Do PMs help or hinder your projects ? Is the only value they present the avoidance of having to make reports to higher levels. I was recently informed there are project management roles that pay $125k in the Midwest. That would be like $500k in the bay. I have never met a project manager with this amount. Frankly never felt they've been helpful only an obstacle and distraction. But also I read PMs at apple are like junior execs and get some of the highest pay. What are your thoughts or opinions?
If you were talking to stakeholders all day, like a PM does, you wouldn't have any time to develop.
A great PM is worth their weight in gold... they take of herding the cats and keeping all of the parts in motion in order to meet a deadline. A bad PM is like having an albatross around your neck.
...and dealing with the mountain of stakeholders and issues that most of the team never see - and nor should they. I'm a PM/Producer and you're right, a bad one is a nightmare. The best thing a PM can do is ensure everyone has what they need to do their job, unblock any issues they have, ensure comms between sometimes disparate teams and generally shield people from all the bullshit. Sometimes a thankless task. A kanban board might manage your workflow but unless you want to deal with ALL of the above alongside building/designing a product, yes, you need a PM.
Depends on the PM. Great ones help, bad ones hurt.
Great PM is a great help. Ideally, they would hold fewer meetings and will be efficient with time & $$.
It depends on the PM and project specifics. I've worked large scale projects with amazing PMs (well, TPM in every such case), and they added tons of value. I've also worked with PMs that had... "growth potential". The ones that know what they're doing spend more time removing obstacles and allowing everyone to work effectively. The shitty ones are constantly scheduling meetings, asking for daily updates, and essentially making a nuisance of themselves.
Curious - can you give an example of how a PM has removed an obstacle for you? I've heard similar opinions of polarized PM quality, and I've met plenty of bad ones.
At a previous company, I was once building something pretty important, and due to obnoxious budgeting reasons, I wasn't getting my hardware requests approved (production hosts to run it on). I brought this up with the PM, and said PM escalated really effectively and got things handled, thereby unblocking the situation.
I swear to god if you just left it to engineers they'd deliver MVP, kick back and call any customer who complains that something doesn't work or is confusing an idiot. Yes you need PMs, sorry you all aren't the eccentric misunderstood geniuses you think you are.
I agree, PM are important. With some certification will be more efficient.
Those who know how will ALWAYS follow those who know why.
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There are difference between Project and Product Manager. In agile environment, scrum master is pretty much a project manager.
This. Product managers are incredibly useful. Project managers are a distraction. Scrum/Kanban eliminates the need for them.