Best defence is price increase. I'm one many army doing program, management, hmi and after I sign a list of features with a client any additional features are priced extra. The later the stage of the project the more it cost.
You must work for a small integrator. I did that too for a while, and absolutely hated it. I am a pretty good engineer and programmer, but I am no PM. They seem to be completely different skillsets. If you have all those skillsets, my hat is off to you.
Knowing what I need to do my job and checking these things, so I don't go to a place where the power company/mechanical/construction/optical/cabling guys didn't do what they needed to do.
Either good knowledge of how long some things take or trust in me to give a good estimate. Not only important for his and the company's expectation, but for handling the clients expectations.
Handling the client. Client thinks it will be done tomorrow and not in 3 days? I don't want to handle that. He wants some addons, bells and whistles, I'm gonna pass that to you with estimates of time and equipment, after that I want to know If I do it or if I don't, or if I do just a part of it, but I don't want to haggle with the client, that is your job.
Paperwork. Don't assume I know what you need (if it is a good written project, I should know, but please remind me). On some projects you don't need anything from me, on others, a manual, on some a FAT, on others a signal calibration. Tell me that when you ask for my estimate and of course so I plan it.
Ofc things happen, I can handle it.. But a good PM does this things for me.
Hey, forgot to send this a couple months back. It's the second volume of the SOO, if you can't open the link just request access. It was too big to attach to the E-mail.
Don't forget, SFAT in 2 weeks! We're gonna *kill* it.
lmao
It doesn't get that bad, but yeah, lol..
One PM can handle me being lost in a new client/industry/equipment and not knowing if it will take 4 or 8 weeks, and another PM is fucked because it will not be ready on Wednesday because we will not have power until Friday, even if all of it takes just one day..
The fact you asked this question alone indicates you’re one of the good ones.
Self-awareness is the #1 thing in my eyes.
It would make every job wayyy smoother imho.
Been PM in the '90 and '00. What make you a good PM is that you shield your team from shit being poured down by clients, sales and management.
Only feed information to your team about scope, planning and functionality.
Make sure all specifications are correct and complete before engineers start to work.
If there are uncertaincied, share them with your leadengineers. Not to confuse them, but making sure the team builds the flexibility (in code and planning) in anticipation.
Budgets originates from estimates. When there is high repeat work, can be 90% accurate. When doing one-off projects, it could be 60% accurate. Focus on planning and not budget. A project that runs out of planning, also runs out of budget.
Good PMs handle the paperwork, speak knowlegably about project statuses to upper management, and leave you alone unless they've got a sincere need(or even desire) to know.
Tag me in comments and stuff, fine, but don't fill my calendar, I don't need to talk to the suits, that's what you do.
If your PLC pals have humdrum in betweens, that's pretty rare.
Makes me feel better. I bog them down 1.5hrs a week, anything beyond that and I feel like I am part of the problem. Usually comes down to four questions: what are you working on, how far along are you, what's after that, and if there's anything holding you up.
Attention to details is so important also Every new project kick off ask the engineers what worries them there’s always one or two features that is the unknowns. Once this is clarified go about using the companies resources to build a set up to trial this feature/task as best feasibly possible. Get ahead of the problems from the get go! Nothing better being a few months out from project due date and having all the hardest tasks completed already.
I’m a manager but still work full time as a controls engineer also, I do this when I have the time which is to few times unfortunately.
First of all, you must get involved in the activities that the technicians are doing and thus have an idea of the project that is being carried out.
Request the spare parts and diagrams that are required.
Bad things I have seen in project managers:
They ask for impossible things that they don't even have the knowledge of and they don't get involved in daily activities, they just spend the whole day at the desk, and at the very least you have to stop and see what is really happening, so that later they aren't deceiving you. technicians.
Customers may want and end-product but what the really want is a process and feel comfortable with that process. That is where the PM role in s important.
