Week 2: Becoming an effective project manager

Introduction

A project manager is responsible for the planning, execution, and completion of a project. They work with a team of people to ensure that the project is completed on time, within budget, and to the required quality standards.

To be an effective project manager, you need to have a variety of skills and knowledge. These include:

• Communication skills: You need to be able to communicate effectively with a variety of people, including stakeholders, team members, and vendors.
• Problem-solving skills: You need to be able to identify and solve problems that arise during the course of a project.
• Leadership skills: You need to be able to motivate and inspire your team to achieve the project goals.
• Organizational skills: You need to be able to manage multiple tasks and deadlines simultaneously.
• Technical skills: You need to have a basic understanding of the project’s technical aspects.

Becoming an effective project manager

There are many ways to become an effective project manager. Here are a few tips:

• Get certified: There are many project management certifications available. Getting certified can demonstrate your skills and knowledge to potential employers.
• Gain experience: The best way to learn project management is by doing it. Get involved in projects at work or volunteer for projects in your community.
• Read books and articles: There are many resources available to help you learn about project management. Read books, articles, and blogs to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and best practices.
• Network with other project managers: Connect with other project managers online and in person. This is a great way to learn from others and get advice.
• Take online courses: There are many online courses available that can teach you the basics of project management.

Conclusion

Becoming an effective project manager takes time and effort. But if you are willing to put in the work, it can be a rewarding career. By following the tips above, you can increase your chances of becoming a successful project manager.

Here are some additional tips for becoming an effective project manager:

• Be flexible and adaptable. Things don’t always go according to plan, so you need to be able to adjust your plans as needed.
• Be a good listener. Listen to the needs of your team members and stakeholders.
• Be positive and enthusiastic. Your attitude can have a big impact on the success of your project.
• Be patient. Project management is a complex process, so it takes time to get things right.

If you are willing to learn and grow, you can become an effective project manager and make a real difference in the world.

Welcome back. Let’s start by reviewing what we’ve
discussed so far. Earlier, you were introduced to project management
as a career path. We discussed how this
course can help you advance your career goals with a project management
certification. We also discussed some of the basics of project management, like how to define a project and its
different components. Then, we went over some distinct project
management careers, roles, and responsibilities. Now it’s time to gain a deeper understanding of
a project manager’s role. By the end of this module, you’ll be able to explain the unique value a project
manager brings to their team. You’ll also be able to describe a project manager’s roles
and responsibilities, and list their core skills. This course will
help you continue to recognize the skills that you already have that will help you become a successful
project manager. It will also help you identify new skills that you may need to learn in preparation
for your new career. Ready? Let’s get started.

A project manager is responsible for the planning, execution, and completion of a project. They work with a team of people to ensure that the project is completed on time, within budget, and to the required quality standards.

Project managers add value to their teams and organizations in many ways. Here are some of the most important:

• They help to ensure that projects are completed on time and within budget. Project managers have the skills and experience to plan and execute projects efficiently. They can identify and mitigate risks, and they can make sure that the project stays on track.
• They improve communication and collaboration. Project managers are responsible for communicating with all stakeholders, including team members, clients, and managers. They create and maintain a clear and concise communication plan, and they resolve any communication issues that arise.
• They resolve problems and make decisions. Project managers are trained to identify and solve problems. They have the authority to make decisions that are in the best interests of the project.
• They motivate and inspire team members. Project managers create a positive and productive work environment. They motivate team members to achieve their goals, and they help them to overcome challenges.
• They build and manage teams. Project managers are responsible for assembling and managing a team of people with the skills and experience necessary to complete the project. They create a sense of teamwork and collaboration, and they help to resolve conflicts.

The value of a project manager is clear. They are essential to the success of any project. If you are looking for a career in project management, there are many opportunities available. With the right skills and experience, you can make a significant contribution to your team and organization.

Here are some additional tips for becoming a valuable project manager:

• Be organized and efficient. Project managers need to be able to keep track of multiple tasks and deadlines. They also need to be able to manage their time effectively.
• Be a good communicator. Project managers need to be able to communicate effectively with all stakeholders, including team members, clients, and managers. They need to be able to clearly explain complex ideas and to resolve any communication issues that arise.
• Be a problem solver. Project managers need to be able to identify and solve problems. They need to be able to think critically and creatively, and they need to be able to make quick decisions.
• Be a motivator and leader. Project managers need to be able to motivate and inspire team members. They need to create a positive and productive work environment, and they need to be able to resolve conflicts.
• Be willing to learn and grow. Project management is a constantly evolving field. Project managers need to be willing to learn new things and to adapt to change.

If you can develop these skills and qualities, you will be well on your way to becoming a valuable project manager.

How do project managers use prioritization to add value to their team?

They determine which tasks are the most critical to the success of the project.

After identifying tasks and breaking them down into smaller steps, project managers prioritize these tasks by speaking with their teams and with stakeholders to gather information and make a plan.

