Ok so I need some big time help! I've worked at a company for about 10 years, 9 of them being an IT manager. Most recently I have changed to a project coordinator position coordinating 30 or more projects at a time, both large and small. I'm new to the "official" project management/coordinator game and so far it's driving me nuts. It was hard enough managing employees now I have to manage managers.
However, before I was asked to take this position I knew it would be a challenge because everyone who's done it quits. So here's my dilemma. I am suppose to facilitate projects for 4-5 managers each of those having sub-managers, I am the only women and the only one of color (double wammy). I feel I am not being heard, respected or appreciated as I once was when I was a manager because everyone but the VP's of course feels a PM is not needed and everything is running fine. My boss tells me what he wants and then changes his mind a week later. All my efforts, opinions, suggestions seem to be shunned however in the end they always decide to do what I initially suggested but that may be years later, after they realize what was originally implemented or not implemented at all is a problem and doesn't work for the company. Which to me means using resources and allocating time and money to things that are in the end going to flop!
I am not one for wasting time, money and efforts but this is our trend and it drives me MAD! Since we are the IT department we purchase and install the software and say here use it. I have advocated training for new software, Wiki FAQ's so users have some assistance without having to create a bug ticket for everything and lastly creating systems that are useful to our COMPANY and not just our IT departments.
Although I do need to work on my persuasive skills I believe it may be time to move to another position or leave the company. I love my work where i'm active, under deadlines and such but not work that in the end turns out horrible. And since I have no control and do not officially manage the projects often times this happens and I feel like it's a reflection somehow of my work, when really the dept. manager thought up the plan I just keep it in an organized place. (Some of these projects and plans I'm ashamed to be involved in.) We lack process, no one really wants to adhere to process or everyone wants a different process. The meeting arguments are ridiculous everyone thinks they are right and in the end the compromises reduce the project results from good to just ok.
We use some aspects of agile project management. My duties are basically to keep things organized, figure out a method of allocating resources and ensure each project's info is updated weekly, then I have my own separate projects to work on as well.
I of course don't have all the tools but i'm trying to make that work. I've done this for a year and must say that this is really the hardest job ever! I'm disappointed and trying to figure out what I should do with my career. I'm thinking, move back into management employees instead of managers. But really I would like to be inspired to continue this job, overcome the challenges and resolve the issues I see in front of me. I'm not a PMP. I've taken a couple of PM courses however they don't want to use the traditional methods here.
Sorry this is so long but for all of you that have been doing this for a while what are your suggestions or at least give me some inspiration :) ?
Thanks Saving Changes...
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Anonymous
Oh another thing... i'm restricted to communicating with a select few about select things, ugh the politics. So the restrictions hold me back from fulfilling my full potential in this position as well. Saving Changes...
What to say... It would need more investigation on reasons behind why it is not working as I see different reasons in your post. I am not really sure what are your responsibilities, but it seems that you are doing a kind of PMO role by managing resources and tracking status of projects. Do you have a PMO? If yes, are you part of it? or how do you cooperate with PMO?
Do you have a clear definition of your roles and responsibilities, what is expected from you on long term and short term? Were you roles and responsibilities communicated sufficiently to project managers and project teams and explained to them? What value are you adding to project managers you try coordinating? Are the benefits of your work clear to them? What are their biggest pains, where could you help them to get their buy-in?
Your work and objectives have to be supported from Top to down, otherwise it will not work as project managers might see your work only as an adimistrative action not adding value to their projects. So show them the benefits, market your role!
Is your manager satisfied with your work? It might be also that your expectations from the job are too high.
I would also invest in building close relationship to project managers, to get their support and cooperation. Involve them more in building the project management culture you want to have.
Try small, take baby-steps!
Beside that, I found inspiring the book Beyond the boys club on subject of women working in a male-dominated field and I also attended a training program "Taking the stage" http://www.thehumphreygroup.com/html/tts.htm to improve my skills in communicating with men and understand some key principles of work with them. Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Thanks so much for your response. See my responses below.
Do you have a PMO? If yes, are you part of it? or how do you cooperate with PMO? --- No
Do you have a clear definition of your roles and responsibilities, what is expected from you on long term and short term? --- The role and responsibility list has changed 4-5 times this year.
Were you roles and responsibilities communicated sufficiently to project managers and project teams and explained to them? ---Again they were changed 4-5 times this year so I don't think they really know what they want.
What value are you adding to project managers you try coordinating? ----I honestly have no clue since my suggestions are not considered and i'm not included in many aspects of managing the project.
Are the benefits of your work clear to them? What are their biggest pains, where could you help them to get their buy-in? ---- I believe I could be a great benefit but they have to be open to it, I can' t force them to see things my way or persuade them to enhance their projects because they tend not to see my suggestions as important.
Your work and objectives have to be supported from Top to down, otherwise it will not work as project managers might see your work only as an adimistrative action not adding value to their projects. ---- YOU'VE HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD HERE! They look at me as an administrative assistance vs. a PM or PC and expect me to take notes for them and update their projects statuses. It's like I really have no involvement in the project or getting it done. Setup /attend a meeting and take notes. That's it.
So show them the benefits, market your role! ---- I would love to do this but at this point I don't know how.Still working on this one.
