I have no work experience in working in the industry. I am studying about project management and trying to learn how to be a good project manager. For a person like me, I can only learn in theory but to know the real world I need to get some help from the people who have experience in the industry or more depth knowledge about it. So Except being a good motivator, advisor, empathetic, enthusiastic what else do you look for in a good project manager?
I think someone who knows more about the field in any industry could answer this better but I would identify a good project manager by asking about the other people they oversee. You could tell a project manager is good by their involvement on the project's nitty-gritty details. Sure, they might not be the product designer or test manager debugging code, but they should know about the issues that their subordinates face and should have provided them with avenues to overcome these issues. Secondly, I think a good project manager knows their employees to a certain degree, to the point that they can speak on a one to one level and the project manager knows their employees strengths and weaknesses.
I think a good project manager should be interested in the work he/she is assigned into. Apart from being responsible, knowledgeable, clarity of thoughts and other abstract things, I think a good project manager should be interested upon the work he/she is doing. If a person is genuinely interested in the work then he/she would give his best and 100% to the project and would make sure that the work is done on time.
A good Project Manager should not only be really good and interested in what he is doing but should also be a great leader as well.
It is with his leadership skills that he will be able to take the team forward and make sure the entire project is completed on time. He /she knows the strengths, weaknesses, learning styles of his team members and also the trigger points to bring out the best in each teammate. Decision making becomes an integral part of being a Project manager. Being open to ideas and the willingness to adapt is all hunky-dory, but when push comes to shove, it is the manager who is responsible to take the decisive step and guide the team in the right direction. The manager should also have trust in the team and empathise and be ready to offer help and guide the subordinates when somebody is stuck or is facing some issues with their work with patience.
I agree but I also think a good project manager needs a few critical characteristics. One would be able to organize the scope, cost, schedule and resources. Being able to create a plan of the critical project elements and be able to maintain them and communicate to the organization's stakeholders and project team is also important. Another aspect is to recognize when your own skills may not be sufficient and be willing to reach out to the project team members, management and other sources for advice and guidance. The PM cannot be all things even though some think they should. It is a role, an important one but needs to supported by others. Project managers also need to be able to question other's rationale to their approaches. Test their approach with 'what ifs" and be able to bring the team together on a unified direction.
I also do not have much experience within the industry and am only speaking from an academia perspective in terms of project management, however, I believe there are a few commonly overlooked attributes in identifying a good project manager. The first being- communication skills. As a manager, it is part of the job to communicate responsibilities and expectations to your team. This also goes hand in hand with delegation skills and dividing up work fairly among everyone. In addition to the importance of communication, getting to know your team and their individual abilities and strengths will make delegating what work should go to who easier to decide. Lastly, being an active driver, as the project manager, in the progress of the project can go a long way. More specifically what I mean by this is to put your efforts in where they are needed. When someone on the team comes to you for direction, take the time to get what is needed or show them exactly what is to be done. Project managers should not get into the habit of delegating their own work.
I agree with what had been said, Good project manager should have a lot of different soft skills with good experience. In my opinion, if a person have 15 years experience in the industry with no leadership or good soft skills will fail as a project manager in comparison to someone with less experience and great leadership and soft skills.
Good project manager should have skills such as: communication, leadership, organization,team management, time management, risk management, cost management, Active listening , researching, problem solving, technical writing, negotiation, and motivation.
Like many before me, I agree that in order to be a good project manager, you must master some vital soft skills. These soft skills include good communication, organization, leadership, and much more. Obviously, as discussed in the lecture for this week, you could better prepare yourself to be a decent project manager by becoming certified. I found it interesting that for certain certifications, you needed experience to satisfy the certification. This makes complete sense to me in that in order to develop your skills, you must work on it. For instance, if someone is taking on the project manager position for the first time, it would be expected that they make some errors. However, over time and more project management assignments, it would be expected for that project manager to become much better. Despite everything they may have learned, only with time and experience can one truly master the skills.
The initial portion of the question also discussed how to identify a good project manager. The lecture had discussed looking back at old projects to see how things were done and so on. When you look back, you should be able to tell how the project manager was. You could look at if the project was completed in time and within the designated budget. More than this, one of the key points to look at is how a project manager was able to adjust after a given issue. Since everything is documented, you can identify a good project manager based on how successfully projects have been completed in the past by a given project manager.
