How to be a software project manager

 

Part 1: Requirements for Software Project Managers

The first is a manager. Second, be familiar with certain tools, certain languages. business background. Project management skills.

The harsh environment faced by software project managers, most of our software companies are implemented in a relatively chaotic state (CMM level), and it is unlikely that the organization will clearly and appropriately define the responsibilities of the project and the project manager. Therefore, it will affect the success of the project. All factors are the responsibility of the project manager, including customers, environment, assessment, incentives and so on.

1. Responsibility.

Achieving the success of the project is undoubtedly the responsibility of the project manager. The project manager is solely responsible for the comfort of the client and the long-term interests of the business. Project success has a solid foundation, especially for a company's strategic projects.

2. Common sense and intuition.

Most actions that go against common sense and intuition will eventually be proven wrong, and project managers need to accumulate enough mistakes that others have made to enrich their common sense. Suppose you find that there is a phenomenon that violates common sense in the project, you should solve it as a problem, and see if your common sense needs to be changed or this phenomenon needs to be changed. The project manager should try his best to make the project operate in accordance with the routine, not to make a fuss or to use too many new terms unfamiliar to the programmers to express his level. This not only does not help programmers to form a good mentality, but also adds to the confusion of the project.

Project managers face an ever-changing environment and an unknown future. Going to work in the morning, perhaps a key programmer is about to resign, and the needs of customers have changed significantly. Or maybe your boss has a new idea that's giving you a headache.

Faced with this environment, project managers must maintain a keen sense of smell, prepare flexible project plans and design proposals, and prepare before most changes come, so as to avoid major blows to the project.

Third, the attitude of learning.

The development of software technology is changing with each passing day, and project managers must be aware of the latest development directions. Such as: JEE or .NET. UML and so on. See if it can be applied to the project. And project managers have to learn management knowledge, CMM, PMBOK or RUP. For most small enterprises in China, the most important thing to learn these theoretical systems is not to fully import them. First of all, we should see the gap from these advanced ideas, do a good job of improvement on key issues, and gradually promote the progress of project management and technology. Every programmer has something unique. Project managers should admit that programmers are better than themselves, and try their best to promote the exchange of knowledge and skills among members.

Fourth, do everything possible to maintain the project team.

Domestic software companies generally do not have very good culture and management to construct a cohesive team. Maintaining the stability and effectiveness of the project team many other responsibilities become the project manager.

Project managers must care about programmers: 1. Try to make programmers focus on their work. The impact of chores is far more than the time spent on these things themselves. Relatively speaking, programmers are less efficient than ordinary people when dealing with chores. It is also easier to make mistakes, which can lead to bad moods and affect work. Project managers should sometimes be brave enough to take on chores. 2. Have a tolerant attitude, especially for programmers.

Today's programmers are relatively young, and they think they are a little proud of their capital, and they are in a frivolous environment, so sometimes they do some excessive behavior. Project managers must not take it too seriously. 3. Be willing to be the hero behind the scenes and not care too much. Project managers often have to support programmers technically, but they can't preach everywhere, and they owe a lot of other achievements to programmers. When the project is tense. The project manager has time to participate in the tedious testing and debugging work, or do some code work. 4. Uphold the principle of fairness. Project managers must be fair and reasonable when assigning work and evaluating project members, so that everyone can be convinced.

5. Communication and exchange.

The project manager should understand the members involved in the design and development of the system, where their strengths and interests are, in order to communicate better. Such informal communication outside the project is crucial for team building. In addition, successful project managers should also be good at communicating with the company's leadership, which is a guarantee of obtaining the necessary resource support.

Some excellent software project managers can communicate very well with project members, related departments or customers, but fail to communicate well with their superiors. After successfully leading one or several projects, they are found in new projects. Lack of major support from leadership. Eventually, some project managers chose to leave the company, while others had to give up their role as project managers. Communication and communication skills are basically the fatal injury of most project managers with technical backgrounds. Ten years ago, what the software industry needed most was talented developers. In recent years, the importance of management has become increasingly prominent, and software companies have begun to look for talented and talented project managers. Facts have proved that genius is always unavoidable, and management systems cannot be built on the basis of small probability.

Solving the problems of software enterprises will finally depend on the improvement of organizational management level. For example, compensation and incentive policies, optimization of the development process, and a sound training system. In a well-managed organizational environment, the responsibility of the project manager and the difficulty of fulfilling it will be greatly reduced. Businesses will no longer have to look for talented project managers. On the contrary, the enterprise will become the base for the growth of good project managers.

