What makes a Project Manager outstanding?
Curious to hear thoughts from people on what separates the average Project Manager from the outstanding Project Manager in hard and soft skills? What makes them tick?
Look forward to your thoughts.
Many thanks
John
Answers (29)
AFAICS from your background, you are asking about an IT Project Manager.
An outstanding IT Project Manager has many if not all the hard skills of his employees.
This looks like an easy answer but it is not. You just can not imagine how many IT Project Managers fail to satisfy this condition.
Nilesh R
AVP / Head - Technology & IT Infrastructure at Nucleus GIS & ITeS Ltd.
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A person who exhibits key traits of excellent project managers:
o Effective communicator and planner
o Leadership and Team work
o Customer first orientation
o Effective manager of issues, risks and change
o Creative problem solver and detail oriented
o Enthusiasm
o Expert knowledge of their industry and business
o Shows originality in the application of project management techniques.
Amodiovalerio V
Media strategist - Strategic planner
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Besides all the other capabilities that a PM should have, what makes the difference, imho, is the ability to do a complete analysis on all potential problems, delays, risks and how he/she will be ready to manage them in case they will happen.
"It will not happen, but what if it happen ?"
Ray M
Energy expert, educator, award winning sculptor
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I agree with the comments already made AND
I think some major distinctions of an Outstanding Project Manager are:
Keeping your eye on the objective no matter the circumstances.
Keeping everyone involved in fulfilling the objective
The most important characterisitc of a GREAT PM is:
ACCOUNTABILITY!
As long as the project manager considers themselves accountable for the result, they will get the job done. Often a good project manager will not meet the objectives, and explain it away due to circumstances.
Too much of corporate culture accepts the result OR a good excuse for not producing the result.
Jeff J
The IC Coach
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John,
In addition to what has already been mentioned I see the following abilities as displaying a PM that is above average:
• A big picture view of the project to know how everything must come together.
• Ability to find what is not known.
• Can ask the right questions to make sure any given task is properly scoped.
• Rallies the troops in problem solving as necessary.
Jeff
Hi John, besides all the things that were already mentioned, I think what makes a key difference is the ability to encourage and take advantage of the best of every person involved on the project (clients, members of the team, etc.).
Dany
Links:
David P
Organizational Change Management Professional, PMP; LION david@rupyoda.com
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Two traits: inspirational leadership and ethical practices. An outstanding PM in any field does not need to be a master of the subject domain--that's what tech leads or forepersons are for--but s/he does need to move the project forward through leadership, not simply tracking progress, issuing reports, and nagging the living hell out of team members. Undergirding leadership must be sound ethics in practice, or the trust of team members will be lost or never won.
My answer, of course, begs for definitions of leadership and ethics in project management. Hence, I have posted below links to a PDF of the PMI Code of Ethics, as well as the text of a short speech about "The Right Stuff for Authentic Leaders." The take-aways from these links are:
1. PMs have an ethical duty to accurately reflect all aspects of a project. For instance, billing customers for less than the time worked may seem like a nice thing to do, but it undermines the success of anyone who relies on the project's stats to plan a similar project in the future.
2. Not all PMs are leaders, and not all leaders are managers. The PM who possesses vision, direction, and passion for the task is best suited for shepherding a successful team.
Links:
- he/she delivers on time and on budget;
- the customer wants to work again with him/her;
- the team wants to be managed again by him/her.
Noman B
Team Leader-Infromation Security @ Abdulla A. Al Ghurair Group of Companies/ IT-Group,Dubai
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From my experience the core skill in project management (regardless of being IT related or not) is the communications skills. The rationale behind this thought is that in any project, the key factor is the human aspect. And we humans come in every shape and form (metaphorically speaking). Therefore in any project, communications become the key integral area on which project's success(or failure) depends upon.