Earlier in this course, we introduced you to the
world of project management. We discussed how project
management spans industries and
companies of all kinds, from large corporations
to small businesses. Now let’s define what a
project manager is and describe how they add value to their teams and organizations. Let’s start with the definition. Project managers
shepherd projects from start to finish and serve
as guides for their team, using their impeccable
organizational and interpersonal skills
every step of the way. As you learned earlier, project managers usually follow a process that involves
planning and organizing, managing tasks, budgeting,
and controlling costs so that the project can be completed within the
approved timeframe. We’ll dig deeper
into these topics throughout this program. What you need to know
right now is that project managers play a crucial role in
their organizations. Project managers add value to their teams and organizations in key ways that
include prioritization, delegation, and
effective communication. So let’s break these down. First, we’ll discuss
prioritization. Project managers add value to their teams and
organizations through effective prioritization of tasks required to complete a project. They’re experts at helping
team members identify and break down large tasks
into smaller steps. There’ll be times when
a project manager may not know which
task to prioritize. To determine which
ones are the most critical to the success
of the project, they’ll connect with
their teams and with stakeholders to gather
information and make a plan. Stakeholders are people
who are interested in and affected by the project’s
completion and success, like the leader of
an organization. You’ve probably
used prioritization to complete work in the past. In any kind of project, personal or professional, there are tasks with different
levels of priority. For example, let’s imagine
that you’ve decided to rent a house and plan
to repaint the rooms. You’ve picked out your paint and you’re eager to get started. While it may be tempting to
start painting right away, you’ll need to prioritize
tasks like laying out drop cloths to protect
the floors and furniture, applying blue tape to the
rooms’ edges, and much more. Those preliminary steps are critical and need to
come before painting. Other related steps, like choosing new face plates for your light
switches, can come later in the process or be switched out of the project entirely if you
run out of time or money. When you choose to take care of these preliminary steps before wedging open the paint can, you’re prioritizing the tasks
or steps of your project. You’re also increasing the
likelihood that you’ll be satisfied with your
newly-painted rooms. This process is similar
for professional projects. When you effectively
prioritize important tasks, you set up your team and yourself for a better
project outcome. Now, let’s discuss delegation. Project managers use delegation to add value to their teams and organizations by matching tasks to individuals who can
best complete the work. Let’s return to our house painting example
for a second here. Painting multiple rooms can
be a time-consuming project, so it’s possible that you might enlist a few friends to
help you get it done. Maybe one friend has professional
painting experience. Now, with that in mind, you might ask her to handle the more challenging
aspects of the project, like painting the ceiling
or the detailed molding. You might also
schedule her to paint the molding before another
friend paints the walls. So by delegating this task
to the person with the right skills to complete the work and ordering
the task appropriately, you’re applying knowledge of your team’s strengths to the
planning of your project. That makes sense, right? Finally, let’s talk about effective
communication. Project managers deliver value through effective
communication, both with their team and
with key stakeholders. This refers to being transparent, which means being up
front with plans and ideas and making information
readily available. Project managers keep in regular contact with their
team about the progress of the work and help identify areas where a teammate
may need support. In our house painting example, this might involve checking in with your friends periodically to ask if they have enough paint or supplies left to
complete their tasks. Checking in regularly means
you’ll know if you need to buy more paint before
the can is empty, which ensures that the
project stays on track. In addition to keeping
up with teammates, project managers keep in regular contact with people
outside of the team, like company leaders who are invested in the project outcomes. For example, you might reach
out to your landlord to get permission to paint and to share the days you’ll be
working on this project. Though your landlord isn’t directly involved in
the project’s execution, the outcomes will
affect her property and so it’s important
to keep her informed. Without your project
management skills, you might run out of paint
halfway through the project, your walls might
get painted without drop cloths to
protect the floors, and your landlord could be caught off guard
about your plans. So it’s a good thing you’re
here to keep the project running smoothly and efficiently. Great. Now you should
be able to define what a project manager is and explain how they
use prioritization, delegation, and
effective communication to deliver value to
their organizations. Coming up, you’ll hear
about the career path of a real life project
manager at Google. Their journey to me is fascinating and we can’t
wait to share it with you.

My name is JuAnne. I’m a Senior Program
Manager at Google. I’m a first-generation
Chinese American. My family and I came to the United States
when I was young. My parents worked really
hard when I was growing up and I spent a lot
of time by myself, basically just having
to take care of myself; planning my meals,
doing my homework, taking care of chores. I feel like I got a little bit of my program management skills from just being really organized, having to be really
organized all the time. My path to being a
project manager really started as a business
systems analyst. I was writing requirements or gathering requirements
for our customers and translating them
into documentation for our engineers so that
they could implement it. Through that process, I
became a project manager. I started to manage
the timelines, manage the tasks,
understand all the pieces, and who needed to be involved. There you go, you have
a project manager. I think the funnest
part about being a project manager is really
working with people. You get to meet all
different kinds of people, different
personalities. Sometimes you get
to travel to places to meet them but
even when you don’t, just meeting new people and understanding
how we interact, how people interact and
behave is fascinating. I think if you build
a relationship, focus on the relationship, and really understand
what their style, where they’re coming from, what their concerns are, it will help your working
relationship much better. You can communicate with them in the style
that’s necessary. You can work with them in the style that’s
more receptive to them and that would just make the project
better all around.

