Julia is a writer in New York and started covering tech and business during the pandemic. She also covers books and the publishing industry.
Julia Rittenberg ContributorJulia is a writer in New York and started covering tech and business during the pandemic. She also covers books and the publishing industry.
Written By Julia Rittenberg ContributorJulia is a writer in New York and started covering tech and business during the pandemic. She also covers books and the publishing industry.
Julia Rittenberg ContributorJulia is a writer in New York and started covering tech and business during the pandemic. She also covers books and the publishing industry.
ContributorCassie is a deputy editor collaborating with teams around the world while living in the beautiful hills of Kentucky. Focusing on bringing growth to small businesses, she is passionate about economic development and has held positions on the boards of.
Cassie is a deputy editor collaborating with teams around the world while living in the beautiful hills of Kentucky. Focusing on bringing growth to small businesses, she is passionate about economic development and has held positions on the boards of.
Written ByCassie is a deputy editor collaborating with teams around the world while living in the beautiful hills of Kentucky. Focusing on bringing growth to small businesses, she is passionate about economic development and has held positions on the boards of.
Cassie is a deputy editor collaborating with teams around the world while living in the beautiful hills of Kentucky. Focusing on bringing growth to small businesses, she is passionate about economic development and has held positions on the boards of.
Rob Watts Managing Editor, SMBWith over a decade of editorial experience, Rob Watts breaks down complex topics for small businesses that want to grow and succeed. His work has been featured in outlets such as Keypoint Intelligence, FitSmallBusiness and PCMag.
Rob Watts Managing Editor, SMBWith over a decade of editorial experience, Rob Watts breaks down complex topics for small businesses that want to grow and succeed. His work has been featured in outlets such as Keypoint Intelligence, FitSmallBusiness and PCMag.
Rob Watts Managing Editor, SMBWith over a decade of editorial experience, Rob Watts breaks down complex topics for small businesses that want to grow and succeed. His work has been featured in outlets such as Keypoint Intelligence, FitSmallBusiness and PCMag.
Rob Watts Managing Editor, SMBWith over a decade of editorial experience, Rob Watts breaks down complex topics for small businesses that want to grow and succeed. His work has been featured in outlets such as Keypoint Intelligence, FitSmallBusiness and PCMag.
| Managing Editor, SMB
Updated: May 29, 2024, 4:52pm
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As a company grows, one of the most vital positions to staff is a project manager. If you’re wondering what a project manager does, the tasks are in the name. While it might seem narrow, project managers end up overseeing many of the invisible tasks that make a company tick. They are responsible for keeping everyone on time for company-wide initiatives, and ensuring necessary communication along the way.
A project manager is the point person for all of the company’s major goals by implementing important plans and managing teams. They follow a project from ideation to completion.
Project managers are involved in the planning, implementation and ongoing support work for company-wide undertakings. They act as important mediators between teams when something is going wrong or there’s a communication breakdown. Although project management software is helpful to a growing business, hiring someone to actually oversee everything and talk to people is essential for successful follow-through.
Additionally, a project manager will be able to communicate with leadership and tell them what they need to know at the top line, as opposed to getting bogged down in too many specific details. A project manager acts as a chameleon between teams, making sure everyone has what they need to get pieces of the project done.
Many high-level project managers have a PMP (Project Management Professional) certification, which means they have several years of experience and have completed an extensive training course and test.
Before this certification, a project manager can gain experience through getting involved in initial planning and budgeting, as well as participating in cross-company communication.
Another necessary project manager skill is expectation management. The project manager has to set accurate and workable timelines for all the team members involved and make sure no one is being pushed to do sloppy work to meet an unrealistic deadline.
Developing these skills is critical for someone who wants to go through the certification process and become a PMP-certified Project Manager.
Although many people who work on projects and oversee parts of them could call themselves project managers, a Project Management Professional carries the assumption that they are extremely qualified to be on top of all the moving parts of a big project. There are so many things to juggle during a process, from leadership expectations to client care and employee management, that a trusted PMP will always be an asset to any company.
A project manager has to balance the big picture with the daily tasks of all employees involved in the assignment. They ensure that everything that needs to be done in order to make something happen can realistically be done by employees in the time allotted with the tools everyone has at their disposal. They may use pre-existing frameworks, such as Agile or Waterfall methodologies, to help guide the process.
If the C-suite team wants to implement a new, company-wide policy, the project manager will be in charge of communicating that downstream to all employees and coming up with a proposed timeline for when it will be totally in place.
Similarly, if a company wants to launch a new website, the project manager won’t do any of the technical aspects (such as coding or checking for visual accessibility with color schemes and logos), but they will assign out these tasks and keep them on track.
First and foremost, the project manager will receive a brief or a general idea of what the project is. It might not be thorough in terms of how many people will need to be involved, who’s responsible for what and why this needs to get done by a certain date, but that is up to the project manager to plan and understand how to communicate to the team. They will likely create a project timeline so that all parties have an idea of what to expect.
The project manager will then talk to everyone who needs to be on the team and make sure they have what they need to get started. The importance of this step lies in the project manager’s ability to know what information is key for which personnel. People who are building a website may only need to know the basic facts and the due date, but a marketing person will need more description of the project and why it matters to put together a campaign. Understanding what tools each team member needs to complete their piece of the project is just as important as giving them deadlines.
When deadlines are looming, the project manager has to make sure that everyone is on top of their work and feels comfortable asking for more hands if they need them. Most deliverables in a large-scale project will be necessary to move to the next stage, so the project manager is responsible for making sure the lines of communication are open and honest about time frames and requirements.
Every project will have something come up: a key person is out sick, the client pulls out at the last minute, a vendor lives in a part of the world with a natural disaster or any other random occurrence. Being able to communicate what happened, as well as presenting a new plan to compensate, is an invaluable skill for a project manager.
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