Loading...
Answers
MenuWhat should you look for in a project manager?
What are traits you want in a project manager? What are things to look for while interviewing? Any professional resources that help when trying to find a project manager?
Answers
This role in most organizations is designed for maximum fun! Well, maybe not, but I am ever hopeful. In twenty plus years I have led numerous projects and hired a few project leads [aka project managers] most of which have done a great job. For me, the best project managers are home grown. Promotion up through the ranks of the "A" players on the team, all with valuable insight on how all the processes work and interact with one another. However, should this not be possible, you have a lot of work ahead of you. Don't forget all the obvious steps like checking references. But the most important trait for me is that "eye of the tiger" concept. The will to survive. To thrive. The ability to think outside the box for sure, but it is more, it is the knowledge that they can make a difference in your organization. Not that they have done the exact same thing somewhere else, that almost never works! Find someone that must stretch to accomplish your goals. Make them convince you they are the right person for the position. Remember the 80/20 Rule: they need to do most of the talking. Give me a shout if you want a shoulder to cry on. I have hired over 300 people and only had to fire three.
Related Questions
-
How to get past the fear of hiring full-time employees?
Growing up from 1+subs to a team like you're saying is a classic problem in consulting. The financial math is not in your favor until you get a consistent team. Here's an article of mine detailing the issues and also detailing solutions: http://blog.asmartbear.com/consulting-company-accounting.html Having said that, I would also say you're trying to do too many things at once with not enough resources, which means the chance of being successful with each one is diminished. For example, you could focus on consulting revenue so you can build up your bench, so that you truly can self-fund the development of a product without distraction. Or you could focus on product, investing time/money there with consulting only to pay for that, even using subs for that, until the revenue there gets to the point that it's scaling (which will be hard, as you can already see). Building a product or a successful consultancy is individually very hard -- most fail. So trying to do both at the same time means you'll almost certainly fail. Which is a shame, because that's "failure due to time-management / strategy" as opposed to actual market forces. i.e. something fixable! I hope some of this helps, although I agree with you that talking through the details would probably be more helpful. The specific details of your situation matter.JC
-
What is the best project management tool for a startup developing and scaling a mobile application?
I tried Basecamp, Jira, Unfuddle, Trello and PivotalTracker before for different projects which were developed with agile approach. All of them worked fine to me and I needed some time to setup my framework and processes there. I think it would be worth checking Trello or PivotalTracker which I personally like more than Basecamp because of better agile oriented structure.DL
-
How would you go about asking for a potential employer to pay for travel expenses and take it off from your first check?
You don't. Research the company and hiring manager or would be manager/leader to such things like their needs, recent prior events (& whom else would have been there), near future company goals, products and find a place within that need structure where you would add material value. Then craft what is called a Speculative Application. Get yourself into a position in which travel might be an option as part of your roles.HV
-
What does a business development role entail when it comes to hiring?
I think you should first really step back and ask if you need that role filled. Are your sales growing? Are they growing as quickly as you'd like? Do you think someone could push that needle? I've worked at companies with strong focus on sales and some where there were no sales people at all. It depends on your niche and who your customers are. Depending on your outreach methods, perhaps you need to hire someone with a strong sales background who's going to pick up the phone and start cold calls all day, or maybe you just need someone to handle your marketing better and help you out with some Adwords campaigns. Business Development is a big term, and it can cover a lot of things, most commonly sales... but salespeople aren't right for every business. So, look at your existing success. What sorts of things bring in the money now... and look to amplify those existing efforts before you go breaking new ground. You should be looking for someone who complements your existing success and can continue to tell that story, in your existing playing fields, and gradually moving into new areas. I know this was a vague answer, but I hope it helps.SL
-
What is the best project management software out there for creative firms? Agency or video production, if possible.
We use Salesforce for CRM, so we implemented Financial Force PSA. This has been an excellent solution for us, but it definitely requires a lot of customization to represent your business processes (like any holistic solution would).JL
the startups.com platform
Copyright © 2025 Startups.com. All rights reserved.