Someone also said:

first. Do you have knowledge of the relevant areas of project management? Do you know the nine knowledge areas of the PMP? Do you know the requirements of CMMI and ISO for project process control? Suppose you have an affirmative answer. So congratulations, you are 20% on the way to the project manager.

The knowledge field of project management is getting wider and wider, project planning, time management, resource management, cost control, risk management, quality management and even supplier management. Each piece of content has a lot of knowledge to learn and master, as well as practical experience to participate in. such important content. Why only 20%, you must be very strange. That's right, even if you have a solid grasp of project management knowledge, that's only a 20% bonus. Because these knowledge is only the content of the book, everyone can master it through learning. Even if you can't keep it all in your head. All can work on the project while following the process described in the book. Assuming that each project can be successfully completed according to the process step by step, what should the project manager do? so. In addition to knowledge, the other 80% is the focus.

Coordination. This is the ability that a qualified project manager must have

What is coordination ability? It's the ability to deal with people of all kinds.

The position of the project manager, in fact, has no administrative power, that is, there is no power to manage the members of the project, and many other times work as a project coordinator.

After a project starts. The members of the project may be temporarily transferred from various departments. As the project manager, it is necessary to coordinate the time limit of each member's participation in the project with people from various departments. The project manager needs to arrange work with each project member. Everyone is an individual with various personalities. How to deal with people with different personalities. This is not something that can be learned in an hour and a half.

The project manager also needs to coordinate with the upper management. When the project is delayed, how to explain the reason to the leadership, how to apply to the leadership for many other funds and resources, and how to persuade the leadership to support the project more. This is the embodiment of coordination ability. Besides. The project manager also needs to coordinate with the client to face the rambling demands of the client. How to impose restrictions, face various demands of customers, how to resolve them one by one, and how to reduce customer complaints and sign for receipt as soon as possible after the product is finally delivered to customers, these all require a strong project manager. The ability to settle all stakeholders related to the project. This should account for 40% . That is to say, it is assumed that the above two are achieved. You can be a qualified project manager.

But this is still far from enough.

Writing!

Project managers can barely write code, but a lot of other work is writing documentation and reports.

This almost took up most of the project manager's work time.

From contracts to project plans to project reports, project managers need strong writing skills.

Clarity and understanding are basic requirements for documentation, many other times. Project managers need to analyze the same problem from different angles, and people get different results.

Of course, assuming you can write dead as living and black as white. Then congratulations. You can get full marks for this 20%.

Communication skills!

But language communication skills. Also includes the ability to observe color.

Project managers don't have to be eloquent. The mouth should be written in chapters, but the words must be clear and clear; at the same time, body language such as expressions and movements should also be used. Understand the other person's inner thoughts. at this point. It's really hard. Some people may not learn to communicate with others in a lifetime. So, it just depends on your talent.

at this point. Should hit 10%.

Last 10%. pressure resistance

As a project manager, you must be able to withstand enormous pressure that ordinary people cannot bear.

Especially when the project encounters problems. When things are not going well. How to withstand and relieve that pressure when costs are rising and when deadlines are approaching, not everyone can do it. Suppose you are unhappy and unable to let go when you encounter something, then under the weight of the project, it will be a double torture to your spirit and body.

 

To sum up the above are the following points:

• Knowledge in project management related fields 20%
• Coordination ability: the ability to deal with various people, etc. 40%
• Writing: Reporting Ability 20%
• Communication skills, observation: 10%
• Pressure resistance: 10%

 

Part II: Responsibilities of a Software Project Manager

1. Continuously identify stakeholders and manage stakeholder expectations.

   For example, in a software product development project, possible stakeholders include but are not limited to:

   Investors want to make money from products

   Product users hope that the product is easy to use, can bring use value and a good user experience to them

   The project team hopes to reflect their creativity and sense of achievement through this product. And harvest labor returns and ability improvement

   Government agencies hope that the product has a good social effect

   ……

Stakeholders are not fully identified from the beginning, so they need to be constantly identified

Manage stakeholder expectations. Good communication skills are required. To be able to empathize, to fully understand and understand from the perspective of the other party

Note: Project Stakeholders. In fact, it is the people involved in the project. This is a term in project management theory.

2. Form and build a strong project team.

The project team is the key element for the success of the project. It forms the team, motivates and continuously builds the team, coordinates the relationship and task assignment within the team, and communicates well. It's something a project manager has to do all the time.

Construction project team. Including recruitment, training, deployment, guidance and other aspects of work.

3. Make a project management plan. Fully control the scope, schedule, cost, quality, risk and other elements of the project.

