What is the responsibility of the project leader? Sharing of insights in management

The title of project leader is familiar to everyone, and every project can find such a person. But have you ever thought about what the project leader should be responsible for? Are you responsible for getting the project done? So what is "doing it well"? What kind of person is a qualified project leader? Can a strong design ability make a good project leader?

After managing the project for 12 years, my personal experience is that a project leader should be the executor of the project goal, the understander of customer demands, and the embodiment of corporate culture. All three are indispensable.

In actual work, most project leaders only think that it is enough to be the "executor of project goals". In fact, understanding and excavating the real demands of customers is an important responsibility of the project leader, and only the level of the project leader can be seen. And very few project leaders realize that they have become the embodiment of the company's culture unknowingly.

Yes, the culture of a design company is not reflected in the "big guys" who are busy participating in various forums and salons. The most important manifestation of the culture of a design company lies in the front-line project leaders that Party A contacts every day. Therefore, the responsibility of the project leader is really great!

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Managers of design firms must do three things:

/ Pay attention to the first-line designers they have cultivated. They are the people who understand the company's corporate culture.

/ The big guys must go deep into the front line of the project and be the most important project leader.

/ The internal project management of the company is as flat as possible.

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What makes a good project leader?

A good project leader needs to have "four qualities":

Quality 1: Get used to solving problems with the "Z-fit" method, not the "Z-true" method

We are technical backgrounds and have been admitted all the way through the exams. When dealing with specific problems in our work, we are often used to looking for the "best, most correct" solutions. However, a good project leader should consider various factors such as time, cost, and resources, and find a solution that is not necessarily the best, but is "the most effective and the most suitable". People with strong design ability often have to adhere to the "Z truth" in their thinking. After becoming the project leader, they also need to learn to balance, coordinate and compromise. And a designer with "Z-suitable" thinking, even if the design ability is average, can become an excellent project leader.

Quality 2: Emotional quality (EQ) is higher than intellectual quality (IQ)

Trust that no one (including your client) can have a very relaxing and enjoyable time on a project. Being good at controlling your own emotions, being good at channeling and mobilizing the emotions of others, and having excellent personal time management skills will allow you to go further within and outside your profession.

Quality 3: Recognize the importance of "people-only" (word-of-mouth orientation), rather than "materialism" (task-oriented)

The general project leader takes "concentrating on completing the tasks assigned to me" as the focus of work. Excellent project leaders focus on "acquiring customers and good reputation in the industry". They know very well that word of mouth is everything. The biggest feature of word of mouth is that the sand builds up into a tower, which is destroyed in one fell swoop. You do 99 things right, and if you do 1 thing wrong, you will fail miserably. In the WeChat project group, we can find a rule: unless the design team has made a lot of effort (such as working for 36 hours continuously), generally there is rarely a party A's praise or condolences to the design team, and the design team's design Errors are often easily pointed out and even magnified. In the WeChat group composed of many Party A leaders and design partners, it is conceivable how fragile and easily broken the reputation of the design company is, and how much the project leader has to undertake from the company's superior leaders and Party A's projects The double mental stress of the manager! We demand more than ever the management and communication skills of project leaders.

Quality four: good at "communication", not "research"

Excellent project leaders will not go their own way and research countermeasures by themselves. It is good at communicating with "resources". The resources can be your own team, the company's leader, the project manager of Party A, and the person in charge of the partner.

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UA project leaders must agree with one point of view:

No rejection, no anger, no self-righteousness

In the book published by the company in 2014, we made this interpretation: "Not rejecting, not being angry with youth, not being self-righteous, means a positive attitude full of positive energy, based on the design of UA Youan, we are determined to become mature and stable. It also reminds me of what our management teacher Lewis Shen said: "Technology is people-oriented, and the value of technology (professional) lies in the ability to create new products for enterprises and customers. value, not just a self-righteous advantage.” Indeed, with the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology today, the competition that designers will face in the future will not come from people, but from tools. Therefore, it is not our goal to only become a "master" in terms of skills; it is our goal to be a person who is good at communication, understands customer needs, and can create value for enterprises and customers (such talents will not be used by machines. replaced).

