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Project Managers are in abundance in the modern white collar world. Or maybe just at the places I've worked. Half of the some companies is made of PMs. They're usually fresh-out-of-college girls. As one of the workers who actually builds the product that gets delivered, I feel like PMs are middlemen who slow everything down. I could get the projects done in half the time if I could talk directly to the client rather than going through the PM.
Having been both a project manager and a developer, and now in product management, I feel exactly the opposite. The developers working on the product now could produce an incredible technological marvel, that serves the customers' needs not one bit, if left to their own devices. Developers, especially given how technology has changed, have to be maniacally focused on the technology. The software architect spent seven months diddling around with keeping the code base current with incremental changes in direction in the industry, and in the process his team made practically no progress toward actually delivering a product to the marketplace. That's the impact of not having a project manager. They're getting things done, just nothing we can sell. And I'm sure there are other developers who could "finish" a product "in half the time" if they didn't have to worry about what they're supposed to be doing, but I bet no one would want to use what they produce.
Must be some asinine companies that you’re working for. These “Project Managers” are likely doing admin assistant tasks with Project Mgmt titles.
You haven’t had exposure to the real profession or real project managers. These are usually seasoned professionals with a good combination of hard and soft skills. You’d know if you came across one on a project because their value is apparent and easily recognized. And their compensation is commensurate with their value (i.e. pretty good).
The profession is one with accepted and agreed upon common standards (PMBOK anyone?), guidelines, and is well organized. Sounds like your org is not investing in the right places.
Last edited by G-fused; 02-10-2016 at 08:08 AM..
Reason: spelling.
Well, they manage projects for one. They are definitely not fresh out of college girls where I work. They are well trained men and women who know how to organize, collaborate, and just well, manage projects.
I'm a project manager and I resent the above. LOL.
By the way, the national average salary for PMs is close to 100k. I'll keep calling all of those meetings. LOL.
PMs doesn't exist in many companies today. At some companies I've worked at, they expect the senior workers to project manage and perform the duties themselves and the manager just manages the due dates and personnel. I'm afraid we're moving towards that direction where companies expect the workers to manage their own projects and perform the work at the same time and report on the progress.
Amazon does that, Google, and many big tech companies have workers that perform PM duties for themselves.
I'm a project manager and I resent the above. LOL.
By the way, the national average salary for PMs is close to 100k. I'll keep calling all of those meetings. LOL.
I suppose it's worth noting that the Dilbert strip is from 2001. It was probably a lot more on target then.
I've been a PM and a line manager. Like most things, there are good ones and bad ones. I wish I could say the majority are good ones, but unfortunately that has not been my experience.
I don't have anything against PMs per se, but from a job satisfaction (including compensation) standpoint, I much prefer being a line manager and actually getting things done.
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