Top 10 Ways to Annoy a Project Manager

MicroAssist's years of experience in developing E-Learning has taught us how vital project management is. E-Learning projects are more complex to manage than traditional learning projects because they involve technology and training. There's more risk, more time constraints, more budget pressures, and more failures in communication. We are dedicated to using our experience to help E-Learning project managers find success (check out our workshop on the topic!). Kelly Rossi is MicroAssist's Project Manager, and has over six years of training project management experience as well as over eight years of general project management expertise. We've tapped her to share her pet peeves as the first step to making project managers everywhere's lives a little less stressful.

 

Every job has its fair share of annoyances, and project management is no exception. While I can’t speak for all of Project Managerkind, I have been enlisted to list my own personal high-ranking peeves. And they are…

Ninety percent of what a PM cares about is whether a task can get done, when it will be done, if there is anything hindering it and how much it’ll cost. Making me sit through a 30 minute monologue to get this information makes me feel like I’m stuck in line at the DMV. Your deliverable is just one of the things I’m checking on, so please answer my questions directly. If I want more detail, I can always ask.

Project managers live in the middle, right smack-dab in between clients, managers, co-workers, and vendors. As such, we’re often charged with the dicey task of committing other people’s dates to just about everyone. Failing to meet your committed deadline without fair warning is awkward, makes the team look bad, and puts me Reputation Rescue Mode—my reputation, your reputation, and the company’s reputation as well.

Variation on a theme: Telling me at 4:45pm that your deadline is toast. Thanks for saving me the trouble of asking, but I can’t do anything constructive now--except maybe call in sick tomorrow.

Project managers are trained to deal with all sorts of problems, from that flu that sweeps through the office to weather delays and hard drive crashes, scope creep and personnel clashes. But we can’t fix what we don’t know about. I expect to be informed when you hit a mission-critical issue, even if it’s something I can’t personally fix (like a computer crash). Trust me--if it threatens my project, I’ll rattle cages until you get what you need. 

I go out on a limb with this one, but…if you’re dealing with a personal trial, I’d like to be aware of that at a very high level. A good PM knows that relationships are key in getting a project done, and project managers connect with everyone. So while I really don’t want to know the details of your divorce or the tests your doctor is running, I do want to know if there is something I should know. I don’t like surprises, and I can facilitate more than you think. Use your good professional judgment.

When I ask you whether or not you completed a deliverable, and your response is more than a syllable, I know you didn’t do it. Project managers don’t have time for that. Just give it to me straight and tell me what you did. Chances are good that I already know, and that’s why I’ve appeared in your doorway. 

It’s not personal. It’s my job. Besides, you probably gave me that ETA in the first place.

An employer has hired you to solve her problems, not fulfill your creative yearnings. If the two can co-exist for the benefit of the project and do so within budget, I think that’s great. Otherwise, you’re going to have to stick to the project scope.

A project manager’s duty is to deliver a specific product in a specific time frame for a specific cost. Sometimes those specifics exist at a contractual level. Changing scope or charging expenses to a project without my approval is a big, bad no-no.

If you ask me for something, and I deliver it, then I’ve done a good job, right? Well, if you’re a project manager, the answer is…sometimes. Change within the course of a project happens all the time, and, again, good project managers know how to deal with it. But please be reasonable. If you ask me to pilot a plane to Tampa, that’s where I’m flying you. Not London, not Paris—Tampa. And if you do discover that you really do need to fly elsewhere, expect additional time and expense. 

Project managers deal with every aspect of a project--the expected, the unexpected, good, bad, ugly and just plain weird. Somewhere between the kick off meeting and the final sign off, the chances are good that I’ve covered up one or two of your sins or took a bullet for you during that 3-hour client meeting. So if you remember nothing else, please remember this: a little compassion goes a long, long way.