I'm bad at project management

[Supper16]

I'm in a public sector-like role, pretty junior, and got critical feedback from my boss that my project management skills aren't good enough. It's not the first time I've had this feedback in jobs (although I didn't tell boss this).

I am not a complete basket case at work and in many ways I am capable and engaged but I lack the quality of being 'super organised', able to anticipate issues, and always being two steps ahead of suppliers and supporting teams. This conversation came about because I didn't get the ball rolling fast enough on a couple of things, and seperately some of my suppliers have also dropped a couple of balls which I should have been more on top of. My role is pretty much entirely project management 🤦‍♀️ - I manage a number of different activities; the other teams around me and suppliers do the actual work.

The role is challenging and my boss did accept this - I work 4 days a week, had bit of annual leave recently here and there, and with the bank holidays I have had several weeks when I'm only in 2 days a week, then 3 days, then 2 days again etc. We are almost entirely working from home, so I lack the ability to hang over my colleagues shoulders and learn by osmosis day in day out. The organisation was cut by a third in late 2020 with the same expectations of productivity so all teams are stretched. I often have to copy my managers in to get other people to respond to me (I hate the chasing aspect of my work). Sometimes my suppliers really are just a bit crap and slow!!

Nevertheless, I know there is some truth in what my boss has said. I work hard, but don't seem to work 'right'. They noted that I do better when I have less individual projects, but that I should be able to cope with the number I have. I do feel like I have a lot on, although not so much that I feel pressured to work significantly over my contracted hours - which would be difficult anyway because of my small children. The feedback is not at the level of being put on a performance plan but we are going to set some really short term goals for me.

I've never really been formally trained in project management - had a couple of one-day courses here and there but they exist in such a sterilised environment I've not found them helpful. The last one was years back. I'm open to trying some more though.

I could attempt a pivot to one of these more supporting roles - I suspect I am better at 'doing' rather than 'organising'. I can't take a salary drop yet as I am locked into high childcare fees, which will get better when my youngest gets their 30 free hours in 18 months time, so then I could manage a step down. But I did hope to one day progress a little, maybe to manager, but I feel like there is so little chance of that ever happening. I've made a lot of side-ways job moves for one reason or another. I am 35, for the record, and will have no more babies, so I have maaaaaaany working years ahead of me.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Words of advice? Just feel so disheartened.

Do you track your projects at all? Like work backwards from the deadline and rough out how long each task/item will take. Then start reminding people before time so that any dropped balls get picked up again. There is software you can use but even a calendar planner would probably do the same job. Set reminders on your phone? Having to chase people is a pain! I sympathise!!!!

I do typically have schedules and planners, yes. I guess this convo came about because something new had been handed to me and I didn't get a schedule created in time, I just started working on it here and there, needed to have lots of conversations about it first (like I said, lots of other things on my plate) and then dropped a ball and got pulled up on not having got it started properly etc

And yes chasing people is crap! I need to get more comfortable chasing people every day I guess.

I find it better if I do a lot of the organisation right at the beginning of the project. I take the time to figure out the actions, do a RASCI to identify the owners and stakeholders, agree the cadence of updates. Then I set up all the meetings for verbal updates, set up reminder emails with send dates in the future so they just sort themselves out.....

If I can get the organisation done at the beginning then it means I don't have to do that throughout the project and can then use that time to fire fight and chase where necessary.

Organisation is key. Are there standardised pm templates your company uses? You’ve recognised where you dropped the ball which is good so you need to identify means to put in place so it doesn’t happen again. (Don’t just go into it Willy Nilly and work sporadically, first thing always needs to be a timeline and plan of action, reminders, calendar planning, Gantt charts etc).

How are the company with A&D? Ask to be put through training as you and they have identified a weakness if your work and you want to proactively get on top of it. Do they offer any scope to do Prince 2 training? Or if project management is what you’re interested in is this something you could fund yourself?

Chasing people is a pain through email, I found a nice little firm but polite phone call followed by an email reiterating the convo usually helps. People are less likely to fob you off on the phone for some reason. It was even better when we could just walk to someone’s office and chase up in person but i had no shame prodding people like that. How firm are you when chasing? Gentle reminders don’t work imo, you have to rattle cages in this line of work as people can be lazy shits.

It sounds like a mixture of issues, lack of aptitude, training, workload, remote working and unclear expectations.

Re training, I can't recommend APM's project management courses enough.

I'm a PM and like PP as said organisation is key.

What works for me is my diary, whether it be an online one or old school pen and paper you need something to keep track of your projects.

Chasing people is literally half of my day at work. In my role I depend on almost every department in order to ensure the project is going well. I'm very direct and I'm not afraid to get on the phone to chase people. I always send emails to keep paper trails but I find that speaking to people on the phone relay the urgency a lot better than emails. I definitely get faster results that way. Lucky for me most of the people I'm chasing I'm their senior so they kinda listen to me lol but if i ever feel I'm at the end of my tether with chasing someone and they're not forth coming I ask my boss to step in as well.