Navigating the Helm: A Guide to Project Manager Roles and Responsibilities

Being a project manager means wearing many hats. From orchestrating timelines to navigating budgets, you guide diverse teams towards achieving project goals. But what exactly does this multifaceted role entail? Let’s dive into the core responsibilities of a project manager and explore how you can masterfully tackle them:

1. Charting the Course: Planning and Organizing

• Project Blueprint: You’ll be the architect, crafting project plans that define objectives, scope, tasks, and timelines. Tools like Gantt charts and project management software become your allies in visualizing workflows and dependencies.
• Process Architect: Streamline communication and collaboration by establishing clear working procedures. Utilize tools like document templates and online workspaces to keep everyone on the same page.
• Documentation Maestro: Maintain meticulous records, from schedules and budgets to meeting minutes and task updates. These documents are your roadmap, ensuring transparency and accountability throughout the project journey.

2. Mindful Navigator: Budgeting and Cost Control

• Financial Guardian: You’ll be the steward of the project’s finances, allocating resources and monitoring budget adherence. Track expenses closely, identifying and addressing any deviations before they derail the project.
• Risk Tamer: Unforeseen obstacles are inevitable. By identifying potential risks and devising mitigation strategies, you proactively minimize their impact on budget and timeline.
• Resource Alchemist: Resource scarcity can throw a wrench in the works. Be resourceful, leveraging existing tools and negotiating for additional resources when needed, to keep the project afloat.

3. Task Conductor: Managing the Team’s Symphony

• Task Maestro: Break down project goals into manageable tasks, assigning them to team members based on their skills and workload. Utilize agile methodologies like Kanban boards to track progress and identify bottlenecks.
• Motivational Catalyst: Foster a collaborative and productive environment. Keep the team informed and engaged, recognizing their achievements and providing timely support to overcome challenges.
• Stakeholder Liaison: Bridge the gap between the project team and stakeholders. Communicate progress clearly, address concerns, and manage expectations to ensure everyone is aligned towards the shared goal.

4. Real-World Example: Building a Dream Website

Imagine you’re managing the development of a new company website. Your responsibilities might include:

• Planning: Creating a project plan outlining website features, content requirements, and launch date.
• Budgeting: Allocating resources for design, development, and hosting, and monitoring expenses throughout the project.
• Task Management: Assigning tasks to designers, developers, and content writers, tracking progress through online tools.
• Communication: Collaborating with the team, addressing stakeholder queries, and providing regular progress updates.

5. Beyond the Basics: Expanding Your Toolkit

• Technical Savvy: Familiarity with project management software, communication platforms, and basic data analysis tools is increasingly valuable.
• Negotiation Skills: Negotiating with vendors, securing resources, and advocating for your team’s needs are crucial negotiation skills.
• Leadership Acumen: Inspire and motivate your team, foster collaboration, and handle conflicts effectively to create a thriving project environment.

Remember, successful project management is a constant dance between planning, execution, and adaptation. By mastering these core responsibilities and continuously honing your skills, you’ll navigate the project landscape with confidence, leading your team towards achieving remarkable results!

This is just a starting point. Feel free to expand on specific areas, add personal anecdotes, or include resources for further learning to create a comprehensive and engaging tutorial on project manager roles and responsibilities.

Which day-to-day responsibility of a project manager includes maintaining timelines and schedules to track project completion?

Planning and organizing

As a project manager, you will use timelines and schedules to ensure your team completes the project on time.

Welcome back. I hope you enjoyed that last
story because for me, it’s always helpful to hear about someone else’s career path. Maybe you even noticed a few parallels between their
career path and your own, or you felt inspired to pursue a specific area of
project management. So far we’ve discussed
the types of project management roles
you’ll be qualified for, and how to search for them. Earlier, we discussed
the value that project managers bring to their teams and
their organizations. Now let’s learn more
about the roles and responsibilities of
a project manager. Earlier you learned that project management is the
application of knowledge, skills, tools, and techniques to meet the project requirements and achieve the desired outcome. How does that actually happen?
That’s where you come in. Project managers usually
follow a process that involves planning and
organizing, managing tasks, budgeting, and controlling
costs, and other factors, so that the project can
be completed within the approved budget
and timeframe. Let’s break these
down into examples of responsibilities that you might find in a job listing for a project
management role. We’ll start with
planning and organizing. One responsibility
that falls under the umbrella of
planning and organizing is making use of
productivity tools and creating processes. During the planning and
execution of a project, you might need to
use certain tools and develop processes to improve information
sharing across the team; you may also need to create
plans, timelines, schedules, and other forms of documentation to track project completion, and you’ll usually
need to maintain those documents throughout
the entirety of the project. The next task is budgeting and controlling
costs, and other factors. As the project is underway, changes to the plan and budget are bound to come up. Believe me. This will require you to
monitor and manage the budget, track issues and
risks as they arise, and manage quality by mitigating
those issues and risks. One way to do this is by removing unforeseen
barriers that come up. Now, by barriers, we mean things that can get in the way
of project progress. For example, if your teammates lack the resources needed
to complete a task, you might identify that
issue, or barrier upfront, escalate the issue
to a stakeholder, and work to secure the resource so your team can move forward. Another huge piece of the project manager’s
role is managing tasks. A project task is an
activity that needs to be accomplished within a set
period of time by you, your team, or your stakeholders. Keeping track of tasks
is a great way to help manage the team’s workload and ensure that things
are getting done. Keeping track of tasks is also a great tool
for demonstrating progress to people outside the immediate team,
like your stakeholders. Back when I was a program manager in Student Development
here at Google, one of our goals was to create pathways for students
who identify with communities that are underrepresented in the
technology industry. A large part of my day-to-day responsibilities
involved working with two separate engineering teams to create our
technical curriculum. To manage the tasks
associated with this project, I created separate
project trackers for each team that outline the
vision for the curriculum. These trackers kept both teams in the loop about the
timeline for delivery, the categories and
subcategories for work, and the team members
assigned to each task, I also made sure to update our stakeholders every
step of the way. By actively managing tasks throughout the
project lifecycle, I was able to keep tabs
on everyone’s work and efficiently
inform stakeholders, which allowed us to achieve our project goal
with minimal issues. Nice job. Now you should
be able to describe the roles and responsibilities
of a project manager. Coming up, we’ll discuss a project manager’s role
within the extended team, including how to work
alongside the people tasked with executing the
project. Catch you in a bit.

