Absolutely agree. If a project manager is doing the work, then he isn’t managing the project! We need to remember where our skills lie. Often we will get dragged into doing the project work, but this is a failure of project management (usually on the organisation’s behalf, not the project manager’s), not an essential part of it.

Make sure you are using appropriate resources to get the work done. The project manager is rarely an appropriate resource!

Having said that, I have ended up doing project work for the vast majority of projects I have worked on. This isn’t a good thing, but it is the real world. You should aim to avoid this if at all possible.

Trevor Roberts
Project Management Guide

Absolutely in agreement. It is also our job, as PMs, to keep this message alive and carry it with us every day so that the profession does not go down.

Best regards,
Jorge Dominguez, PMP®
http://www.Expiriance.com

In my opinion, performing hands on type of execution work diminishes the value of the project manager’s contribution. This is not to say that performing the work is any less important than managing the work. However, as project managers, our expertise is in management.

Of course, we are often required to be hands on. But, a great project manager will build a strong enough team, establish solid roles and responsibilities, and effectively communication the expectations of resources to have the work performed by team members. Allowing the project manager to continue managing.

My two cents.

That’s the way it should be, shouldn’t it? Thanks for your comments.

Jorge Dominguez, PMP®
http://www.Expiriance.com

My pleasure having you make a comment on my article. I am a fan of yours.

You are 100% correct that in real life PMs do perform some of the work and in some cases all of the work. That is the reason of my writing. Thanks for your comments.

Jorge Dominguez, PMP®
http://www.Expiriance.com

More importantly, there needs to be a psychological separation between the project manager and the team. The idea is that the project manager sits to one side and views progress objectively and impartially. If a PM gets involved in the work it’s too easy for him to start to ‘believe’ that things are on time rather than assess that objectively.

Kate

I agree with you on the basic notion that the PM is not responsible for actually doing the work.

However, real life is different.

While this may be true on multi-million multi-year projects, the reality of most project manager’s lives is that many of us manage small and medium sized projects. We have limited budget, limited staff and a tight deadline. This means that the PM simply has to step up and participate in actually doing the work.

Furthermore, many companies have cut back their staff significantly. This means that we as PMs have lost valuable players on our teams as well. Who is left? A smaller team, which includes the PM. Once again, because the PM is ultimately responsible for delivery, the PM has to step up and work on actual deliverables.

Is this good? No. But it’s reality.

Until Next Time,
Cornelius Fichtner, PMP
The Project Management Podcast