Its been 3 months now since I have moved over to Dubai. From the project manager's perspective, it almost feels like working in some sort of a mini United Nations. There are people from many many different nationalities here that you have to deal with during the course of a project. Every nationalilty brings to the table its own cultural working dynamics. Now in order to make all of them work together(or tick) requires an effective human skills (when I am saying human, I equate it to communication skills). Infact, back home (Pakistan) I had the same believe for this skill for the project manager to must have because even while working in the same country you get to work with team members who have diverse backgrounds and the same principles applies there also.
In simple words a project is about what its about but its also about us, we the humans. So as a PMP I will prioritize communications management above the other 8 knowledge areas in terms of importance to the project manager. Therefore in my humble opinion, hands down this is what makes a project manager tick. May be you can even use it as a metric to identify truly great project managers and may be you can even research communication's role (human skills) in any project's succcess or failure.
Hope this helps.
--Noman Bari
Vinay B
Service Offerings - Microsoft Technology Services at Satyam Computer Services Limited
Colloboration at various levels
Assertiveness when needed
Understand the Change Management
Lead when required, be a team member when occasion calls for
An ability to identify the expert in each field he/she is managing
Influencing the factors for meeting overall goal of the project
My Top ones by category:
Soft Skills: Excellent Expectation management Skills (Identifying the risks at the right time to the right stakeholders)
Hard Skills: Identifying Critical Path
I have a lot more; but thousght will give you couple of my top ones
Robert S
Information Technology and Services Consultant and Contractor
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An outstanding Project Manager is a mentor - within all levels of the organization, including outside contractors.
Projects are always composed of: high risk, medium risk and low risk items. Recognizing this and applying an appropriate project management criteria (and methodology) to each risk level is key.
Most projects do not meet budget or delivery schedules - mentoring/coaching people through this (and through to project completion or termination), without "killing the messenger(s)" ensures better results in future projects.
The mentoring process:
1. Simplifies the project scope and goals throughout the organization - people have questions; the mentor supplies simple answers.
2. Creates "common goals" - an enterprise-wide concensus - this avoids the (often) typical: "I'll just watch out for my own best interests".
3. Simplifies and adapts the project-tracking tools and methodologies within the organization - do you really need more than a spreadsheet or post-it notes to track low risk tasks?
4. Develops (with the enterprise) tracking and reporting options that address senior management concerns: too much info, not enough time, poor prioritization of task - senior management becomes involved in tracking and managing high risk tasks or issues (on an immediate basis) and is not bothered with "business as usual or on schedule" tasks.
5. Establishes 'post-project' methodologies - for projects that went "bad", action plans are developed and implemented to avoid similar mistakes in the future. For projects that were successful - project champions are noted and all levels of the enterprise are noted for their participation in the success.
6. Ensures that unsuccessful projects to not undermine the enterprise or people within the organization - projects fail for many reasons; usually due to poorly understood/defined high risk tasks.
7. Develops outstanding project managers within all levels of the organization - this 'handing off' process truly defines the essence and spirit of outstanding project management.
From my experience, the project manager should be able to keep juggling the all aspects of project. It is always good to have a good understanding of the subject area for motivating and providing a good direction to their team. As well, consistently coaching other to improve and providing opportunities for team members to build their skills, knowledge and expertise.
The proactively utilization of the following tools that are essential to project management:
Risk management
Issues management
Scope management
Proactive communication
Stakeholder management
I'm impressed by all of the great answers so far to this question! What I'd add to the list is that an outstanding project manager is successful most of the time whereas an average project manager's success rate is much lower. An outstanding project manager is aware of what drives his/her success (and occasional failures) on projects, whereas an average project manager chances upon success without understanding its drivers and so is unable to effectively learn from his/her mistakes.
My definition of success in this context is that the project is delivered on-time, on-budget, with required scope and to customer satisfaction. Customers refer to all key stakeholders, including the project team.
