How does a routine day of a
project manager look like?
A project manager has a daunting
task to ensure project is successfully delivered. It is really important to get organized despite of
the chaos around the Project.
Almost every day in the life of a
project manager is different. The challenges, obstacles they face every day, are different. The
kind of stakeholders they need to communicate to, are different. In short,
days and activities are unpredictable. Typical activities during a day of an IT project manager
Morning
- Reaching the office early
- Checking emails for important matters, Respond to urgent & important emails. Mark emails to get more info from other team members.
- Open the project management software & check project progress, update risks, and issues.
- Prepare To-Do list and select which meetings to attend, & which ones to skip
- Check and act on customer issue that needs to be addressed ASAP
- See if any issue has aroused and things are progressing as per plan
Pre-Lunch
- Call for a meeting with the team; check progress made on yesterday’s activities, what is today’s plan & how I can help you
- Have a 1-2-1 with Team Leads if they want to discuss issues separately
- Attend to other calls from Boss who wants the PM to join him in his office for a meeting with partner.
- Another boss wants to discuss few things. His office is in another building, I drive down there.
- Respond to other emails, delegate activities.
- Review meeting with my Business Analyst to review project documents & improve those before handing it over to customer
Lunch time
- Have Lunch with my TL
Post Lunch afternoon
- ATTEND TO CUSTOMER CALL; he says this and that is not working, Particular functionality has not progressed beyond last week and he would like to discuss it now. I explain him the technicalities of the issues, he understands it, send him a detailed email and ensure him that activities are not getting delayed.
- My schedule shows I have to rush for a cross functional team meeting
- One of my bosses calls me up. We get into a conference room. We discuss about his issues. I sense his problem and promise him to discuss positively it with my TL. He seems to be happy with that.
- My Technical Architect calls me, he has identified some issues with new technology framework and he says he has emailed this issue to Product management team & can’t progress now and will not be able to complete integration by this week. We get into a call. I say, enough of emails and chats. I request for Product Manager to join in Conference call and Product manager tries explaining to Lead Architect who promises to address it by end of day with some changes.
Evening
- I have to conduct an interview of a candidate for quality-lead position. In my mind, I am trying to map those in our project & overall Project Management Office (PMO) practices. I spend some 30 minutes in Interview and another boss calls me – I try to explain him that I am in midst of an Interview for an important position and will contact him early next day . He understands and I hang up the phone .In meantime, I feel the candidate will be a good addition to our team and recommend him to the HR to make him an offer.
- I check email and respond. I need to re-work the project schedule. I set up a call with our TL and business analyst and we agree to change delivery item for 2 items slated for delivery next week.
Late Evening
- I look at my calendar for tomorrow. I open my To-Do list for today and see what is still pending and call up or write emails accordingly. I realize, I could not read some useful and interesting project management and project leadership articles. I remind myself to read it over weekend if not tomorrow.
- Another TO Do list – accompany wife for some important shopping for her at a shopping mall near her office after which we head for home and I baldy need some rest and keep my phone in silent mode thinking about my plan for tomorrow .
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