The role of the Project Manager (PM) is a function of the size of the project. If you are a beginning or novice project manager you might be at the top—it’s your project and you’re in charge. If you are an employee or a professional Project Manager you are empowered to act, but you take direction from others and you could potentially be replaced and the project would continue. However, a PM almost always has interactions with others in the process of running the project, no matter what the size. Let’s look at some of those relationships.
Project Managers Can Have Employees
The relationship between employees and the employer is well-described in both common practice and legal terms. A straightforward example would be a General Contractor who hires people to do the work of building a house. The employer is responsible for everything the employees do on the job, including the quality of the work and how they behave toward others (including co-workers and customers). A successful Project Manager, like any boss, will usually achieve the best results if they train, guide, and support their employees to ensure a good outcome. An employee who is damaging the project may need to be fired if remediation doesn’t improve their behavior. An employer typically can’t sue an employee if the employee causes a problem for a project.
Project Managers May Hire Subcontractors
Subcontractors are different from employees in that the Project Manager can hold them responsible for their work. If a subcontractor hires employees for a job it is the subcontractor who trains them, guides them, and pays them. If the subcontractor doesn’t perform the work appropriately they can be dismissed from the job by terminating the contract, and can be sued if they cause a problem that results in a loss to the project.
Project Managers May Have Multiple Stakeholders Within Their Own Company
A Project Manager within a corporation may handle multiple projects at the same time, or may have separate divisions that either contribute to or rely on the success of the project in question. The PM may have to manage competing priorities if the team is overextended.
Project Managers Rely on Suppliers
Some projects are largely intellectual or creative, such as an architect who prepares plans, but many projects require materials as part of the process. For a construction project the materials and supplies will often be the largest cost category and the Project Manager is more effective if the relationship with the suppliers is solid. Selecting the best suppliers and maintaining a good working relationship with them can help ensure that materials are available when needed and problems are corrected quickly. An entire project can grind to a halt if the materials are not available at the right time, even if the labor force is ready to go to work.
Project Managers Have to Interact with People Who Have No Personal or Financial Interest in the Project
Construction projects require permits and inspections from the City or County where they are located. Neighbors may voice complaints about noise, traffic, or dust. A software development project relies on coding standards that are set by agreements that the Project Manager has no control over. These third-party interests can affect tiny projects or large ones, and sometimes the small projects are more vulnerable because there are few resources available to resolve petty disputes.
Large projects are absolutely dependent on following the correct protocols. Permits, inspections, and approvals are essential. Many of these “milestones” must be set up far in advance of the date they are needed. Who approves the project—the Lender? The Owner? The City? The Health Department? The Board of Directors? A citizen review committee? All of the above? What is the lead time for ordering materials? What happens to the project if there is a power outage? Who pays for the cost of delays due to bad weather? These are all questions that may be resolved in unexpected ways, including the courts if disputes are not resolved any other way. The PM should have an appreciation of the downstream consequences of today’s decisions and behaviors.
Applying for approvals may be the first step, but until approval is granted the project can’t proceed. Many of these groups need special handling—the Project Manager does not want to jeopardize the good will of the people who hold the power to deny the project. A good Project Manager will have excellent “people skills” as well as technical knowledge.
How Can the Project Manager Get Help?
If your project is small you may be able to do the management yourself, without administrative help. You might need to hire employees or subcontractors but you can keep the details sorted and maintain the paperwork. Medium to large projects need support staff.
One type of support is to have an Administrative Assistant. This person should be great at handling the details, such as verifying that paperwork and documents have been received, creating documents such as contracts (usually using pre-approved forms), coordinating meetings and schedules, communicating with the appropriate groups, etc. This person is knowledgeable if they have experience, but their role is generic. They could change jobs and do much the same tasks for a completely different company—possibly in a different industry.
An Assistant Project Manager can act in a project-management capacity. They are knowledgeable about the specific work involved. They will often be in charge of a portion of the project and make reports to the Project Manager. There can be multiple Assistant PMs, each one handling a different aspect of the project. This is a “career-track” position for people who want to become a Project Manager when they gain more skill and experience.
An On-Site Superintendent manages the day-to-day things that happen at the jobsite. This is typical for construction projects, but it can also be true for other kinds of projects that have teams working in multiple locations. Whether you are building a house or filming a movie, you may have people who are working in a location that is not the main office. One thing that affects on-site superintendents for projects is that they plan to move from place to place. When the project is over they will go somewhere else for the next one. For local projects this could mean a new commute route, but for big projects it might require moving to a different city or state.
What Else Does the Project Manager Do?
The PM has to track the people, scope, schedule, and budget. The people involved in a project can change for many reasons—illness, death, resignation, being fired, being transferred to a different role, adding new people to the team, etc.
The scope can change for many reasons—the Owner requests additional features, something happens on the job that requires remediation, cost-overruns require a reduction in scope, the City requires additional safeguards, etc.
The schedule can change because of extended bad weather, accidents or illness, change in the scope, incompetence of one or more of the team members, materials shortages, unrealistic estimates in the original schedule, failure of the Owner to make timely progress payments, failure of a participating entity (e.g. a subcontractor declares bankruptcy), or any number of possible delays. Occasionally a project will finish early, but delays are more common. Even if a project is ahead of schedule the PM will need to coordinate all the later tasks if an accelerated schedule is desired.
The budget will change because of any of the things noted above. It can also change because of a failure of the funding source to meet their obligations. For a small project this could mean that the Owner wasn’t able to manage their finances well enough to have cash on hand when a payment is due. For a large project it could mean that the economy entered a downturn or a financial portfolio didn’t perform as expected.
How to Become a Project Manager
The best advice for improving a skill is to practice, and fortunately projects come in all sizes. Even children can be taught to manage projects in ways that will form a foundation for future excellence. Finding an instructor or mentor will facilitate the learning process. Pick a project and get started!