Edward H. B
Operations Leader, Energy Broker, Mentor
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In my experience there are a number of things that make this difference you indicate. i) the ability to predict where in the project issues/over-runs/problems will occur, and to have back up plans & mitigating strategies in place before they occur.. ( this predictive ability is usually gained from experience ). This usually involves the ability to identify areas of project risk, and/or lack of definition around worksteps.. ii) the ability to understand the strengths, weaknesses, personalities of project team members, & to compensate accordingly.. Project team members usually have different strengths & weaknesses, which can come into play at the different stages of the project, and it's understanding how to play these off to maximum advantage that's a key to outperforming. iii) ability to zero in on the critical path, and understand the constraints around that issue, many of which might be resourcing or soft cultural issues iv) ability to continually adapt project management style to reflect the team, culture, environment, org style and nature of the project and it’s objectives... knowing when to be hands on vs hands off, and doesn't use same management style for each project v) perceptive communications skills that allow him/her to see whether the project begins to drift off track in the minds of the sponsors/stakeholders, understanding what the real desired outcomes are ( sometimes different from the stated ones), and aligning the project to meet those vi) superlative communications skills generally in all directions.. PM's tend to be "hard" analytic types, good with numbers and analysis, but weaker on communication, relationships etc... and it's in the "soft" areas that most projects actually come unglued, rather then the technical areas . A PM that combines the "hard" PM skills with the "soft" interpersonal, management, relationships and communications skills, and is equally comfortable in both arenas, would make the PM outstanding
Bob B
Product Development, Operations and Quality Executive and Consultant
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IMHO what seperates competent Project Managers from outstanding ones are the soft skills to engage people to become part of a cohesive project team. When this happens, suddenly there are multiple people filling the cracks to head off any trouble and the politics and silos no longer tend to get in the way.
Bob
Links:
By definition, a Project Manager is pure overhead and is not actually the "builder of a product" that comes from a project, therefore outstanding (and valuable) PMs need to have very unique skills:
- The ability to actively listen and understand the customers requirements for the end-product that is to be built.
- The ability to translate these requirements into something that the builders of the product can understand (whether construction, IT, human organizations, etc.)
- Inspirational motivation to ensure the builders are focused on the task at hand, and not distracted by the possibility of failure.
- The ability see around corners by recognizing and responding to risks appropriately.
It should be a given that the "outstanding" project manager will have all of the skills of the "average" project manager (resource and time estimation, work breakdown structures, writing/speaking skills, critical path method, etc.). Just as all physicians should know their anatomy, I don't consider these differentiators - simply basic tools.
I think it's a fallacy that PM has to be a subject matter expert in a particular field to do projects in that area. In fact, it can actually get in the way since the PM should have plenty to focus without diving into the technical details of what's being built.
1. Vision. Having the ability to see the trees but also the forest all the time
2. Emotional strenght. Be able to think clearly even in the worst part of the storm
3. Strong will. Knowing where to go and be able to do anything to get there
4. Emotional intelligence. Be able to relate with stakeholders of all levels and understand their needs
5. Technical skill. In the solution domain so he/she can understand his/her team and be able to find out areas of opportunity
Andre S
Product Manager at CANE
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A blue spandex suit with a big S on the chest... a red cape, funky red matching boots and the ability to fly... ;)
Well actually... a lot of answers are already given. Although a search did not bring up result for some of those magic ingredients:
Commitment and dedication...
That other secret ingredient, Passion, was already revealed by David Phillips... ;)
In my area of software development an outstanding PM (rather than an average one) should be:
- technically literate, always be clear about the bigger picture
- able to ask awkward questions and take soundings
- happy to accept tasks from team
- have finger on the pulse of all elements under their remit
- be able to spot train smashes before they happen
- be adept navigate around blocking issues
- sharp political operator for the team
- communicate clearly and with precision
Putting a non-technical PM in to run a technical project is usually a recipe for disaster though some companies insist on it even though their core business is technology. I once had a law graduate Project Manager attempt to manage complex server landscape migration and got very confused when we started talking about 'dropping databases'.
Phil S
CEO at Twygrove
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A rarely confessed attribute - pessimism.
To put it more positively, a belief that everything is going to go wrong unless I do everything I can to make it go right!
