A million years ago, when I'd just left university, I was chatting to someone who told me she was a project manager. Oh yes, I said, what does that involve
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... and if anyone can tell me a way to find posts (across all users) with a particular tag, that'd be great. I'm sure there used to be tools for that, but now can't find any...
LJ won't let you, but you could either make a post in which people can post their entries as links, or open a community in which people can crosspost. :)
Bother, that's annoying. It used to be possible to get graphs of tag use (one year bateleur challenged us all to get "moose" to be the #1 tag used over Christmas)... but old links to such graphs no longer work. I wonder if LJ deprecated the APIs for them :(
A community seems a bit OTT. I'll have to hope I just stumble across things, I think (and thanks for re-posting on your own LJ).
I'm not a project manager yet, but I'm a project co-ordinator and I sometimes deputise for my manager, so I can tell you what I do.
It really is anything and everything. The detail depends a lot on the project, but the project manager's role is to make sure the project runs to schedule and meets its targets. The job starts with writing a project plan covering every aspect of the project - what the goals are, what the timings are, what resources (IT, personnel, equipment) are needed and what the budget is to supply them. After that it's a case of managing the project team, keeping track of expenditure, monitoring progress towards targets and taking action if targets aren't being met for whatever reason. The project manager will usually produce monthly reports for senior management tracking progress and detailing any areas in which the project is falling behind, the impact of these, and what is being done to rectify them.
(not a project manager, but I'm a management accountant, which sometimes has similarities on the informational whack-a-rat/kitten-herding side of things
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After that it's a case of managing the project team, keeping track of expenditure, monitoring progress towards targets
... is really the level of detail at which I mean I fall down. What does "managing the project team" mean? How much time does it take (obviously depends on the size of the team)? Is it just a matter of asking person A on a Monday what they're doing this week (or telling them) and checking on Friday that they did it? Hence the request for a tedious breakdown of a single day :)
(Other than about ten minutes every three weeks, I'm rarely aware of my manager actually doing anything to manage me... I presume managers must do something, but it's always baffled me as to what.)
I am not working, and Mondays are not a typical childcare day for me, but I will happily blog next Monday (first day of half-term) in detail if you like. :)
(Today: do anything I want until 4pm; go by bus to collect smallclanger from after-school orchestra; return by bus; walk to narenek's; cook dinner for all three of us; eat; send smallclanger off to tae kwondo with narenek; go to glittertigger's; go home. Next week will be quite different!)
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A community seems a bit OTT. I'll have to hope I just stumble across things, I think (and thanks for re-posting on your own LJ).
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It really is anything and everything. The detail depends a lot on the project, but the project manager's role is to make sure the project runs to schedule and meets its targets. The job starts with writing a project plan covering every aspect of the project - what the goals are, what the timings are, what resources (IT, personnel, equipment) are needed and what the budget is to supply them. After that it's a case of managing the project team, keeping track of expenditure, monitoring progress towards targets and taking action if targets aren't being met for whatever reason. The project manager will usually produce monthly reports for senior management tracking progress and detailing any areas in which the project is falling behind, the impact of these, and what is being done to rectify them.
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After that it's a case of managing the project team, keeping track of expenditure, monitoring progress towards targets
... is really the level of detail at which I mean I fall down. What does "managing the project team" mean? How much time does it take (obviously depends on the size of the team)? Is it just a matter of asking person A on a Monday what they're doing this week (or telling them) and checking on Friday that they did it? Hence the request for a tedious breakdown of a single day :)
(Other than about ten minutes every three weeks, I'm rarely aware of my manager actually doing anything to manage me... I presume managers must do something, but it's always baffled me as to what.)
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(do I get bonus kudos for knowing that the song was written by Prince, because one of the Bangles used to be his backing singer?)
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And on the 12" single are Dover Beach, Going Down To Liverpool, and In A Different Light. I played that record almost to death for about 2 years. :D
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I'm impressed, mind.
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(Today: do anything I want until 4pm; go by bus to collect smallclanger from after-school orchestra; return by bus; walk to narenek's; cook dinner for all three of us; eat; send smallclanger off to tae kwondo with narenek; go to glittertigger's; go home. Next week will be quite different!)
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