49 answers
49
Asked 5605 views

Project Manager

What do Project Managers do? #professional #management #graduate #japan #manager #project #institute #agile

management graduate manager japan project institute agile
Thank you comment icon Good project managers can be the difference between a successful project and a failed one. They need to have common sense, organizational skills, and people skills to be able to tackle complex projects. If you’ve just become a project manager, there are a number of things you can do to ensure a positive work environment and a successful outcome. Steven
Thank you comment icon Along with the pm skills what is also needed are soft skills. It is important to communicate clearly Katherine Tuttle
Answer This

+25 Karma if successful
From: You
To: Friend
Subject: Career question for you
49

49 answers

10
Updated
Share a link to this answer
Share a link to this answer

Michael’s Answer

Jokingly, a project manager herds cats.

Seriously: A project Manager is really a jack-of-all trades type of operations role that understands schedules, budgeting, and works well with people and forms relationships. Successful Project Managers tend to be individuals who grasp technical and non-technical concepts well, and can link the concepts and communicate them out to the rest of a project team and stakeholders in clear terms that everyone understands. The actual administrative work is fairly routine, from updating schedules, assigning tasks, and ensuring project work is being done.

However, the role of a Project Manager is being migrated away from this administrative burden to the world of Agile where Project Managers are replaced with Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches who help project teams manage their works and find what works for those teams. Particularly in the technology space, there's an aversion to too much non-value added administrative tasks, so minimizing that is key, and frankly, makes a lot of business sense. A really good example of this is the Engineering Culture at Spotify (reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GK1NDTWbkY) and how they fight to stay lean and experiment. They don't have a bunch of project managers, but rather a suite of Agile Coaches to help small teams develop small bits of the entire platform, coordinate across with the enterprise architects, and build a culture of experimentation and rapid failure and learning.

If you're interested in the operations side of projects, then Agile might also just feel more natural. Traditional Project Management (Waterfall) approach is great if you know exactly what it is you're building, but most projects are sort of exploratory as they go, with some loose requirements at the beginning and grow further as they move. Construction and things like Astro-engineering tend to need really great traditional project managers, as their requirements are fixed at the start of the project.
Thank you comment icon Loved reading this, thanks! Shaina
Thank you comment icon This is a really great explanation. Indeed these days Agile is the talk Dipankar Ghosh
Thank you comment icon Herding cats is spot on. Rebecca Brooks
Thank you comment icon Hi Michael - your advice is very insightful; awesome job. Thank you for sharing! Sheila Jordan
10
4
Updated
Share a link to this answer
Share a link to this answer

Manuela’s Answer

A project manager is the person responsible for leading a project from its inception to execution. This includes planning, execution and managing the people, resources and scope of the project. Project managers must have the discipline to create clear and attainable objectives and to see them through to successful completion. The project manager has full responsibility and authority to complete the assigned project.


A project manager's position may end with the completion of the assigned project, or it may be a semipermanent position for a limited time or until a predetermined point in the project’s schedule or stage of completion.


There are many certifications offered in project management from a variety of organizations. These include Project Management Professional (PMP), Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM) and Program Management Professional (PgMP).
Thank you comment icon I appreciate this, thank you for the advice. Shaina
4
1
Updated
Share a link to this answer
Share a link to this answer

Christophe’s Answer

Hi there


Project management is



  • coordination of actions

  • organization and team definition ( finf the right people for each tasks)

  • drive the team ( set up meetings /calls - take notes during meeting - circulate notes

  • use templates for builind answer and share them with the team

  • use tools (software) for achieving the goal


All these tasks will help you to meet expectations and respect deadlines


Do not forget that one key point is to be able to ask people to perform tasks with no direct management line with You
Communication skills and influencing is also a big part of being successful


More information on this web site (i am using it a lot)
http://www.apmp.org/


Cheers

1
1
Updated
Share a link to this answer
Share a link to this answer

Jayesh’s Answer

I think you got pretty good responses to your question. A related question, I would ask is - Who are Project Managers?


I recommend that you read the article at https://www.pmi.org/about/learn-about-pmi/who-are-project-managers.
Once you understand who they are, you will get more clarity on their responsibilities.


Hope this helps. Wish you all the best for your future endeavors.
Thank you comment icon Thank you, Jayesh! Shaina
Thank you comment icon Good suggestion, Jayesh. many times we look at the roles and responsibilities, but less we discuss behavioral characteristics about these professions that make them successful. Leion- check to see if you can relate to these characteristics to pursue PM career. PINKAL GANDHI
1
1
Updated
Share a link to this answer
Share a link to this answer

VANDANA’s Answer

project manager is to create & have the plan delivered along with the team . He is available for the team & to the management always
Project manager is the owner of delivery plan .
Create and Lead the team
Monitor Project Progress and share it with all the stakeholders
Manage Issues
Manages the Cost
Ensure Stakeholder Satisfaction
Evaluate Project Performance.
Ensures Team Motivations
1
1
Updated
Share a link to this answer
Share a link to this answer

Patricia’s Answer

Hi Leion!

