What is a project manager particularly a project manager for a healthcare company and what do they do?
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A project manager (PM) is the person in charge of a project, which is defined as a “temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result.” A PM has overall responsibility for the project’s success, and directs the work of the other project members. The specific work that needs to be done is highly dependent upon the nature of the project.
They create timelines, and keep everyone accountable for those timelines so that projects can be completed on time. It’s a lot of meetings and passing a message from one department to the other, balancing team resources between projects, and keeping stakeholders informed of the projects progress.
A project manager is somebody who is responsible for overseeing all parts of a specific project to ensure it’s completed.
So, say you’re building a house. It takes a lot of people, plumbers, framers, electricians, flooring, drywallers, painters, etc. Who manages when they come? Ensures people aren’t duplicating work? Makes sure everything is done in the right order? In construction, it’d be somebody like a general contractor, they manage the build and ensure the house gets done with all the moving parts.
In business, it’s a PM. Could be for software, development of a project, creation of content, etc. They coordinate with people who are working in different areas to ensure everything gets done correctly. And typically, they make sure it’s on budget and on-time.
It can sound like it’s not needed, but it’s very important, especially for large projects. A bad one can screw up a project and a good one is worth their weight in gold.
You have a group project in school. One of the kids in your group for this is responsible for organizing meetings on and tracking where each of your individual different contributions and the overall status of the project are, and that it will be completed by the due date of the project, March 15th. They also will send your teacher updates on a regular basis on the project, or if anything bad happens that can delay the project. (Timmy broke his arm playing football and can’t finish his portion)
I’m a project manager for a remodeling company. There’s 10-20 people working on a project. I’m the guy that both they and the client can come to. Otherwise it would be a shit show, too many cooks in the kitchen. I make sure everything is running correctly and ultimately take the blame of something goes wrong.
We start with the premise that most companies (or hospitals) are organized by functions. What I mean is, people that do similar things are grouped together. For example, a hospital may have a department for radiology, for nurses, for residents, for doctors, as well as support functions such as IT, facilities, accounting, etc. each with a department head and a reporting tree under them.
Their day to day tasks can typically be handled within their own department – that’s why the departments are organized that way, to be efficient at the day to day tasks. But occasionally, a more complex task comes along, that requires coordination among multiple departments. And there is no simple way for the multiple departments to coordinate. (By no simple way, I meant, you’d need to go all the way up the report chain until you find a common manager among all affected functions, then have the directions come all the way down from that manager to the people on the floor level that’s actually doing the work — that’s really inefficient.)
That’s where a project manager comes in. The project manager coordinates among all of the functions that are involved to get these “complex tasks” done.
In practice, because project managers are focused on coordinating these cross functional tasks, they are usually better trained to handle the complexities.
Project Managers make sure all the different facets of a project are coordinated effectively. In construction and fabrication, all the materials, all the different trades, all the third party inspectors, all the specialized equipment, etc need to be in the right place at the right time. It’s like herding cats, but can be fun and rewarding, too.
I always looked at PMs like referees. If they are doing their job well you never notice them. If they screw up, they are the most hated person in the building.
Everything everyone has said so far is absolutely correct. However, that’s for good PMs. Shitty ones micromanage everything. A lot of times, things they know nothing about.
I have been in IT and now Cybersecurity for over a decade and have run into this problem on many occasions.
Large projects tend to be a collaboration of different teams who are run by different managers.
These people have the same ranks and don’t answer to one another. PM is essentially a general contractor that keeps track of milestones and start calling people put if they’re behind.
A project is a unique activity that is bound by its scope, budget and schedule. The Project Manager monitors and controls the activity to ensure it stays within the bounds of these three primary parameters. They will also monitor the quality of the outcome and the associated risks of completing the project successfully.
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