When do we need PM on the project?
It is hard to argue that only under the proper control can your ship reach its goal. However, this applies not only to ships. Project managers play a huge role in any business. However, many companies, especially with a limited budget, often delay hiring an experienced manager. Sometimes it is due to a limited budget; sometimes, it is expected not to know how to run a business. However, hiring a project manager can be too detrimental for you if you take too long. It is especially true for IT projects.
Knowing when to hire a competent PM is extremely important. And it is about when and why you need to connect the PM to your team – we will talk in this article.
Who is a project manager?
The project manager is responsible for achieving the team’s goals. He plans, organizes, and directs the project to be completed on time, on budget, and of course, successfully.
When you have a small team and a small project, the role of a project manager may seem redundant. But what if, along the way, your team starts to expand, and the project gets more complex? As a skilled mentor, a project manager can work with multiple teams and help lead projects across various teams. It means that at the start of the project, it is easier for you to find a PM that occasionally checks with your state of affairs. And in the case of scaling a business, involve it in your project more.
A project manager can take care of logistics so that the involved employees can devote this time to the actual work.
How does a project manager manage projects?
A project manager doesn’t make plans for a team just in his head. Often, specific programs and applications are used for this. For example, according to the Statista website, as of 2019, 65 percent of respondents said that using project management software positively affects the timely completion of projects.
There are several project management methods, and choosing the suitable one for a particular business will depend on what goals you need to achieve. A management style may be more effective in specific industries, company sizes, or personality types. The three most common project management frameworks are Agile, Scrum, and Kanban.
What is PM responsible for?
The specific activities the PM will take care of will differ from project to project. Still, there are basic things that the PM is responsible for:
1. Planning and Control
Most often, the project manager draws up a plan for how the project will be implemented in accordance with the allocated budget and in the client’s interests. They define the scope and deliverables at the start of a project and ensure they are met. They will measure the project’s success with tools such as milestones and key performance indicators.
2. Team management
In the team structure, the PM is responsible for those who work on the project. The project manager does everything possible to ensure that the team completes tasks on time and that the tasks for each team member are achievable and satisfactory. PM also plays a unifying role: it teaches people to work together and interact effectively.
For investors, the PM shows the scope and results of the project following the requirements while providing constant feedback.
All necessary changes or decisions that may affect the scope or outcome of the project must be communicated to the product owners, which is what the project manager does. The PM is also responsible for representing the project’s interests, as all successful products and services are created with the users’ needs in mind.
Typically, this includes defining and controlling all user research and testing elements and ensuring that the results of these activities are used in the project.
4. Maintain project documentation
One of the most critical tasks a PM performs is documentation, which is a written record of everything related to a project. Documentation is necessary to see how the goal is achieved, monitor changes, create a knowledge base about the project, and, in general, clearly understand what is being done and why.
5. And everything else
It may seem crazy, but there needs to be someone on the team who will be in charge and deal with things that don’t go according to plan. The project manager is just such a person. Since the project manager’s ultimate responsibility is to ensure the successful implementation of the project, whatever the unknown comes up, they are responsible for handling it. So it turns out there are no similar projects for the PM, and every day differs from the previous one regarding the saturation of events.
Project manager skills
You hire a project manager to take care of the tasks of managing teams and your project as a whole. So this person must have the appropriate qualities and experience:
1. Be a leader
It is necessary to motivate and lead different team members.
2. Be flexible
A project manager needs to be flexible and quickly adapt to different changes since, in his work, there is always a risk of sudden changes in plans and interactions with other teams.
3. Be able to solve problems
When problems arise in a project, the PM is usually the first person everyone turns to find solutions to.
4. Be able to conduct a dialogue
The PM needs to communicate with many people, including all project team members, various stakeholders, and a wide range of users.
A PM needs to feel comfortable talking to everyone, from their company’s CEO to interns and young product users. They need to know how to be sympathetic, firm, and understandable.
When should you hire a Project Manager?
There are many opinions on this matter. However, most agree that at the moment, when your team does not yet have ten employees, it’s time to connect with a project manager. Even if they are not fully utilized, the project manager can immediately start creating value and prepare you for growth.
It is worth doing this because, as a rule, companies start looking for project managers when they already lack one. Hiring a project manager before you feel like you need one may seem risky or costly. However, it will help you start the project manager integration early enough when everything is ready to move on. Find out more here to determine where your company is and when to use project managers.
Benefits of Hiring a PM
As your project scales, appropriate management will be required. Generally, the more specialized the skill set, the greater the need for more specialized project management. Information systems can pose a unique challenge for managers because the technology and jargon are more localized, and there are barriers to understanding. Hiring an IT-focused project manager can bridge the gap between managers and engineers by advocating for the needs of IT staff and guiding IT work in line with management’s vision.
Is it expensive to hire a project manager?
Depending on the project, the amount of work, and the country of residence, the salary costs of the project manager may vary.
However, you could always do market research and use the slice of data to determine the average salary for this position. Then, you can evaluate your project manager’s costs based on your budget and the number of hours you need to work on the project. Remember that you can also hire a project manager by the hour or freelance if you have a small project that does not require constant supervision.
Conclusion
We weigh all the factors and evaluate the pros and cons; we hope now you can answer the question of when you should hire a project manager. A good project manager can successfully achieve your goals and lead the entire project to a final that satisfies both clients and stakeholders.
We can say that when you invest in an experienced project manager who solves problems and helps the business grow, you are definitely setting your project up for success. Thanks to project managers, the company becomes capable of scaling. In our company, for each project in which we participate, a project manager with relevant work experience and good knowledge of English stands out, which is why such cooperation leads to the satisfaction of both customers and users.
