10 Reasons Why You Need A Project Manager

By Author: Simon Buehring
Total Articles: 45
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1. Communicator

The Project Manager is the hub of all project communication. It is the Project Manager's job to know what the customer requires, how the various project teams are progressing, what concerns the Executive has - and if the Project Manager does not know, then it is the Project Manager's job to find out.

There is nobody else on a project team whose central responsibility it is to be in communication with everybody else.

Without a Project Manager, the Supplier would not know what type of materials to supply, the Customer's request for change would be handled by the wrong person, and the project teams would happily plod along in their various directions, unaware when their projected result began to differ from the Acceptance Criteria.

Every project needs a Project Manager to ensure that messages are received, delivered and acted upon and that everybody shares the same expectations of the end-result.

2. Buffer

As well as acting as a point of communication, the Project Manager is a buffer between different interest groups.

For example, if the Customer decided six months ...
... into the project that he wanted to change the Acceptance Criteria of the product, he would approach the Project Manager to discuss this change. The Project Manager would then be able to log and evaluate this request for change, before either making a decision on it or passing it on to the relevant authority.

Once a decision had been reached, the Project Manager would be able to inform both the Customer and the Team Managers about any changes to the Project Plan.

If the Customer went directly to the Team Managers then the interests of the individual team might come into conflict with the interests of the project. The Project Manager's role is to act as an intermediary between the two interest groups to ensure that the correct procedure is followed and that everybody receives decisions and instructions from the appropriate individual.

3. Tracker

With all the complex variables affecting the status of a project - cost, time, resources, staff, Acceptance Criteria, project environment, etc. - somebody is required to keep track of everything.

While the Configuration Librarian might be in charge of keeping a close eye on all Products, and the Change Manager may well know possible and current changes inside out and backwards, it is the Project Manager alone who keeps track of every project detail, from the finer points of the Acceptance Criteria to the number of days late a particular task is running.

Without a Project Manager watching all of these variables closely, nobody would be able to determine the precise status of the project at any one time.

4. Long-term view

The Project Manager might be very attached to the project, but it is part of the job description to take a long-term and objective perspective.

Team managers can get away with completing short-term tasks. The Supplier only has to concentrate on getting the required resources to the project by the deadline. It is up to the Project Manager to regularly step back from the project and evaluate long-term progress.

All projects need somebody who can see the wood, despite the trees. This kind of vision and clarity is what makes a good Project Manager.

5. Leader

Project Managers are required to be excellent leaders. Sometimes project success feels very far away. Sometimes capricious Customer demand is infuriating. Sometimes nobody on the project team wants to keep going.

The Project Manager is needed to inspire the team, to recall why the project is important, and to direct the team towards the goal with confidence and precision.

6. Allocation of resources

Without a central individual deciding how the resources will be distributed, the project budget would be chaos.

The Project Manager decides how much of which resources each project team needs. This requires careful calculation, fair-mindedness and foresight. If individual teams were left to determine their own resources then the directors of the project would have no control over how much was spent, or what it was being spent on.

7. Projection of planning-decisions and changes

It is the Project Manager's responsibility to ensure that the project is completed to time and to budget. This requires anticipating how much time and expense each aspect or change will cost.

For example:

A chain of coffee shops is planning to unveil a grind-your-own coffee bar. The project is running to schedule, until the Customer makes a request for change: that a milk-foamer be added to the design.
The Project Manager must evaluate the impact that this change will have on aspects of the project such as cost, budget and project objectives, and then must present the the proposed change and its evaluation to the Change Authority so that a decision can be made.

Projects without a Project Manager risk having nobody who has an eye on every aspect of project progress. So a Team Manager might agree to the change without considering its effect on the budget, or a Project Planner might refuse a change, based on its disruption of the schedule, without considering the additional benefit that the change would bring.

8. Full project lifespan

The Project Manager is with the project from beginning to end. Having received the Project Mandate, the Project Manager creates a Business Case, a project plan and a project team. When the product has been accepted by the Customer, it is the Project Manager who indicates to the Project Board that it is time to close the Project.

Without somebody on board who has seen the project from start to finish, there is a risk of project teams losing perspective and direction. The Project Manager is there to ensure that the project achieves its stated aims within the allocated time.

9. Responsibility

The Project Manager is responsible for project success. It is as simple as that. If the project fails, or fails to achieve results within budget or schedule, then the Project Manager is answerable. This does not mean that it is the Project Manager's fault.

What it does mean is that the Project Manager is motivated to make sure that the project does not fail. Project teams in which nobody is responsible for overall project success lose focus and motivation.

10. The Conductor

Like an orchestra needs a conductor, a project needs a Project Manager. Each musician might know their part and their instrument better than the back of their hand. The orchestra might even be capable of playing in time and in tune with one another.

However, without a conductor there is nobody to listen and respond to the overall sound that the orchestra makes. There is nobody to raise the dynamics or quieten the violins or bring in the trumpet section.

It is the job of the conductor (and the Project Manager) to let the orchestra know when to begin, to manage the overall sound that the orchestra produces, and to bring the orchestra to a successful close at the end of the piece.

Simon Buehring is a project manager, consultant and trainer. He works for KnowledgeTrain which offers PRINCE2 training in the UK and overseas. He can be contacted via the KnowledgeTrain prince2 exam website.