8 answers
Sol
Student
Rochester, Minnesota
1
Question
Asked
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What is a typical day like for an IT Project Manager?
I think this might be my dream career, and I would really like to see if it is a good fit for me.
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8 answers
Lani Glenn
12
Answers
Updated
Lani’s Answer
Hi Sol - I agree with all the great responses above. Keep in mind that one of the most important skillsets to have in any PM role is the ability to build relationships and trust. In my role I work closely with corporate engineers and local technicians across the country and soft skills are crucial for success. It is important to drive the conversations between all team members and do not assume anything has been communicated. PMing is 90% communication. Additionally, you have to know when to escalate issues/risks. It's not bad news unless it is escalated too late. Good luck with your goals.
Thank you for the advice, Lani.
Sol
Meg Harrington
Project Manager
1
Answer
Sterling, Virginia
Updated
Meg’s Answer
I have been a Technical PM in one form or another for about 10 years. When I talk about my days, my tasks flow around the following:
Keeping communications open and being available as much as possible for all members of the team/client/stakeholders.
Always asking:
- How is the work progressing? Have we learned anything that means we need to shift gears?
- Do folks have a clear expectation of next steps and time frames?
- Does the team have the resources to do what they need to do? If not, how can I help in terms of finding more resources or getting expectations reset?
Solicit for ideas and input from the whole team and help the team to listen to them
Organize the tasks that are coming up - short term, long term, and monitor things that might need to change
Learn about 'servant/leader' model
Look into certifications for project management -from introductory broad based ones to very specific skills ones
Join regional project management organizations like ones from Project Mgmt Institute
Keeping communications open and being available as much as possible for all members of the team/client/stakeholders.
Always asking:
- How is the work progressing? Have we learned anything that means we need to shift gears?
- Do folks have a clear expectation of next steps and time frames?
- Does the team have the resources to do what they need to do? If not, how can I help in terms of finding more resources or getting expectations reset?
Solicit for ideas and input from the whole team and help the team to listen to them
Organize the tasks that are coming up - short term, long term, and monitor things that might need to change
Meg recommends the following next steps:
Sam Olamazadeh
IT Analyst
2
Answers
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Updated
Sam’s Answer
Team Management: The IT Project Manager leads and motivates the project team. They will provide support, guidance, and feedback to team members to ensure they can meet project goals and deliverables.
Meetings: IT Project Managers typically start the day by attending meetings with stakeholders and team members. These meetings may include progress updates, risk assessments, and planning discussions.
Task Management: After the meetings, the IT Project Manager will spend time reviewing and updating task lists, assigning tasks to team members, and monitoring progress. They will also ensure that the project stays on track and within budget.
Communication: A large part of an IT Project Manager's day is spent communicating with stakeholders, team members, and clients. They must effectively communicate project status, risks, and issues to keep everyone informed and on the same page.
Risk Management: The IT Project Manager is responsible for identifying and mitigating risks that may impact the project's success. They will assess potential risks, develop mitigation plans, and monitor the implementation of these plans.
Documentation: IT Project Managers must ensure that all project documentation is up-to-date, accurate, and easily accessible. This includes project plans, status reports, meeting minutes, and risk assessments.
Meetings: IT Project Managers typically start the day by attending meetings with stakeholders and team members. These meetings may include progress updates, risk assessments, and planning discussions.
Task Management: After the meetings, the IT Project Manager will spend time reviewing and updating task lists, assigning tasks to team members, and monitoring progress. They will also ensure that the project stays on track and within budget.
Communication: A large part of an IT Project Manager's day is spent communicating with stakeholders, team members, and clients. They must effectively communicate project status, risks, and issues to keep everyone informed and on the same page.
Risk Management: The IT Project Manager is responsible for identifying and mitigating risks that may impact the project's success. They will assess potential risks, develop mitigation plans, and monitor the implementation of these plans.
