Ready Set Agile - Being an Effective Project Manager: Your Guide to Becoming a Project Management Rock Star: Best Practices, Methodology, and Success Principles for a Project ... (Project Management by Ready Set Agile)

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AS

a project manager, youre used to juggling tasks, people, and resources, all while keeping the client happy. But, do you ever wish it were easier? That you and your team could do more with all those work hours youre given? Sometimes, its a slog to get everything and everyone on the same page and all working together as one team to achieve the project goal.

Maybe youve been struggling to ensure that projects are completed on time and budget. You may think youve estimated the resource needs correctly, and then theres suddenly an unexpected and unforeseen development that ends up destroying the timeline. As of the time of writing this book (June 2020), were still in the middle of the coronavirus epidemic. No one saw this coming, and it has upset the business plans for quite a few project managers.

No one can reasonably blame you for not seeing the COVID-19 virus coming beforehand. However, do you find that youre often held accountable for issues that are out of your control? As the project manager (PM), you are the one whos responsible for the completion of the project as planned. Despite this, project teams or stakeholders may sometimes seem to take it too far and blame you for things that genuinely were not in your control.

Stakeholders are known for pressuring their project managers and teams. Other issues may have come up, and theyd like to shift some of the budget they agreed to invest in the project somewhere else. And they may want you to finish ahead of time, despite signing off on the months of work that you estimated the project would take. Maybe they want to add some additional features to the scope without increasing the budgets for time and money appropriately.

Staying organized in terms of time can also be difficult for a PM. Once the schedule starts to slip, its not always easy to get it back where it needs to be. Youre also responsible for organizing the work, and some tasks must be completed before the next one begins, which may cause headaches when your resources arent available as expected. How can those tasks be completed effectively, so the project moves on to the next phase in time?

Did any of these issues resonate with you? If so, youve come to the right place! This book is intended for project managers to elevate their game and create solutions for their problems. Youll learn key elements of being a project manager, along with step-by-step methods for improving in the areas where you need help. Some of these are based on leadership fundamentals, like communication and collaboration; others are focused on the technical skills required for the projects management.

This book is not necessarily about the technical skills that your team members will bring along with them, though you will see me promoting the idea of learning the basics of a project teams tasks. We will be discussing more about the skills specific to management and not the underlying functional knowledge that your team players will bring.

In addition to benefiting you as a PM, how does knowing how to be an effective project manager help others? Being effective is a huge part of making the project successful. Youre more likely to bring projects in on time and at the expected costs, which makes you more likely to complete the project successfully and satisfy the stakeholders. Your effectiveness means that their expectations have been met, and theyre pleased with the results you delivered.

Your absorption of this material is also to the advantage of your project team(s). When youre doing your job well, theyre freed up to do their best work as well. If the environment you provide them is healthy, their morale will be higher, and they will be more productive and willing to go the extra mile for you.

When you, as the PM, understand where you should prioritize your work, look out for potential threats to project completion that are looming on the horizon, and how best to communicate with all those involved on the project. If you do so, everyone will be happier with the results.

Being more effective on your projects has personal benefits for you as a PM. Project managers who can bring in projects consistently and according to schedule and budget are rock stars in the project management world. Clients will want to hire you because they will notice your successful track record. Besides, youll enjoy your work more since the daily tasks wont seem so difficult. Once you can get the project onto a consistent schedule, and all the team members and stakeholders are moving in the same direction, projects wont be as difficult to complete. You can then enjoy yourself and still get an excellent job done.

Effective PMs can remove a lot of pressure. Youll still probably run into your share of stakeholders who just want to squeeze what they believe is a quick upgrade into your meticulously constructed framework. However, once everyone is on your side, there will be much less external pressure, and clients will be more willing to give you the benefit of the doubt.

The more projects you work on, the more you can boost your career. New projects mean a wealth of lessons and experiences that will multiply your level of expertise exponentially. Ill show you how to spot these ideas and leverage them to your own benefit.

Finally, youll develop winning teams that are rock stars in project management. Theyll want to work with you in the future because an effective PM leads their team in a way that makes it a joy to work on projects. They will also, naturally, give their best in return. Theyll respect you, not only for your success, but also for understanding their jobs and how you let them work most effectively. We know that people are happier at work when they have some control over it, so to the extent you can empower team members to accomplish their jobs, the better it will be for their morale.