1. Detail the core skills to be a successful project manager.

2. Describe the role and day-to-day responsibilities of a project manager.

3. Discuss when and why it is necessary to have a project manager.

Exploring How a Project Manager Adds Value

The Value of Project Manager

Project managers add value through effective prioritization, delegation, and communication.

1. • Prioritization: Project managers help teams identify and break down tasks into smaller steps, prioritizing them based on their importance to the project's success.

   • Delegation: Project managers match tasks to individuals with the skills and expertise to complete them effectively.

   • Effective Communication: Project managers keep their teams and stakeholders informed about project progress, identify areas where support is needed, and ensure transparency throughout the project.

How Project Manager Impact Organizations

The main ways that project managers can add value to projects and impact organizations include: 

1. 1. Focusing on the customer: 

      • Understanding customer needs and expectations.

      • Building relationships with customers.

      • Ensuring customer satisfaction.

   2. Building a great team: 

      • Identifying the right team for the project.

      • Enabling the team to be successful and make decisions.

      • Building a positive team environment.

   3. Fostering relationships and communication: 

      • Building strong relationships with stakeholders.

      • Maintaining open communication channels.

      • Communicating the project's vision and goals.

   4. Managing the project:

      • Effectively managing the project lifecycle.

      • Breaking down tasks and setting clear goals.

      • Monitoring progress and making adjustments as needed.

   5. Breaking down barriers: 

      • Encouraging innovation and collaboration.

      • Empowering the team to find new solutions.

      • Advocating for the team and providing support.

Learning More About Project Manager Roles and Responsibilities

Key Project Manager Roles and Responsibilities

Key responsibilities

• 1. Planning and organizing: Using productivity tools, creating processes, developing plans, timelines, schedules, and documentation.

  2. Budgeting and controlling costs: Monitoring and managing the budget, tracking issues and risks, and mitigating those issues and risks.

  3. Managing tasks: Keeping track of tasks, managing team workload, and demonstrating progress to stakeholders.

Key Roles

• 1. Project managers are not always direct managers: They guide the team and ensure they have the support needed to complete the project.

  2. Delegation is key: Project managers assign tasks to team members based on their expertise, ensuring everyone contributes their strengths.

  3. Accountability is crucial: Project managers hold team members accountable for their assigned tasks, promoting ownership and responsibility.

  4. Issue and risk management: Project managers track and address issues and risks, establishing clear escalation paths for communication.

  5. Workflow and style guidance: Project managers guide the team in adopting the most effective workflows and project management styles.

  6. Collaboration across teams: Project managers work with other teams within the organization to ensure project success and alignment with broader organizational goals.

Working with Cross-Functional Team

Cross-functional team

• • These teams consist of individuals with diverse backgrounds, expertise, and job functions who collaborate towards a common project goal. Think of them as "T-shaped professionals" who bring unique perspectives and skills to the table.

Strategies

• • Clarifying goals: Ensure everyone understands their roles, how they contribute to the project, and the overall goals. Be clear, concise, and define key aspects like budget, deadlines, and quality requirements. Encourage questions and clarifications to ensure everyone is on the same page.

  • Right skills, right people: Assemble a team with the necessary skill sets for each project function. If you're building an airplane, you need engineers and mechanics, not just engineers. As the project manager, it's your responsibility to ensure the team has the right people with the right skills.

  • Measuring progress: Track and communicate progress to keep the team motivated. This could involve meeting milestones, completing tasks, and staying on schedule and within budget. Regularly check in with team members and address any potential delays or issues.

  • Recognizing efforts: Appreciate and acknowledge the contributions of each team member. Different roles may receive varying levels of recognition, so ensure everyone feels valued and appreciated for their unique contributions. Building strong relationships with your team members is crucial for success.

Acquiring the Core Skills of a Successful Project Manager

The Core Skills of a Project Manager

1. Enabling decision-making: This involves gathering information from team members and using it to make informed decisions. It also includes communicating those decisions to the necessary stakeholders.

2. Communicating and escalating: Project managers use their communication skills for everything from documenting plans to holding meetings to escalate risks or issues.

3. Flexibility: Being able to adapt to change is crucial for project managers, as plans will inevitably change. This includes staying calm under pressure and helping the team adjust to new situations.

   • Assess external constraints. 

   • Plan for risks and challenges. 

   • Calculate “float” in your schedule. 

4. Strong organizational skills: Project managers need to be able to organize processes and project elements to ensure nothing gets overlooked. This might involve using spreadsheets, sending status updates, or other methods.

