When I’m advising students on their career options, they often ask me what exactly is involved in Project Management; so in this week’s blog, I’m going to try to explain.
The role of a project manager is one of great responsibility. It’s their job to direct, supervise and control the project from beginning to end. But they don’t carry out the work themselves – managing the project is responsibility enough.
Here are just some of the activities that they must undertake:
- Define the project, reduce it to a set of manageable tasks, obtain appropriate resources and build a team to perform the work.
- Set the final goal for the project and motivate his or her team to complete the project on time.
- Inform all stakeholders of progress on a regular basis.
- Assess and monitor risks to the project and mitigate them.
No project ever goes exactly as planned, so project managers must learn to adapt to and manage change. This means a project manager must have a range of skills including:
Leadership;
People management (customers, suppliers, functional managers and project team);
Effective communication (verbal and written);
Influencing;
Negotiation;
Conflict management;
Planning;
Contract management;
Estimating;
Problem solving;
Creative thinking;
Time management.
In addition, it helps if you also have business skills, customer relations skills, and political skills.
It sounds as though you have to be a pretty impressive person, doesn’t it? But don’t worry. If you do fancy a career in Project Management all these skills can be learned – and what you end up with is a well-paid, interesting career that’s flexible into the bargain.
That’s all for this week. I’d like to wish everyone who celebrates it a Happy Easter. And for those of you who don’t – have a relaxing weekend.