In addition to the soft skills mentioned, I believe a good project manager should be up to date with technology and equipping the team with relevant software or recent technology. A big set-back to completing a project may be lack of new technological equipment, or using outdated software. Therefore, a good project manager should ensure that the team members are using the most up-to-date equipment. Another point I want to mention is that a project manager should not be micro-managing, i.e. controlling every part of a project no matter how small, or breathing down the employee's necks, since this may cause de-motivation. It may be very easy to start micromanaging in fear of the employees not doing what they should be doing, but micromanaging usually has deleterious effects, not only for the project manager but for the project members as well, since both can become over-burdened. Constantly nagging a project member may lead to drainage and loss of productivity. Therefore, a good project manager should know the boundaries between efficient managing and micro-managing.
I have not worked in industry, but project management in academic labs is somewhat similar. I think the best project managers are those who set solid plans while leaving room for error and potential delays. I don’t think it is necessary to plan for every potential mistake that could happen, but success tends to be easier when you plan and leave room for failure. This is sort of an off-shoot of being an empathetic person though. As a project manager, I think being kind when delays occur is necessary but it should also be your job to predict and be able to work around such. A good project manager is also someone who can communicate efficiently and in a timely fashion. Making plans is one thing; following them through and ensuring that proper checkpoints have been reached is entirely another thing. Being a good motivator is certainly a part of communication and ensuring that work is done in a timely manner, but there is also a certain amount of strictness and organization that goes along with this as well. Someone can be really good at motivating people to work but that doesn’t change anything if that work isn’t well organized or put to good use.
I have experienced great project managers and okay ones. The great ones have very good soft skills. They can communicate effectively, set realistic deadlines, be flexible when needed, approach problems with an open mind, have a solid technical background to understand what they are asking for. Also checking in to make sure everything is going smoothly or if it's not then what can they do in order for you to succeed at your task, whether that is more resources, or talking to your manager to make sure you have the bandwidth to dedicate your time to the project. Organization is so important. Keeping neat easy to follow meeting minutes. Having a meeting agenda no matter how small the meeting is. It is so easy to lose track of things when deadlines are tight and there are man deliverables. Sharing those meeting minutes with the whole team instead of just upper management. I also had a project manager that asked individual engineers to create the gantt charts for them to set timelines and figure out how that ties in with the rest of the project. I am new to industry however it didn't seem like a productive way to create timelines. It would have been more productive to get together as a team to go over it. Other things that have stood out to me is approaching problems with a negative mindset. It really brings down team morale.
There is no hard and fast rule when it comes to the degree required for becoming a project manager. However, the expertise and skill level of a person plays an important role. Strengthening your project management skills and gaining cutting edge knowledge about your field definitely puts you in a favorable spot when it comes to becoming a project manager. While most of the companies hire a project manager based on his expertise level, there are many who still prefer one with advanced education. That is a person having a professional degree or specialized certifications. To become a good project manager , one has to work on his project management skills, focus on his team management skills, used a good software. get educated by passing the CAPM OR PMP
When I worked as a Grad assistant in university I worked with a really good Manager who had strong leadership skills and effective communication skills. Being in Academia, he made sure every team member's time was effectively used to maximise productivity and also maintained a proper work-study balance. He always kept his cool even during times of pressure but made the right decisions which I think makes the qualities of a good Manager.
I think the project manager be someone who likes his/her work and puts in 100% for achieving a goal. The person should be able to keep calm and should have a strategy that will work under any circumstances. He/she must have contingency plans ready in case if any work goes wrong. He/she should be aware of the team members working style, strengths and weaknesses. It's better that the project manager always has an optimistic attitude.
I have no work experience in working in the industry. I am studying about project management and trying to learn how to be a good project manager. For a person like me, I can only learn in theory but to know the real world I need to get some help from the people who have experience in the industry or more depth knowledge about it. So Except being a good motivator, advisor, empathetic, enthusiastic what else do you look for in a good project manager?
Hi @tulikadasp, good question. I think being a project manager is close you've already said: "...get some help from the people who have experience in the industry..." I don't think anyone was a good project manager overnight and I also don't think anyone should get their certification and be a PM the next day. These skills take time. Working under some one who greatly improve the PM you are.
