People have told me I make an excellent manager for a variety of reasonse, but mostly because I care. I have some words of wisdom to share with you. Also, refer to the Management phase of the project life cycle on my Software Engineering page.
Words of Wisdom -- What They Don't Tell You in Project Management 101
Is the contract signed? If not, apologize to the customer, but no work can commence until that is done. "I will be happy to schedule our kick-off meeting when the contract is signed. When can we expect that to happen?" Possibly follow-up with them when they do not sign it by that date.
Help your manager, which in turn helps your company, which is why you are here.
Help your staff. Lead from the bottom-up, not top-down. Empower them, inspire them, give them the tools they need, and help them grow.
Read previous lessons-learned information before planning your project. Establish checkpoints in your project to see how everyone thinks the project is going. Plan a formal lessons-learned activity at the end of your project, with action items and final repository storage. [Checklist]
Keep the number of direct reports to seven or less.
Follow the chain of command at all times. Never speak with a subordinate about the project unless his leader (your subordinate) is on vacation or sick, or unless it's personal.
Believe and rely on Murphy's law. Always add slack/risk time to estimates.
If you think you're spread too thin, you are. Refuse new work (see not budgeted), or take on the new, exciting work and let your other work suffer (bad for current business, wouldn't you say?), or delegate and build your organization. Try different approaches.
Hire an administrator/assistant who understands the tools, can manage them, and can update them. Automate the process. This person will gather information from everyone and update it. This person will be able to tell you "what if" scenarios and provide statistical reports for management, freeing you to manage and lead. If you can't warrant a full-time position, perhaps you can share one.
Unless you're trying to cover your neck, stress face-to-face communication instead of emails. Rely on and update specifications. However, with clients, it's always good to use emails as for historical purposes.
Train your staff on proper email etiquette. Under no circumstances shall anyone be allowed to behave negatively toward clients or their co-workers.
Train you and your staff on effective business meetings.
Establish standards and procedures, and enforce them.
Be a leader with the vision and wings of an eagle.
Get to know each one of your staff personally.
Ask yourself, "In 100 years will it really matter?" Your answer should dictate your actions. (See Egos)
Take risks.
Make decisions.
Respect others.
Demonstrate integrity.
They are always watching you.
There are a lot of ways to reward and team-build other than money.
Plan on 15 - 20% of each project for project management.
Do not think a 40 hour task done by one person can be done in one hour by 40 people.
Get proper training, especially if you're working with the government. A $5 gift can be construed as a bribe -- I'm not kidding!
Know that a project plan is not the same thing as a schedule. The schedule is a tool the administrator uses almost as a mathematical proof of how the project can be achieved. People make your project. What affects them affects the project. Dependencies affect the project.
Tidbits
Not Budgeted: One time, I had a (type A) manager who would not let me add our product maintenance into the budget, although it was a crucial aspect to our business. (Can you imagine if no one ever fixed there bugs!?!) "Anyone who isn't budgeted gets the axe!", he said. I had staff of about 25 people at the time. So, when I made the budgets, I allocated myself to product maintenance. Since he didn't want to look at it, he was happy until he realized I wasn't in the picture.
Egos: I took a project management course, and we each had to take turns being the project manager. When it was my turn, I told my "staff" to pretend to crunch numbers, and let me be the leader. These two guys wouldn't stop talking, actually starting working out real numbers, and made a big display of it. I was going to cut them off and close the deal, but I thought it would make them look bad. After we were done, the leader said, "What were you, the secretary?" I just didn't think it was worth it, and I'm not sure if I'd do anything differently now.