Documentation: IT Project Managers must ensure that all project documentation is up-to-date, accurate, and easily accessible. This includes project plans, status reports, meeting minutes, and risk assessments.
david kirk
Retired Computing Manager
478
Answers
Syracuse, New York
Updated
david’s Answer
Project management is a challenging and rewarding career, and I enjoyed doing this for many years. There is no 'typical day', but there are many similarities from day to day. I will ramble a bit to share what I can:
- you will be dependent on others for success, so you will need to emphasize their commitment early on. Participants may say they will work full time on the project, or half time, or whatever, but as the project proceeds, you may find that they greatly underestimated their time, and that can easily cause the project date to slip and costs to be significantly over budget. And that reflects on you, even though the problem was caused by them.
- your team will supposedly have certain requisite skills, yet you will find that some, or many, lack the skills, further causing delays.
- adequate floor space and equipment for the team need to be identified and budgeted with the project. And there are often delays to manage.
- as project manager, you need to routinely stroll among team and discuss status and unanticipated issues
- you need a small team of project representatives from each department to meet weekly to identify opportunities and unresolved issues. A member of the team must record minutes that become part of the project plan.
- depending on project size, you may need to have a steering committee of senior managers to review progress and adjust budget, as needed.
- one of your tasks is keeping track of tasks, estimates, due dates, cost overruns, and project milestones.
- keeping all involved motivated is important, requiring periodic fun periods, pizza, dinners, or even days off to keep them fresh and knowing they are appreciated. Many are doing project work and staying late to do their other job, so the hours each day can be long.
- as project manager, you will often find yourself doing paperwork on weekends to be ready for the following Monday. Keeping good records on goals, milestones, budget are vital for your success.
Is this everything? No, but this shows the types of issues that need to be managed by the project manager. All the best to you.
- you will be dependent on others for success, so you will need to emphasize their commitment early on. Participants may say they will work full time on the project, or half time, or whatever, but as the project proceeds, you may find that they greatly underestimated their time, and that can easily cause the project date to slip and costs to be significantly over budget. And that reflects on you, even though the problem was caused by them.
- your team will supposedly have certain requisite skills, yet you will find that some, or many, lack the skills, further causing delays.
- adequate floor space and equipment for the team need to be identified and budgeted with the project. And there are often delays to manage.
- as project manager, you need to routinely stroll among team and discuss status and unanticipated issues
- you need a small team of project representatives from each department to meet weekly to identify opportunities and unresolved issues. A member of the team must record minutes that become part of the project plan.
- depending on project size, you may need to have a steering committee of senior managers to review progress and adjust budget, as needed.
- one of your tasks is keeping track of tasks, estimates, due dates, cost overruns, and project milestones.
- keeping all involved motivated is important, requiring periodic fun periods, pizza, dinners, or even days off to keep them fresh and knowing they are appreciated. Many are doing project work and staying late to do their other job, so the hours each day can be long.
- as project manager, you will often find yourself doing paperwork on weekends to be ready for the following Monday. Keeping good records on goals, milestones, budget are vital for your success.
Is this everything? No, but this shows the types of issues that need to be managed by the project manager. All the best to you.
Humayoun Khan
IT Professional
1
Answer
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Updated
Humayoun’s Answer
Hello Sol!
Let me keep it short.
One of the best asset you can work on in becoming an IT PM is Communications.
- Comms is vital skillset in an IT environment especially if you are engaged with cross functional teams.
- Communicating key moments at the right time to the right resources is a critical in managing any project.
- Familiarize yourself with SDLC and agile framework if you're planning to get into software related projects.
Best of luck!
Let me keep it short.
One of the best asset you can work on in becoming an IT PM is Communications.
- Comms is vital skillset in an IT environment especially if you are engaged with cross functional teams.
- Communicating key moments at the right time to the right resources is a critical in managing any project.
- Familiarize yourself with SDLC and agile framework if you're planning to get into software related projects.
Best of luck!
