The Everything Job: Which Project Management Style is Right for You? | Ladders

Choosing a career as a project manager is a bit like being a corporate chameleon. Whether it’s the construction of a new office building, or the development of a cutting edge new mobile app, a good project manager serves as the straw that stirs the drink, ensuring the entire project is completed successfully and on schedule. That means acting as a problem solver and leader during one meeting, then seamlessly shifting gears towards budgetary matters or client concerns during the next call.

Like a composer leading an orchestra, project managers are responsible for harmonizing efforts across internal teams and departments. While the architect designs the building, or the developer creates the app, the project manager is the one making sure the ribbon cutting ceremony happens on time or the app is available for download on the agreed upon date. 

Succeeding as a project manager takes a whole lot more than just sticking to a timeline and making sure every project goal is attained. Seasoned project managers are skilled at both motivating their teams and effectively communicating with clients. 

From the earliest stages of planning and hammering out the full scope of a new project, to sticking the project landing regardless of any unforeseen issues or holdups, successful project managers are constantly reevaluating available resources, and making appropriate adjustments when needed. For example, Monday morning may see a project manager meeting with senior executives to negotiate a budget increase, while Tuesday afternoon is spent re-distributing team tasks in an effort to ensure no one employee is overloaded with work. Simply put, a project management position entails a little bit of everything. 

While the day-to-day work life of a marketing project manager is going to look quite different than the usual problems faced by an IT project manager, any project manager worth their salt serves as the catalyst that propels a project to completion. That being said, there’s more than one way to lead diverse teams toward an end goal. Let’s take a look at the three main project management styles in use today.

Waterfall Project Management

Considered the most “traditional” form of project management, the waterfall approach to getting things done can be compared to a row of dominoes falling in sequential order. Task B doesn’t begin until Task A has been completed and so on. So, just like a waterfall, the project moves forward in a linear fashion only. Generally, backtracking or circling back to an earlier developmental phase is frowned upon with this management style. While this approach is a bit more rigid and unwavering than other project management styles, the waterfall strategy is used very frequently in the construction industry.

Agile Project Management 

Ubiquitous in the software industry, the agile approach to project management is much more flexible. Instead of focusing on the ultimate end goal, agile management divides a project into smaller more manageable goals, or deliverables.

Instead of adhering to a step-by-step style, agile management is characterized by all stages of a project being worked on simultaneously. This allows various teams to identify and rectify any problems or errors that pop up without having to start over from scratch. 

One of the most popular varieties of agile project management is called scrum, and entails separating a project into various “sprints” or short time periods in which a set amount of work should be completed. Essentially, agile project management (and scrum) is all about taking a project that appears grand and overwhelming and breaking it down into a series of much smaller, easier to accomplish tasks.

Lean Project Management 

Just as the name implies this type of project management is centered on minimizing wasted time and unnecessary spending. Project managers who adhere to this approach look to provide their companies and clients with maximum value while using as few resources as possible during each phase of a project. Originally developed within the manufacturing industry, it’s common for lean project managers to plan out the entirety of a project before beginning in order to identify potential areas where resources can be preserved. 

Deadlines don’t have to be written in stone

Regardless of which project management style you feel is right for you, one piece of advice from a scientific study published in the European Journal of Operational Research will likely make your professional life much easier. Researchers from the University of Michigan suggest project managers should actually embrace uncertain deadlines instead of blindly following unrealistic timelines.

Instead of setting an absolutely unwavering deadline and racing to a sloppy finish, be upfront with stakeholders and set a “project bullseye” instead. Ask stakeholders for their ideal completion date, assuming everything goes perfectly and there are no problems (not likely), then ask for a much more pessimistic deadline assuming there are near-endless issues along the way. The time period in between those dates can then serve as the project bullseye, affording all internal teams a more flexible working arrangement and schedule.

Ready to take the next step in your project management career? Ladders’ job search page can connect you with thousands of high-paying new opportunities today.