In a software development team, we can find different roles and responsibilities, from the business analyst to the developers, the testers, and the scrum master. They all work as a team to achieve the project objectives, but the person in charge of leading and managing the entire project is the Project Manager.
Let's take a look at some of the responsibilities of this role so that we can understand its relevance in a team of software developers.
What does a Project Manager do?
On a daily basis, a Project Manager's job would be to prioritize project tasks and emerging demands, compare the hours spent against the available budget, and ensure that the project is completed with the allocated resources.
In addition, the Project Manager would have to deal with customer expectations, guide the team in completing tasks, and troubleshoot emerging issues.
Why is the role of the Project Manager important?
This is an essential role for a couple of main reasons.
First of all, The Project Manager keeps the whole team and the project, in general, moving forward. The project manager's job allows other team members to focus on their tasks and therefore it is easier to obtain tangible progress within the time frame set at the beginning.
Second, having a defined project manager role is cost-effective. Each role on the development team is important and has specialized tasks that must be completed, developers must spend their time programming, and designers must focus on design options for the product.
Therefore, the project manager's role ensures that the administration workload does not fall on other team members. As a result, the project would have more efficient time management and clients will notice when the project is delivered faster.
Third, the panoramic perspective with which the Project Manager usually analyzes the project is priceless. Using tools like Jira or Trello, they can get an overview of the status of the project.
Consequently, this represents an advantage for the project manager in recognizing and mitigating risks. Whether tasks are late or not completed on time, the Project Manager can devise strategies to reduce the negative impact on the project.
Last but not least, projects come with various stakeholders, and the Project Manager has a special responsibility to act as a bridge of understanding between them. Whenever a member of the development team or the customer has a query, the Project Manager is the person to contact. This will result in a more defined flow of communication.
Project management is paramount to achieving project success. The Project Manager is the person who keeps the development team on track, analyzes the level of fulfillment of tasks, manages the workload, and solves emerging problems.
Without a doubt, a Project Manager is a role that every software development team should have.
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