The Most Valuable Role of a Project Manager

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Recently, I was reading a discussion thread on this on the LinkedIn site. Someone had posted the question, “What is the Most Valuable Role of a Project Manager?” Someone posted that question along with a follow-up question…”And how can a Project Manager optimize that role?”

At the time of this writing, the discussion has been going on for 9 days and has 11 comments so far. Breaking it down by responses that actually tried to answer the question rather than just chime in on the discussion, here are the results (the number in parentheses is the number of that specific response):

• Communicator (5)
• Deliverer of change to the business (1)
• Ability to say ‘no’ (1)
• Leader (1)

So, out of 11 comments, 8 actually gave answers. And of those 8 (one was me), 5 stated that communicator was the key role of the project manager (and yes, I was one of those 5).

I find this interesting. And all responses were good responses. The discussion will probably continue for a while, but I find it likely that communicator will still be on top down the road. The other responses are important ones.

Saying ‘no’

The ability for the PM to say ‘no’ – especially to the customer who they are trying to lead to the right solution – is very important. If the PM can’t be strong – stubborn as I’ve often called it – and stand firm on the goals of the project and know when to say ‘no’, then the project is likely to face issues and the project scope is in constant danger of getting out of hand.

Leader

Likewise, the project manager must be a strong leader. The responder stated that a good leader will know when to listen, when to speak, when to encourage, and when to cry out louder. The PM is the leader in charge of many different backgrounds and personalities. The role as the leader is a given, but they must adequately fulfill that role in order to hope to achieve success on the project. Yes, I agree, leadership is critical.

Change agent

Anytime you’re delivering a project you’re delivering change to the business or client. The project manager is that change agent and sometimes has to work hard to knock down barriers to change. They must work well with others inside the business or with the client to make that change happen and to help that change be accepted. The PM is definitely a change advocate.

Communicator

However, I still believe – as I always have – that the role of effective communicator is the most critical role for the project manager. All project communication happens with the project manager – it all needs to go through this one position. And if it doesn’t – if critical communication routinely circumvents the process and goes around the PM, then the project is likely headed for disaster. The PM is the central point for project status, project meetings, emails, revised schedules, issues tracking, risk tracking, and budget management. If key pieces of project information miss the project manager, then they will likely miss other critical communication points and individuals as well.

A project manager must be an effective communicator and must maintain control over the communication process in order to give the project its best chance at success.

Project Management and Human Nature

“You don’t really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around — and why his parents will always wave back.” – journalist William D. Tammeus

As a father, I completely understand this quote and I’ve done this many times. It’s absolutely true. As an author and reader, I’m intrigued by it. And that I heard it on an episode of Criminal Minds this year surprises me. In fact, I posted it to my Facebook account and numerous people commented on it and ‘liked it’, but I bet they would all be surprised it came from that show.

Enough about the quote, let’s talk about human nature. What is human nature? Wikipedia states that ‘human nature’ is the concept that there are a set of characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling and acting, that all ‘normal’ humans have in common. Ok…hopefully I’m categorized as normal…depends on the day of the week probably. Answers.com defines ‘human nature’ as the sum of all qualities and traits shared by all humans. And the online Merriam-Webster dictionary site defines ‘human nature’ as the nature of humans – especially the fundamental dispositions and traits of humans.

So, back to the topic of project management. How does human nature apply to project management? Here are my thoughts…. I’m thinking it centers around a few concepts or activities such as communication, organization, control, ambition. While we don’t all have those traits, I think most individuals who would be categorized as somewhat normal have something within their being that, under the right circumstances, strives to achieve those traits. Yes, that’s what I’ll cling to. Now let me quickly apply that to project management.

Communication

As humans, we all feel the need to communicate with each other from time to time. It’s my experience that your average project manager is – or should be – on the high end of that need. Communication is key, but it still must be good, timely and effective communication. If you’re on the quiet side, you’re probably in the wrong profession.