I have been Project Manager IT for 11 years, so I can tell you some about her profile and what we do. I spend a lot of time in coordination sessions and make sure things happen, that's the mantra of a PM

A project manager is a person who has the overall responsibility for the successful initiation, planning, design, execution and monitoring.

The project manager must have a combination of skills including an ability to ask penetrating questions, detect unstated assumptions and resolve conflicts, as well as more general management skills.

A project manager is a person who is responsible for making decisions, both large and small. The project manager should make sure they control risk and minimise uncertainty. Every decision the project manager makes must directly benefit their project.

Some of our activities including:

Planning and Defining Scope
Resource Planning
Developing Schedules
Time Estimating
Cost Estimating
Developing a Budget
Documentation
Creating Charts, Schedules and Presentations to report the status of the project
Risk Analysis
Thank you comment icon Thank you, this is amazing! I really needed it. Shaina
1
0
Updated
Share a link to this answer
Share a link to this answer

CAROLYN’s Answer

Project Managers bring together all parts of a project and deliver the final product on time. The role requires many skills:

Leaderships skills
Clear Communication
Data retrieval and analysis
Conflict resolution
Time management
Negotiation
Change management if timelines, input, personnel and other items change during the life of the project.
0
0
Updated
Share a link to this answer
Share a link to this answer

Melissa’s Answer

Project Managers are ultimately responsible for managing the Scope (what the , Schedule, Budget and Resources for their projects. Projects can vary by industry and/or customer. The role requires someone with great organizational skills, the ability to communicate written and verbally and can manage people and relationships.
0
0
Updated
Share a link to this answer
Share a link to this answer

bridget’s Answer

Hi Adakis:


Project Managers bring organization to teams so they can define and deliver a product.


Check out what Monster.com has to say about Project Management (career overview, education, job market, salaries): http://www.monster.com/project-management-careers. You will see that almost every industry you can think of has a need for project managers!
0
0
Updated
Share a link to this answer
Share a link to this answer

Santosh’s Answer

Project managers are accountable for end to end project implementation and through successful closure. They manage all areas of the project and mainly the scope, schedule & budget. They do communication most of the time in their day to day job. Stakeholder management, negotiation, leadership skills are important to become a good project manager. You need to be proactive with your approach and since the world is leading towards an agile environment it is very important to have that change in the mindset. To guide, lead and be backbone for the project team to enable them to deliver is crucial.
0
0
Updated
Share a link to this answer
Share a link to this answer

Tiep Q.’s Answer

Be confident and know what you are project managing. Coordinate and be as resourceful as you can be. Get to know your resources, strengths of the team, and take notes, notes, notes...
0
0
Updated
Share a link to this answer
Share a link to this answer

Paul’s Answer

Project Managers (PMs) are responsible for planning, organizing, and directing the completion of specific projects for an organization while ensuring these projects are on time, on budget, and within scope. Use various tools such as Smartsheets or Microsoft Project to manage schedules (resources and budgets). I would attain a Project Management Professional (PMI.org) certification to complete your skillset.
0
0
Updated
Share a link to this answer
Share a link to this answer

Munazza’s Answer

A project manager's revolves around the following domains:

Initiating: includes defining scope, developing project charter, stakeholder mapping etc
Planning: includes developing project schedule, human resource planning, work breakdown, defining requirements etc
Executing: includes managing resources for project execution
Controlling and monitoring: includes monitor risks, assess issues, measure performance, manages changes, manage project communication etc
Closing: includes obtaining final acceptance for the project, distributing final project report etc
0
0
Updated
Share a link to this answer
Share a link to this answer

John’s Answer

Once you attain your Project Management Certification, you can apply the tools across any and all fields. Get certified and find a field that you enjoy.
Thank you comment icon I will use this advice as I prepare for my career. Shaina
0
0
Updated
Share a link to this answer
Share a link to this answer

Nathalie’s Answer

A Project Manager manages all of the activities and team members required to complete a project on time, on schedule and on budget. We all play the role of a project manager every single day. For example, when you plan a trip you are wearing your project manager hat, when you plan a birthday party, you are wearing a project manager's hat. Making sure you complete your class project, is playing a project manager's hat because you are ensuring that all of the tasks are completed on time and on schedule.

In technology, a Project Manager has more responsibilities - such as making sure the right team members are hired for the different roles , there's enough funding to complete the project to satisfaction, and overall making sure the customer received a quality product. To learn more about this particular role, I would highly recommend signing up with the PMI organization and volunteering as a project coordinator when there's an opportunity.
Thank you comment icon Thanks for your encouragement! Shaina
0
0
Updated
Share a link to this answer
Share a link to this answer

Ricardo’s Answer

A project manager does a number of things. Below are a few things expected of the role.
- collaborate with project leadership to create and manage project plans
- Manage the project plan to ensure that the project team(s)
- facilitate meetings to ensure teams are productive and focused on prioritized work efforts
- proactively manage risks that have the greatest probability to impact the project
- work with project teams to analyze and resolve issues as they occur
- manage multiple aspects of projects such as timelines, budget, availability of resources, risks, etc.
- communicate critical project topics such as status, accomplishments, risks, issues, new work on the project roadmap, etc.