My first impulse was to interpret the OP in that way but I think it's more like:
Hey everybody, I got a job and I want everyone to know that I'm important.
[WORK] Project Managers of TW
- Thread starter brutal
- Start date
My first impulse was to interpret the OP in that way but I think it's more like:
Hey everybody, I got a job and I want everyone to know that I'm important.
as a sr. pm I use project at the beginning of a project to size and plan activities and dependencies. after that I work to those major milestones and mostly drop msproject. if I do use it again its for my own benefit to sanity check timelines or look up the smaller items that get lost.
I find other PMs can be annoying...I try to stay out of my teams way the best I can.
as far as tracking many projects I imagine the tools become more and more useful. I only have 1-3 monster projects at a time so I'm intimate with them enough not to forget things.
I find other PMs can be annoying...I try to stay out of my teams way the best I can.
as far as tracking many projects I imagine the tools become more and more useful. I only have 1-3 monster projects at a time so I'm intimate with them enough not to forget things.
Reggs
Veteran XX
My company gives me Asana but I rarely use it. It's better for managers to learn management techniques than management tools.
I have a steno pad and write short notes in it for me. I also hire competent people and manage by face to face talking. I will put hints of what we are doing on Asana, only in a way that the CEO sees that work is being done, but still doesn't really know what's going on. It prevents the CEO from interjecting.
I have a steno pad and write short notes in it for me. I also hire competent people and manage by face to face talking. I will put hints of what we are doing on Asana, only in a way that the CEO sees that work is being done, but still doesn't really know what's going on. It prevents the CEO from interjecting.
Sir Hobbleton Scotch
Veteran-5
Why do you call pmp cert stupid? Curious, thx.
It can't be that because pm's are managers who oversee people who are more capable and better paid than they are. No one would brag about it.
the pmp cert is more valuable to someone with no pm experience than as a cert.
while its widely required and good to have, but the skills you learn are rarely used especially in such a rigid fashion. each company will manage projects differently and while its good to have a toolset you rarely ever use it.
while its widely required and good to have, but the skills you learn are rarely used especially in such a rigid fashion. each company will manage projects differently and while its good to have a toolset you rarely ever use it.
I agree its glorified babysitting.
I've seen salaries all over the place but since I was promoted I'm one of the top 2 salaries on a given project.
before that yeah I was paid somewhere in the middle.
reading this and other things in this thread makes me feel like 'project manager' means a completely different thing to you guys than it does to me
Sir Hobbleton Scotch
Veteran-5
Disagree.. Project managers are responsible for (managing) the project. When a multimillion dollar project fails or succeeds, it's the project manager who is responsible (and will be held liable). For that reason, they are appropriately compensated.
A lot of people that are non-PM have technical skills, and yes, without them the project wouldn't get done, but that's exactly the point of a PM: to manage and focus the technical expertise of various disciplines and trade to properly complete the task at hand. When you are an engineer, you can choose to focus on becoming more technically specialized or lead projects. The ones who lead projects have no need to be experts in every specific field. It's counter intuitive and a waste of resources.
Kerosene31
Veteran XV
It just seems insane, I haven' taken it myself but know people who have.
Our problem is that they require it here, but our projects really aren't big enough to warrant the full cert.
ye that seems backwards to me. i hire temp contractors if my team doesn't have the capacity to meet our deadlines, or if we need minions to do the boring grunt work aspects of a project
it really seems backwards for a project manager to have less knowledge than the people he is managing...like, you wouldn't employ someone to oversee/manage the building of a house if they had no experience in actual construction work....you want someone who understands and can anticipate the kind of issues the actual builders will have to deal with, because he's been there himself
i don't know shit about construction so maybe that isn't the best analogy, but hopefully you get what i mean...i would expect/hope the same logic to apply in industries like software programming or network solutions or whatever is is most of you nerds do
Last edited:
Kerosene31
Veteran XV
A good project manager doing things the right way can be incredibly valuable.
If you've got a complex construction project with tons of people and resources, good project management is essential.
The problem is when some high level manager goes to a 2 hour seminar on PM and decides that any project, no matter how small needs to go "by the PM book". I've had PMs ask me for time estimates where it would take me longer to estimate the time than to just do the original task.
ye that seems backwards to me. i hire temp contractors if my team doesn't have the capacity to meet our deadlines, or if we need minions to do the boring grunt work aspects of a project
it really seems backwards for a project manager to have less knowledge than the people he is managing...like, you wouldn't employ someone to oversee/manage the building of a house if they had no experience in actual construction work....you want someone who understands and can anticipate the kind of issues the actial builders will have to deal with, because he's been there himself
i don't know shit about construction so maybe that isn't the best analogy, but hopefully you get what i mean...i would expect/hope the same logic to apply in industries like software programming or network solutions or whatever is is most of you nerds do
im a DBA and the point person for our projects at my work, theres usually one PM and one DBA per project. our PMs dont really have much technical knowledge and i end up doing both roles when on site
so maybe our PM team isnt as good as i previously thought
ye that seems backwards to me. i hire temp contractors if my team doesn't have the capacity to meet our deadlines, or if we need minions to do the boring grunt work aspects of a project
it really seems backwards for a project manager to have less knowledge than the people he is managing...like, you wouldn't employ someone to oversee/manage the building of a house if they had no experience in actual construction work....you want someone who understands and can anticipate the kind of issues the actual builders will have to deal with, because he's been there himself
i don't know shit about construction so maybe that isn't the best analogy, but hopefully you get what i mean...i would expect/hope the same logic to apply in industries like software programming or network solutions or whatever is is most of you nerds do
yes, i absolutely understand and agree with what you are saying, but yes, unfortunately, my experience has been that our company attempts to hire on people that say they can manage a huge project our IT needs to get done, and they usually don't have a lot of technical background, and they also usually fail miserably and the team ends up having to do everything without the pm because he doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about. that's why the team got together and decided to use leankit to manage ourselves. it's pretty sad and ass backwards, i agree.
Google Drive offers everything necessary, for a PM with common sense, to thrive organizationally, for free.
Google Spreadsheets to break out projects into manageable milestones, and to break out those milestones into distributable/manageable tasks.
Google Calendar to link/sync/track due dates/milestones.
Google Document and Presentation for write-ups and powerpoint type presentations.
Everything listed also makes sharing spreadsheets/docs/work a breeze.
Source: I'm a Technical Business Analyst/Project Manager for Google.
Google Spreadsheets to break out projects into manageable milestones, and to break out those milestones into distributable/manageable tasks.
Google Calendar to link/sync/track due dates/milestones.
Google Document and Presentation for write-ups and powerpoint type presentations.
Everything listed also makes sharing spreadsheets/docs/work a breeze.
Source: I'm a Technical Business Analyst/Project Manager for Google.