In a product team, the project management role focuses on planning, executing, and overseeing the progress of projects to ensure they are delivered on time, within scope, and on budget.
Working As A Project Manager
Project managers collaborate with product managers to align the project’s execution with the product roadmap. To achieve this, project goals and objectives (OKRs) are defined. Project plans with timelines, milestones, and deliverables are put in place as well.
A big part of the project management role is ensuring the various product team departments are aligned with each other. Highly successful internet companies achieve high performance thanks to efficient project management teams spanning product management, engineering, marketing, and site operations.
Project managers use softwares such as Jira, Asana, and Trello to track progress and maintain transparency. big part of their job is to assign tasks and manage resources, ensuring the right people are working on the right tasks at the right time. The project manager is often referred to as the ScrumMaster in Agile teams.
Managing As A Project Manager
It’s the project manager’s job to identify potential risks (e.g., resource constraints, technical challenges) that could impact timelines or goals. They also develop contingency plans to mitigate risks and handle unforeseen issues.
Project managers are also responsible for stakeholder management and are expected to facilitate communication between team members and the stakeholders. They ensure that everyone is informed of project progress, roadblocks, and changes in plans, conducting regular check-ins and status meetings to keep the project on track.
They also have to manage the scope of the project. Project managers work with the product managers to prioritize tasks and features when trade-offs are required. It’s advised to minimize change but when it’s necessary, they have to ensure that any additions aligned with the project priorities and resources.
Budget and resource management are also duties of the project managers, and they have to monitor and control the project budget, ensuring that costs are kept within limits. Also, ensure optimal use of resources and escalate resource-related issues when necessary.
Reporting, Delivery and Closure
Project managers track the project’s progress against KPIs such as deadlines, budget, and resource utilization. Based on those, they create status reports for stakeholders to provide visibility into progress, issues and risks.
They are the ones that ensure the final product meets the quality standards and project objectives, leading the project’s post-mortem analysis, documenting lessons learned, and recommending process improvements for future projects.
In conclusion, the project manager acts as the conductor of the train, ensuring that all aspects of a product team’s projects move smoothly and are completed successfully.
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