Project Manager
In the end, it is the role of the PM to make sure that the project arrives on time with all of the features that have been promised. They are also responsible for making sure everyone knows what they're working on without any conflicts. It is the Project Managers job to split up large pieces of work into smaller pieces (commonly called tickets) for Engineers to work on.
RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed)
Below is a list of activities that the this role is accountable for being completed. It is worth noting, that this doesn't mean this role has to do all of these things themselves, but they are accountable for ensuring that they are done.
- Manage the project management board
- Assign work to Engineers and other team members
- Run Morning Stand-ups and End of Day Wrap-ups
- Run Planning Meetings at the start of every day
- Run Retrospectives are the end of the week
- Ensure that everyone knows what they're meant to working on
Project Scoping
Projects often run overtime or are too complex in scope. When this happens it's your responsibility to go back to the Client and negotiate a small set of features (i.e. scope) that can be completed in the time allowed.
As a general rule, it's better to have a small set of working features than a larger set of non-working features.
Tips
- Over-communicate with everything that is happening
- It pays off to plan as much as you can ahead of time before engineers start working
- Be strict with running meetings, make sure everyone is heard and that they begin and finish on time
Common Pitfalls
Lots of people run into the same issue with this role, for example
- Not properly defining pieces of work with enough information
- Multiple people working on the same tickets
- The loudest people making all the decisions for the team (make sure everyone is heard!)
- Projects running out of time because the scope was too large