What actually is a Project Manager?

[whatisupwiththis]

My job title is Project Manager. But I think that's an actual profession with qualifications and stuff, and I'm not one of these? I'm a manager, so I manage a team. And my team does an ongoing project for a client, an outsourced task to do with pensions. I've tried to find out what a project manager actually is though and the job descriptions as well as descriptions of project management qualifications just sound like a load of buzz words and I haven't got a clue what the job or qualification would involve. What is it please, with concrete examples?

My comment is based on my experience of working with a Project Manager in a large US company. However, when I later managed projects in a smaller organisation, my experience was much more like what you're describing here.

The Project Manager isn’t the person coding or designing. Their job is to make sure a defined piece of work gets delivered on time, within budget and to the right standard. In e-commerce, that could mean:

1. Adding new delivery options, like next-day or locker pick-up;

1. Redesigning the checkout process to reduce abandoned baskets;

1. Launching a loyalty scheme across web and app;

1. Introducing new payment methods, like PayPal, Apple Pay or Klarna;

1. Rolling out a new product category on the site with all the systems and stock processes behind it.

The best Project Managers I’ve worked with had no ego. They were quick to admit when something wasn’t their area of expertise and instead focused on getting the right people in place. Their skill was pulling all the moving parts together and somehow getting the best out of everyone.

From what you’ve described, you’re managing an ongoing service. You could still call that project management, although in the traditional sense projects usually have a clear end point.

I don’t really get project managers - in my experience they seem to just be paid to ask you “how’s the project going?”. I’m sure there are industries where it is useful but I have not experienced it

A PM manages a project and track progress/hold people accountable on deliverables against an agreed timeline with the different workstreams. A good PM will be able to identify or determine if there are dependencies etc. Examples: moving large-scale premises, setting up a complex procurement project, organising a public event with third parties, working with other PMs etc.

If you manage the PM, I would assume you are the programme manager or product owner. A programme manager manages a suite of projects that’s managed by the PM. Product owner manages the product I.e., in your case, the pension portfolio(?). Both programme manager and product owner also manage the budget.

Titles I mentioned (programme manager/product owner) are not fixed though, different organisations have different titles.

In our company a Project Manager is someone who nags us to create lots of documents to meet project "deliverables" that no one ever checks or reads, and if you go to an old project and ask where X document is no one can find it because the project management tools have been changed AGAIN and all old docs lost!

Now I've told you want you do, can you tell me what I do? I'm a............... Business Analyst 🙈

Where I work a PM is the person who gets shit done. You have a box of frogs you need to let out of the box and herd them to the finish line, all the while communicating with management about how it’s going.

Such happy memories of my Prince2 days. My favourite document was the Lessons Learnt spreadsheet. At the end of every project I managed, I used to write 'If you have a lessons learnt log, read it and make changes otherwise there's no point having it.' It confirmed my suspicion that the programme office wasn't actually on top of very much.

In some cases you could be a PM on a fixed term contract just to deliver the project. Lots of projects are tied to contracts. This organisation gave us X to deliver Y and we have to report back to them, type thing. Can involve herding cats.

Why not try asking ChatGPT for specific examples?