What is a Project Manager? A Project Manager executes on the vision of the leaders. We manage budgets, people and schedule for an organization for a piece of work that the organization wants to accomplish. We keep our organizations updated on the status, risks and potential roadblocks that may get in the way of executing the plan. What can be more simple than that right? Well here is a key idea that you might want to be aware of. The PM does not always have direct reports to execute on that plan. What does that mean? That means that the people that are assigned to work on your project may have and probably have competing priorities. As the PM, my job is to keep my projects in the forefront of that persons tasks. Now I may have a project that comes along and bumps my priority to the back burner and that's fine. That doesn't stop me from pushing my project to #2 when there are 10 projects competing for that time.
How do I do this? Well communication is key. Take notes and send out those notes. Assign action items and follow-up. When you get no response, follow-up again. When you get no response, escalate. This escalation path is key to your success as a PM. When you send out your action items, copy the correct people. Those correct people are the management chain for your resources. Don't expect your resources to attend your meeting and then leave and do the job they should. Follow-up with them. Remember, there is no such thing as over communicating on a project when you have tight timelines. Be the Squeaky wheel. This doesn't have to be abrasive. For ex: "A gentle reminder that we may want to order computers for sites 5,6 and 7 since those dates are about a month out." Did I force myself on him in any way? I don't think so but I was the squeaky wheel. This was a "Hey, focus on my stuff" message.
Sometimes the most important attribute you can have is your personality. As a matter of fact, some of the best ways to build your relationship with the team is on the call before the meeting starts. Let conversations happen. Be a catalyst for getting people to talk before the call starts so they participate after the call begins. It is called building a rapport with your team. It helps them to be open to communicating. Sometimes your calls are quiet and you feel like you are the only one talking. I am currently working on a project with resources in Canada. When I build my timeline I factored in to the plan, Canadian holidays. That is to let me Canadian team who is separated from me by hundreds of miles understand that I am thinking about them and their concerns. Be intentional.
Fight for your projects. I pushed and pushed for a vendor to complete a security form so that we could open up some protocols on a server. After a month of pushing, I pushed with security. I pushed with them until I had to escalate internally. This week I have a meeting with their VP. Am I trying to get them in trouble? Absolutely not. I am fighting for my project to move forward. I am getting rid of roadblocks that need to be moved. I am pushing my #10 project to #1 or #2.
