What are the top 5 priorities of a project manager?

When you’re managing a project, To meet your project objectives, you need the right people on board—and they must have a clear understanding of their roles. Here’s a breakdown of who does what.

Project Management Course

In the concrete jungle that we find ourselves working in these days, you will find the project manager juggling their time between people, projects, clients, and modern-day Agile tools. Torn between what to take up first and how to prioritize their energy, they can be perpetually exhausted and, at times, burned out—That is until they have realized what all their project manager roles and responsibilities consist of.

Broadly, a project manager is majorly responsible for creating a team that is able to work autonomously. They have to take care of every possible parameter, from resources to risks, from laying the foundation of a project to getting a team to work for a shared goal. 

Apart from that, they also have to constantly develop new skills and find a work-life balance. 

So, if you are:

> A project manager, hoping to make sure that you are investing your time and energy in the right place 

OR

> You are an aspiring project manager who wants to know what all it is that can make you qualified for the job, 

You are reading an article that is curated just for you.

What does a Project Manager do?

The role of a project manager (PM) is to execute and complete a project.

A Project Manager might be in charge of the development or implementation of new software, the launch of a new product, or even the full-scale overhaul of an organization’s marketing strategy.

Project Managers are generally responsible for the completion of a company’s most important projects, and as such, they need to have excellent leadership skills, coordination abilities, and motivational skills.

In addition to overseeing all aspects of project planning and execution, Project Managers will often be on hand to resolve issues and solve problems that arise during a project.

The best Project Managers are able to keep up with changing circumstances and find ways to motivate their team members.

Role and Responsibilities of a Project Manager

Project management is a subtle blend of art and science, and in today’s business environment, project managers should be aware of all the innovative project management systems and all the industry lingo that they can catch up with. 

Today’s project management trends have grown to include several industries under the same umbrella in terms of people and resource management.

“Organize and prioritize your team tasks for success.” Try ProofHub

So without further ado, let’s discuss all the basic, most important duties and responsibilities of project managers:

#1 Planning everything from execution to delivery

Ideally, a project manager must prepare a strategy to achieve more in less. By more I mean, more outcomes, more quality, more client satisfaction, while less refers to less resources and less time. Thus, it is the duty of a project manager to find the quickest and easiest pathway towards accomplishing whatever it is that the client or the stakeholder wants to get to. For this a project manager could take up any approach like Agile, waterfall, Prince2, so on and so forth. Preparing this strategy, or rather, this procedure is detrimental to the functioning of the whole team and the outcomes of the project.

All in all, this project management roles involves 

• breaking the project into tasks, 
• Breaking down the tasks and subtasks, 
• Setting an appropriate schedule for the development of certain deliverables, 
• Defining milestones, and 
• Highlighting the project dependencies.

#2 Directing the team to achieve a common goal

Another one under all the various project manager roles and responsibilities is keeping the team’s efforts aligned with everything that the organization wants to achieve. This would take serious effort so that you can develop a plan to support the team in reaching the  goals easily. This would require for you to provide everyone with the required motivation so that people can work with the bes of their abilities. It is the project manager’s duty to organize their team such that they can showcase their full potential in the form of their work.

A project manager will have to sometimes put on the duties of human resources like:

• Negotiating current employees’ job responsibilities, 
• Managing their times and achieving their commitment to the project, 
• Bids may be required, and 
• Contracts will need to be reviewed and keeping everyone in check to make sure that the team’s moves along in accordance with the plan.

#3 Delegating work effectively

In many situations like a big project, or various tasks involved in a project, it becomes critical to delegate responsibilities to teams wisely. It is a leadership style that every project manager has to abide by and be good at it and eventually, it becomes the responsibility of a project manager that needs to be learned over time. A manager should not misuse this responsibility in putting blames or degrading the team members. The tasks need to prioritize tasks so prioritized to the team members so that they become more effective in their abilities. The managers should also understand the strength and weaknesses of their teams and accordingly delegate the tasks to them. So, be a good leader who creates an environment that fosters trust through meaningful delegation.

A good project manager knows how to use their tools well to help them manage their tasks. That’s where ProofHub comes in handy. 

For starters, it’s easy to get started with ProofHub. You can create Projects, Assignments, and Files, and no additional software is required. You can also create multiple Projects with different members of your team on the same project. 

#4 Managing the resource of time

To make a good impression on stakeholders and clients, the project managers need to look for whether the project has succeeded or failed. A project manager needs to be able to negotiate achievable deadlines and discuss the same with the team. They need to develop a project that has the following features:

• Objective
• Process
• Estimating duration
• Schedule development
• Schedule control

#5 Managing the deployment deliverables

The project manager responsibilities also include ensuring that the deliverables are delivered on time and within budget. Their job is concerned with asking questions like:

• What are the changes being made in the organization?
• What is the team doing?
• Why are we doing it?
• Is there a business opportunity or risk?
• How are we going to do it?
• What are the popular project management techniques?
• Who is doing what?
• Where are the records and project documents?
• What are the specifications, schedule, meetings etc?
• When are the things being done?

#6 Monitoring progress and track roadblocks

Most of the project manager’s time revolves around monitoring the status of projects. After the project has been started, a project manager has to see how much is done and if it is being done as expected. The progress of the project is made during the middle stages of the project through multiple systems like status reports, meetings and informal updates. This responsibility will become easier if the project managers select a proper management system.

We know it’s easy to get lost in the weeds. That’s why we’ve come up with a handy-dandy way to help you keep track of what needs to be done and when.

And there’s no point in using your brainpower for something that can be automated, amirite? So instead of overloading yourself with project manager responsibilities (and making it impossible to enjoy the weekend), let ProofHub do the heavy lifting for you.

