A project manager is the most critical person inside a team who takes the overall responsibilities to manage the projects and play an essential role in completing the projects. A project manager has to face many difficult situations to accomplish these tasks - the responsibilities of a project manager range from invisible activities to prominent customer presentations.

Project managers play the lead role in planning, executing, monitoring, controlling, and closing projects. They are accountable for the entire project scope, the project team and resources, the project budget, and the success or failure of the project.

1. Who is Project Manager?

A project manager is a person who organizes, plans, and executes a project and has responsibility for leading teams, defining goals, communicating with stakeholders, and seeing the success or failure of the project through to its closure. The project manager is in charge of the entire project and handles everything involved, such as the project scope, managing the project team, and the resources assigned to the project.

Project managers are involved in so many parts of the project from beginning to end. Their responsibilities include concrete, tangible things like planning and budgeting and less quantifiable (but no less important) things like providing leadership and moral support.

The project manager role is in demand in just about every industry. Let's take a closer look at What Do They Actually Do in Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).

2. What Do Project Managers Actually Do in SDLC?

SDLC or Software Development Life Cycle is, in general terms, a process that consists of several distinct stages, including planning, design, building, testing, and deployment. When it comes to software development, a project manager can be involved in every step in the SDLC and even some steps outside of it, such as pre-sales, client meetings, and post-project reviews.

As we discuss phases of the software development life cycle in the last article, there are seven basic phases in the development, including:

• Planning.
• Define Requirements.
• Design & Prototyping.
• Software Development.
• Testing.
• Deployment.
• Operations & Maintenance.

The roles and responsibilities of project managers depend on every phase of the SDLC. Every decision the project manager makes must directly benefit their project.

2.1 Initiating the project

During project initiation, a PM should develop a business case and define the project broadly. Project managers can quickly initiate this with a project charter which is a document consisting of critical details, including project constraints, goals, appointment of the project manager, the expected timeline, budget(s), staffing, etc.

Once a manager has illustrated a clear path forward with their charter, they should identify key project stakeholders. It can be easily accomplished by creating a stakeholder register. In a project charter, two evaluation tools are used to decide whether a project is worth pursuing, including:

• Business Case Document: This document justifies the project's necessities and includes an estimate of potential financial benefits.
• Feasibility Study: PMs use this to evaluate a project's objectives, timeline, and costs to determine whether a project is worth executing.

2.2 Planning the Project

Planning in the SDLC is similar to planning in the project management life cycle. The Project Manager (PM) needs to create a Software Requirement Specification (SRS) document to clearly define the requirements of the new software, the resources needed, and any possible risks.

It will help the PM be aware of what has already been taken into consideration, and clearly defining the roles and tasks of team members will save more time and trouble down the line.

In this phase, The PM should identify technical requirements and develop a detailed project schedule by creating a clear communication plan and establishing goals/deliverables. Additionally, requirement analysis can be used during planning with inputs from the customer, sales department, market surveys, and domain experts in the industry.

The detailed tasks include:

• Developing a project management plan, setting measurable goals.
• Defining and managing scope, creating a work breakdown structure (WBS), and requirements gathering and stakeholder expectations.
• Planning schedules, activities, estimating resources and activity durations.
• Estimating costs, determining budgets, and assigning budgets to the various activities.
• Identifying quality requirements, required procurements, human resource needs, and communications.
• Risk management: Planning for and identifying potential risks and ensuring the presence of a backup plan. Some of the potential risks could be:
  • Design variations.
  • Variations by the client.
  • Disputing and fixing any discrepancies arising due to personal conflicts between the team members.

2.3 Executing the Project

During project execution, the project managers need to develop a plan that will support the team to reach their goal easily without hindering the performance. Team members begin completing the actual work and subtasks of the project.

The project manager will delegate the team. The managers should also understand the strength and weaknesses of their teams and accordingly delegate the tasks to them. So, be a good leader who creates an environment that fosters trust through meaningful delegation.

Depending on specific projects, PMs will approach a methodology. It includes:

• Agile.
• Lean.
• Waterfall.
• Scrum.
• Kanban.
• XP (Extreme Programming).
• Six Sigma.

Additionally, a project manager must maintain effective collaboration between stakeholders and all team members involved. They have to organize their team to show their full potential. Ultimately, this will ensure that everyone is on the same page and the project runs without any glaring issues.

The detailed tasks include:

• Establishing meeting to communicate the rules of the project clearly to the entire team.
• Directing and managing all work for the project.
• Performing all aspects of managing quality.
• Selecting, developing, and managing the project team.
• Managing all aspects of communications.
• Taking action on securing necessary procurements.
• Managing all stakeholder expectations.

2.4 Monitoring and controlling the project

After the project has been started, a project manager has to see how much is done and whether it is expected. PMs will set out the project boundaries and scope to ensure that the project completion is on time.

A project manager should have a vision of where to go and understand the big picture related to any project. The vision should be conveyed to the entire team to understand the importance of their role to achieve the results. The team should understand the load of work and make the possible efforts to convert the goal into a mission.

Time estimation for the various activities is of principal significance as it helps set the daily priorities of each team member. The project manager has to correctly time all the activities for the project's completion and prepares for any delays in any activities.

Finally, to make a good impression on stakeholders and clients, the project managers need to look for whether the project has succeeded or failed. A project manager needs to be able to negotiate achievable deadlines and discuss the same with the team.

The detailed tasks include:

• Monitoring and controlling the project work and managing any necessary changes.
• Validating and controlling the scope of the project.
• Controlling the scope of the project and project costs.
• Ensuring that the deliverables are delivered on time and within budget as per the business requirements.
• Maintaining the interaction between all team and stakeholder communications.

