Project Management - Thankless job

Most of the new project managers think keeping track of excel sheet is project management. If only life is so simple.

Little they realise the role of project managers. It is a thankless job. It is a three-dimensional job and from all dimensions, you are not wanted. You are always suspected. You are always in constant fear of 'who will pull the plug down'.

Three Dimensions - Organization you work for. Your team members. and Your client.

The organization that you represent won't back you when it requires. Your team members will mostly work in silos and or not cooperate. When two from your own house are against, why should your customer be :)

First dimension - The organization you work for. Your reporting manager or delivery manager, who would be handling multiple projects/delivery. Hence that much issues to be attended and resolved. He will not be in a position to listen to all your problems and suggest the best possible solutions. Not that he doesn't want to, but his responsibilities restrict him to be so. He will act only when the issue is reported on the regular steering committee meeting with the customer. And when it is raised you will be directly blamed for not making attempts to resolve the issue and making it a reporting issue by the customer. Dare you say 'Boss, I did inform you but you ignored it. You are in for more trouble if the issue has any impact on the payment schedule.

Project management is more to do with People management than Project.

Second dimension - Your team members. Man, this is the toughest portion. You have to be nice to them, you cannot go against them, you cannot complain about them to your boss, you have to live with their attitude and with all these, you have to manage them. God bless you if you happen to manage 15+ team size. You might also find members who do pseudo fight with you. Have seen and managed members who are whimsical and without them, the project won't move an inch. You are in for more trouble if you happen to manage a technology project in which your knowledge is zilch. You may be able to hide your no knowledge with Customer, but definitely not with your team members. In a 15 member team, there will be minimum 16 groups. Yeah, seriously. Each one will try to outsmart you. In these type of groups, there would be one person who will play the spoilsport. In all probabilities, he would have woken up on the wrong side of the bed. Who knows!!!

Members would try to first overtake you then they will take over you and thereby the project.

Third dimension - Customers. They are king. Very rarely you get a dedicated team to work along with you on the assignment. Initial days you would have got a dedicated team, moving forward they will be asked directly or indirectly to work on their day to day work along with the specified project. You are lucky if you have a member who can take decisive action, mostly you will have a messenger as a 'valuable resource'. This person is actually a liability to the project. You will have to handle all the miscommunication created by this middlemen along with the project deliverables. If not attended and addressed these guys will create havoc in the project and will put things into a doldrum. Expect all sorts of trouble from these people while taking the steering committee meetings.

A good project manager has to be a good people manager.

Project management is not about handling tasks, sprints, budgets and deliverables. There are many 'tactical' things that a project manager has to perform which goes unnoticed.