Don't get me wrong, project managers serve a purpose. Many large projects I've worked on would never have been completed if not for the PM banging on MS Project so that we didn't have to. But even though this job description is useful, that doesn't mean that project managers can't be annoying to work with. Here are some of the things that are most annoying about project managers to Web team members:
Don't Assume that You Can Do My Job
Let's make an agreement right at the start that I won't talk to you as though I thought any monkey with a clipboard could do your job as long as you do me the same courtesy. Even if you worked as a Web designer or developer at another company, I am doing that job now, and chances are I do it differently than you would. Until my boss fires me, please just learn to work with me and trust that I can do my job.
When I first started as a Web developer back in the 1990s I was constantly accosted by people who wanted my job or were sure that they could do a better job at it than I could. This wasn't limited to Project Managers, but they were the ones I ran into the most. Whether or not this was true was beside the point, the fact was that I was the designer, and they were the PM - not the other way around. And unless I asked them for help with something, I wasn't generally interested in how they would do the job. I was more interested in what insane deadlines they were trying to commit me to this week.
Which leads me to:
Setting an Insane Deadline Doesn't Mean it Will Happen - AKA Impossible Isn't Another Word for "Stretch Goal"
If the first thing I do when you tell me when my part of the project is due is laugh, this is not a good sign. Listen to your team members, don't assume that they are all automatically out to sabotage your project. In fact, most of them are actively trying to keep their jobs, and the only way they can do this is by finishing projects. But setting impossible goals only motivates a small number of people, and they will probably be promoted off your team before the project ends anyway.
I am a huge proponent of setting goals. I believe that they motivate people and keep everyone on a team moving in the same direction. But the goals need to be realistic. Otherwise, people work even less on the project because they know they can never meet the deadline, so why worry about it.
Ask Me for an Opinion on the Timeline - And Then Use What I Tell You
This is related to the above impossible deadlines annoyance. If last week I told you it would take me 10 business days to complete my portion of the project, don't come to me this week (after only 5 days) and ask if I'm done. Asking me in a group meeting isn't going to change my answer, but it will change how I respond to you the next time you ask me for a timeline - I'm going to make it longer.
I have an MBA, I've taken the classes that say that people work up to a deadline, and don't finish early. I understand that. But if the designers and developers on your team know that you regularly shorten the amount of time allotted they will just start padding their estimates. Show you trust us by using the estimates we give you. Once we see that you're fair and give us the time we need, we'll start working with you to shorten the time it takes - or be more forthcoming about why it takes as long as it does.
Do You Want My Design or that Status Report?
Managers love status reports. They give an illusion that the manager knows what is happening when the manager isn't there to crack the whip. But I'll let you in on a little secret: "we lie on status reports". Most status reports are written between 3 and 5 minutes before they are due, and they are written with an eye towards telling the manager or PM what they want to hear - not what really happened that week.
Don't expect me to spend more than 15 minutes on a status report. For one thing, I'll resent that time lost, because I genuinely like building Web applications and designing Web interfaces. I don't like writing down how much time I spent doing that. I had one boss who wanted me to write status reports in 15 minute increments throughout the week. When I turned it in I had 45 minutes listed as spent doing status reports. And she was angry "why are you spending so much time on them?" Have you ever tried to create a status report with at least 160 increments on it (40 hours times 4)? It doesn't write itself.
The best status report I ever got to write was for one PM who just wanted one sentence describing what I'd done for his project that week. I didn't have to give him times or even specifics, just "worked on the navigation" was plenty. His argument was that he didn't have any more time to read them than I did to write them. That was a breath of fresh air and a PM I could get behind.
Know the Details of the Project
As a Web developer I know all I need to know (and more) about the programs and servers of the website. As a designer I know all I need to know (and more) about the branding, styles, and colors of our site. While I know all these things, I don't know when Marketing is supposed to have the 30-word copy done or when IT will have the database installed. And when I ask you, the PM, you should know. Or at least know where to find the answer.
I have worked with some great PMs in my time, but some of the worst were the ones who seemed to feel that I needed to know all the details of the project in order to do my job. It wasn't that they overloaded me with information, it was that when I asked for that information, they didn't have it or know where to get it and expected me to find out - as I was the one who "needed to know". If you see your job as PM is to run the meetings and update the MSProject file, then I will be moving back to my monkey assessment at the beginning. Provide value to the team or I'll ignore you.
Web Designers And Web Developers Can Be Annoying Too
Don't forget to read my related articles What Web Developers Hate About Web Designers and What Web Designers Hate About Web Developers. And share your thoughts about both:
