The Role of a Digital Project Manager - Term Paper Example

 The Role Of A Digital Project Manager Introduction Project management is a hard task; therefore digital project management needs a competent set of capabilities, which once mastered, are reflective and applicable through the project. Effective project management is crucial to an extensive accomplishment of digital projects. There are various abilities and skills needed in an effectively managed digital project. Therefore, an effective digital project manager requires technical knowledge as well as skills of managing projects to achieve better results. Similarly, a digital project manager is in chargeof various work aspects of his program during the project implementation. Therefore, the achievement of any projects extensively depends on the capabilities and efforts of a project manager. The paper will investigate various tasks and roles of a digital project manager. It will explore popular managerial constrains including balancing if stakeholders interests and expectations and ensuring quality outcomes of the project. Discussion Every company needs extensive leadership to organize and operate all their projects effectively. This demands the company to appoint effective project managers to manage diverse responsibilities, and guide and direct the project management group and motivate them to complete their assigned tasks or projects, considering various factors. Experts agree that, in a bid to comprehend how an organization’s project management can operate effectively, it is crucial to understand and identify the crucial functions of a project manager, (Heerkens, 2002, p.52). Management of the project, whether in the IT or business context, rotates around the capacity to juggle and organize budget, time and human capital. The above three aspects reflects the key elements of a project, and if combined with a proactive project management style, they can be applied to attain initiative with no extra expenses or delays, (Highsmith, 2004, p.74). Project managers are the individuals, who have the entire function for the achievable initiation, operation, coordination, planning, evaluation, managing and closure of organizational projects, (Richman, 2002, p.32). This work position is utilized in building construction, IT, business organizations, engineering, architecture and various diverse industries that generate goods and services. Digital project managers plan, evaluate cost, and scope current programs and are therefore charged with the task of driving quality, timely results delivery and customer satisfaction against their projects, (Howes, 2001, p.56). In other words, they ensure that all digital projects are trafficked, organized, implemented and planned in a proper manner. Their main role is to accomplish all the objectives of the project in due time without any issues, challenges, and skew for the scope of the project. Key aspects of digital project manager’s role A digital project manager engages in IT or communication project starting from the initial stage of planning to solution implementation stage, (McManus, 2007, p.165). A digital project manager assigns duties, creates time line and establishes the program budget. Similar tasks include meeting coordination between members of digital teams and monitoring the continued progress of digital projects. The critical aspects of the digital project manager’s role include planning, analyzing, communication, leaderships and control of the project progress. Planning is a critical element of the managers’ role, and entailsestablishing what should be done, the person responsible for the activity accomplishments, and the appropriate time for doing the tasks are all essential aspects of the process of planning. Most critical is that planning is a crucial procedure, which occurs all through the project life, (Northouse, 2009, p.126). Organization comprises establishing the structure of the group involved, which entails establishing the organizations structure of team involved in the project, defining their powers and duties, identifying services offered by external corporations and positions of the staffs of the project. Leadership entails carrying out of the plans of a digital project to attain the goals of the digital project. Leadership is an increasingly challenging element for emerging digital project leaders as it entails an increasing number of soft skills, (Whichard, and Kees, 2006, p.321).. These skills include clear communication, motivation of the team and management of conflicts. Crucial aspects in leaderships include establishing the direction of the team, project activities coordination, employees’ motivations and work delegation. Additionally, controlling involves maintaining the digital project on track. The discussion will explore the duties of digital project manager in relations to the above key aspects of their roles. Digital project managers’ roles To manage limited resources, digital project overseers have to consider various aspects. For instance, planning is critical as it combines all other aspects and is increasingly crucial. In multiple departments’ management, a digital project manager needs an extensive deal of coordination, execution of duties as a logical factor. However, just as various sectors must be under direction of heads of departments, such officers must be responsible to the digital project manager, (Lock, 2007, p.98). The crucial part of his role is analyzing and managing risk. He undertakes assessment of risks to establish possible risks and then create means of handlings the risks. He should realize that risk directly affects the tendency of achievement and that such risk must be evaluated throughout the project’s lifetime. Risks emerge from uncertainty; therefore, an effective project manager must emphasize on this as the primary concern. Similarly, some of the issues that affect a project emanate from such risks, (Leach, 2005, p.90). Therefore, it is the function of an effective project manager to lessen risk critically, mainly by following the open communication policy, ensuring all crucial participants have the opportunity to give their views and concerns. A project manager is responsible for decision-making in a manner that risks are prevented and uncertainties reduced. All project managers’ decisions should directly benefit the organizational programs, (Lewis, 2008, p.23). A project manager utilizes software of project management including MS Project, to coordinate his duties and workforce. Such software packages enable him to generate reports as