What is a Project Manager?

A project manager is a professional in the field of project management. The project manager is accountable to the project board and has to run the project daily, by planning and executing the project. He/she is the professional (internal or external to the organisation) assigned to lead the project team for achieving the project objectives.

The role of the Project manager

The project manager’s main responsibility is to accomplish the project objectives by ensuring the project deliver the product(s) according to the time, quality, cost agreed (within tolerance). The professional should manage the constraints of a typical project which are cost, time, scope and quality.

This person is the professional responsible for leading a project from its starting up to execution. This includes planning, delegating, monitoring and controlling. The PM has to focus on managing the people (communication and people management are key competences), and managing  resources. The PM has full responsibility and authority to complete the assigned project.

The Responsibilities of the Project Manager

The responsibilities of a project manager can vary from business to business. Factors like industry, company size, company maturity and company culture  may affect the specific responsibilities but there are some standard responsibilities that most PMs handle.

The project manager’s common responsibilities are:

• Liaise with stakeholders,suppliers, customers, end users
• Define and communicate the project objectives to the team
• Developing the project plans
• Control, monitoring, reporting
• Procurement of the project requirements – workforce, material, technologies
• Managing and leading the project team
• Establish the project’s procedures: risk management, issue management, change management, communication management
• Budgeting

The Competences of the Project Manager

Core competencies according to the PMBok guide are  identifiable in three main skill sets:

1. Technical Project management Competences
2. Leadership Competences
3. Strategic and Business Management Competences

The technical project management competences are the core skills for a project manager and includes

• Planning
• Time Management
• Execution
• Decision Making
• Critical Thinking

Leadership skills can support longer-range strategic objectives

• People management
• Communication
• Negotiation
• Team building

Strategic and Business Management skills means being knowledgeable about the business, and being able to explain to the the project team and stakeholders:

• Strategy
• Goals and Objectives
• Products and Services
• Priorities

The Trends in Project Management

We live in a fast-paced environment where everything is pervaded by a constant transformation and change is the only common value. The number of organizations which are using Project Management procedures are increasing together with the spreading of tools and methods developed to help project managers and their teams to accomplish successfully their projects.

The key trends in Project Management and their impact on the profession of the Project Manager are:

• Having a strategic vision is pivotal
• Change Management as an asset
• Acquisition of Agiles Methodologies