Short Paper Module 8

Management Skills for Project Managers

Southern New Hampshire University
QSO 640 - Project Management
January 22nd, 2016

Prompt: Research indicates that organizations believe that once the project management

plan is developed, no further actions are necessary until the project is ready for delivery to the

customer or project sponsor. In considering this statement, write a paper describing the project

manager’s role in monitoring tasks, directing resources, managing change requests, and

preparing for project closure.

The following critical elements must be addressed:

I. Describe the project manager’s role in monitoring tasks.

II. Describe the project manager’s role in directing resources.

III. Describe the project manager’s role in managing change requests.

IV. Describe the project manager’s role in preparing for project closure.

The importance of Project Managers (PMs) can sometimes be underrated. In a sort of

mundane way, people think of PMs as the administrative equivalent of a sports team manager or

a symphony conductor. Many times, people can’t precisely define what PMs do. While it is

possible for some companies to perform project management without actual PMs, most

companies choose to have a designated PM taking control of their projects, just like sports teams

and orchestras chose managers and symphony conductors.

 So the questions remain, what exactly do they do? Whether people can see it or not, there

are quite a few things PMs must do to deliver the expected results. Let’s think of a big project

from a corporation like BP or Exxon Mobile; for instance, accounting departments in London or

Texas are not necessarily aware of what drilling teams are doing in the Gulf of Mexico, but a PM

can definitely help coordinating communication between the two teams if required. Even if they

can communicate on their own, there can be difficulties for the two teams to understand each

other (the accounting jargon and the drilling jargon is very different after all) So once again, a

PM can help making sure both sides are not only communicating, but understanding each other.

The role of a PM goes beyond effective communication. Project managers play a critical role

monitoring tasks and allocating and/or directing resources as appropriate, reacting effectively to

expected or unexpected changes and driving the project to a successful closure.

To effectively monitor projects, a PM must commission a list of risks (such as “issues

log” or “risk registry”) that can affect a project either positively or negatively. The monitoring

and management of these risks (and approaches to tackle those risks) should be identified and

included in the project charter. “The project manager must monitor the risk list, identify any that

have become issues, and implement the contingency plan identified in the project charter.”

(University of Illinois, 2017)

 Example of Risk Registry App (Risk Register+, 2017)

Once all the planning is done and the projects officially starts, one of the key functions of

the PM is to make sure all pieces are working the way they are supposed to and in concert with

each other, very much like the director of an orchestra! While directing resources (including the

project’s stakeholders) the PM must take center stage and not just lead but also motivate

members to perform in a unified and consistent manner. “The project team may have people with

different skill sets and project experience; development projects bring together different expertise

from socials sciences to engineering, the team members may have not worked together in the

past and they may come in and out of the project at different times. By directing resources, the

project manager assumes the responsibility that the project team will follow the vision of the

project and all instructions, mandates and work orders.” (PM4DEV, 2017)

In business, change is the only constant. PMs must be very skilled professionals ready to

adapt to changes as necessary. In Project Management, change can occur for a variety of reasons.

For instance, sometimes changes are necessary to meet a project’s objectives because they were
not part of the original scope. Changes like these are more common than what most people think,

they can easily be the result of changes in the market, new technologies, changes in legislation or

simply the result of a lack of understanding of the project at the beginning of the project

management process. But whatever the causes for changes are, PM must again play a critical role

in the management of change requests. “Changes are an important part of any project. There are

two factors at work that guarantee the generation of change requests: changes that happen to the

marketplace the project is aimed at, and an unclear understanding of the goals and objectives of

the project.” (Nielsen, 2009) Many times, change can be immutable and PMs will not be able to

stop the world outside from changing whether we like it or not. A successful PM is agile enough

to react, respond and adapt to these changes and steer the project in the right direction to then

deliver results as expected. Within a project charter, a PM must define clear policies in regards to

processing change requests since actual changes can significantly impact “project scope, budget,

or schedule.” (University of Illinois, 2017)

 Change Request Form Sample (Wallace, 1999)

Finally, PMs also play a critical role in project closure. Throughout a project’s life cycle,

a PM must keep the project and team member focus on the expected results and deliver results.

During tis phase, PMs must conduct the necessary reviews to ensure the deliverables are indeed

completed and meet the specifications identified in the project’s charter. During this phase, PMs

must also compile the lessons learned for future projects, especially the ones that can be of

benefit from the team’s experience. “Key to the Closure Phase are: Project Deliverables are
transitioned, Project Acceptance Report is completed, Project Closeout Report is completed, and

Project Documentation is archived” (University of California, 2011)

People often ask what the role of a PM really is, especially since he/she is not really

doing any of the work. Most of the PM’s work takes place behind doors and before a project

even starts: planning, orchestrating, putting together both teams and ideas and seeking a common

understanding among the different moving parts of a project.

The Art of Project Management (Varum, 2017)

References

Nielsen, D. (2009, November 3). Controlling Change Requests. Retrieved from

https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/controlling-change-requests.php
PM4DEV. (2017). The Roles, Responsibilities and Skills in Project Management. Retrieved

from

file:///Users/diegolopez/Downloads/PM4DEV_The_Roles_Responsibilities_and_Skills.

pdf

Risk Register+. (2017). Risk Register: A Risk Log tool for Project managers. Retrieved from

http://www.riskregisterapp.com/

University of California. (2011, April 24). Project Management Methodology. Retrieved from

http://oe.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/1-projectmethodologyatucberkeleyv1.docx

University of Illinois. (2017). Executing, Monitoring, and Controlling. Retrieved from

https://www.uillinois.edu/cio/services/ppmo/project_management_toolkit/executing__m

onitoring__and_controlling/

Varum. (2017). The Project Manager. Retrieved from http://varunm.com/tag/project-manager/

Wallace, S. (1999). Scope & Change Control. Retrieved from

http://www.epmbook.com/scope.htm