No rejection, no resentment, and no self-righteousness - let the once coldness of architects become warm, and let our professional skills have the power to comfort people. If Party A doesn't accept your plan, don't always complain about why you can't meet a good Party A who understands my Party A. In many cases, it only means that your performance is not enough to convince Party A, or you don't understand the project. essence.

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How to be/train a good project leader?

① Really implement the working principle of market-oriented and customer-centric

Objectively and clearly analyze customer needs, and evaluate work results based on customer perception. Always remember: the customer's perception is the final judge of all your efforts.

② Break through the front and back office collaboration barriers

For large and medium-sized design companies, it is necessary to avoid the occurrence of large company diseases and large courtyards and small courtyards, and try to flatten the project management (for example, partners and directors directly lead the project).

③ Improve the team's adaptability

Adaptability is the competitiveness of modern technical teams. Resilience includes on-the-spot communication skills and crisis management skills.

④ Strengthen the ability to integrate resources

The needs of customers are diverse and changeable, and there will be fewer and fewer "all-rounders" who only rely on their own abilities to solve all problems. Being able to flexibly mobilize core design resources is the biggest feature of a successful design company.

⑤ Strengthen self-leadership charm

To be a leader, before managing human nature, you must first be able to control your own human nature. Not only must do "do not do to others what you do not want", but also do "do what you want to others".

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The four steps of project management:

Anticipate > Plan > Execute > Follow Up

Step 1: Anticipate

Pre-judgment largely depends on the relevant project experience of the project leader. In terms of splitting, there are three guidelines to follow:

a. Customer orientation: fully understand the end demands of customers and actively clarify their needs/expectations. b. Data orientation: fully understand the design input conditions (planning and marketing input conditions) to ensure its accuracy and completeness.

c. Risk orientation: Anticipate changes, assess risks, and develop timely countermeasures to deal with changes and risks.

Step 2: Plan

According to the design input conditions, the project objectives are established after comprehensive judgment, and the project milestones (important internal and external nodes) are determined. According to the project goals, rationally allocate design resources.

But it is worth noting that the plan is not unchanged and cannot be changed, and the plan should be adjusted reasonably according to the actual situation of the project. If the plan changes significantly, re-judgment is required.

Step 3: Execute

Advancing design tasks in strict accordance with the plan and monitoring milestones and checkpoints. Sudden changes in design tasks occur during execution, requiring re-planning.

What needs to be emphasized here is that the execution process of the design task needs to be "closed". For example, sending a picture to Party A is not called "closing" of execution. Sending a picture to Party A and receiving confirmation by SMS or phone call from Party A, and uploading a screenshot of the content of the email to upload the project WeChat group to inform all design collaborators, this is the only way. It is called "closing" of the task of "posting pictures".

Step 4: Follow up

Follow-up reminders refer to periodic summaries, re-judgments based on immediate feedback on implementation, and adjustments to plans.

It is a good idea to set up a regular meeting system and clarify the purpose and motivation of the meeting. The purpose of the follow-up is to ensure that information can be communicated immediately and that information is effectively fed back.

Anticipating, planning, executing, and following up is a workflow with a spiral structure. Repeating in and out of the project pushes the project forward.

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Communication skills/attitudes that project leaders should have

Communication is not so much a skill, but more of a way of thinking and attitude. We need to turn obstacle communication into effective communication; turn self-expression into two-way communication; turn persuasion motives into win-win motives; turn passive listening into active listening. Learn to think and express in each other's language to create the feeling of being on the same side. Have empathy, learn to empathize, understand the position and feelings of the other party, and guide a win-win model based on their values. You must know that a win-win situation is not necessarily the result, it is a way of thinking and motivation, and the highest level of communication and coordination.

"It's the fault of the person who communicates without communication." - Lewis Shen. If both sides of the communication agree so, communication will be a very beautiful thing.