How Not To Be A BAD Pa-Ma (PM)

From inception to market roll out, the time taken to bridge these has become insanely dynamic, or some brands would wish to. And, people are working tirelessly to find new ways of working which could help them achieve their work more efficiently. Of course, this would be need base.

Based on the technology or the area of expertise, the work is carried out in silos or clusters i.e. by individuals or skill specific teams.

While all the members are working on the specific tasks, there is one person who has the holistic view of the work to be delivered and who acts as driving force behind all the smaller teams – the project/programme manager a.k.a. PM.

Typically, a PM has the responsibility to manage the stakeholders, both internal and external, prepare the plan for the whole team to work on, and take care of the staffing, financials, and other areas of working in a project.

Technical needs or programme needs have brought a larger skill set within the PM domain, and based on the experience and area of work the PM can also be a TPM (Technical PM), Agile Coach, Scrum Master, and others.

The job of a PM may sound easy to some and difficult to others. Some may understand the true nature of the role, while others may latch on to it in pursuit of power and status quo; which is imaginary and not realistic.

Since, there is less effort spent on noticing the cultural fit and behavioural assessment, the psycho and other important evaluations - seldom have we seen the PM community being praised for the work they do.

The PMs are mostly criticised for the way they handle team or rather abuse it.

There is bulk load of information available with our friend ‘internet’, which can tell you about the roles and responsibilities, the best practices, or how to be a good PM.

But, no article or blog would tell you what a PM could ideally be like?

You must wonder what a statement or question would that be?!

Take a step back… and talk about a typical father and mother.

Like a coconut, he is soft from inside but hard on the face. He cares for you, yet makes you do all the work yourself – so you can learn and grow. Rewards you when you achieve something, and thinks in long term.

Mother, on the other hand, always protects you, guides you on shorter tasks, engages you, and works with you all along.

The list is never ending and you can add or think of all the things which you have faced or seen.

Similarly, a Project Manager, should be a reflection of both Papa and Mamma (PM) on the project.

• He should protect you from external world (clients) and let you learn and grow, while he should work along with you and be patient while you throw all the tantrums.
• He should reward you when you achieve something, and like a good parent he should mentor you rather venting his anger on you.

A project is like a close knit family where you would have people with different attitudes, but for a parent every child is his own and must not be indifferent towards any of them.

A PM might have to spend more time with the troubled or nagging child, however the child who is performing well should not be ignored.

And most of all, the more you open to your members, the better working relation you would form with them. And, this relation is very important (even if you don’t realise) for any team to work efficiently and effectively.

So, the next time you are assigned a PM role on a task, I hope you will act like a Pa-Ma of the project family rather being a power hungry and a bully.

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