7 April 2021
Henrik Bjerregaard
A competent project manager might make the difference between the success or failure of a project. But what constitutes a competent project manager? Technical project plans and concrete project management tools are critical, but not always enough. In this article, you learn more about some of the most common project management challenges, and why it is so crucial for a project manager to master these.
Today’s typical Project Manager is facing a variety of different settings and challenges in relation to her project. Projects range from large civil engineering challenges like establishing a cement factory close to the Equator, over developing new vaccines to detain pandemics to large or small scale software developments to name a few. Teams may be distributed across the world, or small co-located agile teams. Probably there is no such thing as a typical PM.
How does the PM determine which ways of working best suit the specific challenges at hand, and where can she seek support for this?
Successful project implementation is rarely achieved from purely technical project plans and applying the right tools. Other dynamics such as business acumen and leadership skills also need to be taken into account.
Together with our clients and the results from our international project management survey, Mannaz has identified seven key project management challenges that continue to be an issue for project managers:
Essential for the project manager is to adapt to the size and complexity of the project and choosing the right tools for the job.
Previously, even the best project managers would look at the project itself in isolation and then make things happen. We now know that that approach is far too narrow. Today, competent project managers must be able to look at a project from a 360-degree angle and understand its full commercial value. They must excel in structure, management, communication and leadership, because the project management task has grown as projects have become bigger and more complex. Still, we often see that project managers stand alone in the organisation because companies have not managed to lay down a framework for them that is supported by an organisational structure.
“Project management doesn’t happen somewhere downstairs in the engine room – project management is a living strategy.”
If we want successful projects and competent project managers, we must also empower and authorise them as much as possible.
There is no doubt that many leaders wish to attain a high-performance culture, but it takes investment in things like project management to bring about the sort of culture that many leaders are dreaming of. The companies that really succeed in leveraging their project management create a professional career path for their project managers, because the project managers are essential for the company’s future success. In that way, the career ladder becomes attractive to competent candidates who are able to see goals and a direction within the profession.
Effective project management is so important for success that all top executives ought to focus on it if they want their strategy to be executed. In an ever-changing world – where what worked this morning doesn’t work this evening – competent project managers are ready for just that – to tackle the tornado of changes and challenges. It is a superb match between the needs of the future and the project management role. There is no doubt that project managers are the leaders of the future.
A project manager is not just a project manager. A competent project manager can be the difference between the success and failure of a project – and, in the end, of the company. Not only do competent project managers understand the business aspect; they also manage the project safely through changes and challenges while staying focused on the agreed-upon deadline and price. This is the kind of project manager that really makes a difference on the bottom line for companies. Project managers are the organisation’s best change agents, as it is through projects that companies execute their objectives and strategy.
