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The Role and Responsibilities of the Project Manager Simply put, the Harmonix Project Manager is "the" individual with the responsibility for managing the project. To get results, the project manager must relate well to: the people to be managed, the tasks to be accomplished, the tools available, the organizational structure, and the organizational environment, including the customer community. Harmonix has identified six key competencies required of our "top gun" project managers: 1. Education and Experience in Project Management Organizations that undertake the management of very diverse projects must possess thorough knowledge of project management and implementation. Along with up to date formal training, the project manager should be an apprentice "on the job" before he or she is placed solely in control of managing a project. Remember, project management and implementation is a craft, not a science - you can't quantify all of it. At some point, you'll have to rely on your own intuition and experience to substantially ensure success. All in all, the project manager must possess the skill set to be able to manage their project, from inception to completion, using the organization's software development process. 2. Negotiation and Communication Skills Another of the key competencies of a "top gun" project manager are his or her ability to effectively negotiate and communicate with senior management, direct reports on the project team, the client, supporting organizations, and other stakeholders who have a vested interest in the success of the project. 3. Planning and Organization Skill The project manager has direct control over this and can setup the necessary measures to "build the proper foundation" that will be a stepping-stone to project success. Coupled with proper planning, the project manager must be a good ringleader who minimally organizes the following: meetings, schedules, deliveries, financial statements, and various other plans to substantially ensure his or her project is targeted for success. 4. Effective Problem Solver Due to the complexity and diversity that may exist within a project (data migration project), the project manager is often called on to analyze problems and make timely, strategic decisions that can have a profound affect on the project - whether good or bad. The project manager should be skilled at being able to isolate the root cause of a problem at any given moment in a project, and if necessary enlist the help of his or her project team to "buy into" the solution. 5. Leadership Ability The best leaders spend much of their time just watching and taking it all in. They avoid jumping to conclusions or leaping to premature judgments. They try to understand what is needed and why. They are constantly learning from minute to minute as well as from year to year. 6. Aims for Excellence in All Work Although we believe much of how a project manager functions in his or her daily work is characteristic of their very nature, the project manager can learn to aim for no less than the best. The project manager, of all people on the project team, must strive for excellence in "all" project work, and expect no less than the same from his or her project team. Achieving excellence in a couple of areas, but missing the mark in others is not acceptable. For example, if the team meets a particular software delivery date and kept the expenditures within budget, but what the team delivered does not meet the quality expectations, as defined by the client, then we have missed the mark on achieving overall project excellence. It's a tall order, but one that we should strive for. All in all, our seasoned project managers are good ringleaders. They know they must balance four elements of expectations - quality, schedule, cost and scope - at all times. Quality shouldn't be sacrificed to adhere to a rigid schedule or a tight budget. Nor should a schedule be tossed aside because of an obsessive focus on quality. Yet in even the most well managed project, sometimes it makes sense to ease up on a deadline, a budget or a quality-control process. But these slips shouldn't simply happen. They should come from conscious decisions made by project managers who understand their objectives and know that project management is a balancing act. |
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