The mission of the Project Manager is to get the project done in a timely manner, within budget and with the required quality.  In order to accomplish this mission, the project manager performs several tasks:

• Plan
• Monitor the progress
• Take appropriate actions

These tasks can be performed in very different ways.  A manager could plan the activities, communicate them to the team, control the progress periodically and push the team and “use the whip” when the progress is not as planned.
Another manager could agree the planning of the activities with the team, share the goal of the project with the team, control de progress periodically and help the team overcome the difficult moments.

As you can see, the basic work-flow is followed in both situations.  However, the approaches are absolutely different.  The first behaviour is close to a foreman  and workers are treated as “robot” workers.  In doing this, workers usually respond as requested, so they do their job but they don’t try to be creative and find new solutions for existing problems.  In today’s world of knowledge workers, most professionals are highly trained, and a project manager cannot afford to not get the maximum from every single team member.
The second approach requires that the project manager is a facilitator.  This means that the project manager helps the team to reach the goal.  Instead of telling everyone how to do things, the project manager shares the goal of the project and helps the team to find the way to success.  This help can have different forms: getting the requested resources, defend the team when there are problems, be a positive leader when problems arise…
The result of this approach is that the team is involved in the project and motivated, which boosts the performance of the team.

But does this mean that I can’t be demanding?.  ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!  Don’t forget that you are responsible for finishing the project in a timely manner, within budget and with quality.  But there is a difference between just demanding something and demanding something providing the necessary help.

Working as a Project Manager, it is highly probable that one of your project fails sooner or later.  There are always risks that you will try to minimize, external factors that you will not be able to control, or you may just make a bad decision.

I don’t want to be pessimistic.  I just want you to accept that failure is an option, and it may happen to you.  All great leaders and entrepreneurs have suffered failure or rejection.  But what makes a leader a great leader is what they do after failure.  You can deny it and try to fool yourself so that you feel better.  You can blame someone else and don’t accept any responsibility.  Or you can learn from the experience, move on and start your next challenge with more energy and being a better professional.

I heard once:  “It doesn’t matter how many times you fall down, but how many times you rise up”.  An example of this is Steve Jobs.  If you haven’t seen his commencement address at Stanford, I highly recommend it.

And you have to remember that being a Project Manager you are also a leader, which means that rising up will not only benefit you but the whole project team.

Project stakeholders are key to the success of any project.  It is very important to identify them at an early stage in the project and try to find out what their expectations are.

To find the stakeholders of your project, you have to think of who is interested in the outcome of the project or who may have an influence (good or bad) in the development or acceptance of the project.  They will be within and outside your organization, and some examples are:

• Your boss or higher management
• The Customer
• The End User
• The Team Leader
• The Development Team
• The Test Team
• Quality Management
• Configuration Management

And even in each of the above, there could be different stakeholders.  For instance, the customer could have a Contract Manager, a Technical Manager and a Quality Assurance Manager, and their expectations would be different.

OK, you have listed the stakeholders.  That was the easy part!  Now you have to find out what they expect from the project.  In some cases it will be straight forward, and a simple question to the stakeholder will give you the answer.
But sometimes it is more difficult.  Let’s imagine an extreme case in which your company was awarded a contract against the recommendation of the customer’s technical manager and he wants the project to fail.  Of course he would never say that, but you have to find out to be able to manage him.

So now you have stakeholders and expectations, and that is where your day to day work begins.  You have to manage everyone’s expectations to bring the project to a safe port.  And of course there will be conflicting expectations at some point, and that is when you will have to make decisions and explain them to the affected stakeholders.  You should keep them informed, especially when things are not how they expected.

It sometimes happens that your are unexpectedly promoted to being a project manager, or you are already managing a project but you are moved to a much bigger one.  There is a range of different reactions you may have at first: excitement for the challenge, fear, boost of self-esteem, panic…

Whatever your initial feelings are, you have to make sure you think you are up for the challenge.  Different things may make you doubt you are the correct person for the job:  necessary skills, some people in the project may think you are not valid for the role, the customer may be difficult to deal with, big project risks…

Analyse it and be honest with yourself.  Don’t be too gentle or hard to yourself.  List the things you have to learn, the areas where you will need more help and the possible risks or conflicts.  After this analysis your feeling about the project may be different:  you were confident at the beginning and then realized the project was more demanding than you thought or you thought you were not ready for it and now you are confident you can perform the job.

After this process there are two possible options:  you think you are able to lead the project to success, or you don’t.  If you do, congratulations!  If you don’t, it’s time to talk to your boss about it.  He may have seen something on you that you haven’t and you are readier for the job than you think.  Or you may not, and in that case it better to let someone else to take over.  There will be another chance.

Don’t underestimate the power of the confidence in success of the project manager.  As a leader, he will transmit what he feels.  Lack of confidence can lead an easy project to failure and a strong confident leader can make a complex project be a complete success.