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Functional Project Managers
July 2, 2008 | Author: admin | Filed under: Management, Role of the Project Manager
Functional Project Managers
By Neeraj Choudhary
Functional managers organize the work of similar people (people performing a given function). They hand off their deliverables to another group. Project managers coordinate the work of numerous people to deliver a product to the organization. Matrix managers manage people of a similar function and deliver people to the projects.
In the hiring book, I wanted people to understand the problems these managers solve. But here, I want to explore a bit about how those managers intersect, and how to avoid many managers for one person, especially if the project managers work in a matrix organization.
I taught a project management workshop recently, and had a discussion about who does what. The big problem facing these matrixed project managers was: how can they learn the state of the project without looking like they were micromanaging the technical staff, and how can they behave so that people won’t feel they have two managers, both telling them what to do?
Here’s how I separate the work of the functional managers and the project managers when the project managers are matrixed into the organization to lead projects:
| Functional Manager | Project Manager |
| Assign project | Assign work for project |
| Discuss how well person is doing that work and if person wants to continue doing it (providing opportunities for growth) | Discuss state of work for project |
| Gather information from other PMs to write the evaluation | Provide feedback about performance/work on this project at least weekly |
| Work with employee to set and coach on career goals | Work with employee to improve specific skills as they relate to this project |
The functional manager and the project managers have different ranges of vision. The functional manager reviews the strategy of the group and how well people are performing that strategy. The project manager is tactical, focused on finishing this project successfully.
If you’re both a functional manager and a project manager (how do you do that?), keep at least some time every week to review the strategic picture and make sure you’re fulfilling the strategy. It’s too easy to let the project needs overwhelm you.
Neeraj Choudhary
Practicing Functional Project Manager (Agile-DSDM)/Business Analyst
Mastiff Tech Pvt Ltd (www.techmastiff.com)
Currently associated with Mastiff Tech a Web 2.0 consumer Internet & Mobile product Development Company with a development center in Mumbai, Company’s primary focus is into Online Media, Online Travel, Online Retail, and social networking space, customized products, facebook applications and Mobile 2.0.
Email: neeraji2it@gmail.com , neeraj.choudhary@techmastiff.com
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2 people have left comments
Nice article.But one thing is still not clear that is it required that a functional manager should be domain specific or domain independent. A good strategist should be well versed with all the nooks and corners of the field for which he/she is making the strategy.
So it is like that function manager is logical evolution of project manager.
Good article Mr.Neeraj. But I have a small query from my side. Should the functional manager be confined only to the domain knowledge or can he handle the technical stuff also. what i mean is is it necessary for a FPM to know about the technical part of the project also? If he needs how well can he balance the work of Functional and Technical stuff? Can u please clarify?