Being project manager was a very unfamiliar experience which I found extremely challenging but equally valuable. Prior to this week, I reflected on previous PMs and how they organized our cohort, considering what was helpful and what was not. I realized that I preferred PMs that were good at time management and were also familiar with the data enough to provide help. I also realized that it is crucial for the group to all be familiar with each others work and take time to discuss what is going well and what is not. However, I found it difficult to stop the group from working and get them to either take breaks, or discuss their work with the group as I did not want to interrupt them. I was also apprehensive to ask when they will be finished with their dashboards/sketches/data discovery as I did not want to rush them or stress them out. This meant that the time management was not good and we left a lot of things until the last minute. Similarly, the inconsistencies we saw at the end could have been prevented if we had more regular discussions about certain metrics or calculation issues.
However, I made sure that I was up to date with everyone's work. I regularly went round and asked if there was anything I could do to help or if we can talk it through. I often also suggested some ideas or reminded the group of the aims we were set. I also made sure to get all the requirements gathering for everyone to go back and refer to when they were having issues with their work.
If I were to repeat my week as project manager, I would make sure to be more organized, remembering when to take breaks or when to have discussions. I would also ask for more help earlier on. Firstly, I would make sure to prioritize requirements gathering; understanding information about the client and why they want us to produce this project.
I would also make sure to prioritize a longer data discovery session at the start.
Making sure to fully understand the data would have helped us manage our time better as we would not be stuck throughout the week on issues related to the data.
Overall, I learnt a lot about myself and the cohort and am grateful I had this experience!