Is your manager satisfied with your work? It might be also that your expectations from the job are too high. ---I doubt my manager is satisfied. But this position has been a battle for years no matter who is in it, they've all quit. So I doubt i'm the problem, trust me I seriously considered the fact that it's just me.
I would also invest in building close relationship to project managers, to get their support and cooperation. Involve them more in building the project management culture you want to have. ----Hmm there are several of them, they all have different opinions, different suggestions, they rarely ever agree on things because everyone wants things their way "because their way is better". But I see your point and am trying to take this approach.
Thanks so much for the reading suggestions I checked them out yesterday and will purchase the book.Thehumphreygroup info was GREAT! Saving Changes...
Ernani MarquesSócio-Diretor / Project Manager / ConsultantSão Paulo, Brazil, Brazil
You say others tried this job role and quit!
You say you were asked to do this job! and knew it will be a challenge - but it is all about whether a person has the knowledge, experience and skill to do a different job role that is different to being the IT Manager that provides a service and support to the organisation.
Your organisation has no formal structure in place for the management of projects. What is surprising is after others have quit this job role the question I would ask whether your organisation wants to deliver projects within a controlled environment where decisions, agreements are documented and understood, whether Management will support Project Governance and methodology or whether they want to continue making decisions on ad-hoc basis.
Get yourself a job description, being asked is not good enough, HR will assist in providing a documented job description for you to either accept or reject based on the knowledge and experienced required for this job role. Ensure the framework is in place by setting up a proper Project Management Office - PMO with resources. You are currently one band woman and you should have a projects co-ordinator\administrator working for you. Set the scene, get Senior Management buy-in otherwise it will fail. If you dont have a PMO and your company wants one, get external consultants to help you set one up.
You also say your boss tells you what he wants and then changes his mind! what is the job role of your boss is he the PMO and are you just co-ordinating the projects - dont sound good to me, it needs to be sorted out with clear job responsibility and expectations. Cant move forward until you get this cleared up. No one in the organisation should be restricted in communicating when it is part of your job.
Persuation is a good skill to have, but Leadership is far more effective.
Dont give up - after one year doing this co-ordination role the difficulties and obstacles and what needs to be changed is knowledge to be put into constructive use - start making changes but first get yourself that Job description from HR.... Saving Changes...
Anonymous
Hi there. Hmmnnn, I can relate to this post. I was re-hired as a PM (but in another department) for almost six months now but I still don't have a clear definition of what my roles and responsibilities are. First, I was tasked on a process improvement project - with me as the sole team member - I was happy to do it but the sad thing was I didn't have any control on its implementation as my boss said he has his own way and means to have them implemented... I am not sure if the process has been implemented already... Next thing, i was asked to re-design the design review process for our R&D department - I did that - gathered references from my former colleagues and based them from ISO standard, etc. They had it launched via web training program but they are having difficulty implementing it. Again, I have no control over the implementation. Getting back to work after the CNY holidays, I was told that I'll be involved in "big" project - for two weeks, I waited for my function ( i was too excited that finally I'm getting involved in a team project) - unfortunately still, my boss can't tell straight to me what my role is. Suddenly, in a teleconference with the customer, he introduced me as his assistant in the project management side of the project... Uhhhh - assistant in what means? I still do not know. The customers are coming for a week visit next week - I do not have full knowledge of the project as I am not included in e-mail circulations... The meeting minutes and action item register I generated from the teleconference - I forwarded to my boss and ask him to distribute to the internal and customer team members but I do not know if he did... I feel bad as I used to have control over my own projects and have gained respect and acknowledgment from the people I have previously worked with. Now, I am in a limbo and I hate being in this state. Being paid for not being able to contribute to the company is not being ME.
Well, just wanted to unload... Saving Changes...
Anonymous
To Anonymous Posted Mar 10, 2010 8:21 PM - Thanks for unloading, it let's me know i'm not alone. Just about everything you said I am still dealing with ... ( not on email threads or included in some meetings, name changes from pm manager to coordinator etc. explanations of what is considered a project change here and there. I may be informed of a new project way later into it versus in the beginning.) I found my niche is working with outsiders when it comes to project so I take those projects and run with them because the outsiders understand process. The internal projects are still annoying with no control, process or order. Some follow it some don't and that's considered ok today, not ok tomorrow and so on.
I think we move from a position of having control into a role with no control and that's a serious change. I'm still not sure how to get anything done with no control over anything. It doesn't appear that my input matters. I have proven that my ideas are necessary in how there choices ultimately wind up causing tons of additional work to fix "the fix" if you will. Anyway i'm trying to read up on managing managers, and working on projects with no control. But so far I feel the same as you... no real contributions.
To Vasoula, thanks for your response. My company appears to want things in a semi-controlled environment while still doing things on an ad-hoc basis. It's how they work and i'm not here to change it. My job as I understand it is to keep things organized and setup up meetings and keep track of notes.... sounds more like a secretary if you ask me, which i'm not here to be. But i'm still trying to figure it all out. It really seems like a battle because even if i were to get a formal statement from HR the actual way things happen may not reflect what my job description says... so I guess I feel like it's a no win situation. I'm really trying to find my way on my own and ensure that I set myself up properly so when I do began looking I can put something on my resume with confidence that shows that I made a difference. Saving Changes...
