What does a Project Manager do? (Plus typical challenges they face.)
What does a Project Manager do?
Landing a new job as a Project Manager is not only exciting but probably pretty terrifying. What you're about to embark on is a distinct work process consisting of planning projects, making sure they are executed and lastly, but most importantly, delivered on time. You will have to be in the loop with both the internal team and external stakeholders, at nearly all times.There are three key considerations you, as the Project Manager should take into account when planning day to day operations. What is the cost, the timeframe and the quality of delivery? There are also many KPI's, so it's vital to have an overview of the project work.
What are the responsibilities of a Project Manager?
Project Management is a growing industry, so some responsibilities may vary across industries, but here are a few key tasks that need to be handled.
- Making a plan for a project delivery
- Managing Teams
- Defining a project budget
- Communicating the project's status
Coping with unrealistic deadlines
Right now you're probably looking at a long list of to do's while more projects are about to start in the next week or two. Plus, resources haven't been adequately allocated this week, and next week's overview is still not in order. You sit there imagining the day when all your operations are running smoothly, and your project delivery is efficient across all projects and teams.What if you could plan one month in advance and see a visual perspective of your schedule across all people and projects? For every managed task and done project, a celebration is welcome, but what if you're constantly behind schedule? With a connected and collaborative workspace, teams know what to work on so you can monitor risks and slipping deadlines before they occur. With Forecast, you can have an overview of every project's dependencies and align the critical path with immediate priorities.
Removing obstacles and motivating team members
Knowing what your team is working on means micromanaging is a thing of the past. Sure, it's been hard for team members to get on board with registering their time. And reminding them to do so can sometimes feel like it's too much. Teams can be motivated to track their own time with AI-powered suggestions that make tedious time tracking a thing of the past. 
Teams have a collaborative workspace so that they can manage tasks in whichever preferred process, Waterfall, or Agile. Work the way you want, even when things change to the plan.
Setting realistic expectations when planning project budget
Scope creep is not something that happens from one day to the next. It's a few hours here, a task or two there, and next thing you know your project deadline is at risk of being missed. However, with a well scoped out project plan, you can create realistic expectations for the team. What makes scoping a project more practical, is setting estimations of how long deliverables will take. With a high or low estimate, team members have a clear overview of the capacity of work the project will take.It's time to bill your client for the next project delivery. Are different type of project budgets challenging to understand? No problem, track expenses, manage invoices, and control the budget from the initial statement of work (SOW) to the final delivery.
Generating an up-to-date project status report
Insights show you what you need to know to improve on the next project. But why are collecting those insights so tricky? Report are everywhere, on a spreadsheet, in the cloud somewhere, and metrics are always changing. Plus, sharing the report that makes sense is another task in and of itself. Trust with the client weakens if you give them eight reports in different documents.Customizable reports with 50+ possible components give you that 360-degree view of your projects and resources across your entire company. With all your reports in one place, you can start making more strategic decisions based on real-time data. Also, share them with your stakeholders with a click of one button.
Key takeaway
Move your attention away from the daily operations that can be automated, and focus on delivering value to the client. If you have your projects and resources in order, you won't have to worry about Big Client dropping a project on your team on Wednesday with a hard deadline two days later.A new roles as a Project Manager doesn't sound so bad after all with the right processes in place to help you finish the job.
Book a demo with our Forecast account specialists today to learn how quickly you can overcome your work challenges.
You might like to read these articles on our blog..
6 min read
Unleashing Operational Excellence: A Strategic Imperative for Professional Services Leaders.
Read more
6 min read
From Vision to Execution: How Operational Excellence Drives Success in Professional Services
Read more
7 min read