2.5 Closing the project

In this phase, the Project Manager will be responsible for terminating these contracts and completing any necessary paperwork and documentation. Often, teams will hold a reflection meeting upon project completion to contemplate their comprehensive successes and failures before, during, and after development. This reflection method provides a sense of continuous improvement for the team, enhancing the overall productivity and output of the company.

A project manager should review the entirety of the project (from start to finish), complete a detailed report covering after facets of the project, and securely store it for future reference. When the project is completed on time, and within a budget, the project manager has to provide appropriate documentation to present the final reports to clients and identify the areas where there is a need for future development. It is also a significant responsibility of a project manager for project development. It has two main functions:

• To maintain a record of what has been done in the project and who has been involved.
• To ensure that the project satisfies all the project requirements.

The detailed tasks:

• Managing the reports.
• Closing all phases of the project.
• Closing all project procurements.

3. What are Essential skills for a PM?

In this position, the project managers play a vital role in a company's success. Necessary Skills of a software project manager: An excellent theoretical knowledge of various project management techniques is needed to become a successful project manager, but theoretical knowledge is not enough.

Moreover, a project manager must have good decision-making abilities, good communication skills, and the ability to control the team members while keeping a good rapport with them and getting the work done by them. Some skills such as tracking and controlling the progress of the project, customer interaction, good knowledge of estimation techniques, and previous experience are needed. Skills that are the most important to become a successful project manager are given below:

3.1 Technical Skills

Technical skills are the more tangible and measurable abilities required to be an effective project manager.

3.1.1 Planning and forecasting

It can be challenging, especially since many project managers need to make educated guesses about timelines and required resources.

That's where forecasting comes into play. Project managers need to use any information they have to make predictions and estimates.

Besides, PMs need to facilitate meetings, create a schedule, document notes, and follow up on action items.

3.1.2 Risk management

Every project has risks. Perhaps a resource won't be available when you need it, or delayed approval from a client will set your timeline back a few days.

Project managers are responsible for not only navigating around risks but anticipating them so that they can try their best to avoid them altogether.

3.1.3 Budget management

Only 2.5% of companies complete all of the projects they take on. The rest go over schedule, over budget, or both.

Project managers know that there are financial constraints they need to work within, and they use their budgeting and financial management skills to deliver winning projects within those limitations.

3.1.4 Tracking and monitoring

PMs need to use their performance tracking and monitoring skills to ensure that projects are running according to plan while still supporting the broader business goals. It ensures that the project is not only completed but be successful.

PMs should be experts at using project management software to coordinate all of the project elements with jumbled spreadsheets and task lists to track and monitor progress effectively.

3.1.5 Project management methodologies

From Agile to Waterfall, there are numerous project management methodologies and approaches. These outline specific principles for overseeing and completing projects.

Experienced project managers are familiar with those methodologies and can determine which ones best fit their specific teams and projects.

This level of expertise will help them more accurately estimate costs, timelines, and resource requirements.

• Knowledge of project estimation techniques.
• Sound decision-making abilities at the right time.
• Previous experience of managing a similar type of projects.
• Good communication skills to meet the customer satisfaction.
• Encourage all the team members to develop the product successfully.
• Know the various type of risks that may occur and the solution for these problems.
• Leadership: You'll be tasked with leading a team to achieve a goal.
• Organization: The ability to prioritize and multitask will keep projects running smoothly.
• Critical thinking: Analyzing and evaluating a situation critically helps prevent issues before they happen.
• A sense of humor: Approaching a project with a positive attitude can ease stress and energize your team.

3.2 Project manager soft skills

3.2.1 Leadership

Strong leadership skills are critical for project managers. They allow leaders to oversee and coordinate tasks, motivate and encourage the team, and define the road map to complete the project.

3.2.2 Communication

Project managers must have strong communication skills to be able to convey messages to clients and team members. They need this skill to share their vision, goals, ideas, and issues effectively. They also need communication skills to produce presentations and reports.

3.2.3 Team management

A project manager must bring a team together and move them in one direction, aligning their personal goals with those of the organization. Team management skills include effectively delegating responsibilities, handling conflicts, evaluating performances, and coaching team members to help them improve their skills.

3.2.4 Time management

Every project is subject to deadlines, which means numerous tasks need to be accomplished in a short amount of time. Project managers must be able to create a project timeline and maintain those deadlines throughout the project lifecycle.

3.2.5 Risk management

PMs must have the experience and ability to define what could go wrong and implement a risk mitigation strategy by using professional risk management tools that allow them to analyze potential risks to develop risk mitigation strategies.

3.2.6 Negotiation

A project manager must be effective at negotiating terms with suppliers, clients, and other stakeholders. You must also employ negotiation skills when working with your team to bring everyone in line with strategic goals or manage interpersonal conflicts within the team.

3.2.7 Problem-solving

Strong problem-solving skills will allow project managers to have a structured approach to solving problems to achieve a positive result.

3.2.8 Adaptability

Project managers must adapt to upcoming product trends, new technology, user demographics, and more. It is an essential skill at the material level, as they must lead entire teams in the right direction.

Conclusion

Project management is not an easy job. It's several complicated jobs, including the initiation, planning, executing, controlling, and closing of a project. Even more challenging, that project is delegated to a team of your choosing, given specific goals to achieve over a defined timeline for a determined budget.

The responsibilities of a project manager are many and varied, measuring a large number of different types of competencies and tasks. That being the case, successful and effective project managers must have many different skills, both hard and soft to do their job as well as possible.