Rudi B
Partner at Vistem GmbH & Co. KG and owner of Common Sense Solutions
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An acquaintance (a used to be very good project manager) once claimed that the project management job is a 'lose - lose' job! Either you do an excellent job of project management and lose your wife and family (happened to him); or you are a great husband and father and lose your project management job. He used to belong to the 1st category and since remarrying he refuses any project management job. (he used to lead such projects as building oil refineries in the middle east, building the cyclotron (not the new one) at CERN and other such very large projects).
With that as an introduction I do not think the problem lies with project managers and their abilities. It lies with their managers and how they manage projects - many projects going on simultaneously and using the same resources across several to many projects.
Management has (it seems) an irrational fear that if anyone is standing idle (has nothing to do) that they are wasting expensive resources. So almost all project environments are loaded with projects to make sure nobody can be idle.
At the same time the economics of projects dictate due dates that are too short (at least too short based on experience from the past). Project managers are very often stuck with due dates (and budgets and content) that they will have a hell of a time to deliver (see my friend in the introductory paragraph).
All project managers in an organisation are competing for resources with all the others. If there is a good prioritisation of projects - bravo. It seems that more often than not priorities are not well set (or policed) so that who shouts loudest gets the resource. Chaos?
What we have is several to many project managers competing to complete their projects. Since all PMs know how to fight for what they need and a resource can be in only one place at a time - massive multitasking is the norm. Most of the time tasks and projects are waiting in a queue.
Think about a fire at a cinema or discotheque - something we read about regularly. The place fills up with smoke and everyone wans the door at the same time. The next morning newspapers describe the panic in the cinema/disco and may even have pictures of of paniced patrons piled up against a doorway. Not funny - but exactly what happens in multi-project organisations. They all struggle to get through the door.
A similar image - how many elephants can you get through the gate at the same time? One or the herd? Is it better to go through the gate 1 at a time or all at once.
Its not PMs that do this its the project management philosophy of management to keep everyone loaded.
To make all project managers become great project managers management must 1.) prioritize projects what is number 1, 2 etc. No equal priorities ever!. 2.) Freeze some lower priority projects to cause the flow of projects to increae and 3.) stagger projects so that a key resource (the most loaded one) never has to multi-task (multi-tasking is a horrendous productivity killer.
There is a bead experiment that you can play in a conference room to show the effect of the current paradigm and the staggering paradigm. You execute 3 projects in parallel 1st in the current paradigm giving each project equal access to resources. Subsequently you do the same using a staggering mechanism.
I won't tell you the results.
NB. Staggering does NOT mean doing projects in sequence. They are still in parallel - mostly.
Rudi
Clarification added August 17, 2007:
So, if management can prioritize, reduce the load and stagger correctly PMs will look like heroes.
Hi John! Interesting question! The difference of an Average PM with an outstanding one is mainly one: The outstanding PM will go beyond the client's expectations.
As for what capabilities he or she should have, my answer would be 1) To be able to communicate with the client and make him comfortable. 2) Absolute knowledge and experience of what he is talking about. 3) To be able to suggest what else could be done or which other ways it could be done (making it more convenient for the client and the contractor, since it's a better service, and it usually takes more time to develop - and time is money, as you might know-). 4) A natural leader's personality that will drive the actual developers to strive only for the best (unfortunately, this last one is only given to some at birth...can't be bought or learnt).
As a final comment, the fact that you asked that question means that at least, you're on the right track, if not accomplished being one of them.
Links:
Ajay P
Organization Transformation using Program and Project Management Approaches
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Here is my take on this question:
Professional and Interpersonal skills and competencies are perhaps given, what make the difference is the leadership skills.
Ability to understand what leadership style to use in what situation and the phase and type of the project. Here it is assumed that the PM knows his/her own instinctively an dominant style and also has other styles developed or is atleast aware of them. A professional who has mastered the Art of Situational Leadership and lastly Manages without Authority.
Regards
Prof. Ajay
Endre J
Technologist, Entrepreneur, Change Agent, and Innovator
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While this would depend from manager to manager, there's only 3 things in my opinion that make a project manager outstanding:
- Ability to communicate the truth (Bad news and good, the ability to communicat effectively is the most important trait for a project manager to have.)
