Eric Schiffer talks about project management skills
Eric Schiffer is the author of some important books and articles in the area of management and business learning, and his experience can be considered as a valuable asset for any aspiring manager or employee. Eric Schiffer knows the exact skills needed by a good manager, and those skills are described in his book.
The project manager needs interpersonal communicational skills, but he must also be familiarized with the activities of every section or department, and he also needs to have general knowledge about the used technology, especially if we are talking about projects for researches and development. However, Eric Schiffer has general definitions and advices about the topic, therefore we can consider his advices for any branch or industry.
The project manager must not be directly involved in the technical activities, as he will stop being a manager, and he will become a simple technician. This person is the most important member of the team, but without good individuals, the project fails from the start. Let’s see the main responsibilities of the project manager according to Eric Schiffer.
- Analyzing and establishing the objectives of the project
- Evaluating and controlling the eventual risks
- Estimating the resources needed
- Allotting the resources for the different stages of the project
- Organizing the project and buying the resources, keeping an eye on the budget at the same time
- Establishing the tasks for every member of the team
- Leading the main activities, encouraging the creativity of the members
- Defining the final results of the project
- Establishing the potential of the obtained results
- Quality and problems management
Eric Schiffer advices the project managers to take a fundamental decision even from the start: what type of organizational chart is needed? There are two main organization methods for a project, and any other method is only a version of the two main categories: pyramidal or matrix.
The pyramidal organization is formed with a top manager that could have vice presidents and counselors under his leading, with inferior levels such as sections, offices and departments. The departmental managers are placed under the general manager. The matrix organization is an innovative structure where the responsibilities are equally shared between the members of the team. It is important for the manager to start a project by establishing this hierarchy, and Eric Schifferhas some great advices about this topic in his books.