I like to plan well ahead. for example if I know I need materials for May, I start telling logistics to get them ready from the month prior. And in between I follow up to make sure everything stays on track.

After my project , I also do a "lessons learned" report and revise what went well, what I could have done better and what to NOT do next time. This helps in improving my next project.

Hope this helps x

I feel your pain! I recently moved into a PM role and struggled at first. My advice is to keep it simple. Build a method of tracking and planning that works for you and use that for all your projects. Don't get too distracted by complicated templates and terminology.

Create a daily and weekly routine for yourself, write it down and stick to it. For example every Monday morning review the calendar for week and month(s) ahead and write your to do list. Do a mini version of this each morning before you start reading emails and responding etc. Every Fri afternoon or whatever day suits, review your project status reports etc. And chase outstanding actions, escalate risks etc. Share the report with your stakeholders so everyone knows what's happening.

Once you get a good routine going it will help a lot. Also could you ask your boss to help you find a mentor or perhaps coaching? There's no point in highlighting performance issues unless there is a support plan! Best of luck 💫

I manage a change team. For my pm’s, it’s a case of them constantly chasing, cajoling, spoon feeding people to get them to do their tasks. Are you having weekly project meetings, going through status reports and assigning actions etc. these all tend to slip when we are busy not on top of our game but they are crucial. You need to be comfortable with not being liked (in a work context not personally) and be prepared to chase and chase - getting people to do things they do not want us a major part of the job! Depersonalise it, you arent chasing for you, you’ve been given a task to do.

@HalfShrunkMoreToGo Another point when you say 'Figuring out the actions' this can take me SOO long and some times I may not be 100% sure of the processes myself (often I am not expected to be - but need to in case other teams aren't on top of it). So this can be one of my challenges.

@TheChurchOfEli not many standardised templates or forms so I often have to start from scratch. When I do create them, they're good. Yes, I am 100% guilty of just going into things Willy Nilly - nibbling things off here and there often when I am busy. There may be scope for training, boss would def be open to it within reason.

@whosaidth1 I am sometimes too gentle with chasing for sure - I will often escalate in terms of firmness rather than going in hard from the off. I will often try and give people lead times - I'll worry about whether it's reasonable to get the work done in that space of time whereas really it should be on them to say 'I don't have capacity to get this done until X date'. Unfortunately the organisation and most suppliers have largely done away with phones. We have instant messenger. At my level catching someone out with an unplanned video call would probably not be appropriate.

@ferneytorro Depersonalising it is really good advice, thank you. I am very much conditioned to want people to like me. Especially when the people I am asking to do things for me are often far more experienced, and sometimes more senior than I am.

Thank you everyone for your advice which is very valuable. Anymore keep them coming!

Do you actually want to be a project manager? It's actually coming across fairly clearly that it's not what you are good at and you don't particularly enjoy doing it.
Are there any other roles you could move to, or more specific areas in the team where you feel you would be more comfortable?

I can’t tag people sorry but (and I’m a chronic people pleaser so it’s very hard) you are not there to be liked, this is absolutely crucial, if they like you you are doing something wrong (slightly tongue in cheek). If them not doing the task impacts your delivery escalate it , raise a risk etc etc. assuming you are in an office you want them to hide when you walk towards their desk!

I had a senior role in a global business years ago. I excelled in it and was quickly promoted several times. As a high performer with a reputation for succeeding, I was seconded in to a pm role and boy oh boy, did I fail big time! I just couldn't get to grips with it at all. I did the big pm training/qualification/exams too (can't remember the name of it now.....is it Prince?) hoping it would help but it made absolutely no difference. I spent a year feeling stupid, slow, incompetent, embarrassed etc. I moved back in to my original discipline and continued as I'd left off. It really left me feeling despondent about my career and capability though and I don't think I ever truly bounced back. Round peg, square hole! If nothing else, I hope my little sob story makes you feel a little less alone.

@rookiemere That is probably what I should be looking at in the medium term yes, (I indicated this as much to my manager, it was a frank but supportive conversation) but need a role to come up and for the time being need to be able to perform acceptably here. In previous roles I had a mixture of project management and more content based stuff so being less than shit hot at project management wasn't so much an issue. Plus, honestly most jobs, have a bit of PM.

I might be better at strategic stuff, line management, heck even complex budget management, but to progress you seem to have to be an amazing project manager here at the bottom end first.

@Imabouttoexplode this sounds like me but I got promoted from the bottom rung (administrator) then never got off the starting block from the level up (officer i.e. project manager). Thank you for sharing so honestly though as I do feel very incompetent and incapable, and I am not. I have only ever worked in this sector and do like many aspects of it but have no idea where to go to find a role at the same fairly low level that is not project management.

@Supper16 if you like understanding the details about things, working closely with people but not in a management capacity then it feels to me you're much more of a Business Analyst- google it for details.

