How we relieved project managers and freed up time for “core” tasks

There is an acute shortage of IT project managers (PM) on the labor market: according to hh.ru, there are 1.9 resumes per vacancy. Therefore, often in companies one RP manages 5-6 projects. With such a workload, it is almost impossible to manage everything and maintain quality.

The project administrator helped us solve the loading problem. Before introducing this role, we detailed all the tasks of the RP and identified a “routine”. It was handed over to the administrator. As a result, the RP has the opportunity to conduct more projects while maintaining a high level of quality.

In the article, Sveta Kyshtymova, project administrator at Naumen, spoke about the role of the administrator and the tasks she performs.

Sveta Kyshtymova

Head of Project Administration Department

The project administrator at Naumen is a person who focuses on agreements. Now I administer implementation projects. That is:

— I remind colleagues about deadlines;
— keeping minutes of meetings;
— I work with the contract department and organize the approval of documents;
— summing up the projects.

Below I talked about the problems that project managers face and how a project administrator helps to avoid them.

Short deadlines for project implementation due to lengthy contract approvals

When a company enters into an agreement with a client, it specifies very realistic deadlines. But sometimes internal approval can be delayed, and there is too little time left for implementation. Therefore, I get involved in the project at the stage of negotiations with clients:

1. I read the contract for formal deadlines, results according to them, and enter the project stages into the management system. I write out the formal artifacts that must be transferred to the customer – for example, “The technical specifications have been approved.” That is, I create a timeline that the RP fills with tasks. In the future, this helps me control the stages of the project.

Situation: the contract states that in 15 days we must prepare a private technical specification.

My actions: I record the deadlines in the system, periodically remind the RP about them and check the readiness of the documents. I contact my colleagues from the contract department in advance, informing them that the document should begin to be prepared and be ready for sending at the required time.

Since a large amount of documentation is generated in projects, I keep a register of documents and check with what is written in the technical specifications, process comments from clients and ask the technical writer to make corrections.

2. I control that all legal agreements are observed, including deadlines. A few days before the deadline, I check to see if everything is going smoothly. When difficulties arise, I ask if I can help.

Situation: an employee needs to take unplanned time off or sick leave.

My actions: I look at the timeline with my manager to see if we can complete the task on time. If not, we are looking for a replacement to eliminate the risk of missing the deadline.

3. There are situations that cannot be foreseen in advance, and deadlines need to be moved.

My task is to help reduce the risk of conflict escalation. Therefore, after negotiations between the RP and the client, I monitor the implementation of the agreements. For example, I contact the back office, prioritize the documents that need to be sent first, and control the deadlines.

Ambiguous situations

If there are several stakeholders on the client's side, some tasks may be contradictory. For example, we had a situation when one of the stakeholders asked to remove part of the functionality from the project, since it turned out to be unnecessary. A little later, the second one came and asked to return the feature – it was useful.

So that the manager could focus on the topic of the conversation and better immerse himself in the context, I took the minutes of the first meeting. We raised the text and made sure that on our part everything was implemented according to the specifications. Then we met with analysts and clarified how we could improve the situation. It turned out that the necessary functionality was easy to restore, since we did not delete it, but hid it. As a result, the client was satisfied: we not only satisfied the client’s need, but we were also able to defend our position by providing fixed agreements.

Taking minutes of meetings also helps in preparing the survey report and instructions for users. That is, it relieves some of the tasks from the technical writer and analysts.

Formation of tasks when conducting a retrospective

When conducting a retrospective, it is important to formulate an agenda, as well as record agreements, tasks and those responsible for them. Otherwise, the absence of even one may complicate the work of technical support or lead to the repetition of errors on other projects.

I often attend retrospectives and record everything that my colleagues say: what went well, what problems there were and how we can fix them. This helps improve processes.

Last year, as a result of a large project, we carried out a retro project and found a gap. The client had a large set of functionality for which different employees were responsible. The implementation did not have a list of teams and roles, so it is difficult to understand who is responsible for what. We decided that we would indicate in the project charter those responsible on the client’s side in connection with their functional modules. Also control their changes throughout the entire project.

Nikita Kardashin

Head of Integrated Digitalization of Processes Practice

“The introduction of the project administrator role helped us relieve the project manager and free up his time for solving core tasks. And also – to increase customer loyalty, comply with agreements, transparently discuss next steps and establish communications.”

The project administrator is an invisible man in the IT world, thanks to whom the project manager can sleep peacefully and not worry about not having time to do “everything at once.”

The project manager can make his life easier and delegate routine but important tasks to the administrator: recording agreements, communicating with clients, working with documents and tracking deadlines. This way, the RP will be able to deal only with core tasks, without shifting the focus to formalities.