Why is the project manager always a backpacker? Start with the origin of the project.

The last article was the official definition, and now it is back to reality. It will also start with what a project is, why there are projects (the real situation) and which will become projects. Let's talk about project classification first.

Generally speaking, projects can be divided into two categories: deliverable projects and functional projects. The former is generally delivered to Party A as Party B, and has strict requirements in terms of budget (contract amount), time (contract agreement), demand (demand specification) and quality/performance (meeting customer requirements). The whole delivery process is mostly the most effective delivery for the reasonable needs of customers, and is accepted by customers. There is also customer operation after delivery, which is not a one-time transaction, but also charged according to customer usage.

The very clear commercial value of the delivery project, that is, the contract income, is not for profit except for some benchmark cases. In the delivery of the project, the project manager is the person in charge of the whole project, a real role and a full-time project manager. He should understand the business, obtain user needs, interpret user needs, translate them into product needs, be responsible for bidding, and understand technology. The customer can tell whether it can be realized by telling the demand. A well-done project manager, who knows the industry, will guide customers' needs in demand research, because customers sometimes don't know what their real needs are and how to turn them into products.

The other is a functional project. My experience is basically to be a project manager of Party A, not necessarily a full-time project manager. Business personnel will also undertake the functions of project management. Just like the word project is often heard in enterprises, there are not so many project managers to do it. This is what I said before. Project management is a skill, not necessarily a post. Sometimes these projects do not have a clear business mechanism, but realize the needs of respondents, such as strategy, cooperation, efficiency improvement, and even the completion of one thing, and so on. Anything can be a project.

Because it is not necessary to have a full-time project manager to lead functional projects, it is obvious that a project manager is needed to do these projects, often because the business or people in a certain position can't handle or disdain to do this project, and a full-time professional project manager is needed to lead the project. This situation also shows that there are pits here. Project managers are often called "backpackers", or things that others don't like to do and have a low sense of value.

Summarize why there is a project, and the project must have a demander/sponsor, such as a customer delivery, business needs of business leaders, product iteration, a press conference, organizational change, innovation, a strategic cooperation, etc. What I heard was basically, so-and-so, there is a project here. You have to arrange a project to stare at. Unlike product managers, product solutions and product plans can trick a bunch of resources into doing business. If the project manager doesn't look for projects everywhere, even if he looks for projects, he will be required by the demander. This view is a bit pathetic.