well as charts in a shorter time compared to extensive hours it can take if manually done. As an integration manager, he ensures building and controlling of the program direction, (Kerzner, 2001, p.45). He establishes and manages the steering team of the project, which can support and execute the entire project, integrating the project requirements, interests and needs as well as its entire shareholder. Digital project manager manages of the scope – this entails planning, identifying and controlling the project scope, and management of time and cost that entails schedule development, resource allocation, and project fund management, (Deeprose, 2002, p.85. He defines the goals of the program, establish the deliverable products and make sure that the project performs the entire tasks needed. A project manager manages project quality by taking care of the process quality to ensure the project meets or exceeds diverse set quality parameters. He is in charge of human resource management whereby he manages his team, motivate them, encourage them and ensure that his team follows the right track. He is responsible for communication management where he organizes communication plan and ensure horizontal and vertical healthy communication among the organization workforce. He identifies project risks and develops mitigation and contingency strategies to prevent adverse effects of such risks to the project, (Russel, 2011, p.145) He is a procurement manager to procure and manage diverse materials required during the project – with suppliers and vendors – to ensure effective project completion. He establishes an effective communication lines with all required partners and disseminates progress information of the projects (locally via the steering team and internationally via appropriate channels). The project manager determines the achievement and botch of the program, and plays multiple functions and his assistance is needs in business requirement gathering, designing the system of database management and organizing project documentation. Different researchers and experts have identified managerial functions, for instance. Maxwell and Jimargue that there are about four significant managerial functions of a digital project manager, which include organizing, planning, controlling and actuating. According to Northouse (2006), management means to forecast and plan among other activities. Planning deals with identifying the future course of action as well as establishing in advance the most suitable course of action for attaining of pre-determined objectives or goals. Munterbelieves that planning involves deciding beforehand what, when and how to do something. It links the gap from our present state and future expectations. A plan is a mission strategy;it is a strategy in solving a problem and making decisions. Planning is the identification of the set strategy or procedure to attain desired goals and objectives. It is fundamental to guaranteed proper use of non-human and human resources.. Organizing entails coalescingfiscal, human and physical resources and designing a productive relationship between them for attainment of organizational goals and objectives. According to Jim (2007) organizing a digital project means providing it with necessary useful or functioning requirements such as capital, tools, personnel’s and raw materials. Organizing process encompass identifying the activities, assignment of responsibilities or duties, authority delegation and responsibility creation, categorization of grouping of activities and coordinating responsibility and authority relationships. A digital project manageris responsible for actuating the methods of the organization to function effectively for the attainment of the organizational purpose. Directing is the enterprise's life-spark, which propels people’s action because staffing, planning and organizing are minor preparations for performing the work. According to Maxwell (2007), direction is the inert-personal attribute on management that directly deals with guiding, influencing, motivating the subordinates for organizational goal attainment and supervising. The elements of direction include supervision (the act of directing and watching the workers and work), Leadership (influencing and guiding subordinates work in desired direction by the manager), motivation (encouraging, inspiring or stimulating subordinates or workers with zeal to work) and communication (process of conveying the information, opinion and experience from one individual to another. Controlling ensures that all the activities are in conformity with the set standards. An effective control system assists to predict deviations prior to their occurrence. According to Maxwell, controlling is the process of determining whether necessary progress is geared towards goals and objectives and acting if need be, to resolve any deviation. He states that controlling is the improvement and quantization of performance activities of workers to ensure that the desired plans and objectives of the enterprise are accomplished, (Maxwell, 2007, p.49). Thus, controlling has four fundamental steps; these are establishment of performance standard, correction action, measurement of real performance and comparison of real performance with the standards and subsequent establishment of deviation if any. Of the above managerial functions digital manager’s strengths falls in directing, organizing and planning but some challenges in controlling. In most cases determining the progress of the enterprise and measuring the performance of the subordinates poses a serious challenge to some digital manager. In this case, some embrace the support of other staff member in evaluating the progress and achievements of the enterprise goals. Strengths and weaknesses of digital project managers Leadership is one of the most significant qualities of successful manager. Therefore, a digital project manager should have various skills such as the capacity to ask probing questions, identify unstated postulations and settle conflicts and overall management abilities. Digital project managers function as part of the respective organizations team to deliver increased digital project quality, (Clelandand Ireland, 2007, p.163). Digital project managers try to exercise effective leadership in enterprise organization. They have efficient skills to guide the members of the team, motivate them towards the achievement of the goals of the organization, make, and take best decisions. They have confidence in their capabilities, and are highly innovative to