10 Guidelines for Project Managers
or: How I Learned to Stop Pulling My Hair Out and Love the Client
Most likely, none of what you’re about to read will increase your productivity. No, this is all for your well being. To possibly help lower your blood pressure and reveal a few little truths I wish someone had told me many moons ago.
Once upon a time I had the privilege of being a project manager for a web development firm. In my entire career as PM I never read a book on the subject of management, couldn’t stand the motivational speeches either, and never attended a convention. Instead I learned by trial and error. Because let’s face it, who has time for those things anyway?
I started out knowing nothing about the job but left with an understanding of many things. These are ten:
- Clients have x-ray vision and can see right through your BS
If you try to cover up mistakes by flexing your vocabulary, hoping to confuse them enough to be let off the hook - you are only half right. They will get confused… and commence to micro manage your incompetent ass. - It’s not how you start but how you finish
It does not matter how stoked people are at the beginning of a project. At best it creates some good momentum. It does not matter how excited everyone is after the first milestone is met. It might help you collect on an interim invoice, but that’s about it. If people are upset upon the completion of their project - it sticks with them for a very long time. On the flip side, come the end of the project, if the client is super pumped, they will shout it from the rooftops (even if their throat is still raw from screaming at you for the entirety of the project). All the bad feelings magically disappear and they love you again! - You are the whipping boy
Part of your undocumented job description is to help relieve clients’/bosses’ anxiety. This comes in the form of getting chewed out. A lot. Don’t make it personal. You are taking one for the team. And even though $#@* rolls down hill, it has to stop with you. Move on. - Don’t forget whose side you’re on
As a PM you may very well end up as the point of contact for a number of clients. When relaying their (sometimes difficult) requests to the staff, resist the urge to jump in on the client bashing that can ensue. As point, you represent your company to the client - but you also represent the client to your team. Respect it. - Stop writing huge emails and pick up the phone
Email is great. Especially if you are a terrible telecommunicator like me. But often times there comes a point when you should just talk. This is very important to remember when replying to a frustrated client. Email leaves a lot open for interpretation, which can be dangerous when emotions are running high. - Nice guys don’t meet deadlines
No need to go all Chef Ramsay on them, but you are perfectly within your rights as project manager to expect your team to work just as hard as you. Now the question is, do you work too much? - Get some comic relief!
At some point in a project you will find yourself racing against the clock. It can get so intense that you burn through eight hours like they were two. Don’t forget to take a break. Even if it’s to watch a five minute viral video circulating through the office. Being a part of your team’s camaraderie is important. If you can’t justify the five minutes, then stay five minutes later to make up for it. - Rewards, Rewards, Rewards
Reward your team. Even if they are only doing what they were hired to do. It will help keep moral high. And it kind of makes up for any whip cracking you had to inflict. - Middleman
With one foot in management and one in the trenches, you have a twofold responsibility to:
1. Make the team’s voice heard by those higher up.
2. Enforce company policies and rules (and now for the hard part) without the slightest bit of insubordination in your voice. - It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it
The most important thing to remember is that you are not your work. Projects will eventually be forgotten. How you conducted yourself will not. If you fail at every single assignment but manage to keep your integrity and character in good standing - you win.