The scope, schedule, cost, quality and risk control of the project are the basic elements of project management. It is also one of the things a project manager has to do. Of course. Specific requirements research and confirmation, system architecture design, specific design, development, testing, change, risk, documentation, acceptance, delivery, training, etc., and even the project schedule, can be decomposed to project team members. However, the project manager is responsible for overall management and control, and coordination of resources in all aspects.

4. Summarize the project.

After the project is over and the product is accepted and delivered, an important job of the project manager is to summarize and analyze the success and failure of the project. In particular, fully summarize the experience and lessons learned. As a reference and reference for future projects of yourself, your team, and your company.

 

Note: The software project manager assumes too much depth into the product design and development process. And more or less ignoring the responsibilities that it should really focus on and focus on is detrimental to the project. We have a lot of projects right now. With few people, every project manager has to take part in his own project or someone else's project and undertake the corresponding work. He needs to efficiently adjust his work plan, and run and revise the work plan every day.

 

Part 3: How to be a successful project manager

Software project management is "process-centered, measurement-based, and people-oriented". In this process, it is necessary to fully integrate technical methods, tools, processes, resources (manpower, funds, time, etc.) and other elements. Who will lead this process? What about integration work? is the project manager.

The project manager is the soul of the project team and a very important role in the project team, no matter it is the era of individual heroes. In the era of process-based management, people must rely on people to achieve management. This is "people-oriented". No matter how formal the management is. Process is the management of form. The content management must rely on the ability of individuals.

project manager. Is the hardest person to pick at most software companies. why? There are very few project managers with practical experience and theoretical knowledge. And even if they are worth it, they are relatively high, so "reluctant project managers abound" in the software industry. He has a certain development experience, the program is very well written, and he has certain qualifications. Although he has not received formal training, he may not have been a manager, but there is no way. The company lacks people, so he can only choose him as the project manager. Of course. It does not rule out that it is very good to do without the above conditions.

In 1999, I was in charge of a successful project, which was to develop a peripheral procurement module for one of our old users. Hooked into the financial system. The members of the project team are all fresh graduates who are developing application software with DELPHI for the first time. The project manager is also one of the more management-minded employees. When he was in school, he was a student cadre and had more organizational skills. As the project manager, I guide the management of the project team, because I have never done development with DELPHI. It is conceivable how risky the personnel of this project is!

The needs analysis of the project was done by an experienced old employee, who made a general design. The specific design, realization and implementation were all done by the project team. They actually completed the project according to the requirements within the specified time. ! Before I went to the field to implement it, I thought it should not be so smooth, and it turned out within a few months of their implementation. Users use it very well. There are only a few small changes to the interface, no software correctness maintenance! It's unbelievable. why? When summarizing afterwards, everyone came to the conclusion that we did it strictly in accordance with the company's software project specifications. It's not just an experienced employee who is good enough to be a project manager! A novice can succeed as well.

So, how do you choose a project manager? Let's first look at the source of the project manager.

(1) A full-time project manager. For example, there is a project management department in the company, which is a dispatched agency of the project manager. The project manager has undergone professional training and certification.

(2) Part-time project manager. from a technical department. For example, the development department or the business department can hold other positions at the same time.

For dedicated project managers. Suppose members of the project team have part-time jobs. That is, the same project member may participate in multiple projects at the same time. At this time, there is a problem of resource competition, which requires coordination among the project teams. Because the team members and the project manager have no administrative affiliation, the coordination of the project is very problematic.

For another way. Often the project manager only manages the job content he is familiar with and the people he is familiar with, nominally the project manager. Actually a local manager.

So when choosing to set up the organizational structure of the company. The above two situations should be fully considered when selecting a project manager.

A qualified project manager. The following requirements are required:

1.      Be impartial:

In 1999 I was in charge of a project. The project manager of the project is based on seniority when allocating bonuses. Not by performance. As a result, the employees in the project team with less seniority but more work complained very much, resulting in very poor enthusiasm for the entire project. In the end, I had to come forward to formulate a new performance evaluation method.

Assuming that a project manager cannot be impartial and selfless, it is difficult for him to convince the public and lead the project team well.

Have a good work ethic

In 2002, in a project I was in charge of, because the project manager deliberately concealed the real progress of the project and failed to fulfill his promise to the user, the user did not trust him, and he asked the company to replace the project manager.

Users have the right to know about the project, and exposing problems to users is not necessarily a bad thing, because only if everyone can understand each other can the smooth progress of the project be guaranteed. Assume knowing that the progress cannot be completed. And beneficial to conceal the truth, of course, will be punished.