Mastermind of the Team: Unveiling the Project Manager’s Role

Ever wondered how diverse teams seamlessly align towards a common goal? The secret sauce often lies in the hands of the project manager, the conductor harmonizing individual efforts into a unified melody of success. But what exactly does this conductor do? Let’s delve into the intricate dance of the project manager within the team:

From Solo Act to Ensemble:

Unlike the traditional “boss” image, project managers rarely hold direct authority over team members. Their role is a collaborative masterpiece, guiding and supporting individuals with diverse expertise. Imagine a team building a website: the designer crafts the visual canvas, the developer breathes life into its functionality, and the content writer weaves engaging narratives. The project manager, instead of micromanaging each step, ensures everyone has the tools, resources, and support to excel in their domain.

Orchestrating Harmony:

This orchestration involves multiple facets:

• Task Maestro: Dividing project goals into manageable tasks, assigning them based on individual strengths, and fostering ownership is key. Think of it as creating a musical score, each team member playing their own instrument flawlessly.
• Accountability Enforcer: Keeping track of progress, ensuring deadlines are met, and gently nudging when needed creates a culture of responsibility. Imagine the conductor providing a steady rhythm, keeping everyone in sync.
• Risk Tamer: Anticipating hurdles, devising mitigation strategies, and navigating unforeseen challenges requires foresight and agility. Picture the conductor adjusting the tempo to navigate sudden gusts of inspiration or unexpected technical snags.
• Communication Catalyst: Fostering open communication, bridging gaps between team members and stakeholders, and ensuring everyone is on the same page are crucial. Imagine the conductor communicating the overall vision, ensuring harmonious collaboration between sections of the orchestra.

Collaboration Beyond the Spotlight:

The project manager doesn’t exist in a silo. They actively collaborate with:

• Team leads: Providing guidance and support to navigate team dynamics and optimize performance.
• Stakeholders: Keeping clients, investors, and other interested parties informed, managing expectations, and securing resources.
• Cross-functional teams: Coordinating with other departments like marketing or finance to ensure project goals align with the broader organizational vision.

Beyond the Notes: Essential Skills for a Successful Conductor:

• Leadership: Inspire and motivate your team, build trust, and create a positive work environment.
• Communication: Master clear, concise, and empathetic communication both within and outside the team.
• Organization: Juggle multiple tasks, prioritize effectively, and stay on top of deadlines.
• Problem-solving: Think creatively, navigate challenges, and find solutions under pressure.
• Technical aptitude: Understand basic project management tools and methodologies.

Embrace the Symphony:

Remember, the project manager’s role is not about wielding a baton, but about creating an environment where each team member thrives, their unique talents blending to create a masterpiece. By mastering the art of collaboration, communication, and proactive problem-solving, you can lead your team towards project success, transforming from single notes into a harmonious symphony of achievement.

This is just a starting point. Feel free to expand on specific responsibilities, include personal anecdotes, or add real-world examples to personalize and enrich your tutorial. Remember, the goal is to empower aspiring project managers to understand their role within the team and embrace the collaborative magic of bringing diverse talents together to achieve remarkable results!

What is the project manager responsible for on a team?

Guides the team and makes sure they have the support that they need

Project managers are responsible for guiding the team. To do that well, they need to ensure that the team has the support they need to complete the project.

