2 min.
The qualities to be a good web project manager
1L’art de la gestion de projet2Un projet à succès commence par une bonne gouvernance3Cascade, agilité, demandes de changement?

The qualities to be a good web project manager

  • TECHNICAL LEVEL

I have often wondered what qualities a project manager should have to be able to assume his role correctly. Are there standard profiles? Special studies?

TO STUDY

Are there really appropriate studies to be able to manage a project? I'm not sure. To date, project management courses tend to teach PMBok which, in my opinion, is more intended for engineers who manage technical projects than for people like us.  

Yes, it can be a good base of knowledge and learning, but I tend to believe sometimes that project management cannot be improvised and whether we have it or not. Admittedly, it is a skill that develops and improves, but I believe that basic qualities such as organization are essential and cannot be learned in class.

MANAGE AND MOTIVATE

Have a vision of the project to manage , be able to communicate it to your team, motivate them, focus energies towards a common goal, towards the realization of the project, be able to quickly move from a role of leader to a role as a manager are, in my opinion, useful qualities for the smooth running of a project. 

Added to this are “  team building  ” skills: ensuring that people who are not used to working together are able to do so in harmony and efficiently. And it's not always easy, especially in companies that have a matrix management system.

RESOLVE, NEGOTIATE AND INFLUENCE

During the project, there will inevitably be problems, sometimes even many; internal, external, technical, management and communication problems. The project manager must be able to face these problems, to confront them and to solve them . 

For this, working in a team is not always easy. Working with others means being able to reach consensus, negotiate with the objective of reaching an agreement.  

You also need to have the qualities of an influencer . Convincing people to do what you want even if they don't feel like it that much is not easy! It does not depend only on your qualities, it also depends on the degree of involvement, motivation or accountability that the person has towards his work.

COMMUNICATE

Information flows in and out of the project. All communications , whether with his team or with the client, must be clear and understood. Expressing oneself correctly, in a clear and calm manner must be qualities to be developed to ensure that the message gets through. There are many communication channels: email, telephone, meeting, conversation, document, etc. As much as ensuring that the messages are transmitted well. 

ORGANIZE, PLAN AND BUDGET

For me, this is one of the essential qualities to have when you want to do project management.

You have to be able to organize  all aspects of the project, as much the people as the objectives, as much the deliverables as the risks incurred.

The project manager is often the creator, owner and responsible for the project plan . Whether this plan is done in a Gantt chart, in Microsoft Project, Basecamp or a simple Excel file, it doesn't matter. The important thing is to be comfortable with the tool because it quickly becomes the manager's best friend. It is better to involve his team in its creation and have his approval because they will have to live with it and follow it, just like you. Just like the client, by the way. 

The manager must be able to manage a budget , sometimes substantial. Estimating and respecting a budget, knowing the actual amounts in opposition to the planned amounts are all skills to have; because very often, the concordance of the planned budget versus the actual budget does not exist. But it is precisely the role of the manager to anticipate a budget overrun, to manage it and to warn the people concerned in time. Everyone will be more grateful. 

Sometimes, managing projects makes me think of life as a couple: reaching consensus, communicating to ensure the continuity of the couple and their expectations, having projects in common, etc. are all common examples. Manager, team, client, everyone is in the same boat for better and for worse!