Project Managers

The project manager is a strange position. In the past, I often found myself in discussions with clients or employees where the problems of dealing with project managers were discussed. To be honest, this sometimes surprises me as I have had some very positive experiences with project managers over the years as a developer. But this positive view is not shared by everyone, including some of our current and potential clients at FORGE.

There’s no denying that somebody needs to manage projects. With anything but a very basic project, somebody needs to ensure that tasks are accomplished, deadlines are met, and that both the client is happy and the project is profitable. This is a LOT of responsibility for one person to have. I have only known a couple of people who have been able to do this well. For example, a web project requires that the project manager have at least a decent understanding of database design, programming theory, user interface design, copywriting, HTML, and CSS, as well as be incredibly organized, friendly, and have a strong presence. This list is obviously ideal, but highlights the complexity that comes with the job of managing web projects.

So what is the main complaint that I’ve heard from clients? The main concern that I’ve heard is that they are not able to discuss the project details with the people that are actually doing the work. We have found that our clients are very much interested in knowing who will be doing the work on their projects, and they would like to be able to talk to them directly. At FORGE, we have tried to create a culture where every employee shows professionalism and respect to our clients. While mistakes will be made with this approach, we feel that it’s worth it. The fact that our employees get a chance to know the people whose work they are creating is very valuable.

At FORGE, we assign a project manager to each project from the team that is doing the work. We are still trying to evaluate the exact mix of responsibility, but overall we feel that this will deliver great service to our clients. The hope is that everyone will have a greater understanding of the projects that we are working on, and therefore create a higher quality product. In the end, our goal is simple; accurately determine the most efficient work methods and patterns that will create the highest level of quality. We don’t feel that this is just one persons job, but should be the job of everyone at our company.

This entry was posted on November 07th, 2009 and is filed under business. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or Trackback from your own site.