Organization

Ok, as for me, I’m not the most organized person at home…just ask my wife. But as a project manager, I’m usually pretty organized. I wake up late at night if I’ve failed to send out an email or feel the need to update my team or the customer on something and I have to get out of bed and do it then or I’ll never get back to sleep. I must have a routine schedule for each of my projects – a regular weekly formal status call with the team and customer, a specific day of the week when the revised project schedule and status report goes out, and a specific day of the week when I have a ‘scheduled’ call with my team – I say scheduled because there’s always a lot of unscheduled communication with them also.

Control

Control kind of goes hand-in-hand with organization. The project manager must remain in control – they must be the person that the organization, the team and the customer sees as always ‘in charge.’ Otherwise, chaos will take over. It takes a certain personality….a certain confidence. If you don’t have it, you’ll likely find out soon enough. At least your team and customer will.

Ambition

Finally, ambition. The project manager must have ambition…ambition to reach the final goal for the project. Ambition to take on more responsibility. Ambition to progress in their field. If you lack that ambition, then you’re less likely to stay on top of processes and the current technology to do your job well. And it will show in your work. Project success is hard enough to achieve given all of the potential obstacles and factors. It’s critical that the PM have the ambition and drive to succeed and lead their team and customer to similar successes.

Taking the PRINCE2 exam?

The PRINCE2 exam, whether you are taking it for the first time or doing the re-certification exam, is in ‘objective testing’ format, which is a type of complicated multiple choice paper.  Whether you are taking the 2005 syllabus (which is being phased out as training companies update their manuals and courses) or the 2009 syllabus, these five study tips will help you revise for and pass the exam.

1.  Answer the question!

It sounds simple – but read the question and make sure you are answering the right thing.  If the question asks you to tick the three things that are most relevant, only choose three.  Don’t tick four.  If you can only work out two, take a guess at the third. The questions are not there to trick you!   With the assertion questions, don’t make stupid mistakes by not selecting the right answer.  There are a lot of answer options to choose from so make sure the letter you choose actually matches up with the answer you want to give.  It’s very easy – in the pressure of the exam – to select the wrong box on the answer form by accident.

2.  Know your way around the manual

You are allowed to take the PRINCE2 manual into the exam.  It’s over 450 pages, so you can’t rely on the index when you need to get to something quickly.  Put sticky tabs in the key sections, especially:

• Each process section
• The product descriptions (in Appendix A in the 2005 manual)
• Each technique section
• Each component section

This will help you flick to a section quickly.  The manual is the only paperwork you’ll be allowed to take into the exam, but you can write in it.  If you have your own notes or diagrams, put them in the back – there are blank pages, or use the inside covers.  Use highlighters, or whatever works for you to make sure that when you flick through you can get to what you need quickly.

3.  Do some past papers

It’s really important to understand the format of the exam before you sit it.  Do any past papers that you can get your hands on.  Work through the sample questions from your training provider.  Search on the internet.  Practise!  It’s the kind of exam that you will get better at once you have cracked how to respond to the questions, like Sudoku.

Work through the sample Foundation questions even if you are only taking the Practitioner exam.  It’s a good refresher for the basics and will help you feel more confident about taking Practitioner.

4.  Learn the process model

Webopius recommends copying the process model into your manual, so you have a copy to hand.  This is excellent advice – I did it the first time I took the exam and I’ll be doing it for recertification.  You need to know the process model inside out, and the manual doesn’t have a complete picture.  In addition, you can annotate your own drawing with inputs and outputs to the processes, what techniques are used, who is involved at the various handoffs and anything else.  You can get the whole of PRINCE2 into one diagram (kind of) and the very fact of copying out the process model helps stick it in your mind.

5.  Watch the time

Time goes quickly when you are trying to work through an exam paper.  Don’t get caught short – you really do need to make sure that you have enough time to answer every question and give it the attention it deserves.  If something is too hard, move on.  Get as many of the easy points as you can before tackling the questions that you find harder.  It really isn’t worth giving a stonking answer to one part only to find out that you have run out of time to answer the rest of the paper.

Equally, look out for the number of points each question is worth.  It’s not sensible to spend a whole lot of time on a question worth only 3 marks, when some of the more complicated multi-part questions will help you rack up lots of marks.

Good luck!