Project Management

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Project Manager VS Admin

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McKenzie Whitlow Austin, Tx, United States
I have recently joined a Design Team as their first ever Project Manager - they have been operating without them for the last 8+ years. Being the one PM amongst 20 designers, I am finding myself being put in the position where I am being asked to do tasks that are more along the lines of an administrative assistant and office manager (setting up meetings and IT questions), rather than actually being brought in to provide PM value. Although I have had multiple discussions with our leadership team about this and have been setting boundaries, the more I push back on those admin requests, the more I am not being added to projects as a whole.

Does anyone have any advise on how I can continue to set these boundaries but still provide actual PM value to my team?
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McKenzie Whitlow Austin, Tx, United States
Feb 15, 2023 7:37 PM
Replying to Rami Kaibni
...
McKenzie, Depending on the type/size of the organization, and projects you are operating within, sometimes you can find yourself doing administrative tasks and I bet you that majority of us do. To a certain extent this is acceptable while you are providing value as a PM as long as administrative tasks doesn't become all what you do then that is a problem.

Setting boundaries is important for sure but from what you've mentioned, it seems your organization probably do not understand the role of a project manager and the value they do/should bring to the table so a constructive discussion with them about the role would be helpful if you didn't do that already.

Quick question: When you were offered the job, what was the job function description for the post?
Thanks for your feedback.

I've been at the organization for 2 years now and was contacted directly by a recruiter. Part of the job description was to identify ways that this position could be incorporated into this function and I've also noticed that there'a also a lot of pushback with wanting to work with a PM. I've started to have discussions with our greater Ops and Leadership teams to help pave the way for cooperation with my role.
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