens next,” determine risk and potential for schedule overruns, and adjust resources to minimize the event. Masu.
A proactive project manager checks in with team members to determine their needs and provides solutions to questions. Additionally, this project manager will schedule a planning meeting to alert the customer to upcoming project phases and discuss processes, approvals, and other actions that may be required in the future. This ensures that the project continues to move forward as the way forward has already been discussed. And it was approved.
Project management is not always as organized or structured as it appears to observers. Project management, even in the best organizations, is often like a chess match, but at a much faster pace. A good project manager must be proactive and strategic in deciding what must be addressed immediately and what can wait. Communicate effectively with a variety of people, use critical thinking skills to solve complex, multi-layered problems, and have the foresight to identify potential risks and manage them before they jeopardize the project. The ability to have a team of experts manage your projects.Working without micromanaging are just some of the characteristics of successful project managers.
Source: gothamCulture – gothamculture.com