Hey and welcome back. Earlier you learned more about
the responsibilities of a project manager. And while it might seem like a lot to keep
track of, it’s important to know that you, as the project manager won’t need
to do everything on your own. Let’s discuss the role of
the project manager and how that role relates to other
roles within the project team. It’s easier to hear the term manager and
immediately think of your boss. But a project manager is not
often the direct manager of the people working on a project team. Here, we’re discussing the project
manager as someone who manages the tasks of a project. But what does that really mean, right? Well, although you might have a few
teammates working with you on a project, you’re probably not their day-to-day boss. With the help of your team,
you can get a lot more done together. Everyone on your team will have their
own set of roles and responsibilities. And you’ll come together to ensure that
everyone is able to do their part to advance the project. Each person will be an expert on their
portion of the project, but no one will be an expert on every aspect of the project,
and honestly, neither will you. For instance, the graphic designer
will focus on graphic design, but probably won’t be an expert
on copywriting. Similarly, you’ll be an expert on project management,
but may not be an expert on marketing. Here’s another way to think about it.
Imagine that you’re organizing a camping trip. You might be the person in
charge of planning the trip, but that doesn’t mean you have to be a camping
expert. Maybe you’ve never been camping before, but your partner grew up
spending every summer by the campfire. In that case, you might assign them the task
of picking out the right number and style of tents for your group. So, in this example, you are planning
the trip by giving your partner the job of finding the right
number of tents and the right size tents to make
sure everyone is covered. You aren’t doing the research or
the task yourself, but you’re making sure that
things are getting done. It’s similar in the workplace.
As the project manager, you won’t be an expert in every
project role, and that’s okay. As we said, your job isn’t to
be the expert on everything. Instead you’re responsible for
guiding your team and making sure that they have the support that they need
in order to complete the project. So how does a project manager go about
doing that? Let’s discuss using a few more examples of the required responsibilities
you might find in a job listing. First, you’ll need to hold all
team members accountable for their assigned tasks. Managing tasks
will help you hold your team members accountable by giving them ownership
over specific pieces of the project. Second, you’ll need to ensure that
issues and risks are tracked and visible, and
be able to establish escalation paths. Now by escalation paths, I mean that you
should know how you will communicate risks to the right people at the right time. Third, you’ll need to understand and help teammates adopt the right workflows
and project management styles. As the project manager, you’ll likely have
the best idea of which style is best for the work. It’s your job to ensure that
the team adheres to that style and the other systems in place. And fourth, you’ll need to collaborate
with other teams at the organization to meet the requirements based on project,
scope, schedule, and budget. In other words, a project may
affect not only your team, but other teams at an organization,
as well as, say, the marketing or the finance team. So you’ll need to work
with those teams to ensure that everyone is happy with the project outcomes.
You’ll learn more about working with other stakeholders in a later course.
Catch all that? Let’s recap. You learned that a project manager isn’t
always the direct manager of each member of the project team. Rather, they’re
responsible for guiding those people and ensuring they have the support
they need to complete the project. Now that you have a good sense of
the way that a project manager fits into the project team,
let’s move a little bit ahead, where we’ll discuss the types of skills
that a project manager needs to succeed. Meet you there.

A great project manager is
some funky combination of EMT, ninja, and jazz musician. An EMT who can show up on a
scene that’s full of chaos, figure out what
needs to happen now, triage all of the things on site, and then develop a
plan of action while also participating
in that action. A ninja, because you have to be stealth about how you go about
influencing other people. Overt action or pushing people too hard isn’t necessarily
received well. A jazz musician,
particularly a jazz drummer, who keeps a steady beat as a lot of things are
happening around you. On a team, you’re
going to be surrounded by a bunch of talented people. A trombone player, a bass player, a trumpet player, a pianist, and you, keeping the beat and making sure that
everybody is working in time. I spend most of my days
with my product and engineering counterparts
talking a lot about strategy, updating status to
key stakeholders, and trying to figure out what
comes next for our product. Some things about
my job never change from this day to
my very first day. The fact that I communicate with a lot of people in a day, a lot of different
types of people, from engineers to product
managers to partnerships, to sales and marketing, all of that’s the same. The biggest difference is the number of people
that I communicate with, and the complexity of
the topics I cover. The most important thing
for you to keep in mind is staying organized. The more organized you
are in your actions, the more organized your team is in their thinking
and their actions. What I do to stay organized
is lists, all day long. I have post-it notes, I have electronic lists, I have lists in e-mails, and those lists
help me stay on top of what actions
need to happen now, what actions need to happen next, and which I can put off
for a few more days. I do use lists to
help manage my time. I think one of the
things my lists are most important for is making sure I know what
needs to be done today. Then, once my list is made and I’m sure of what needs
to be done today, I budget time for those things. A stand-up is a quick meeting, usually at the start of the day, but you can have
them at any time. My stand-ups usually happened in the morning around
9:30 or 10:00 o’clock, depending on when the
engineering team got in. They lasted for about 15 minutes so that we were clear on what had gotten done the day
before and what was on the docket
to get done today. Then we usually checked in again quickly around lunch to
make sure that people were still on track or ran into any technical issues that might require a longer time
to finish the task. I think the thing that makes
me a great project manager is a bias to action
and resilience. One of my favorite phrases, is pick it and stick it. In part because I think
it’s important to make a decision to
get yourself unstuck, to follow through on that action, learn some things
and decide to take a new action once you’ve
learned something. The latter half of
that is resilience. I’m resilient and my
teams are resilient. If we’ve taken a bad action, we’ve learned that we can learn and change our mind
with new information. I’m Elita, a Senior Engineering Program
Manager at Google.

