On the projects on which I have worked as a technical consultant the role of the project manager (when this role existed) was to facilitate communication between the stakeholders and report progress to management and customer.
In this kind of environment the project manager is not a crucial resource for the day to day activities of the project. The decisions are not taken by the project manager but instead by the key stakeholders such as the project sponsor, customer, technical leads and subject matter experts. The project manager helps the stakeholders to take decisions and sets up and manages the process behind the project.
This arrangement makes it easy for the project manager to go on holiday as any other employee since the project can continue just fine without him/her. However if issues arise there will be no one to get the stakeholders together to decide on solutions to have them fixed and also there is going to be no single point of contact for the project. Saving Changes...
Manas MahapatraProject Manager| Infosys LimitedBangalore, Karnataka, India
This is not so easy to manage and fill the gap of Project Manager's absence. If only delegation help, then why we need managers?
During planning for the resources the tentative vacations and leaves plans are included. So the back up plan with required level of delegation within the team, should work fine up to certain extent, when it is confined till the execution. But when the crucial decisions need to be taken, handling of confidential data, or handling of upper management transaction, there need to be an alternate arrangement for equivalent role or immediate next level authority need to be involved. Saving Changes...
Sounds like a good time to thoughtfully plan how to develop a team member while delegating some of the PM role. Virtual meetings offer an opportunity to check in with your delegate to answer questions and provide remote guidance.
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1 reply by Adrian Carlogea
Jun 12, 2016 3:52 PM
Adrian Carlogea
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Delegation in many cases is not an option for project managers since they don’t have any formal authority over the project team members. In many organizations project managers and project team members are employees working on different departments under different management and with different career path options. In this case some line managers may not be too happy when their employees are doing other type of work than the work they are supposed to do.
Also unless the team member is seeking the transfer to the project management department doing project management work will not help him/her too much in his/her development. The development of the employees is not even the responsibility of the project manager but instead that of the line manager/supervisor. Employees in general can climb the corporate leader up to the position of CEO without having to go through the position of project manager.
In the IT industry usually the project managers don’t get directly involved in the work performed on the project but instead they are responsible for facilitating the communication between stakeholders, keeping track of the tasks performed, reporting the progress to management as well as many other activities that are not directly related to the actual work. This means that the team member who would end up doing some PM work would not feel that he has been vested with more responsibility but instead he may end up doing some work that he doesn’t like at all and that will not help him in his career progression.
I think delegation is an option only in the environments where becoming a project manager is the natural career progression for the project team members. This could also work if a particular team member is interested in switching his career to project management.
Saving Changes...
Stephen HallStrategy and Operations Manager| AllstateLake Forest, Il, United States
I make sure everyone knows when I'm going to be away and what is expected from them during this period. I then select someone to run the working group meetings and ensure they have the authority and responsibility to ensure these expectations are met.
Haven't ever had a big problems - everyone needs to take time away and I've never had a team so dependent on my presence to complete the activities.
P.S. I used to run working group calls from my vacation but this should definitely be avoided! Saving Changes...
It might depend on the style of leadership of project managers. I usually gave delegations to relevant team members when I worked for the construction projects. Delegation could include almost all I had as project manager with an exception of power of termination of agreement with various sellers. My roles and responsibilities were clearly described in the master plan and I usually prepare specific documents for hand-over of my roles to the other team member. That documents might include milestone schedule, to-be-done lists during my absence and the other required information. Saving Changes...
saurabh mahajanPMP, ITIL, PRINCE2| vodafonePune, Maharashtra, India
nice to see some very interesting suggestions.
I see views for and against (with some reservation) of delegation.
I will surely explore more on this topic and share on this group Saving Changes...
Anonymous
I have a question for those who do not believe in delegation and distribution of work - when will the PM goes on vacation?
Is your organization a one man - one woman show? Or are the PM supermen no one else can do their work? Saving Changes...
Sounds like a good time to thoughtfully plan how to develop a team member while delegating some of the PM role. Virtual meetings offer an opportunity to check in with your delegate to answer questions and provide remote guidance.
Delegation in many cases is not an option for project managers since they don’t have any formal authority over the project team members. In many organizations project managers and project team members are employees working on different departments under different management and with different career path options. In this case some line managers may not be too happy when their employees are doing other type of work than the work they are supposed to do.
Also unless the team member is seeking the transfer to the project management department doing project management work will not help him/her too much in his/her development. The development of the employees is not even the responsibility of the project manager but instead that of the line manager/supervisor. Employees in general can climb the corporate leader up to the position of CEO without having to go through the position of project manager.
In the IT industry usually the project managers don’t get directly involved in the work performed on the project but instead they are responsible for facilitating the communication between stakeholders, keeping track of the tasks performed, reporting the progress to management as well as many other activities that are not directly related to the actual work. This means that the team member who would end up doing some PM work would not feel that he has been vested with more responsibility but instead he may end up doing some work that he doesn’t like at all and that will not help him in his career progression.
I think delegation is an option only in the environments where becoming a project manager is the natural career progression for the project team members. This could also work if a particular team member is interested in switching his career to project management. Saving Changes...
saurabh mahajanPMP, ITIL, PRINCE2| vodafonePune, Maharashtra, India
I agree and disagree with some of the points.
I agree that delegation should not be pushed on somebody. But I also disagree that it can only be related to one's choice if he/she wants to progress in project management. As I have seen with position some responsibilities come with it without distinguishing if its technical or management. Saving Changes...
After having read your comment and have given some extra thought I do believe that you are right and doing some PM work on a project could help even those that are not planning to move their career to project management.
While functional managers require technical background they also require good communication and organizational skills so an employee who is aiming for a promotion to a functional manager position could benefit from doing some PM work. Functional managers, as I have seen, can also sponsor their own projects and the PM experience could again be valuable on better understanding how their projects will run.
Employees who are not planning to move to management or to project management however I don't think they are going to benefit too much by performing some PM duties. Saving Changes...
