You know how this goes. You are at a gathering – a party, church, a friend's wedding – and someone says, “What do you do?” How do you reply? “I’m a project manager” is just too broad these days. According to many job postings basically anything can be handled by a project manager.
So what do you tell these people? Do you say, “A little bit of everything”? That would be accurate. And it definitely is for me as a consultant who is also a PM. But seriously…what do we do? You could say, “I solve problems creatively….all the time!” You could say, “I make tough decisions every day,” or “I resolve conflicts,” or “I manage headache-causing customers.” Or, “Whatever my director tells me to do.” Or even, in some organizations, “Anything I want to because they just leave me alone to manage the project.” All of these would/could be correct.
So what do you tell these people? Do you say, “A little bit of everything”? That would be accurate. And it definitely is for me as a consultant who is also a PM. But seriously…what do we do? You could say, “I solve problems creatively….all the time!” You could say, “I make tough decisions every day,” or “I resolve conflicts,” or “I manage headache-causing customers.” Or, “Whatever my director tells me to do.” Or even, in some organizations, “Anything I want to because they just leave me alone to manage the project.” All of these would/could be correct.
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