Project Management Core Skills Tutorial:

Introduction:

• Welcome participants and introduce the importance of mastering core project management skills.
• Briefly cover the role of a project manager and its significance in achieving project goals.

Essential Skills:

1. Enabling Decision-Making:
   • Explain the importance of facilitating informed decisions within the team.
   • Discuss techniques for gathering information and insights from stakeholders.
   • Demonstrate using data analysis and feedback to guide decision-making processes.
   • Practice scenarios where participants make choices based on presented data.
2. Communication and Escalation:
   • Highlight the vital role of communication in every aspect of project management.
   • Explore various communication channels and tools (e.g., emails, meetings, reports).
   • Address effective written and verbal communication techniques.
   • Role-play communication scenarios, including escalating risks and issues to stakeholders.
3. Flexibility and Adaptability:
   • Emphasize the inevitability of changes in project execution.
   • Discuss proactive approaches to adapt to unpredictable situations.
   • Practice brainstorming contingency plans for common project challenges.
   • Conduct exercises on prioritizing tasks and adjusting timelines with flexibility.
4. Strong Organizational Skills:
   • Introduce the importance of structure and systems in project management.
   • Explore various project management methodologies and tools (e.g., Gantt charts, Kanban boards).
   • Discuss techniques for task management, resource allocation, and documentation control.
   • Encourage participants to share their preferred organizational methods and tools.

Additional Skill Development:

• Briefly introduce knowledge areas beneficial for project managers (e.g., risk management, budgeting).
• Discuss the importance of staying updated on industry trends and best practices.
• Recommend resources for further learning and skill development (e.g., courses, certifications).

Conclusion:

• Recap the importance of the four core skills for successful project management.
• Briefly discuss how these skills contribute to team dynamics and project success.
• Encourage participants to apply and continuously improve their core skills in real-world projects.
• Provide opportunities for questions and feedback to ensure a comprehensive learning experience.

Bonus Materials:

• Case studies or simulations where participants can apply the learned skills.
• Templates and checklists for specific project management tasks.
• List of recommended project management software and tools.

Remember to tailor the tutorial to your audience’s experience level and specific needs. This framework provides a starting point for an engaging and informative session on Project Management Core Skills.

Hey, and welcome back. Now that you’ve learned
about the roles and responsibilities of
a project manager, let’s discuss the core skill sets that a project manager
should bring to the role. While there are lots
of different skills a project manager can
bring to their role, there are four specific
skill sets that we think can help a project
manager be successful. Those are enabling
decision-making, communicating and
escalating, flexibility, and strong organizational skills. First, let’s talk about
enabling decision-making. The ability to enable
decision-making on the team, or gathering decisions from
the appropriate leader, is crucial to keep projects on task and achieve their goals. Lots of the day-to-day
decisions within a project will likely fall to you and your teammates to
discuss and agree on. You’ll ensure that
projects stay on schedule by gathering
information from teammates and using
those insights to help the team make
informed decisions. You’ll also make sure
that those decisions are communicated to the
necessary coworkers, whether that’s the immediate
team or company leaders. For example, you might provide relevant data or feedback to help your teammates make an informed decision between
choice A and choice B. The second skill is
communicating and escalating. As a project manager, you’ll use your
communication skills in just about everything you do. This might look like
documenting plans, sending emails about the
status of the project, or holding a meeting to escalate risks or
issues to stakeholders. The third skill is flexibility. As a project manager, knowing how to be flexible when changes are needed is key. Plans definitively will change, even with careful
upfront planning. For example, maybe the goals
of your company change, or maybe a member of your team unexpectedly takes a new
position at another company. A good project manager knows
that unpredictable moments like these are almost
always guaranteed. A quote we love
here at Google is, “The only constant is
change,” and that’s true. By staying cool under pressure, you’ll be able to adjust while helping your team stay calm, too. Finally, a successful
project manager needs strong
organizational skills. As you learned earlier, the role of a project
manager requires using a lot of different processes to
keep the project on track. Having strong
organizational skills means having the
ability to organize these processes and
the core elements of a project to ensure nothing
gets lost or overlooked, which trust me, can
and does happen. To prevent this, you might
decide to track daily tasks in a spreadsheet or send frequent status
updates or reminders. There are many ways to stay organized and hone your
organizational skills, and we’ll talk more about
them throughout the program. To recap, decision-making, communicating and
escalating, flexibility, and strong organizational
skills are four core skill sets that are essential to successful
project management. You can continue to build on these skills by
becoming familiar with industry knowledge that applies to most project management roles. Knowledge of helpful
tools and templates and familiarity with popular
project management styles like Waterfall and
Agile, can help you organize and document the project throughout
its lifecycle. We’ll learn about these
throughout this program. Hopefully, you feel better
equipped to explain the core skills a project manager should bring to the role. These skills really help enforce team morale and accountability for the tasks of a project. We’ll discuss this
coming up. See you soon.