Thing is PM is quite a generic role - it suits me because I'm not technical enough to get into the guts of the detail, but I love working out the critical path for things.

Or PMO project management office may suit - much more admin based and keeping an eye on a portfolio of projects by looking at risks etc.

Does your work use any project management software?
We use Wrike but there are plenty of others available. if not you could use a free version to help you manage your projects.

I also every friday afternoon look ahead at next weeks diary (plus the rest of the teams) as well as my emails and wrike to work out what deadlines are due next week, critical movements of the team (whos off etc), any meetings/calls I have schedules and also a list of things that need doing. I have a large weekly desk pad which I use to organise all of the above. I find that writing it helps it stick in my mind plus during the week I can cross things off/add things/make notes etc and having it all in one place and visable at a glance helps to keep things organised and not missed.

long term I think you need to decided what your strengths are and what you will want to do. I am a very organised and logical person and find the organising and sorting and managing and juggling of info easier than the actual 'doing' of stuff! other people find the doing better especially if they can then concentrate on just one task at a time until it is finished.

Go through civil service learning and get a list of whatever courses you thing would be helpful and take these to your line manager. You can acknowledge the parts of your role you need to work on but your manager also needs to take responsibility for ensuring you are properly trained. Ask for more training to be one of the goals you set.

Programme manager here:

Weekly to do list broken down by day
trackers for all activities
break down when everything is needed by, tell suppliers a week earlier to give contingency room
ring people and hassle them
tell people the date you need it by
track all days in the weekly tracker
start working on the next weeks to do list at the end of the previous week
set up meetings if people don’t reply

How assertive are you in other aspects of your life? It does sound you are lacking some assertiveness if you're finding lots of people not sticking to pre-agreed deadlines for tasks/deliverables, etc. You need to be clear with everyone about their task/job, the scope, and the delivery date. Between instruction and delivery date, you need to be contacting them to remind them and getting their progress report as to whether the agreed date will be met. Depending on the lead time, you should probably be sending a reminder about half way between instruction and delivery date and then another reminder closer to the delivery date, then a final check a few days beforehand (the longer the timescale, the more reminders). And if the deadline hasn't been met, then go in hard to chase them up. There's a difference between being assertive and being aggressive - it's perfectly possible to chase people in a chatty/friendly manner and for it not to be confrontational - it's something you could practice.

Sounds also like you need to be doing critical path analysis diagrams for your tasks, to highlight tasks that can be done independently and tasks which are dependent on other tasks, so that you can concentrate your limited time on the tasks that are in "a chain" which usually cause the biggest delays when one task is delayed that delays other tasks. Those tasks are most important to keep on track, as opposed to independent tasks running alongside that have longer and more flexible timescales. When time is short, you need a system to highlight what's most important/critical to spend your time.

It sounds like long term different role may suit you better. In the short term I am sure there are things you can do to improve. Do you procrastinate/are you a perfectionist? It's often better to get on and do something, even I it is not perfect, rather than waiting until you have everything you need. Absolutely don't feel bad about chasing people. If they know that you will not leave then in peace then they will prioritise things for you. Don't be afraid to ask for help.

@BrieAndChilli no there isn't - some teams have team planners like trello. So the organisation is somewhat 'flying by the seat of it's pants'. I will investigate whether some software is available internally.

Yes I do need to think what my strengths are. It's probably telling that I've spent a lot of time browsing job sites today. I previously used to have a hands in communications-type work (now one of my supporter teams) and I miss that a great deal.

@Badbadbunny perfectly assertive and competent. I don't spend the working day cringing and begging my any means but am too quick to give colleagues and suppliers the benefit of the doubt, and if I am busy and take a while to chase (and not firmly enough when I do) that's when the gaps grow.

Too all those saying more training - yes, my boss and I definitely identified this as an issue. So it's not all been put on me (but if I have training and still fuck it up that's when they will start coming down harder on me. Well they would be right too).

I think I need to get some training, put it to use and in the meantime try and find a role which is more suited - I know most jobs involve competing deadlines but if I could get back to the 'doing' I think I might be happier and the time management would come more naturally to me.

This!

I am pretty useless at project management, planning, chasing type roles. I also hate them. I am good at other stuff though and over the years have managed to avoid organisation heavy work - partly by seeking out more of the work I am good at.

It is a really thankless task trying to get better at something you are not actually suited to and dislike doing. All the tips above might help you cope for now, if financially it’s not a good time to move, but medium term I would be looking for something else if I were you. Ask about internal transfers and secondments, or if necessary look at jobs elsewhere, that play more to your strengths.

What do you enjoy and feel you are good at?

I'm a Projects Director, not formally qualified, but the key is definitely planning and organisation.

Bellex's post upthread was spot on.

I would also recommend looking at one of the planning tools that are available - excel or googlesheets is fine, but have a look at Trello (which I use) or Asana (which I've used before). I'm pretty sure the basic versions are free to use. Both work in a very similar way, and organise your tasks into chunks, with date trackers, the ability to assign tasks to others etc.