How do you choose the right project manager?
We asked five project management experts to answer the following question: You're about to launch a project. In your opinion, what are the three most important questions to ask when choosing a good project manager? In particular, what are the qualities required of a good project manager? Read their answers in full:
Roland Alech, Consultant and Trainer at MNM Consulting
From my point of view, the questions to ask when choosing the right project manager are :
- Has it already carried out projects and is the complexity of the project in line with its experience?
- Is he curious and dynamic? Will he bring his energy to the project to increase its chances of success?
- Does he understand and defend the result throughout the project to obtain the expected benefits?
In addition to these questions, you also need to be sure that he or she knows his or her limits on the subject. He or she needs to know how much expertise the project will need. He or she must also know how to alert and report on factual elements and solutions.
Adeline Mefferte, Consultant at VIRAGE
When launching a project, appointing the project manager is a key step. There is no single ideal project manager to carry out THE mission. But there may be people more suited to one type of project than another. To make this choice easier, have you asked yourself the following questions?
- Who is involved in the project? What is the context of the project? A project requires the project manager to have good interpersonal skills, to be diplomatic and to identify the stakeholders and their expectations.
- How technical is the project? The project manager must have sufficient knowledge of the project to facilitate exchanges with the experts.
- Is the project manager available? Does he or she have all the human, financial and organizational resources (decision-making power and workload) to focus on the project?
Franck Barbi, IS Steering and Coordination Manager, Strasbourg Eurometropole
To be efficient, a project manager must be chosen following these three questions:
- Does he or she have sufficient knowledge/experience of the topics he or she will be working on? So as not to be "out of step" with business expectations.
- Does it have the available capacity (d/h) in the allotted time (schedule of the project)? This is to make sure the project doesn't get sidetracked, and to ensure quality work.
- Does he have the right training for the type of project involved? V cycle, Prince 2, PMI, Agile, etc.
Obviously, other parameters must also be taken into consideration. For example, his motivation(an unmotivated CP will not make a good project) and his experience in relation to the complexity of the project. But you also need to take into account his " soft skills ": diplomacy, stress management, leadership, communication skills, etc.
Tony Bocock, Independent Purchasing and Outsourcing Consultant
For me, a good project manager must be able to answer these three questions:
- Have we clearly specified the key characteristics and capabilities required to successfully complete the project? The level of commitment and time to be spent on the project (full-time, part-time, etc.)
- Who among our pool of project managers possesses these characteristics and qualities, and who has the required level of availability?
- Which of the possible appointments project manager will be the best decision for :
- Ensuring project success
- Win over the members of the project team to be set up
- Enable appointed project managers to develop their careers
Read also:"How to ensure the success of your project?"
Vincent Didenot, Customer Excellence Manager at VIRAGE
To choose a project manager, I always use the same questioning routine:
- What qualities are required for the project? To do this, I use the ANGE grid (Animation, Negotiation, Management and Expertise) and ask myself various questions on these four themes. This method then provides me with a radar graph that gives me a portrait of the ideal project manager.
- Who are the best candidates? To do this, I observe who among all the project managers has the skills and fits my profile.
- Who's available ? Now I'm cross-referencing my list of candidate project managers with their availability.
If no name comes up, I go back to step 2. However, Idon't want to make a default choice. I sometimes start negotiating the project's schedule , to bring it into line with the availability of the ideal project manager!
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