What is the role of a project Manager?
The role of a project manager is to plan and oversee all aspects of a project from start to finish. Planning and managing the execution and delivery, regularly communicating with stakeholders and their teams. Whilst being responsible for completing project work you will report the progress of the project to senior managers.
Responsibilities:
- Defining, structuring, and delivering projects through full life cycle
- Carry out project planning, including setting goals and objectives, defining roles and producing plans and timelines for tasks.
- Lead and coordinate your project team through stakeholder organisations
- Identify and manage risks to ensure smooth delivery on tasks and projects.
- Implement changes through processes
- Monitor and regulate activity to track progress of the project
- Scoping, producing and maintaining project management artefacts, including project proposals, business cases, budgets, status reports, risks
- Evaluating successes and challenges of final project
Tech stacks:
Knowledge of project management disciplines and methods including MSP and PRINCE2, Agile and Kanban
Types of Project manager:
- Technical Project Manager.
- Adventurous Project Manager.
- Expert Project Manager.
- Supportive Project Manager
- Prophet
- Gambler
- Expert
- Executor
Qualifications:
- Degree in anything, although a BSc/BA in business or project management is preferred.
- Good knowledge of project management methods.
- Degrees accredited by the Association for Project Management (APM)
- Experience in a related role
- Ability to communicate
- Leadership
- Organisational awareness
- Strong interpersonal skills
- Ability to monitor and control budgets
- Time management
- Problem solving
- Experience in managing a team
- Experience planning, monitoring, and controlling a portfolio of projects
Professional development:
Project managers with 10 years or more of experience have the option to move to senior management positions such as chief operating officer of a company, director or chief executive, applying your leadership skills. You can also move to the next level which is a PMO manager (project management office). There is also the opportunity to earn a Master of Business Administration or MBA. The skills you acquire are broad and you are able to go into alternative careers such as those listed or develop into a more senior position of a management role.
Alternative careers:
- Business analyst
- Product manager
- Event manager
- Operations director
- Program Manager
- Consultant