The project manager is the person responsible for the management of a project and the achievement of the objectives set according to the budget, the deadlines, and the quality requirements. You should also take care of the management of the project team. And depending on the size of the project, the manager may be assisted by a support team (project office), if any, and a supervisor.
PROJECT MANAGER RESPONSIBILITIES
Now, let’s talk more specifically about the responsibilities of the project manager. Among them are:
- Create a suitable work environment for the project team and provide an atmosphere for their productive work.
- Perform the functions of the organization and skillfully use the authority granted.
- Prevent problems and solve them successfully both inside and outside the team.
- Analyze the results of the project and formulate conclusions to apply the experience.
- Assignment of roles and responsibilities among team members.
- Project planning and resource mobilization.
- Follow up on the project.
- Monitor the evolution of project management, identify new approaches, and apply them.
- Manage priorities, identify risks and manage them.
- Involve the client and maintain the level of involvement required.
- Timely prevent conflicts.
- Avoid delaying important decisions.
- Keep those interested in the project informed.
- Control changes during project work.
- Facilitate constructive interaction of team members
It is important to bear in mind that the success of all the actions of the project manager depends to a great extent on his leadership capacity and the fulfillment of certain requirements, which will be described below.
TASKS OF A PROJECT MANAGER
The project manager can be described as the inspirer of the team, creating a creative atmosphere. It facilitates the selection of employees and ensures the conditions to obtain high results from the team and each of its members. At the same time, you should not directly influence people’s efforts, because your main task is to support your collaborators without doing the work for them.
The project manager is the key link in project management, whose strong point is the delegation of authority and the assignment of responsibilities to achieve the desired results to specific managers. They are the project manager and the strongest team members.
The nature of responsibility and authority is specified in the contract with the client (for external projects) or the project letter (for internal projects). But in one way or another, the project manager has the following functions:
- Form the organizational structure and the project team.
- Resource mobilization issues.
- Participate in the recruitment, training, and motivation of staff.
- Define the responsibilities, scope of work, and goals of team members.
- Develop and agree on the project plan, including deadlines, risk management plan, communication plan, budget plan, and others.
- Guarantee compliance with the plan.
- Coordinate and supervise the hiring and closing activities.
- Establish communication links.
- Generate efficient information flows.
- Prepare and present reports.
- Maintain contact with the client, providing the necessary information and solving any problem that may arise with the client.
- Monitor and analyze the current status of jobs.
- Anticipation of possible problems and adoption of corrective measures.
- Coordination of employee actions and control of changes.
- Guarantee the timely and complete closure of the project.
- Analyze the interests of key team members and the peculiarities of the project environment.
REQUIREMENTS OF A PROJECT MANAGER
A manager can perform various functions if he meets certain basic requirements such as the following:
Experience. The project manager must have at least one completed project under his belt and experience in a management position with 5 or more people, negotiation, conflict resolution, interaction with suppliers, organizing and conducting tenders, contract administration, document management, planning, and control of the execution of the works.
Knowledge. The project manager must know the fundamentals of project management, management accounting, business economics, contract management, quality, and risk management, as well as know the tools and methods of staff motivation. Conveniently, the manager knows the normative, legal, and legislative acts, the environmental, economic, and technical requirements of the products of his organization, the development strategy of the company, the organization of the production planning, the characteristics of the production of budgets, schedules and project models, the basics of labor legislation, labor protection rules and regulations, and the basics of safety and quality control.
Competencies. The project manager must be able to confidently use the Internet, the programs of the Microsoft Office suite, as well as the project management programs (Spring, Spider Project, MS Project, etc.); You must also be able to organize and lead meetings.
Training. There are no mandatory requirements, but higher education in economics or engineering is an undoubted advantage for the project manager. Project management and direction may be suitable as additional training.
Personal qualities. A project manager must always be responsible, communicative, resistant to stress, flexible and systematic in his thinking, and capable of working.
These requirements are basic, and they are sufficient to successfully manage a project and its team, without which it will not be possible to achieve the goals and objectives of the project. The project team, in turn, has several specific attributes.
