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Let’s state the obvious here: project managers guide and facilitate projects with a keen sense of budget, scope, timeline, staff, and all of the complicated places in between. No matter where they work, what kind of projects they manage, or what their title is, project managers are the men and women on the front lines of projects, defending their teams, clients, and projects from miscommunication, missed deadlines, scope creep, and any other failures. They champion the well-being of the people involved in their projects and look to make or facilitate strategic decisions that uphold the goals of their projects. That’s a hefty job description, and it requires a fine balance of managing the administrative details of a project and its people. While PMs are often lumped in the “behind-the-scenes” aspect of projects, to be highly effective, they need to be part of the bigger strategic project conversations.

PMs are not robots. They are not on your team just to take notes and make sure that you’re recording your time properly. Yes, they do work in spreadsheets and follow up on deadlines at possibly annoying rates of speed. But they are not the team’s secretary. They are the project facilitator and sometimes the guiding force that makes important conversations, debates, and decisions happen. That means that while managing the operational side of the project, they also must be fully informed on the conversations that are happening on projects so they can drive action in the right direction.

There are so many intangible tasks and qualities of project managers that it’s not uncommon for people not to fully understand just what a PM does and if they need one or not. Here’s the thing: you always need a PM, no matter what. That PM might be called a producer, account manager, designer, or even developer.

NOTE THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE ROLE

Anyone can be a project manager, as long as that person is clear on the expectations of the role. If you’re playing a part-time PM, be sure to discuss what’s expected of you in the role and use some of the tactics in this book to guide your PM journey with ease.