Jenny Boltz
Sales Strategy
11
Answers
Austin, Texas
Updated
Jenny’s Answer
It's a great path! It's super fun, challenging & rewarding to see a project through to completion. I would definitely get your PMP and keep your course credits updated to maintain your PMP. Potential companies will look for that for consideration or promotions. You will need hours to qualify as a PMP. Although, it's not a requirement for entry level project management jobs, you will want to show you have the skills needed to perform that type of work on your resume. I would think about anything you do in your daily life that you can count towards the PMP. It may be something you do in your current job like how you manage the office, event planning or coordinate work activities. If you are not working, I would look into volunteering and become some kind of lead to help with planning/organizing for that non-profit. For example, if you wanted to volunteer at an animal shelter, you could get involved in planning adoption days or volunteer scheduling, or food donations. I would research online the best ways to track project management hours. You will want to document all your hours where you used project management skills to qualify for your PMP eventually. Getting ahead of this early is very important to getting enough hours as it could take you years to get enough for your certification. Good luck!
Agree with a lot of the day in the life from previous answers.
May day includes scheduling lots of meetings with various SMEs (subject matter experts) and status updates to stakeholders to move the tasks forward. Understanding realistic time to complete tasks and setting up a workplan to get various items to ensure you stay on schedule and communicate risk/help needed when timing is at risk. I will second a previous comment around communication. It's a vital part of project management. You need to be very clear what are the actions, who are the owners, expectation for deliverables - (what artifact, what format etc), timing they need to be completed. You often won't have dedicated resources, meaning you may need help from a SME above and beyond their daily duties. You will need to leverage your power of WOO and potentially get their leader support for the hours you may need them to dedicate to a project outside their normal duties.
Agree with a lot of the day in the life from previous answers.
May day includes scheduling lots of meetings with various SMEs (subject matter experts) and status updates to stakeholders to move the tasks forward. Understanding realistic time to complete tasks and setting up a workplan to get various items to ensure you stay on schedule and communicate risk/help needed when timing is at risk. I will second a previous comment around communication. It's a vital part of project management. You need to be very clear what are the actions, who are the owners, expectation for deliverables - (what artifact, what format etc), timing they need to be completed. You often won't have dedicated resources, meaning you may need help from a SME above and beyond their daily duties. You will need to leverage your power of WOO and potentially get their leader support for the hours you may need them to dedicate to a project outside their normal duties.
Rebecca Tang
Banking
1816
Answers
Hong Kong
Updated
Rebecca’s Answer
Thank you for your question. I am glad to hear that you would like to becomes a IT Project Manager.
Usually, the IT projects would form project teams coming from different department. In other words, it is matrix structure, i.e. the team member are coming from different functions and they have their own line manager under the function they belong to. However, they also report to the Project Manager in the projects.
Below are some key activities of Project Manager :
1. Review the daily project progress with project team. The Project Manager may need to help the members if there is any tackles and blockages
2. Update the project plan, milestones, budget, etc.
3. Report to key stakeholders, i.e. Project Steering Committee, on project progress and escalate on any challenges. etc.
It really depends on the Project phases. You can find more details in https://www.pmi.org/
Hope this helps! Good Luck!
Usually, the IT projects would form project teams coming from different department. In other words, it is matrix structure, i.e. the team member are coming from different functions and they have their own line manager under the function they belong to. However, they also report to the Project Manager in the projects.
Below are some key activities of Project Manager :
1. Review the daily project progress with project team. The Project Manager may need to help the members if there is any tackles and blockages
2. Update the project plan, milestones, budget, etc.
3. Report to key stakeholders, i.e. Project Steering Committee, on project progress and escalate on any challenges. etc.
It really depends on the Project phases. You can find more details in https://www.pmi.org/
Hope this helps! Good Luck!
Greg Shields
Senior Manager, Data Protection
2
Answers
Denver, Colorado
Updated
Greg’s Answer
Some great answers here already. I'll add a slightly different dimension to what has been discussed as one of the most important aspects: communication! Understand that in these roles you'll end up working with many different cross-functional teams with different personalities and professional backgrounds. Finding a common language that everybody understands, and being that central "translator" will serve you well and help add continuous value (not so subtle plug for familiarizing yourself with agile framework and methodology). Otherwise, the "typical day" can vary greatly from one to another. If you're comfortable navigating change, dealing with ambiguity, supporting teams as a servant leader, can anticipate needs, and just get stuff done, sounds like this could be a great career pathway for you. Best of luck and enjoy the journey!