heh to be fair, half the time when pm's get the team together to determine what the tasks are, the team doesn't think things thoroughly either and promise they can do more than they can while spending their time sitting around bullshitting and drinking coffee, then looking for a technical "issue", usually on the day the task is due as an excuse to delay the completion date. incompetence goes both ways!
their job is to basically be the paperwork/communication nexus that is supposed to take some high level goal, break it down into actionable tasks with estimated timelines and costs, then document and communicate every minutiae of any conversation, email, thought, meeting, conference call, sample, test, etc.. that's related to the project in any sense.
from the worker standpoint, frequently they are viewed as time wasters due to the inordinate amount of meetings, requests for information, and status check pokes. "I know the task says it's going to be due soon but the red color isnt really a bad thing, i just need to have a good reason for why the task is late. red isnt bad, just make sure you have a really good excuse!"
from the business folks standpoint project managers provide a nice layer of separation between their role of vision/leadership (i'm the idea guy) and reality (making it happen) leading to a natural excuse of the idea was fine but it wasnt executed as well as we should have!
like any manager a good project manager is well organized, has a high to mid level understanding of what's going on, can navigate a few levels up in the organization for proper escalation, and should be able to see a few steps ahead of the current standing. they should be able to keep the folks doing the work with solid time frames and also manage expectations and scope creep from the customers to feasible limits. All while being as transparent as glass.. basically from reams and reams of documentation and communication.
their job is to basically be the paperwork/communication nexus that is supposed to take some high level goal, break it down into actionable tasks with estimated timelines and costs, then document and communicate every minutiae of any conversation, email, thought, meeting, conference call, sample, test, etc.. that's related to the project in any sense.
from the worker standpoint, frequently they are viewed as time wasters due to the inordinate amount of meetings, requests for information, and status check pokes. "I know the task says it's going to be due soon but the red color isnt really a bad thing, i just need to have a good reason for why the task is late. red isnt bad, just make sure you have a really good excuse!"
from the business folks standpoint project managers provide a nice layer of separation between their role of vision/leadership (i'm the idea guy) and reality (making it happen) leading to a natural excuse of the idea was fine but it wasnt executed as well as we should have!
like any manager a good project manager is well organized, has a high to mid level understanding of what's going on, can navigate a few levels up in the organization for proper escalation, and should be able to see a few steps ahead of the current standing. they should be able to keep the folks doing the work with solid time frames and also manage expectations and scope creep from the customers to feasible limits. All while being as transparent as glass.. basically from reams and reams of documentation and communication.
