I recently wrote about overcoming project management obstacles when jumping into a new project as a freelancer—but what about actually getting going and starting to manage a project when everyone else is already in the middle of it? Jumping into the middle of an ongoing project is pretty par for the course as a project manager. All sorts of things can happen to cause us to transition onto a project midway through: a colleague on vacation, we’ve started a new position, the current project manager needs a backup, or a teammate is unexpectedly away for a long period of time. Regardless of the reason for a transition, it can be stressful to ramp up to something without knowing what to…
As a freelance project manager, I’ve jumped into projects at almost any phase: from projects a few days away from launching or kickoffs right after proposals are accepted, I’ve been a part of it all. Jumping into the thick of a project means getting up to speed on lots of things very quickly, and that transition is only improved by lots of transparency. If not, gathering all of that institutional knowledge becomes a burden to the project manager and an obstacle for the whole team. Most of the time, I realize I need access, knowledge, or context as it becomes relevant during my project ramp-up. It’s fairly typical of project owners and stakeholders to give basic context to a project…
One of the biggest challenges I face as a remote project manager is that of instant gratification in communication. I’m an extroverted people-person and also happen to be a verbal linguistic learner. Solving a problem that requires others’ input works best for me when it’s done on a voice or video call, which isn’t always possible when working remotely. Everyone works at their own pace and signs on at their own time in remote work. Whether the company sets general “in-office” hours to check in online, or if you (like me) work with contractors or people across the globe, not everyone is online and working at the same time. Communication is frequently asynchronous and I am not always afforded the luxury of a real-time…