2. What Makes a Great Project Manager
What Makes a “Good” Project Manager?
Does everything PM supposed to do…
Organizes teams
Plans Projects with right documentation
Is PMP certified, follows PMI methods and
ethics
Keeps track of teams and/or vendor activities
Reports Status and Progress
Is responsible and accountable to the
organization and the project
So… what else is there?
3. What Makes a Great Project Manager
Q: What makes a Great Project Manager?
A: Outstanding soft skills
*Instilling Confidence
*Meeting Expectations and Managing
Expectations
*Forward Thinking
*Problem Solving
*Communication Strategy and Style
*Signs of Trouble and Final Thoughts
4. What Makes a Great Project Manager
Instilling Confidence:
*Creates a positive perception about you
*Perception is reality
*Are you confident?
-That you can deliver the project
-Do you instill confidence within the team
*Are you in over your head?
-Is the project bigger than you can handle
* What if you don’t have the industry knowledge, but
do have extensive PM knowledge
5. What Makes a Great Project Manager
Meeting Expectations
*What are the expectations of Senior management/Project Sponsor
*It is possible to deliver project that is beyond time frame and budget
and still have happy stakeholders – YES!
*Reverse is also true –
*Because you met their expectations – But you have to find out what
they are –
*Senior Management has expectations of you – And you may assume you
know what they are, but you don’t.
*And even if you ask them they may not tell you – here are some tips:
*Communicate in the time frame and manner that suits them, not you.
*Is it - once a week, month? face to face? presentation or one on
one?– ASK
*TIP: Pose the question this way -- was there another project that you
thought went particularly well? What happened and what did that
project manager/team do that impressed you?
BIG one – Never make them look bad
6. What Makes a Great Project Manager
Managing Expectations
*Replicate what you heard from the previous slide
*Fine out as much as you can from others about the
project sponsor and head of PMO - critical
*Don’t say you can make the date, if you can’t
AND
*Don’t say you can’t make the date, if you are not sure
*Do -Say that you can make the next milestone and
show your plan to do so, and keep doing that
7. What Makes a Great Project Manager
Problem solving
*Know that you are here to solve problems for senior
management – not the other way around.
-Common misconception
*If you continue to run to management with every problem
that you encounter, you will find it very uncomfortable and
not know why
*Instead, seek out the solution and present the problem with
the solution or couple of options (only for big ones) and ask
for support
- Very different feel
*Goes something like this “ Just want to give you the heads
up that “this is happening” and my plan is to do “this” and
would like/need your support.
- My experience has taught me that this approach works well
in this situation.
8. What Makes a Great Project Manager
Problem solving
*There will always be problems/ challenges with any
project –however, if you have a plan for the solution,
and are creative in your options for solutions…
*then management will have confidence that you can
handle anything that comes up.
*This shows up with risks as well
The best project opportunities are given to those who
management thinks…
“I have confidence they can do a great job with this”
9. What Makes a Great Project Manager
Forward thinking
*A little different – positive – seeks opportunities
- If we can get this done then something else can fall into
place
- Or that something else will have a positive effect down
the line
*Shows you are strategic, looking out for the company
benefit
- Even better, looking to make Project Sponsor look good
*Team can come up with these as well – if they do, give them
credit and pass the message up
*Not the same as Risk Management which mostly plans for a
negative events
10. What Makes a Great Project Manager
Communication Strategy and Style
Are you following the organization reporting structure?
Are you managing the “silent” lines of communication?
*Make sure ANY information about the project comes from
you and ONLY you
*Make sure all levels of management know you are keeper
of the “real” message
*Anything else is rumor or mis-information
*Get out in front the message – particularly if the message
is negative.
*If management is going around you to get to the truth, it
is a sign of “no confidence”
11. What Makes a Great Project Manager
Signs of Trouble
*Lack of confidence in you – shows this way:
Low confidence – high touch
High confidence – low touch
*If management has lack of confidence in you – they want to
hear from you very often
*Best approach to turn that around…
*You do the high touch when the weather gets stormy – you go
to them – because if they have to continually come to you –
you are in trouble
*What ever you do – don’t hide
*Confront – report the news and what you will do about it
*Do not shy away from conflict, issues or problems – Takes guts
And do it with CONFIDENCE
12. What Makes a Great Project Manager
Final Thoughts
*What All this means;
– you are in the relationship business
*Relationship with each member of the team
*Relationship with senior management
*Relationship with functional managers
-middle management
-and all the stakeholders
13. What Makes a Great Project Manager
Last and final thoughts
*Have a backbone of steel
*Never lose your cool – be calm – ALWAYS
*And NEVER let them see you sweat!
