Laurențiu started his marketing journey over 18 years ago and now leads a marketing team. He has extensive experience in work and project management, and content strategy. When not working, he’s probably playing board games or binge-watching mini-series.
Regardless of the industry, project managers are leaders and coordinators whose main responsibility is to keep the project from going off the rails and help it reach its final destination. In cases like these, project managers must be bold, assertive, and insistent. This often includes “chasing” stakeholders around in order to “drag them to a meeting” and reminding them to review and sign off on deliverables. Many think that the job of project managers comes down to being neck-deep in paperwork, and to some extent, that’s true — but a lot of it has to do with people as well.
essential project management skills for success
There are so many things to juggle during a process, from leadership expectations to client care and employee management, that a trusted PMP will always be an asset to any company. As with project managers in other fields, software project managers must ideate, motivate, delegate and communicate. They devise plans, form teams capable of executing that plan and make sure plans are executed within the allotted time and budget. A key technical competency for any project manager is resource planning, which requires the ability to build a workable plan and shift resources at a moment’s notice. This includes adjusting budget, staffing and managerial focus as priorities change. Specifically, a project manager must plan a project from beginning to end, then draw up a timeline and make sure their team works within its time constraints and budget.
This is also the right time to celebrate the positive project aspects, such as dedicated teamwork. While these disciplines are all similar and interrelated, they each have unique differences that impact the responsibilities of project managers in their given roles. By overseeing complex projects from inception to completion, project managers have the potential to shape an organization’s trajectory, helping to reduce costs, maximize company efficiencies, and increase revenue.
Establish a Deadline and Monitor the Progress of the Project
A day in the life of a project manager will probably not be standard. Depending on where they are in any given project cycle, they may need to check in with team members about deliverables or provide updates to project stakeholders. The project manager has to set accurate and workable timelines for all the team members involved and make sure no one is being pushed to do sloppy work to meet an unrealistic deadline. Additionally, a project manager will be able to communicate with leadership and tell them what they need to know at the top line, as opposed to getting bogged down in too many specific details. A project manager acts as a chameleon between teams, making sure everyone has what they need to get pieces of the project done. The big question on everyone’s mind was the project’s viability, given both its proximity to the town and a wildlife refuge, as well as how long it might take to complete.
As part of a project, each of these teams would be working with a project manager who helps move the product development from one stage to the next. On top of overseeing projects, the role involves collaborating with similar leaders, cross-functional teams and third parties. For that reason, we’ve created blogs, guides and templates to help you better understand all the different aspects of this role.
A project manager also evaluates the project’s success and identifies areas for improvement in future projects. Project managers play the lead role in planning, executing, monitoring, controlling, project manager courses and closing out projects. They are accountable for the entire project scope, the project team and resources, the project budget, and the success or failure of the project.
