Depending on where you work or have worked there is a good chance you have worked in a project delivery structure that has necessitated an ability for you as a project manager to either double, triple or even quadruple job. 

The common jobs that get meshed in with project management responsibilities are business analysis, change management, program management and test cycle management. Solution architect work can become entangled with project management but this is less common but does happen.  In some projects, project managers can become so involved in the low level detail of a system that they become a product owner of sorts which can then translate into a training manager with the expectation of producing training manuals and delivering training to end users.

In my own experience it’s the less structured and smaller organisations that don’t have the resources or willingness to run a proper PMO that necessitate the need for project managers to double and triple job. Project managers then need to perform a varied array of roles as mentioned above. Obviously this isn’t always the case but a project manager does need to be prepared to be flexible in how they manage projects and at times demonstrate an ability to perform multiple tasks and job roles. 

A project manager may end up doing some training work too.

I carried out a recent poll in LinkedIn asking the simple question 

How many Project Managers out there have double & triple jobbed as Program Managers, Business Analysts, Change Managers & Test Managers?

The result was

Yes = 79%

No = 21%

86 people responded.

The numbers polled were small but do give an indication of what project managers can expect in their roles. The poll sample is too small to be deemed scientific but if it were to be scaled up my opinion is that the results would be close to the 80/20 split above.

The advantage of having the ability to navigate through numerous roles is that your knowledge base increases and ultimately it may benefit the progression of your career. The disadvantage though is that you may be spread too thinly over these roles and the fundamental aim of project managing a project becomes diluted and difficult to achieve.

Requirements – I believe having experience in business analysis is critical as it is the one area of a project that can dictate the success or failure of the whole project. Numerous statistics can be found showing that poor requirements gathering can on average cause 80% of project issues & problems. Yet most project teams spend little time on requirements. Approximately only 10% of overall project time in projects is spent on requirements. Requirements lead to design which leads to build. Poor requirements means poor design which means poor build. Developers will and can only build from the design and requirements they receive. If project managers don’t have access to a good business analyst they then need to be confident and proficient in creating clear and concise business, technical & functional requirements themselves. Practice makes perfect and more projects you deliver the better your requirements skills will become. If a business analyst is available make sure as a project manager you manage the requirements gatherings process effectively and ensure the quality of requirements delivered is high & matches business owner and key project stakeholders expectations.

Change management – The reality is very few companies hire change managers and it is only in the large complex transformation programs that change managers form part of the delivery team and kelp end users transition from project to business as usual (BAU) stage 

Managing change is viewed as being part of a project managers remit and without them knowing it project managers are constantly managing change and the switch from one system to another. If the change involves multiple end users the need for a change manager intensifies as project managers may struggle to manage the change expectations of all stakeholders. Again the more project deliveries of a large and complex nature project managers get involved then the more change management experience is attained.

Testing manager – It’s not uncommon for companies not to hire test managers as it’s a cost they are not willing to fund. If this is the case the project manager will be tasked with managing the testing phase and tasks such as test case and script execution. In most cases the end users will be able to draft test cases as they will form part of the core project team and will have knowledge of the system being implemented. If this isn’t the case the product owner and/or development team should be able to help draft test cases as part of system testing. However for the testing phase to be managed efficiently a testing manager should be hired as it’s a unique skill and without testing there is no way for end users to be confident in a new system. All the different stages of testing from static to UAT are discussed in a separate dedicated testing skill slide but the shear scale of the testing phase should not be underestimated.

Product Owner – Project managers are not product owners and never will be but for some projects & delivery structures project managers can become so engrained in the low level detail of systems that their product knowledge can be high. Project managers don’t get involve in product roadmaps and product catalogue decisions but sometimes the 80/20 split of technical and non technical knowledge can become blurred. I personally don’t believe in the technical project manager concept because ultimately what you become is a little big of everything with heavy emphasis  on the technical side of delivery and to me that is only one aspect of project delivery. My experience does tell me that having a bit of product knowledge is helpful but too much product work will devalue and dilute the project manager role and function.

Solution Architect – This is a unique skill for which project managers should not get involved in unless they have prior experience. PMOs should have access to solutions architects to work on technical system design & landscape work that aids project understanding and delivery. When project teams are small and under resourced the project manager may feel the need to do some solution architect work but without the necessary skill set the value added is minimal and this part of the project needs to be delivered by skilled and technicality astute professionals.

Training manager – The reality is that very few companies have training managers and because of this access to them is literally non existent. Vendors who sell systems and software to clients do tend to have training resources that they make available to use. However most training tends to be via demos and training manuals. Training types is covered as a separate skill in my series. Project managers may be asked to deliver training in some part if they have the technical knowledge of the system being implemented but this does not happen too often. I have had to draft training manuals for systems before when vendors had none to release to clients. This though is not the norm and regardless of whether training managers are available or not project managers should manage the training phase of all project deliveries.