- A true Subject Matter Expert (You can't affectively manage a project you have no experience in. When people try they're usually the ones the team members hate.)
- A complete handle on the team that's delivering the project. (Let's face it, a PM is being rated on the effectiveness of his/her team more than anything else. An outstanding PM is aware of that at the gate, and knows how to control the team; recognize issues early and make adjustments, and set expectations with both the customer and the team out the gate. Again with the honesty thing.)
The outstanding PM is a cheerleader for the project, who has breadth of experience to lead the team, and is willing to eat a little humble pie when things aren't going well - and communicate the challenges early and effectively.
Damian M
Entrepreneur & Creative Director
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The skills, qualities and characteristics that makes a PM outstanding at his/her work is:
Being an expert in his/her field:
It's imperative that the individual leading a project is good at their craft not because it allows them to better lead but in today's society, respect comes from how good you are at your craft. To not have your team respecting you is to lose ability to lead a project properly.
Ability to Lead:
It's also crucial that the PM has leadership quality which would include how to talk to team members, how to select those team members, how to delegate tasks to team members, etc.
Multi-tasking:
To lead means you have to be at 10 places all at once and PM need to know how to do this and how to do it well. The ability to multi-task just increases that PM's performance.
Time-Management:
In any project this is crucial so it's also important a PM knows how to do this well because delivery of project on time is what it comes down to at the end.
Problem Solver:
If it's one thing I've learnt is that for every problem there's a 'work-around'. Whatever obstacles present itself during the course of the project, one must be able to solve it in a professional and efficient manner.
Responsibility:
As PM I believe you should be responsible. If there's a screw-up, bad PMs point fingers to the team-member but the fact is it's the PM who screwed up because he/she should have known better and delegate the task else where which would question your leadership ability. This is more a moral characteristic but professionals are those who're able to admit of their mistake and move on. Pointing fingers is unprofessional.
Communication Skills:
Dealing with a team means you have to be able to communicate well to each individual and make sure their task is clear to them because should they not execute right would lead to time wasted. This would also include the ability to tell me what to do in such a way that it's friendly rather than telling them to do it in a manner that implies they 'HAVE' to because they're being paid. This also involves communicating with the customer/client and communicate the direction of the project in terms they would understand.
Planning:
This is very important because it would help with time-management.
Overall, those are what makes a PM really good but there will always be other little things that would make a PM unique and give him/her a style to their management so to judge who is 'outstanding' is a matter of opinion.
Outstanding project managers skillfully manage ALL the project constraints of time, scope, cost, quality, risk, and customer satisfaction. While this can be considered a bookish answer - in my experience, I find that it is true.
I also would always emphasize on the importance of customer satisfaction in relation to the project team without which, the project and the products of the project cannot be done.
Lastly, being able to deliver exactly what was promised - no more, no less.
I will be really unhappy if you didn't award me the best answer here! you must read this book
ALPHA PROJECT MANAGERS by ANDY CRAWE
- Expertise: must have been expert in your industry
- Continuation: stable in your job for 3 to 5 years or more
- Focused: must admire PM, live for PM, love your job and aim to be the best
- HR: be effective, straight to the point, handle people and feel with them and be always communicating to others
- Communication, give everyone who needs to see something, what they want to see, on the schedule they want to see it
- Issue Management, know when an issue deserves to be on the log, prioritize, sort them out in short periods
- Over emailed: focus on priority and batch reply
- Make your organization appreciates PM, or be in one that appreciates project management
of course there are more, however, reading this book is a MUST!!!
Richard A
Voice and Data Solutions & ShoreTel Evangelist
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Ita all about controlling timing so that everything happens on schedule, or within pre-planned over-run buffers. If things over-run then everything gets out of control and customers are disappointed.
Clearly they have to communicate with all elements and control them in a teamworking rather than confrontational manner. So they have to be able to sell the reasons why it is more important for the supplier to meet the plan rather than miss it.
