Project Manager but relegated the background

[Anonymous]

I am in this new job as a project manager and I feel like I have little authority and visibility despite doing all the work. I am not truly allowed to make decisions and my boss gives all the project updates that I tell her.

I kind of feel like she’s taking the credit/ has the visibility that I should be having.

Am I accurate in my assessment?

[Anonymous]

PMs are used in a lot of ways. Typically, they recommend more than decide. At least, that’s what I do. Once you are established and people trust you, they’ll let you decide. But the work is normally belonging to a sponsor or product owner and they are really the accountable people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PMs are used in a lot of ways. Typically, they recommend more than decide. At least, that’s what I do. Once you are established and people trust you, they’ll let you decide. But the work is normally belonging to a sponsor or product owner and they are really the accountable people.

+1

Your main job is to make sure the project stays on track, on budget, and resource management. I’ve been PMing for 15 years and it’s been a mixed bag. Some projects, I am the definite decision maker in almost all aspects. In others, you can be a glorified yes man/task manager to your boss/product owner. It really depends on the project itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PMs are used in a lot of ways. Typically, they recommend more than decide. At least, that’s what I do. Once you are established and people trust you, they’ll let you decide. But the work is normally belonging to a sponsor or product owner and they are really the accountable people.

+1

Your main job is to make sure the project stays on track, on budget, and resource management. I’ve been PMing for 15 years and it’s been a mixed bag. Some projects, I am the definite decision maker in almost all aspects. In others, you can be a glorified yes man/task manager to your boss/product owner. It really depends on the project itself.

I’m the PP and just want to comment: as a new PM you really need to get used to being “the man behind the man” (incidentally I’m a woman so I mean that figuratively). If you’re hoping for satisfaction being the face of the project you’re not going to like the job. If you get satisfaction out of orchestrating the success of a program through good planning and influence, it will be a good fit. If you do a good job, people will notice almost by how little they know about you and how your team and customer respond when you make a recommendation.