Finding and hiring the right project manager plays a significant role in the success of a new product. Should it be someone in your office or a remote team player? What hard and soft skills should this person possess? Let’s try to figure this out.
STEP 1: In-house vs. Outsourcing
It’s sometimes hard to choose whether it’s worth outsourcing this position or find someone to stay in your office. Each variant has some benefits and drawbacks. If you pick up an in-house project manager, you may face:
- Miscommunication between a remote team and an in-house PM
- Time zone difference
- Problems with planning and evaluating the milestones
If you decide to outsource this position, you may face the lack of communication between you and a new PM. A great benefit here will be a full synergy inside the team.
STEP 2: Check qualification and expertise
Once you have chosen the type of cooperation with a PM, it’s time to check qualifications and expertise. It’s good to divide this process into two parts. The first one will refer to possessing some specific hard skills that are required for completing the project.
And the second one will refer to checking the soft skills that are required for managing the development team, planning the process and solving any problems that ever come out. When you outsource project management, possessing excellent soft skills may be even more crucial than having a perfect portfolio with dozens of delivered projects.
STEP 3: Plan your cooperation
This step comprises everything related to your mutual work. You can talk about how you will communicate and how often you will do it. You need to pick up tools for tracking the activities of a remote team and backlogging everything they do. You can plan the days and the time for video calls that will be comfortable for both sides.
STEP 4: Discuss possible pitfalls
You shoul preict the main pitfalls that you can face during the cooperation. Some of them are:
- One of the team players leaves the project
- You cannot get in touch with the team
- You get the wrong design or specific product feature
- You dislike your cooperation
- You’re not happy with the outcome
You can think of any problems that you have ever had before or the issues that make you feel worried. You should note down all the agreements that you come up with.
STEP 5: Evaluate your cooperation
You can always replace the project manager is everything goes the wrong way. We cannot state if it’s easier to do this if you have an in-house person or a remote team player. But you should have the milestones specifically for the PM and evaluate if they are reached. It’s good to analyze the reasons for not achieving those milestones as there might be some circumstances or obstacles that don’t depend on the PM.
Summary
Hiring the right PM for building a new product is a hard task. But once you find the right person, you will see the smooth workflow, moderate speed of development, and ontime project delivery. Here at OporaSolutions, we can help you with hiring the best project manager that will fit all your requirements and expectations. Let us know you’re looking for a PM and we’ll find the one for you.