Please say if are really working in a company. I already did the PM thing in a company that made me PM at the end of a project. Thats was a dumb thing to do, the work was almost all done, not much to manage until final testing. They also had a general manager that did not know how too delegate. He kept trying to do my job too... Anyway, I might have a job at another company as a PM. Just want see the variety. Thanks.

From what I understand, the Project Manager was the person who helps to gather requirements from customers, talk with engineering about feasibility of those requirements, layout the requirements going into the product, schedule the project timeline, and then keep everyone talking while it's being completed.

They seem to do two main jobs. Product direction and project orginization. It seems the more senior one gets the more they do the former [and delegate meetings to underlings]. The more junior, the latter [and higher PMs, or Director level guys handle the direction].

Quote: Original post by ThoughtCriminal
Please say if are really working in a company.

Yes, and have been for over 15 years.

Quote: Original post by ThoughtCriminal
I already did the PM thing in a company that made me PM at the end of a project.
Thats was a dumb thing to do, the work was almost all done, not much to manage until final testing. They also had a general manager that did not know how too delegate. He kept trying to do my job too...

Anyway, I might have a job at another company as a PM. Just want see the variety.

Depends on the company.

From my experience, there are several jobs you are describing.

General manager is a good friend of the owner. Their job is to manage risks and schedules. They have a big say in if something gets done or not. This person should not be delegating tasks except to other managers. Their job is NOT to interfere with the implementation of ideas, only to evaluate the risks and re-assign people based on those risks. They report to the owners.

Technical project manager goes around talking to customers, other businesses, execs, clients, marketing, and others. Their job is to make recommendations and figure out what people want the stuff to do. They come up with specifications of what the project should be doing, and how it should work. If the implementers come up with a decision that isn't covered in their spec, they did not do their job. They come up with the complete specifications, including all routes through the software, figure out every design decision, and make a recommendation for every single design decision. Their job is NOT to compare the implemented program against their recommendations, nor do they get to decide what features are implemented. These people report to the owner or execs, and have no say in the actual implementation. They make recommendations.

Lead Programmer, sometimes called the Project Lead gets the specs from the technical project manager. They make changes to those specs, review it with the execs, and help decide on the plan. Their job is to work with the management to implement the product, to prioritize features that were recommended, figure out their team's schedules, and ensure that it gets implemented. They are busy folks, and generally have a lot of lattitude in how they get the job done. Their job is NOT to work with marketers, customers, or doing market research. Nor should the have to bother with hardware issues, unless they are at a small company and are doing all the IT work as well. These people report to the owner or execs, and have a big say in the actual implementation. With the execs, they can debate and ignore recommendations.

You need a technical project manager for every three to four programmers.

Small businesses often blur the lines between the jobs.

Un-blurring the lines is a growing pain that companies need to do.

frob.

Hi ThoughtCriminal,

The answer to your question really depends on the company itself. Different projects have different management needs, depending on their scope.

I'm an Associate Producer with only one other Producer in our company of 40+. Between the two of us, we have 8 projects in development that cover a variety of genres across many different platforms including GBA, PSP, PS2 and XBox.

Some of our smaller projects have as little as 5 developers on a team and they require little management. Another of our projects is being developed across several platforms and has about 20 people involved in creating the prototype - and we estimate we'll need to double the team by the time we start full production.

My job ranges from business development to hands-on management with my dev teams.

Biz dev basically includes submitting game proposals, getting contracts signed, negotiating money/time/resources.. etc.

Managing the team includes scheduling, tracking progress... and basically just being there for the team when problems arise or if they need anything to do their job.

I think that to be a good Manager, you really need to be a good Leader - to bring out the best in people and to work -with- them to achieve your goals, rather than to only dictate and demand. You have to be able to give back to the team and encourage them to do their best.

Having said that, my ideas of management may not be suitable for everyone because situations differ, but it sure works for me – We’re about to ship a big GBA title and it has been bug-free and ready to go three weeks before the Final build is due. I believe that the best thing any manager can do is to know what they're managing - especially when it comes to people, as different people have different needs. Some want a little bit more freedom, where as others (usually the less experienced ones) would rather you be very specific in your requests.

From my experience as a manager, other things you may need to do include letting your team know what is expected from them - what tasks you want done, when you want them done, etc. Your job may differ depending on how many other managers there are too - a Technical Lead/Manager may be responsible for any programming or tools related management whereas an Art Director may be responsible for the content and quality of Art assets.

If you're looking at a position as a manager, I suggest you just ask as many questions about the job as you can - find out what is expected from you on a daily basis and make sure that it is really something you want to do.

It is a lot of responsibility to be a manager, because the people that you manage will have problems where the only proactive step they can make is to bring the issue to you. And managers are usually the ones with the power to -do- something about it so the responsibility falls in your hands.

~RJ

"The best way to predict the future, is to invent it."