To have the basic skills and knowledge of management

2.      To be a good project manager, he must learn some basic knowledge about project management. To carry out project management skills training, it is necessary to have both management awareness and basic management skills.

3.      Must have very good communication and expression skills

The project manager needs to communicate with all kinds of people, including people in the project team, marketing personnel, users, and superiors. It is also necessary to deal with people at all levels. For the success of the project, it is necessary to eliminate resistance from all aspects through communication. For example, in a system integration project, you may have to communicate with various roles such as the user's project supervisor, electrician, and construction team when wiring at the user's site. otherwise. Possibly due to very minor issues. Your system is about to fail.

4.      Have a very strong ability to analyze problems and solve this problem

The project manager should be able to see the essence through the phenomenon, find the big problem through the details, and take decisive measures after finding the problem, instead of delaying the opportunity. Suppose a project manager is numb to the problem and can't prevent minor problems, then anyone can be a project manager.

5.      To understand technology, not to be proficient. But be comprehensive

This may be a more controversial principle. Since it is assumed to operate on this principle. How do full-time project managers with PMP certificates find jobs? I have also tried to use a project manager who does not understand technology before, and used a person who does not understand development as a project manager. He is mainly responsible for the progress of the project, coordinating inside and outside the project team. But to make up for its shortcomings. He must also be assigned an assistant to be in charge of technology. This is fine for large projects, but certainly not for small projects. Otherwise, resources will be wasted, and the workload of the project manager will not be full . So my opinion is to use a project manager who understands technology. This way he can clearly know what the team members are doing and how they are doing. You can issue correct directional instructions, instead of blindly directing, the layman leads the layman.

Be humble, don't pretend to understand

Some project managers talk a lot and don't listen to everyone's opinions. And don't know how to pretend. A human resources manager of a software company told me about their company's troubles due to the improper selection of software project managers. In 2001, their company hired a project manager. The project manager was dubbed by the programmers as "a layman leading an expert", and most of the team members criticized him a lot. He also can't listen to other people's opinions, so the efficiency of the project team is very low, and the quality of the project is very poor. After the system is implemented. Got caught in the quagmire of a lot of error correction.

6.      Be approachable and don’t put on airs

Assuming your project manager can't do this, you'll be very disgusted with this kind of project manager! You will not communicate with him very well, and of course the efficiency of the project team will not be very high.

These are the basic requirements for project managers. Assuming he can build on it with other better strengths, of course he should be picked.

Fully empower the project manager

In software companies, there are generally two types of organizational structures:

(1) Division system: The division includes all the responsibilities of a product life cycle: product development, product customization, project implementation, product after-sales service, market, channels, etc.

(2) Functional department system: The functions of marketing, sales, product development, project development, implementation services, R&D management, and testing are dispersed in different departments, and departments are divided according to functions.

whatever the organizational structure. For the project team, it is generally necessary to adopt a dynamic project team method, that is, the members of the project team are transferred to a project team by personnel from different departments, and when the project is completed. The members of the project team go back to their respective departments.

For static departments, its responsibility is to provide suitable personnel and develop their professional skills. Carrying out the standardization of professional functions, each functional department is like a reservoir of talents. The project team is simply employing people. A very easy problem in a dynamically organized project team is that the project manager has insufficient power or the project manager has insufficient authority. So it must be fully authorized.

Don't dismiss project managers easily

At the beginning of 2002, I took over a project that had already changed 3 project managers. As a result, the project's construction period has been delayed again and again. Every time the project manager is changed, it is necessary to coordinate with the user, and every time the project manager is changed. The user has to tell the needs of the project again and again, how innocent the user is!

Therefore, during the operation of the project, do not change the project manager. However, the situation of changing project managers is relatively common in enterprises. Sometimes companies do it as a last resort. Such as the project manager resigns or falls ill. This risk should be identified at the beginning of the project. In order to avoid this risk, the AB angle method can be implemented within the project team. That is, there is a team member who can be as familiar with the overall progress of the project as the project manager, once the project manager leaves. He can make it up at any time. Suppose you have to change the project manager, but also choose an appropriate time. For example, the system has been developed and entered the implementation stage. It is possible to replace the project manager with a project manager who is good at implementation work. For example, after the demand research is completed, the project manager can be replaced.

Keeping the above principles in mind, I believe that the success probability of your project will be greatly improved!

To summarize the above:

• impartiality
• Learn the basics of project management
• Good communication and presentation skills
• Very strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Understand technology, do not require finesse but must be comprehensive
• Be approachable, don't put on airs