PROJECT MANAGER ESSENTIALS
PROJECT ROLES
This section is to introduce the various roles that are associated with Projects. These are part of the key stakeholders in the projects. Different members serve the project in varying phases in the project. The roles inside and outside the projects have been defined below.
ROLES IN THE PROJECT TEAMS
-
Project Engineer- Responsible for coordinating the technical work in the project along with the integration of this work. Configuration management and system integration would be part of this role.
-
Contract Administrator- Looks after procurement of goods and services. Preparation of proposals, identifying scope changes and dealing with legal issues pertaining to contracts is part of the role.
-
Project Controller- Responsible for planning, controlling and reporting. Coordinates with other managers, negotiates budgets and looks after accounts of the project.
-
Functional Representatives- Help in developing plans and tasks with PM. In many organisations, functional managers are Project managers.
-
Project accountant- Provides financial and accounting assistance to the Project manager.
-
Customer Liaison- Participates in technical discussions with users or customers. Involved actively in scope changes.
-
Field Manager- Installation, maintenance and supporting the project during handover are some key responsibilities
-
Quality Assurance Supervisor- Inspects projects for quality and aims for zero defects.
ROLES OUTSIDE THE PROJECT TEAMS
-
Top Management- Ensures consistency of projects with organisational goals. Approves and authorises projects, selects the Project manager.
-
Manager of Projects/VP- Evaluates activities of all Project managers. Handles prioritization and resource allocations in projects.
-
Project Champion- Also a Project sponsor, is dedicated to project welfare. Is readily accessible and has formal power.
-
Other Project Stakeholders- They may include all the other vendors and managers that are not directly working for the project, but are linked to them.
-
Users and Customers- The end users of the projects who will be directly impacted by the project success or failure.
STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT
-
Success with stakeholder management usually results in successful projects. The stakeholders usually as mentioned above can be within the project or outside. Anyone impacted by the project outcome would be a stakeholder. The process of stakeholder management comprises: ( PMBOK,2013)
-
1. Identification and analysis of stakeholders.
-
2. Planning of stakeholder management
-
3. Managing and controlling stakeholder arrangements.
IDENTIFICATION AND ANALYSIS-
As mentioned in the section above, stakeholders can be identified and then analysed for the impact they have on the project.
One of the ways to do this is the POWER INTEREST GRID as shown below where the different stakeholders are classified.
STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
Based on the placement of various stakeholders on the power interest grid, listed below are some strategies that could be used for each quadrant.
To help dealing with stakeholders which may not be very supportive, below is a video which can help every person to stay calm in stressful situation.
The talk is by a Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin who suggests that -
"The idea is to think ahead to what those failures might be."
PRE- MORTEM
