Project Manager Interview

While deciding who to interview for the project manager interview assignment, I wasn't thinking about Steve. However, as I was talking to him about his previous employment one day, it became apparent that he is an excellent choice for the interview. I asked him if I could interview him for the assignment, and he graciously accepted my favor.

Steve worked for a computer equipment company as a director of Client Services, being responsible for all customers in North America. While working this capacity, he has managed numerous projects, and I was really impressed by his management style and philosophy.

Instead of asking his failed project experiences, I asked him the five principles that he has learned which helped him prevent failing his projects. Here is the summary of what he told me.

Lesson 1: Organize a good team

I think this is the simplest, yet the most important (and perhaps the most difficult) aspect of project management. When we have a competent team that is responsible, trustworthy, hard working, and knows how to work within a team, it is highly unlikely that the team will fail their projects. Of course, they might still fail once in a while due to the factors beyond their control; however, a good project team will work even harder to complete their projects despite the kind of negative factors that work against them.

Lesson 2: Use delegation as a way to facilitate a feeling of team ownership

A project manager might decide to delegate some of his or her responsibilities to team members, simply because he or she is too busy. Steve told me that this kind of delegation is not effective, and it might increase team frustration. He said that we need to use delegation as a way to facilitate a feeling of ownership among the team members. When a whole team feel that a project truly belongs to them, they will focus more on their project, and it will ensure an effective and efficient completion of the project.

Lesson 3: Know your team

Knowing a team means to have a clear understanding of each team member's job skills, competency, and working styles. Having this knowledge will help a project manager create a realistic project task schedule and how to deal with unexpected issues that might arise during the life-cycle of the project.

Lesson 4: Train and compensate their growth

Since we might not always find a perfect person for every position we need for completing a project, training is a key part of project management. And when a person gain new skills for his or her project, their efforts need to be compensated in some way.

Lesson 5: Expect Changes


In managing projects, changes are inevitable. A team member might decide to leave a company while the project is still going. We need to keep our positive thinking. Deal with changes with optimism. At the end, everything will work out fine as long as we exercise our faith in God.