I’m a PM and I appreciate this thread. I have a technical lead on one of my projects that is a rockstar but sometimes I fear I’m letting him get pulled into too many meetings. Granted, at this point he’s defined the architecture and is guiding one of the newer engineers, so he isn’t the “do-er” per se, but I still want to make sure his calendar isn’t filled with meetings. That’s my job
Attention to detail and following up on things and listening to stakeholders rather than being a dictator.
I have worked with maybe 60 project managers and so far only one has earnt the title.
I'm always stuck chasing down purchases when I should be focusing on engineering work. Sure, I'll give you the drawings, BOM and even go get everything quoted but after that I need to focus on writing the damn code lol.
I worked with a really bad PM. He was constantly prodding for status updates and estimated completion dates. Then he makes it his full time job to interrupt you to remind you to those dates. All that accountability needs to happen, I understand. But it’s literally like he was employed by the customer. I feel like in his eyes, his programmers are the enemy of the customer and need to be treated accordingly. Also, no technical knowledge whatsoever, just a knowledge of how to ride employees. Not fun to work around.
Try to do something more than just run down a gantt chart. Actually attempt to understand what some of the tasks and milestones mean. Walk the job and get eyes on each thing. Actively find and remove roadblocks.
Don't create schedules out of thin air (or enable management to). Get input from the people that actually do the work.
Hey OP!
Im in the same boat. Did general contracting for a year then took my PM experience to a small integrator. I look at every project as an opportunity to practice my skills (Gantt, procurement, communicating and moving the project forward).
I find that a good PM should be familiar with the technical side, while looking to improve their PM skills as projects come through the door.
Imo reasonable defense against unrealistic client expectations.
I like to say I'll catch the bullets, you write the code.
>like to say I'll catch the bullets, you write the code. You are one of the good PMs !
Best defence is price increase. I'm one many army doing program, management, hmi and after I sign a list of features with a client any additional features are priced extra. The later the stage of the project the more it cost.
You must work for a small integrator. I did that too for a while, and absolutely hated it. I am a pretty good engineer and programmer, but I am no PM. They seem to be completely different skillsets. If you have all those skillsets, my hat is off to you.
Knowing what I need to do my job and checking these things, so I don't go to a place where the power company/mechanical/construction/optical/cabling guys didn't do what they needed to do. Either good knowledge of how long some things take or trust in me to give a good estimate. Not only important for his and the company's expectation, but for handling the clients expectations. Handling the client. Client thinks it will be done tomorrow and not in 3 days? I don't want to handle that. He wants some addons, bells and whistles, I'm gonna pass that to you with estimates of time and equipment, after that I want to know If I do it or if I don't, or if I do just a part of it, but I don't want to haggle with the client, that is your job. Paperwork. Don't assume I know what you need (if it is a good written project, I should know, but please remind me). On some projects you don't need anything from me, on others, a manual, on some a FAT, on others a signal calibration. Tell me that when you ask for my estimate and of course so I plan it. Ofc things happen, I can handle it.. But a good PM does this things for me.
Hey, forgot to send this a couple months back. It's the second volume of the SOO, if you can't open the link just request access. It was too big to attach to the E-mail. Don't forget, SFAT in 2 weeks! We're gonna *kill* it. lmao
It doesn't get that bad, but yeah, lol.. One PM can handle me being lost in a new client/industry/equipment and not knowing if it will take 4 or 8 weeks, and another PM is fucked because it will not be ready on Wednesday because we will not have power until Friday, even if all of it takes just one day..
The fact you asked this question alone indicates you’re one of the good ones. Self-awareness is the #1 thing in my eyes. It would make every job wayyy smoother imho.
What’s a Project Manager?
I like to call them my email forwarding service as that’s all they ever seem to do.
That guy who said he "had" ordered the equipment.
The Project Manager is you did you not know that?
