Part 7: Role of the Project Manager

Project Manager = Person Who Leads the Team that is Responsible for Achieving the Project Objectives

A Project Manager should

  • Satisfy the Task Needs, the Team Needs, and the Individual Needs
  • Link the Strategy to the Team

A Project Manager needs

  • The Following Competencies
    • Knowledge = what you know about project management
    • Performance = what you can accomplish
    • Personal = how you behave, your attitude, your personality, & your leadership
  • Skills
    • Leadership
    • Team Building
    • Motivation
    • Communication
    • Influence
    • Decisiveness
    • Political/Cultural Awareness
    • Negotiation
    • Trust Building
    • Conflict Management
    • Coaching

  • A project manager uses his skills to achieve consensus.  When you have a group of people, they won’t agree on everything 100% of the time.  The project manager can persuade and negotiate with the people to obtain support.
  • Project managers communicate through formal structures, which their organization put in place.  Project managers also create informal networks and relationships with experts, leaders, and other project managers.  Project managers develop relationships that can be used to increase the success of the project.
  • Project managers seek information about relevant industry trends and developments.
  • Project managers contribute knowledge and expertise to the project management profession and to other professions (such as engineering or law)

  • These skills, when taken together, result in the PMI Talent Triangle, which contains three main skill sets
    • Technical Project Management
      • Knowledge and skills for project, program, and portfolio management
      • The key elements that a project managers should focus on are the Critical Success Factors for a project, Schedule, Financial Reports, and the Issue Log
    • Leadership
      • Ability to motivate and direct a team to achieve the goals of an organization
      • A project manager should be optimistic & positive, build trust, seek consensus, develop personal & professional relationships, manage expectations, give others credit, learn, accept feedback, adjust priorities, be flexible, be vigilant, and communicate
      • The best project managers spend 90% of their time communicating
      • Project managers need power, and good project managers will work to obtain the power they need
    • Strategic & Business Management
      • Knowledge and expertise in one’s industry to deliver business outcomes
      • A project manager should be able to maximize the business value of his project, and explain how a project benefits the business as a whole
      • A project manager should understand his organization’s strategy, goals, objectives, products and/or services, operations, market and market conditions, and competitors

  • Leadership vs Management
    • The goal is to get a person from one point to another
    • Leaders do so through discussion and debate
    • Managers do so through direction and authority
    • A project manager must find the balance between leadership and management