Ziga Petek

Managing projects and being in charge of their evolvement is no easy task. As a project manager, you are there at each part of the project life cycle, from the conceptualization, making the first draft, the development, the release, and finally the maintenance.

You have to manage every single step and make sure, the project stays on track, and handle every problem that comes along the way. And if you do not plan the project carefully you can get ready to handle any unplanned problems.

Together with the project, you have to manage all resources that are at your disposal. That includes the other developers. I especially used the word “other” because I am a firm believer in getting your hands dirty together with your team and developing as well as making yourself familiar with the internal structure of the project.

I mostly managed my work and most projects I worked on. Gradually I started to include other developers in my work and before I knew it I was managing projects together with a bigger team as a team leader. As soon as other people started to work together with me on a project I realized that the role of a project manager is quite different from the one of a normal developer. It is not much harder, but it does require you to be more organized and staying on top of things.