Who is the project manager and what are her duties? The project manager has always been an important role in business, and with the passage of time, its importance will also increase.
In fact, it is estimated that by 2027, employers will need 87.7 million people working in project management roles. To help manage this growing need, 71 percent of global organizations now have a project management office; which has increased by almost 15% compared to 2007. It is clear that the career prospects for professionals who have acquired project management skills are increasingly positive.
If you’re planning to get started in project management, you’re probably curious about the different roles and responsibilities you’ll have after earning a degree or certification.
In the following article, we will carefully examine the daily duties and key responsibilities of a project manager; By the end of this article, you can determine whether this job is right for you or not.
Key Responsibilities of the Project Manager
What do project managers actually do?
In general, project managers are responsible for planning, organizing, and directing specific projects for an organization and ensuring that these projects are completed on time and within budget.
By overseeing complex projects from start to finish, project managers can shape the direction of the organization, help reduce costs, maximize company returns, and increase revenue.
The exact duties of a project manager depending on the industry, the organization, and the types of projects he or she must oversee. But all project managers have common responsibilities in what is commonly called the “project life cycle,” which includes five phases (or processes):
- Start-up
- planning
- run
These are the processes that project managers constantly face in relation to any project.
In the following, we will take a closer look at each stage of the project life cycle, as well as the various responsibilities that the project manager may have in each of these stages.
Start-up
Project managers start each new project by defining its main goals and scope. They also identify internal and external stakeholders, discuss shared expectations, and get permission to move a project forward.
Important questions that project managers ask at the initial stage include the following:
- Why is the project important?
- What is the specific problem we want to solve?
- What is the desired result?
- What are the project success criteria?
- Who are the beneficiaries of this project? Who will be affected by the project and who will be affected by it?
- What are the conditions and limitations of the project?
- What assumptions are we making?
- How is the project funded?
- What is within our reach and what is not?
- Has this project been implemented before? If so, what was the result? What information from that previous project should be considered in this project?
It is important to understand that project managers do not do this alone. Oftentimes, a project manager is not appointed until most of this work is well done.
But as soon as the project manager is appointed, it is necessary to participate in the above tasks so that the project is finally officially approved and enters the next stage.
Planning
After project approval, project managers work with key stakeholders to develop an integrated plan focused on achieving the outlined goals.
The plan created during this process helps project managers monitor scope, cost, schedule, risk, quality issues, and communication. It is during this phase that project managers determine the content and milestones and identifies the tasks that must be performed to complete each.
It is important to note that the “planning” of the project does not end until the last stage of the project. The project plan should be viewed as a living document that should continually evolve and change throughout the project’s life cycle.
Run
During this phase, team members complete the tasks specified in the project plan to achieve the project goals. The role of the project manager is to determine the tasks and ensure that they are done according to the plan. The project manager also typically:
- He does not let the team’s attention be distracted by trivial and marginal tasks.
- Facilitates problem-solving.
- Leads the team in making changes to the project
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