You just were appointed as the new Project Manager.  You are full of energy and ready for action.  What should you do first?  The answer is easy: stop and assess what this new role demands from you.

When you get a new assignment, it is very tempting to move into action right away.  You may already know the project, or even are working on it and you think you know what you should do.  The first time I was in that situation I started doing what I knew I had to do, and I have to say that I was right most of the time.  The “only” problem is that I didn’t know all the things I had to do, and sooner or later those tasks that I had missed caused a delay in the project.  These delays were bad for my projects, but even worse than that was the frustration.  One day I thought everything was running smoothly and the next day the project slipped because I had missed something.

So sit down and start writing your job description.  If you are new to project management you will probably not be able to define all the tasks by yourself.  Get help:  ask other project managers in your company, talk to other people working on your project or on similar ones:  Quality Assurance Manager, Configuration Management Manager, Team Leaders, Financial Controller…  And last but not least, talk to your boss.  That has to be the last stop when you think the list of your responsibilities is complete.  Make sure your boss and you have the same understanding about your job.  It is very frustrating to work for months and then find out that your boss expected something else from you.  Try to avoid that from day 1.

Now you know what it is expected from you as a Project Manager.  You know what you have to do, and that makes you feel good, because you are now in control.  And if it is good for you, it will be good for your project members.  Yes, you guessed it:  Do the same with them.  Don’t forget to make sure they understand what you expect from them!

“You are the Project Manager now!”

That was basically my transition from the technical to the management world.  Well, I exaggerate!  I also got a hard drive with 9GB of documents, emails, presentations…

I had been working on those projects for a while.  I knew the technical details, the development team and the customer.  And my boss gave a reassuring speech stating that I was ready for the challenge and that he was convinced that I was going to do a great job.  What else could I need?

That was the start of the most stressful year in my professional career.  I spent most of the time fighting fires, reacting instead of planning and finishing never-ending working days feeling that I hadn’t accomplished anything.  In summary, I had nothing under control.  The situation controlled me instead.

Well, maybe I needed something else in the end…

Looking from my current experience it is now very easy for me to tell what I should and shouldn’t have done back then.  That  means that it would also have been easy for my boss to help me during the first months in my new role.  And it also means that I can help someone else to avoid the mistakes I made!

I’m sure many people will have the appropriate coaching when they start in project management.  But we are not in Wonderland, and I know many others will suffer similar situations to mine, and this is why I started this blog.  I hope I can make someone else’s life just a little easier.