My name is Rachel, I’m a Senior Program Manager
in Google, New York. Google hired me out of a bar in the East Village
about 12 years ago. For about three years, a group of NY Ops and SRE,
drank at my bar. Like everyone at the bar, they asked the
bartender for advice. I gave them advice and helped them through
a lot of problems, and I also became
friends with them. I really admired them, they
were incredibly smart and charming and really good
drinkers, and tippers. Eventually, I wanted something
different for my life. I’ve been standing behind
a bar all night long, and there was an opportunity to apply for an admin
role in their team. So, I joined Google in 2008. They hired me first
as an Administrator for Site Reliability and Engineering Ops in New York City. After about two years, I transferred into
Program Management. Google’s hiring is a little
more conventional now, but the skills that I
polished while being a bartender informed
my everyday work. A wise old bartender that I knew in the lower East side
once told me that, “A bar was a room full of tables and chairs and some beer, and a meeting room was the same, a room full of tables and chairs. People come into a bar
like they come into a meeting room wanting to
leave feeling something else.” As a program manager, my job was to help people
through that experience, the aesthetic experience of
meeting with each other, making decisions, and coming
to conclusions together. Very similar to bartending and helping people
have a better night. My role as a program manager started by someone
taking a risk on me. My engineering partner
picked me out of the admin pool
because he knew that I could build a community
with these engineers. When you work in a bar, you have to talk to anyone
who comes into the bar. Anyone who walks through
that door is your customer. You have to understand
what they want, what they want to drink, whether they can
continue drinking, whether they might
be done drinking, all of these things. When you are working with a subject matter
expert, an engineer, a product designer, a UX person, the same things apply. You have to be able to talk
to any engineer on your team, any product manager
you need to work with, and you have to understand
their unique needs. Program Management
isn’t just about the process and the
artifacts that you create, it’s about how you
relate to people. Understanding what you’ve learned in other parts of your life, whether it was in a
bar or art school, these are the
experiences that you bring into the job that
make your work unique. Your skills, talking to people or de-escalating conflict or
understanding what people need. This is what makes you a
great program manager.

Building Relationships and Influencing without Authority in Project Management Tutorial

Introduction:

• Briefly introduce the roles and responsibilities of a project manager.
• Highlight the importance of interpersonal skills in building relationships and influencing team members.
• Emphasize the concept of “influencing without authority” and its relevance in project management.

Key Skills for Building Relationships:

1. Effective Communication:
   • Discuss active listening techniques, clear and concise communication, and providing constructive feedback.
   • Practice role-playing scenarios where the project manager communicates with team members about tasks, deadlines, and concerns.
   • Introduce and discuss written communication strategies for emails, reports, and meeting minutes.
2. Understanding Motivations:
   • Explore different motivators that drive people (e.g., recognition, career growth, personal satisfaction).
   • Encourage participants to reflect on their own motivators and those of their colleagues.
   • Offer strategies for identifying and understanding individual team members’ motivations through interactions and observations.
3. Empathy and Emotional Intelligence:
   • Explain the importance of recognizing and acknowledging team members’ emotions.
   • Discuss techniques for building trust and creating a safe space for open communication.
   • Role-play scenarios where the project manager handles conflict calmly and empathetically.
4. Active Relationship Building:
   • Encourage one-on-one meetings with team members to build rapport and address individual needs.
   • Suggest team-building activities and social events to foster informal interactions and strengthen bonds.
   • Discuss the importance of celebrating successes and acknowledging contributions to boost team morale.

Influencing without Authority:

1. Leading by Example:
   • Emphasize the project manager’s role as a role model in terms of commitment, work ethic, and positive attitude.
   • Encourage participants to identify ways they can lead by example and inspire their team.
2. Collaboration and Delegation:
   • Discuss the importance of involving team members in decision-making processes and giving them ownership of their tasks.
   • Demonstrate delegation techniques that empower team members while maintaining project control.
3. Negotiation and Persuasion:
   • Equip participants with negotiation skills to address conflicting needs and reach win-win outcomes.
   • Introduce persuasive techniques for effectively communicating ideas and motivating team members.
4. Building Consensus and Advocacy:
   • Discuss strategies for gaining buy-in from team members and stakeholders.
   • Practice presenting project proposals and advocating for necessary resources and support.

Conclusion:

• Recap the key skills for building relationships and influencing without authority.
• Provide opportunities for participants to ask questions and share their experiences.
• Offer additional resources and tips for continued development of these crucial skills.
• Emphasize the importance of ongoing relationship building and continuous improvement in influencing effectively.

Bonus Materials:

• Case studies or simulations where participants can apply the learned skills.
• Assessment tools for identifying personal strengths and areas for improvement in interpersonal skills.
• List of recommended books and resources on influential leadership and communication.

Remember to tailor the tutorial to your audience’s experience level and specific needs. This framework provides a starting point for an engaging and informative session on building relationships and influencing without authority in project management.

Which interpersonal skill helps a project manager get to know their teammates and figure out what pushes them to do their best work?

Understanding motivations

Successful project managers should get to know their teammates. This is important for learning how team members work best, how they prefer to receive feedback, and even how to share praise.

