Project Manager Duties

A project manager's primary role is to be a facilitator with the goal being to ensure that a project is completed on time, within budget, and according to the requirements. As you might guess, being a facilitator can mean wearing many hats.

Typical project management duties include:

• setting up meetings; running meetings; writing and distributing meeting minutes
• determining resources required, interviewing candidates, vetting vendors, and assigning tasks
• creating a plan, executing a plan, and adjusting the plan as necessary
• preparing status reports and presenting to upper management

From the above, it should be obvious that being a project manager means communicating all the time and in many forms. But a project manager should also be thinking and not just doing. For example, challenging the status quo and forcing other people to justify their opinions is important. Also, asking questions even when the answer may be obvious is critical because often the answer isn't what was expected.

A project manager should always be learning something new. This includes becoming familiar with new technology from internal or external resources; understanding the weaknesses and motivations of a team member; and identifying more efficient ways to perform an existing process. The learning should never stop. If it does, it likely means you're not doing your job properly or your employer doesn't want you around.

There's a lot to project management and some companies expect a lot from their project managers. Of course, for me, that's what makes the job so interesting.