experiment. In addition, they must be brave enough to handle and accept failures, able to take and make just decisions and take the responsibility of their outcomes. They must have a foresight that aidsthem to plan effectively, (Meredith and Mantel, 2009, p.122). They must be able devise fail-proof plans, classify the task into subtasks and consequently delegates them to members of the team. Effective delegation entails understanding employees’ skills, planning tasks and having them accomplished from the workers within set deadlines. Delegation allows division of responsibility; assists achieve the plan quickly and provide the delegates an opportunity to achieve. The efficient execution of a plan need a manager to dream, devote resources towards accomplishment of the dream and guide the team in actualizing the dream, (Maxwell 2007, p.45). In terms of budgeting, the effective strategy for preventing overruns of cost is to emphasize on effective and comprehensive planning, (Leintz and Rea, 2002, p.111). Similarly, being budget conservative in sectors which are hardly researched is the main reason for surprises in budgetary during the project implementation. Good communication skills, both verbal and written, enable digital project managers to manage effectively, (Gardiner, 2000, p.25). Dialogueis essential in team leadership;it allows understanding of the strengths and limitations of subordinates through interaction. Communicating with the subordinates as they plan and delegate the tasks and keeping in touch with them enables me to track the progress of the work and identify the challenges facing the work A successful digital project manager must have motivating abilities and optimistic attitude abilities. Concern for teams members are fundamental traits for managers. A manager should be a good listener to meet the challenges of his team, be open to their opinions, understand their abilities and accept their criticism. Project managers should treat subordinates with due consideration and respect, (Gardiner, 2005, p.23). A manager should keep cool in all situations and should not lose his/her temper in worst circumstances. Ironically, when situations are tough, strategies fail, employees are a nuisanceand there are several situations when project managers’ ability to keep calm is tested. This makes digital project managers not able to make and take right decisions and hence worsening the situation. Maintaining a temperamental balance is always a challenge to digital project managers. The most popular mistake committed by digital project managers is the assumption that possible challenges will be reported in due time, when the alternative option is accessible and viable. For instance, due to workstation culture at corporate level in the United States, the tendency for supervisors to solve it may cause a main issue in the project, (Cadle and Yeates, 2007, p.56). Efficient digital project managers should be proactive in the implementation approach to prevent constraints that may emanate from establishing of the potential challenge when it is too late. Conclusion Project manager’s role is challenging, which entails assuming various responsibilities because every project objective must be met without making much sacrifice. A digital project manager both established bits of papers and he is a crucial, leader, team player, a negotiator, communicator, planner and an advocate. He must motivate and teach his members if the team, fight the corner of the project with managers and sponsors, and operate closely with stakeholders to promote his digital project. Bibliography Cadle, J. and Yeates, D. (2007), Project Management for Information Systems (3/e), FT Prentice Hall, Harlow, England.,All Saints Library 658.4038PRO Cleland, D.I. and Ireland, L.R. (2007), Project Management: Strategic Design and Implementation (5/e), McGraw-Hill, USA. All Saints Library 658.404CLE Deeprose, D. (2002). Project management.Oxford, U.K., Capstone Pub. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nl abk&AN=66786. Gardiner, P.D. (2005), Project Management: A Strategic Planning Approach, Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke.,All Saints Library 658.404GAR Gardiner, R. L. (2000) Managerial Skills. Mount Vernon, N.Y: Elliott Service Co. Heerkens, G. (2002). Project management.New York, McGraw-Hill. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nl abk&AN=75939. Highsmith, J.A. (2004), Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products, Addison- Wesley, London.,All Saints Library 005.12 HIG Howes, N. R. (2001). Modern project management successfully integrating project management knowledge areas and processes. New York, AMACOM. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nl abk&AN=56741. Kerzner, H. (2001). Project management a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. New York, John Wiley. http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=2380. Leach, L. P. (2005). Critical chain project management. Boston, Artech House. http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=10254. Lewis, J. P. (2008). Team-based project management. New York, American Management Association. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nl abk&AN=2438. Lock, D. (2007). Project management.Aldershot, England, Gower. http://site.ebrary.com/id/10211408. Lientz, B. and Rea, K.P. (2002), Project Management for the 21st Century, London Academic Press, San Diego., All Saints Library 658.404LIE Maxwell, J. C. and Jim D. (2007).Becoming a Person of Influence: How to Positively Impact the Lives of Others. Nashville, Tenn: T. Nelson Publishers. Meredith, J.R. and Mantel, S.J. (2009), Project Management: A Managerial Approach, (7/e), John Wiley and Sons, Inc.All Saints Library 658.404MER McManus, J. (2007). The role of the project manager. London, FT Pitman. Richman, L. L. (2002). Project management step-by-step. New York, Amacom. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&A N=729 54. Munter, M. (2000)Guide to Managerial Communication: Effective Business Writing and Speaking.Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall. Northouse, P. G. (2009). Introduction to Leadership: Concepts and Practice.Los Angeles: Sage Publications. Russell, D. (2011). Succeeding in the project management jungle how to manage the people side of projects. New York, American Management Association. http://public.eblib.com/EBLPublic/PublicView.do?ptiID=709447. Whichard, J.,& Kees, N. L. (2006). The manager as facilitator.Westport, Conn, Praeger. http://www.books24x7.com/marc.asp?bookid=18695. Read More