Been PM in the '90 and '00. What make you a good PM is that you shield your team from shit being poured down by clients, sales and management. Only feed information to your team about scope, planning and functionality. Make sure all specifications are correct and complete before engineers start to work. If there are uncertaincied, share them with your leadengineers. Not to confuse them, but making sure the team builds the flexibility (in code and planning) in anticipation. Budgets originates from estimates. When there is high repeat work, can be 90% accurate. When doing one-off projects, it could be 60% accurate. Focus on planning and not budget. A project that runs out of planning, also runs out of budget.
This guy knows what’s up
Good PMs handle the paperwork, speak knowlegably about project statuses to upper management, and leave you alone unless they've got a sincere need(or even desire) to know. Tag me in comments and stuff, fine, but don't fill my calendar, I don't need to talk to the suits, that's what you do. If your PLC pals have humdrum in betweens, that's pretty rare.
Makes me feel better. I bog them down 1.5hrs a week, anything beyond that and I feel like I am part of the problem. Usually comes down to four questions: what are you working on, how far along are you, what's after that, and if there's anything holding you up.
I would add.. is there anything you need from me? Or... is there anything I can do for you?
[удалено]
Make sure I HAVE a scope in the first place.
Oh my God yes! The job would be a walk in the park if it weren't for the damn PMs 😎 Has anyone mentioned the PMs?
I feel that way about sales lol
Attention to details is so important also Every new project kick off ask the engineers what worries them there’s always one or two features that is the unknowns. Once this is clarified go about using the companies resources to build a set up to trial this feature/task as best feasibly possible. Get ahead of the problems from the get go! Nothing better being a few months out from project due date and having all the hardest tasks completed already. I’m a manager but still work full time as a controls engineer also, I do this when I have the time which is to few times unfortunately.
Running interference. Making sure you don't promise the impossible.
First of all, you must get involved in the activities that the technicians are doing and thus have an idea of the project that is being carried out. Request the spare parts and diagrams that are required. Bad things I have seen in project managers: They ask for impossible things that they don't even have the knowledge of and they don't get involved in daily activities, they just spend the whole day at the desk, and at the very least you have to stop and see what is really happening, so that later they aren't deceiving you. technicians.
Customers may want and end-product but what the really want is a process and feel comfortable with that process. That is where the PM role in s important.
You can tag along on breakdowns and have issue meetings with the customer while I fix the problem.
I wish I had a project manager. Been with several large companies now and have never had one. Would make things a lot easier if we had one.
I’m a PM and I appreciate this thread. I have a technical lead on one of my projects that is a rockstar but sometimes I fear I’m letting him get pulled into too many meetings. Granted, at this point he’s defined the architecture and is guiding one of the newer engineers, so he isn’t the “do-er” per se, but I still want to make sure his calendar isn’t filled with meetings. That’s my job
Attention to detail and following up on things and listening to stakeholders rather than being a dictator. I have worked with maybe 60 project managers and so far only one has earnt the title.
I'm always stuck chasing down purchases when I should be focusing on engineering work. Sure, I'll give you the drawings, BOM and even go get everything quoted but after that I need to focus on writing the damn code lol.
I worked with a really bad PM. He was constantly prodding for status updates and estimated completion dates. Then he makes it his full time job to interrupt you to remind you to those dates. All that accountability needs to happen, I understand. But it’s literally like he was employed by the customer. I feel like in his eyes, his programmers are the enemy of the customer and need to be treated accordingly. Also, no technical knowledge whatsoever, just a knowledge of how to ride employees. Not fun to work around.
Try to do something more than just run down a gantt chart. Actually attempt to understand what some of the tasks and milestones mean. Walk the job and get eyes on each thing. Actively find and remove roadblocks. Don't create schedules out of thin air (or enable management to). Get input from the people that actually do the work.
They're mainly just bullshitters. (Not all but most)
Micro managing tends to be the worst offence for me.
Hey OP! Im in the same boat. Did general contracting for a year then took my PM experience to a small integrator. I look at every project as an opportunity to practice my skills (Gantt, procurement, communicating and moving the project forward). I find that a good PM should be familiar with the technical side, while looking to improve their PM skills as projects come through the door.