A project manager’s job is never performed in a vacuum. Not only is he or she responsible for the project team, the customer, and the various support staff, but the PM has also been specifically selected by someone to perform the job in the first place. Especially if you are being chosen for a larger responsibility or an unusual project, it is fair to ask, “what makes me qualified to do this job?” Nonetheless, you must be confident in your abilities and verbally discuss the expectations of those who have decided that you’re the one who’s going to see this project through. Before you wonder (especially out loud) whether you have the technical skill to handle the job, consider this.
There will always be a question as to what balance of “technical” versus “managerial” skills is appropriate for a particular PM role. As I mentioned before, a critical component of project initiation is the understanding of your scope of responsibilities. Interestingly, however, too much technical skill can start to become a bad thing. One of the hardest things for a highly skilled manager to do is relinquish control of the tasks to those who may take a bit longer to get up the learning curve.
Instead, if the manager has enough technical ability to negotiate problems, know who to ask for advice, and estimate workloads and timelines, he or she is literally forced into allowing the team to do the work they are good at (and, hopefully, enjoy doing in the first place). The trade-off is that the management skills must be more “advertised” to those who select the PM. Make sure that you have developed and can demonstrate team motivation, coaching, incentives, communication, and proper use of authority in order to become a strong leader. It’s not about playing “king of the hill”, it’s about showing how you can manage others to meet specific goals. If you can do this effectively (facing always-limited resources), you are filling an invaluable role for the project and the organization as a whole.
Jason Burke is a Project Manager at Project Management Underground, his experience ranges from engineering design (literally underground) in a California gold mine and a Montana platinum mine to management of a variety of land development projects. He enjoys sharing his experiences and insights with others, especially those in the engineering industries. But anyone can benefit from business management “best practices” as well.
