Is Your In-House Project Manager a Pro?

Today, we need to talk about a sensitive topic: In-house project managers who aren’t trained to manage projects.

Throughout our careers, we’ve worked with people who, despite being excellent at their jobs, do not know how to lead a project. Even though they are, technically, the official project manager.

It’s not their fault. These folks are excellent at their day-to-day work. But somewhere deep in their job description is a bullet point noting that they are responsible for handling “other duties as assigned.”

This happens, we think, because there’s a misperception about what a project manager actually does. It’s based on a belief that this employee will simply write a report every couple of weeks to keep the boss informed about a project’s progress. 

In reality, a successful project manager needs a full understanding of strategy, risk management, communications, and more. It goes way beyond an occasional status report.

The problem for most organizations is that appointing an internal employee as a project manager doesn’t work. Handing a huge project to someone who otherwise does not lead projects leads to wasted money and lost time. It almost certainly paves the way for a weak or failed project. 

If, on the other hand, you hire a really good project manager—one who’s led successful projects before and has the training and support they need to be successful—you’ll have a much better shot at success. Which is especially important with big projects, when the stakes are so high. 

Our advice? Start thinking about your budget now. If you know your agency has a big project coming up in the next few years, work the cost of a professional project manager into your plan so that, when the time comes, you’ll be able to get the project done and get it done right.