So you are a Project Manager – a job description

Congratulations, you have landed the job as Project Manager, ok so now what? As a Project Manager your Job description will be as varied as the projects that you will be managing.

Simply put, as a project manager you are responsible for the successful completion of you project. But in reality you are responsible for the planning a project and seeing that it is completed successfully, within the given deadline, using limited resources and money. You will need to have excellent management skills to coordinate with the entire team and also with the clients, stakeholders and management. Let us look at some of the key qualifications, skills and responsibilities required to become a project manager.

Qualifications
 
1 You will need tertiary education qualifications, usually in the field you will be acting as a Project Manager.
2 Several years experience as working for a project manager, including taking on some of the roles of a Project Manager.
Skills

1 Excellent organisational and planning skills.
2 Strong leadership qualities.
3 Excellent communication, verbal and written, skills.

Responsibilities

1 Overall leadership for the project while maintaining the focus on achieving results efficiently and safely.
2 Liaison with the Client with the development and presentation of project plans, progress reports and obtaining the client’s formal acceptance of the final product.
3 The development, maintenance and monitoring of project plans.
4 The coordination and efficient use of project resources.
5 Liaison with the management staff to ensure their performance is consistent with the aims of the project.
6 Reporting to the Client and Management of financial, technical and schedules.
7 Effective Issue and Risk management.
8 Management of subcontractors and suppliers.
9 Coaching and development of employees under your direct control.

Key Competencies and Skills

As the job of a project manager carries a lot of responsibilities, you need to have many key important skills. Two most important skills required to be a successful project manager are planning and organization skills. Along with these two, the project manager should have at least the following competencies as well.

• Financial management skills.
• Good communication (verbal and written) and interpersonal skills.
• Excellent business management and developmental skills.
• Leadership qualities and team management skills.
• Ability to resolve conflicting situations.
• Computer or technical knowledge.
• Effective problem solving skills.

Cost Management \ Tracking

You have won the project and it is time to start. You have all the documentation including the Estimating Spreadsheets, now what?

Regardless of scope or schedule, how simple or complex a project is, you need to track and manage the cost expenditure on your project. For example if you don’t and your project comes in on time but it has costed 50% more and this cost is not recoverable then your project has failed from the company’s point of view (not the clients). You have made a loss of the project and the money needs to come from some where and will usually the company’s overall profit.

So how do I keep an eye on my project?

How do we know what a project is costing us and how much we have left to spend? You have a number of different options.

On a small project that is for example only 10 days, you may elect to use a spreadsheet where you track labour and materials. On a major project you will most likely have regular contact with your Contracts Administrator. You can review project cost summary reports from Pronto to keep an eye on how much money you are spending.

But remember, these reports are only as accurate as the information you, the Project Manager, provide. All labour timesheets, material expenditure and any scope changes or variations need to be accurately kept in all instances.

Don’t forget to keep an eye on all those hidden costs, like smoko room supplies, the petty cash purchases and any sub-contractor costs. There is also the cost of IT infrastructure for the project as well that needs to be taken into account.

Did you know that one of the major reasons for project cost failure is undocumented scope changes or variations? By undocumented, I mean that you have not requested or received in writing from the client notification of the scope change or variation and that the client has agreed to pay for the extra work and materials. This simply means you are performing extra work without being paid for it. I will covering variations in the next couple of weeks.

So what about the maths?

Here are some basic calculations you can perform to get an idea on how you are tracking against the estimates. This is based the variance on estimated expenditure against actual expenditure and can be done on a weekly basis for a small project or on a monthly basis for large projects.  I have also included the calculations the total project as well.

Calculating a Monthly Variance:

Monthly Estimated Expenses – Actual Expenses = Variance
Variance Amount / Monthly Estimate x 100 = Variance Percentage

Calculating a Total Project Variance:

Project Estimated Expenses – Actual Expenses = Variance
Variance Amount / Project Estimate x 100 = Variance Percentage
 
So what do these variance figures mean anyway?

If you have a positive variance this indicates that you are under the estimate, but this is not necessarily a good thing. When project expenses are less than expected, this may be a sign that the project is not proceeding according to plan, and may be behind schedule. In addition, a positive variance may be a sign of ineffective cost capturing.  On the other hand, this under budget condition may be the result of legitimate changes, discounts, or other cost saving measures either case this should be highlighted in your next project status report.

If you have a negative variance this indicates that the project is over budget.  Depending upon whether the negative variance is at a monthly or overall project level, this variance may be the result of serious project problems, such as excessive changes, schedule delays or ineffective budgeting.  If the negative variance is on a monthly level, but the overall project is on track, there may not be an immediate cause for concern but should be highlighted in your next project status report.