Earlier, you learned about the role of the project manager and the core skills you’ll need to be successful in that role. You’ve also learned more about your role within
the project team. Now let’s discuss
a few key skills that you’ll use to build relationships with your
teammates and stakeholders. Using your interpersonal
skills is key to building relationships
with the people involved in your project. By developing these
relationships, you’ll learn about the needs
and concerns of the team. This will help you determine the priorities of the project and motivate your team
throughout the process. Possessing strong
interpersonal skills is a huge part of
good leadership. Even if you’ve never held a
formal leadership position, having these skills will help you when you
need to guide a team. This is called influencing
without authority, which refers to a project
manager’s ability to guide teammates to complete their assigned work without acting as
their direct managers. There’s a few key interpersonal skills that you can use to accomplish this and guide
the project outcomes, even without the authority of
being your teammates’ boss. These skills include
communication, negotiation, conflict mediation, and
understanding motivations. Let’s break these down. First step is a key
skill we’ve mentioned a few times now, communication. In the context of leading a team, communication can
include checking in with teammates to
understand how they’re progressing on a
task and providing clear feedback on the
quality of a teammate’s work. Next is negotiation. Negotiation might include working with a teammate to compromise on a new deadline when
they tell you that they won’t be able to complete
their work on time. Now, trust me, I know
this can be frustrating, but you’ll need to use your negotiation skills often
with your teammates and stakeholders to
balance their needs and what is best for the project. Another important skill
is conflict mediation. As we mentioned, project plans can change and issues will arise. This can sometimes lead to tension and conflict
within the team. Conflict mediation
is a great skill to practice and develop to ensure the project does
not suffer as a result. This might involve setting up a meeting with two
teammates who are struggling to agree upon the best way to
handle a shared task. Finally, there’s
understanding motivations. This means getting to
know your teammates and figuring out what pushes
them to do their best work. Understanding motivations
might also include learning how your teammates
prefer to receive feedback, and how they like to receive recognition for
doing a great job. You would use that
individualized information to motivate and encourage
each person on your team. To recap, communication,
negotiation, conflict mediation and
understanding motivations are all interpersonal
skills that will help you influence
without authority. During job interviews for
project management positions, you might be asked to discuss a time when you influenced
without authority, and it’s possible that you’ve already noticed ways that you’ve used these skills in your personal life without
even realizing it. For example, let’s say
you have a coworker who’s constantly late to every meeting and I mean, every meeting, while you can’t force
them to arrive on time, it’s likely that you’ve
thought about ways to motivate them to
want to be on time. In doing so, you might
have also wondered how to change the way you
communicate with your coworker, to influence them to be on time. Maybe you’ve tried asking them to arrive 15 minutes
earlier than the rest of the group or maybe
you’ve told them how this behavior impacts
the rest of the team. Both of these strategies are examples of influencing
without authority, and they serve to encourage
specific behavior. Influencing without authority
is one of the most critical and one of the most
challenging aspects of project management. As you’ve just learned, you’ll need to leverage
your interpersonal skills in order to do it effectively. In later courses, we’ll review
and learn more about using your interpersonal
skills to manage various projects. We’ll
see you in the next video.

I’m Ellen and I’m a director of technical program management. That means I lead a team of
program managers at Google. I love project management because I really like this
idea that you can do more together as a team with a group of people than
you could do alone. By bringing in a bunch of people together and getting organized, getting aligned
around a common goal, We can do some pretty
amazing things. I think a successful project
manager is somebody who really knows how to pull
together a group of people. To me, there’s really two
parts of project management. One is this laser-like focus
on executing on this goal, but then the other
part is the people. So a successful project
manager can do both. When I first started
managing project managers, it was really about everyone
works on their own project. How do I just guide them, give them guidance and help
them with their projects. Over the years, I’ve shifted to mentoring on
project management, to mentoring project managers. What I mean by that
is, it’s different. I’m no longer saying, “Here’s what you should
do on your project.” I’m really trying to
help them think about how to think about
their projects. One of the things that I think about a lot as I’m building a project management
team is having a really diverse set
of folks with different backgrounds,
different experiences. We’re a global company, so we’re really trying
to make sure we are a global team as well. When I talk about diversity
of background and experience, it really is about working
in different types of environments with
different types of teams. When I chat with new project
managers and they say like, “How do I continue to grow
as a project manager?” My answer is, work on
different projects, work on as many
projects as you can, but don’t be afraid to
try different areas, different domains, work
with different people. With every project you work on, you’re going to really
learn something.

Nice work. So far, you’ve started
learning all about project managers and the value they bring to their teams. We also introduced you to a few
program managers here at Google, who spoke about their own
experiences working in the field. You also learned more about the day-to-day
responsibilities of a project manager and how they guide their teammates
to do their best work. And you learned about the types of skills
you’ll need to succeed in a program management role. As we move forward, you’ll develop and
hone lots of the skills needed for the daily tasks of a project manager. And hopefully, you’ve also identified
the skills you already have that can help you become a great project
manager and an asset to employers. Next up,
we’ll discuss the project life cycle. You’ll learn more about the different
phases of a project and the tasks associated with each phase.
You’ll also learn more about some of the most popular project management
methodologies used across industries today, and how to choose the best one for
your project. See you soon.