   • Planning and scheduling software (templates, workflows, calendars)

   • Collaboration tools (email, collaboration software, dashboards)

   • Documentation (files, plans, spreadsheets)

   • Quality assurance tools (evaluations, productivity trackers, reports)

Example of Core Skills the Project Manager Uses

Scenario

1. • An event planning team of five is tasked with planning a corporate retreat for a business with 85 employees. This retreat involves hundreds of to-dos, a large budget, client-initiated changes, and important discussions with the client. The project manager knows there is a lot to do, and they are ready to lead the way.
     Right from the beginning of the project, the project manager creates a spreadsheet to track what needs to get done in the project, and what teammates are working on. They also send status update emails twice per week to the stakeholders.
     The project has a $100,000 budget. There are many items to purchase and rent, including venue space, retreat materials, food, chairs, and tables. The project manager allows each one of their teammates up to $3,000 in expenses, with anything over requiring an approval.
     Shortly after the project begins, the client decides they want to slightly change the theme of the project to focus on the future instead of the past. The project manager has to work with several team members to implement the changes which include graphic design, retreat materials, and signage.
     Throughout the process of changing the theme of the retreat, the project manager works closely with the client by phone, email, chat, and video to ensure that the theme updates meet their expectations.
     There is an award-ceremony dinner at the end of the retreat. The deadline to finish scheduling the dinner is in two days. Several crucial decisions need to be made: the menu, lighting, and presentation music. To make sure the deadline is met, the project manager has a video meeting with the client to ensure the dinner choices meet their expectations.

Enables Decision-Making

1. • By giving each teammate a $3,000 purchasing limit, the project manager enables teammates to make decisions on what to buy for the retreat. If they didn’t give the team this option, then the project manager would have to make all the final purchasing decisions themselves.

Communicates and Escalates 

1. • When the deadline for the celebration dinner was approaching, the project manager scheduled a meeting with the client to escalate and communicate the decisions that needed to be made. If the project manager didn’t escalate these decisions, it may have gone past the deadline to order food and materials for the dinner.

Demonstrates flexibility

1. • When the client requested to change the theme of the retreat, the project manager had to stay flexible. They worked with teammates to get the necessary changes in place quickly.

Applies Organizational Skills

1. • They also used the tracker to assign tasks to specific team members. Sending status updates twice per week was also a way the project manager stayed organized. The status updates could also be viewed as a communication skill as well.

Myth about Project Manager

Myth 1: Project managers need to be technical experts.

1. • Reality: Project managers excel at communication, organization, and leadership, not necessarily technical expertise. They assemble and guide teams with diverse skills to handle the technical aspects.

Myth 2: Only experienced individuals can manage projects.

1. • Reality: Project management success relies on acquiring the necessary skills, knowledge, and tools, regardless of prior experience within the organization. This course equips you with these essential elements.

Myth 3: Project managers need to know every detail.

1. • Reality: While details are important, project managers focus on the big picture and strategy. They set clear objectives, empower teams, and address issues collaboratively.

Key Interpersonal Skills

1. Communication: Checking in with teammates, providing clear feedback, and actively listening are key aspects of effective communication.

2. Negotiation: Finding compromises and balancing needs are crucial for successful project completion.

3. Conflict mediation: Resolving conflicts constructively and ensuring they don't negatively impact the project is essential.

4. Understanding motivations: Knowing what drives each team member helps in motivating and encouraging them.

Example of Key Interpersonal Skills

Scenario

• A co-worker is responsible for researching and providing you with a list of potential venues for a retirement party. For the last three weeks, they have been telling you they will complete the list by “the end of the week (EOW).” When you check in with them at the beginning of each of the weeks, they tell you they didn’t get around to completing it but that it will be done by the current week. 

How might you influence this situation without authority? 

• Talk to your co-worker about the overall schedule for the retirement party, and explain to them how selecting a venue as soon as possible is critical to the success of the overall event and will determine what the date of the party will be. 

• Ask your co-worker about their current workload and see if there is anything you can do to free up their schedule. You can also offer to get someone else to help them, if needed.

• Midweek, consider sending your co-worker a gentle reminder about their end of week commitment and ask how it's coming along.

The most valuable interpersonal skills 

• Enabling Decision-making: The ability to enable decision-making on the team or gather decisions from the appropriate leader is crucial to keep projects on task and achieving their goals. As a project manager, you will need to enable decisions frequently. 

• Communicating and escalating: As a project manager, you’ll use your communication skills in just about everything you do. And you need to know when it is appropriate to escalate so that critical issues are raised and addressed as soon as possible to reduce negative impact on a project.

• Remaining flexible: As a project manager, knowing how to be flexible when changes are needed is key. Plans will change — even with careful, upfront planning. As a project manager, being flexible is critical to be able to course, correct, and adapt when the unexpected happens. 

• Organizational Skills: Having strong organizational skills means having the ability to organize the core elements of a project and ensure nothing gets lost or overlooked. A project manager needs to be organized so that they can manage a project and all of its moving parts.

• Negotiation: As a project manager, you’ll have to know how to balance the needs of your teammates with the needs of the project. For example, if a teammate says they can’t complete their work on time, you may need to compromise on a deadline. 

• Conflict Mediation: Resolving tension and conflict within a team is an important skill. This may involve setting up a meeting with two teammates that are struggling to agree upon the best way to handle a shared task. 

• Understanding Motivations: Getting to know your teammates and figuring out what pushes them to their best work is an effective skill to have. Understanding motivations also involves understanding how your teammates prefer to receive feedback.