#7 Conducting regular meetings

Scheduling regular meetings are difficult for all project managers, and it doesn’t work well for every project. However, practices like the Scrum framework suggest that there must be a 15-minute stand-up every day so that the project manager can establish a status-quo between the team. You will find that conducting timely meetings, that follow a certain agenda are actually good for your project and will definitely lead to success. The objective of the meeting should be met by communicating the rules of the project clearly to the entire team. The project managers should be ready from the beginning to prepare for meeting the objectives. They can set a meeting calendar and stick to it until there is an emergency to cancel the plan out.

Additionally, here are some steps to take 

A project manager should have a vision of where to go and the skills to understand the big picture related to any project. The vision should be conveyed to the entire team so that they understand the importance of their role to achieve the end results. The team should understand the workload and make the possible efforts to convert goals into missions. The manager should set the appropriate tone for smoother sailing down the road.

#9 Managing documentation and reports

Finally, when the project is completed on time and on a budget, the project manager has to provide appropriate documentation to present the final reports to clients and identify the areas where there is a need for future development. This is also a major responsibility of a project manager for project development. It has two main functions:

• To maintain a record of what has been done in the project and who have been involved in it.
• To ensure that the project satisfies all the project requirements.

Manage documentation and reports by giving your team the ability to generate reports, visualizations, and data dashboards in minutes with ProofHub. Your team can work on a project of any complexity and scale while having the freedom to move through your projects.

When you’re working on a project of any size, you need to be able to manage documents and reports as they come in. You need to be able to understand where you are in the project, who is responsible for what, when all the documents are due, who has reviewed them, etc.

ProofHub allows your team to manage all of this information from one central location in an easy-to-understand format. You can view project status at a glance and quickly see who is working on each document as well as what’s coming up next in their queue.

#10 Coming up with a Plan B

A project manager’s roles and responsibilities lie not just within the planning process of the project but also withing preparing for unforeseen events and unfortunate circumstances. A project has to be made risk-proof so that all progress is saved when and if the shit hits the fan. This would mean that the project manager has to be familiar with the basics of risk as well as change management. They must know how to:

• Arrange for extra resources.
• Manage time in difficult circumstances.
• Have an alternate plan to justify the expectations of the clients. 

#11 Creating a self-governing team

In the era of Agile teams where every department, every team is becoming smarter and leaner through Agile practices, it is imperative for the project manager to learn new management methodologies and implement the same for their team. This would help the team become self-governing and cross-functional which would mean that you will be making the team:

• More adept to taking on challenges and dealing with changes in client requirements.
• More capable of coordinating with clients and juggling responsibilities,
• More comfortable with changing roles and working in more niches than just one.

#12 Keeping the team close-knit

Apart from building a team that is filled with passionate people who are self-sufficient, a project manager also has to make sure that the team works seamlessly as a single unit. Maintaining harmony in the team and fostering trust within its people is of the utmost importance so that everyone can achieve more and achieve fast.

For this, a project manager has to ensure that:

• Every member of the team gets regular feedback.
• Everyone understands their individual roles and responsibilities well. 
• Everyone communicates well. 
• The team has enough resources and tools for effective collaboration.

#13 Coordinating with the clients

Project manager responsibilities also include coordinating with the clients. For the documentation of data and allotment of tasks, a project manager must negotiate about the requirements of the project with the clients and the stakeholders. It will be the project manager’s duty to bring clarity to the clients about how they should go about the project and everything that the team can do for them. 

Additionally, it will also be of the project manager responsibilities to have the clients and stakeholders review all the work and determine what needs change and what needs improvement. 

With ProofHub, you can take care of all your project-related tasks in one place and make sure that everyone is on the same page. You can also create custom workflows as per your business needs and use them to assign tasks to your team members accordingly. This makes it easy for you to know what everyone is working on and keep an eye on their progress.

What Qualifications do you need to be a Project Manager?

Project managers are responsible for the planning and execution of projects within an organization or business. They must have strong leadership qualities, excellent communication skills, and attention to detail. They may oversee small projects or large ones.

There are also some requirements that may vary from company to company but typically include at least three years of experience in a related role as well as formal training and/or certification (PMP).

In order for someone to qualify for this type of position, she should have strong organizational skills with an eye toward detail; good interpersonal communication abilities; ability to work independently without supervision; problem-solving capabilities; knowledge of project management techniques and principles; experience in managing teams/projects; familiarity with various software programs necessary for day-to-day operations such as Microsoft Office Suite including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.

The Importance Of A Project Manager

Does your project need a project manager? 89% of high performing organizations have a project manager as project management is becoming the necessity of every business, and we should focus on finding a leader who has the vision, the right skills, and knowledge to ensure on-time completion of the project. Project manager and project management are like two facets of a coin and for a project to be successful, bringing both into the picture is important. At the end of the day, everything matters and is a complete effort.

Conclusion

When it comes down to it, the responsibility of a project manager is to make sure that the organization stays in business by offering efficient solutions that teams need. This, as you might know by now, involves taking care of the team, checking in with the expectations of the clients, and handling the overall management of tasks as well as the schedule. 

If you are new to project management and are seeking to learn more about how you can become better in this field you must read 15 Top Project Management Certifications. 

And if you are a project manager looking to enrich your knowledge and look for efficient solutions to your project management problems, you must read Project Management Tools and Techniques That Actually Work.

Sandeep Kashyap

Sandeep Kashyap is the Founder and CEO of ProofHub — a leading project management and collaboration software. He’s one person always on a lookout for innovative ideas about filling the communication gap between groups, teams, and organizations. You’ll find him saying, "Let’s go!" instead of "Go!" many times a day. That’s what makes him write about leadership in a way people are inspired to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more.