Successful transport decision-making - Osmose

FS 5: Project manager
Vol 2 - Table of Contents
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T2
What is the role of the project
manager?
The project manager has overall responsibility for the
coordination of a project, ensuring that tasks are completed on
time and within resource constraints. Project management
duties include managing the key resources of time, skills and
cost and ensuring that the project progresses through the
necessary stages in the decision-making process while
avoiding or overcoming any barriers.
Depending on the scale of the project, individual tasks may be
separately managed, but there will be a project manager or
project management team that oversees the tasks to ensure
that they combine effectively to meet the objectives of the
entire project. On smaller projects, the role of the project
manager may be combined with other duties, or one individual
may manage several projects.
What skills are required?
A project manager requires a diverse range of skills to meet the
many responsibilities associated with the job. Clearly, strong
general management is important, including the ability to:
Lead a team;
Communicate clearly;
Plan, and to adapt plans where necessary;
Work within resource constraints;
Prioritise tasks or issues;
Negotiate effectively;
Take decisions or make recommendations;
Delegate tasks and responsibilities; and
Understand legal and financial issues.
Depending on the involvement of the project manager in
individual tasks within the project, other technical or
professional skills may be required. For example, involvement in
the planning and implementation of media, marketing and
engagement strategies will require specialist experience in
these areas, as will involvement in technical design or
engineering areas or in the production of technical reports or
other written documents.
For many projects, the manager will divide their time between a
range of duties including, but not restricted to, the management
of the project. The duties undertaken will depend on their skills
and experience.
The role of the project manager
throughout the decision-making
process
Project management takes place throughout the project, either
by a nominated individual, or collectively by a group or
committee. In the early stages, a project initiator may take on
some of the responsibilities of the project manager, particularly in
the tasks required to identify the scope and scale of the project
and to secure some financial support. Once the financial
resources to employ a project manager (either full time or part
time) have been obtained, the appointment should be made
quickly. Continuity of the management of the project is highly
valuable and the project manager should play a key role in
coordinating the overall work plan and individual strategies for
engagement, such as media and marketing. Often the amount of
management time required is underestimated.
NOTES
A project manager explaining key tasks to a project team member.
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