Or, in this case, what’s in a job title? Specifically, the job called “program manager” which seems to mean something different depending on the company looking for one. One of my favorite quotations about program managers comes from Scott Berkun, a bestselling author and speaker on topics such as creativity and project management.
“Program Managers…knew how to get things done. If you got in their way, they would smile. And then eat you. They drove, led, ran, persuaded, hunted, fought and stuck their necks out for their teams with an intensity most people couldn’t match. The sort of people who eliminated all BS within a 10 foot radius of their presence. All teams need at least one leader who has this kind of passion and talent regardless of where you work or what you’re working on.”
Scott Berkun
I’ve been a program manager, both with that official title, and unofficially in that role for many content teams. I’ve certainly persuaded people to take on projects with me, hunted for information, fought for more time, money, and resources, and defended those on my teams staunchly. I sometimes served as the “bad cop” so that my team members could take on the role of “good cop” once the air was cleared and everyone was finally on the same page.
Program managers, by any name, serve as informal leaders of a group of people trying to get a project done on time, within budget, and never with as many resources as the team could use. I say informal because typically a program manager is an individual contributor—not a people manager. So, the program manager has leadership responsibility without input on the reviews and compensation for the people they are leading. Yet program managers are the ones held accountable for the bottom line of getting something out the door.
I’d say the number one skill I use as a program manager is empathy. I have empathy for our customers and what they are trying to do with the products and services we create. I have empathy for members of my cross-functional group of developers, testers, UXers, and others who work hard to create something amazing that raises the bar for how things are done. And, I have a lot of empathy for the person who manages me because I sometimes resemble a squirrel at a rave after drinking a couple energy drinks.
Being a program manager means some days feeling like Sisyphus and his rock, or Icarus flying too close to the sun. But there are other days when a piece of code works right the first time, the customer feedback in usability studies is 100% positive, or other groups come knocking to link your project to theirs. On those days you feel like Athena besting your competitor Poseidon by gifting the city the ever so useful olive tree.
Helen Meyers 