Woke up and found myself working as a project manager. Now what?

[scgstuff]

I actually had a boss one time ask me (I was the PM on several apps for her) why something wasn't done. I explained that I asked her for a list of priorities and was completing the tasks based on her requirements. I asked her to look at the list and re prioritize if needed. She looked it over, handed it back and said everything is priority one, why isn't it done?

Ummm.....so everything was documented after that. If she wanted something faster, she had to agree what was pushed back. I learned real fast to CYA.

 

[breakingcontact]

So much bad management is just covered up with this cloak of "its all important its all priority one and has to be done now!" That is bull.

 

[breakingcontact]

Also people suck at communication and cover up for it with that same attitude of "theres no time". Starts at the top and at the beginning of a project.

 

[benenglish]

I never minded if priorities were infinite. I just reminded management that resources were not. I required them to tell me how they'd prefer I allocate resources. If they did, they were defining priorities. If they refused, they were abdicating that responsibility to me. Either way, I could live with it.

Unfortunately, much of the advice above about CYA is completely valid. If your gut tells you that you are being set up to take the blame, listen to your gut.

 

[robertc1024]

BC - good advice in this thread. I was the engineering manager at my company for many years. I had the Gantt charts plotted out, delays built in etc. The thing that submarines you are the off-topic "YOU HAVE TO GET THIS DONE" projects. Be very aware of those. It's kind of like the HR Bullshit - document, document, document.

 

[breakingcontact]

Already ran into some of this. More projects than expected. So I push dates or reduce scope. What is it boss?

Keep in mind I wasn't hired for this position. It just evolved into it which is fine. I took the job to get experience. The pay is more than adequate but since its a contract never know when it will end.

 

[benenglish]

...its a contract never know when it will end.

I will never understand the logic of paying someone to do a job under an organizational scheme that does not guarantee they'll be there till the end. That's a bigger issue than project management so I'll stop now rather than write a book.

 

[breakingcontact]

I will never understand the logic of paying someone to do a job under an organizational scheme that does not guarantee they'll be there till the end. That's a bigger issue than project management so I'll stop now rather than write a book.

Thats a huge part of the problem. The vast majority of the workers are contingent. Turn over is very high.

 

[karlac]

I never minded if priorities were infinite. I just reminded management that resources were not. I required them to tell me how they'd prefer I allocate resources. If they did, they were defining priorities. If they refused, they were abdicating that responsibility to me. Either way, I could live with it.

The most astute utterance in this thread. BC, if you take nothing else away from this discussion, the above alone will put you ahead of the pack, guaranteed.

 

[breakingcontact]

The most astute utterance in this thread. BC, if you take nothing else away from this discussion, the above alone will put you ahead of the pack, guaranteed.

I get it. Makes sense to me.

I think honestly I know with my head a lot of the right things to do. Im smart enough to do it. I just need the mental and emotional energy to do it.

Again, honestly, I need to improve my diet and exercise. Ive noticed that caffeine gives energy but not focus.

 

[karlac]

I think honestly I know with my head a lot of the right things to do. Im smart enough to do it. I just need the mental and emotional energy to do it.

Again, honestly, I need to improve my diet and exercise. Ive noticed that caffeine gives energy but not focus.

The earmarks of a thinking man, thus I will risk saying the following in earshot of a tough audience.

Silly as it sounds, old Ben Franklin was onto something with his old saw "Early to bed, early to rise ..."

The darkness of night tends to magnify problems you face on a project, or in life. Use it to your advantage. Getting a jump on the day, in the quite of the early morning before others are about, can go a good deal of the way to clarify courses of action to solve management/project problems.

Amazing what a morning walk in the dark can do to crystalize thought, as well as benefit emotional, healthful and mental acuity. Steve Jobs would have undoubtedly agreed. In short, you may be able to do your best thinking while others are sleeping.

Don't take an old farts word for, it until you give it a shot.

 

[Mexican_Hippie]

That's great advice. I get my best work done early before everyone's there.

I have 30 min blocked out in my schedule every morning to collect my thoughts and go over my goals and plan for the day - before I start reading email or getting distracted. Then I start reading emails from overnight (e.g overseas teams).

That means you have to start a little earlier than others.


Another tip is to let everyone know to call you on an ACTUAL PHONE (like with the numbers and the dialing and talking to a human) if it's urgent- not send an email. That way you're not obsessing over your email when you're not at work or if you're tied up working on something.

 

[Sapper740]

My apologies if this has already been said and I'm not sure if my experiences as an Electrical Superintendent are relevant to your job but there were two imperatives I considered every day. The first was to make my crew as productive as possible that day, the other was what plans or systems could I implement now that will bear fruit further down the road. I asked my crew every morning "How can I make your day more productive?" and would take serious responses to heart. The ones about free beer and pizza were ignored for the most part although I did take the crew out to lunch on the company's dime upon occassion when milestones were met. An example of a longer term plan I instituted on the DFW Airport Capital Developement Project was to label every conduit where they terminated in a junction box or panel and each side of a wall or floor penetration with color coded circuit designations. In a building with multiple power sources (Low and High Voltage, regular and emergency) keeping track of circuits for safety, planning, and trouble-shooting was no simple task and though I received flak from my company for the time expended by my crew doing it I was vindicated at the end of a long 4 year project when circuits were finally energized with no problems or issues while we watched other Electrical Contractors lose their shirts as deadlines were missed and penalties paid. I was eventually hired by one of the other Contractors to sort out their mess. Hope this info helps.