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I’m used to post-mortems at the end of a project cycle, but the great project managers will circle back to the last post-mortem at the start of a project and ensure that any challenges that came up are not duplicated in the new project cycle.
So true! We do have a problem with issues resurfacing. Thank you for sharing 😊
I agree that it’s important to be level headed yet assertive. Opposite of the last poster, I see some PMs who are too lax and let things slide. It’s important to remain professional/level headed but constantly push for things to be completed on time and assess what the risks/issues are with challenges the team is facing. It’s a constant balance of scope, cost, and schedule.
Yes!! You don't have to be angry to be assertive and you don't have to be complacent to be 'nice'. As Brene Brown says strong backs and soft fronts 😊
There’s a lot of common pitfalls, some at the org/dept level (ie if there’s no set methodology/structured process and everyone is doing their own thing) but I’ll focus on more general individual pain points I’ve seen new PMs struggle with:
1) not creating a project plan soon enough - that can lead to forgetting action items down the road or missing dependencies. At the very least your should have a roadmap with timelines, establish a critical path and set up a RAID log
2) not clearly communicating timelines to stakeholders - it causes milestones to slip and missing deadlines
3) not engaging the right teams necessary for launch/deployment, and/or providing them with enough lead time
4) not providing clear and consistent updates to all stakeholders, its also good to give context whenever there’s a change. Don’t just demand updates without explaining why there’s urgency.
5) not having a centralized place where everything is documented, from your project plan to presentations to drafts/final versions of deliverables
6) not taking enough ownership of their stand up calls (make sure you have an agenda and guide the discussion in a meaningful way…be considerate of peoples time. If two people go off topic, rein them back into the agenda item at hand and continue the conversation offline or in an ad-hoc)
7) not holding retrospectives/not taking them as seriously as they should - they’re great places for feedback, not just on the program but on your performance. Constructive criticism is necessary for growth, and I see a lot of PMs take it way too personally
8) relying too much on memory; things can get chaotic, so take notes and socialize them, make updates in real time, and don’t put off tasks
Hope this helps!
This is amazing!! Thank you so much! This is an awesome feedback and gives me a lot to work with 🙌
The worst PMs for me are people who can’t manage their own emotions. Project management can be high stress especially near deadlines but as the lead it’s our job to stay focus and treat our teams with respect, and ensure that’s happening between other team members. I was on a client project with a competitor team on the same floor. The PM would yell on calls with the team every single day. It was awful. You could hear her throughout the floor. Went on for months until her manager finally had a talk with her.
Wow that sounds extreme! I hear you on balancing your own emotions first 🧘♀️
In my experience, project managers are responsible for 'everything' but have little relative authority. That was very frustrating until learned how influence can be leveraged instead.
Remember that project managers manage the products and projects and do not manage people.
Great Information! What are the key skills leaders should look for when hiring a senior project manager in a fast paced environment with at time competing priorities?