Must ask questions before hiring project management companies

Idea Usher
12 min readSep 24, 2021

Are you thinking of hiring a project management company for your next big project? Then there are a few things you must always ask the company to have a better vision and choose the best.

Before moving on to the questions, let’s have a brief idea about what Project management is;

What is Project Management?

Project management uses certain information, skills, tools, and processes to create value for others. The development of software to improve a corporate function, the construction of a building, the relief effort following a natural disaster, and the expansion of sales into a new geographic market are just a few examples of projects.

Every initiative is a one-time attempt to create value through a unique product, service, or outcome. Every undertaking has a beginning and an end. They have a team, a budget, a schedule, and a set of objectives to meet. Each project differs from typical operations — an organization’s ongoing activities — in that it comes to a close after the goal is achieved.

Work is increasingly organized around projects due to the changing nature of work due to technological developments, globalization, and other reasons, with teams, established based on the skills necessary for specific tasks.

Roles of a Project Manager

Organizing your schedule

A project manager must create an impact plan, which includes a detailed list of project-related tasks. The fundamental responsibility of a project manager is to plan. The project manager must define the scope of the project and create a project schedule around it. When a project manager organizes activities, it is essential to focus the tasks appropriately to accomplish more with less effort. The approaches must be practical enough to finish tasks on time and within budget. Additionally, if the situation warrants it, a backup plan should be created.

Organizing a project team to perform work

Project managers are also in charge of steering their team’s efforts toward complex spreadsheets, lengthy checklists, and whiteboards. They must devise a strategy that will allow the team to achieve their goal without jeopardizing performance quickly. It is their responsibility to organize their team so that they may perform at their best. A project manager may be required to do human resource tasks such as negotiating current personnel’ job assignments, managing their time, and ensuring their commitment to the project. Bids and contracts may be required, and everyone must be kept on track to adhere to the strategy.

Time management

To influence stakeholders and clients, project managers must assess if the project succeeded or failed. A project manager must be able to negotiate and convey realistic timeframes to the team. They must develop a project that has the following features:

  • Objective
  • Process
  • Estimating duration
  • Schedule development
  • Schedule control

Delegating the teams

In many circumstances, such as a big project or several jobs within a project, it is critical to assign responsibilities among teams appropriately. It is a leadership style that every project manager must learn and perfect, and it becomes a project manager’s responsibility that must be earned through time. By assigning blame or insulting team members, a manager should not misuse their power. To be more effective in their talents, the team members’ responsibilities must be prioritized. To distribute work correctly, managers must also be aware of their teams’ strengths and limitations.

Keeping track of deliverables

The Project Manager is also responsible for ensuring that the deliverables are delivered on time and budget, per the company’s requirements. Their work entails posing queries like:

  • What changes are occurring inside the organization?
  • What is the team’s current situation?
  • What is the point of doing it in the first place?
  • Is there a business opportunity or a risk?
  • How will we go about doing this?
  • What are the most common project management techniques?
  • Who is responsible for what?
  • What happened to the project’s documentation and records?
  • What are the criteria, schedule, and meetings, for example?
  • When will the project be finished?

Keeping track of progress.

A project manager spends the majority of their time overseeing the progress of projects. Following the start of the project, the project manager must review how far it has gone and whether it is progressing according to plan. Various techniques, such as status reports, meetings, and informal updates, track progress during the project’s intermediate stages. If the project managers utilize an adequate management system, this work will be considerably more manageable.

Organize regular meetings.

Regular meetings are challenging for all project managers, and they do not work for all projects. Successful projects, on the other hand, generally need at least one weekly team meeting. Some project managers choose to have daily standup meetings for a distinct project strategy. The objective of the meeting should be to convey the project’s parameters to the whole team thoroughly. From the start, project managers should be prepared to meet the goals. They can make a meeting schedule and stick to it until something unexpected happens, and they have to cancel the meeting.

Create a vision for the team and share it with them.

In each project, a project manager must have a clear vision of where they want to go and the capacity to perceive the big picture. The vision should be shared with the whole team to realize how vital their contribution is to obtain the desired results. The team should be mindful of the workload and try everything possible to convert the goal into a mission. The manager should establish the right tone for a smoother ride down the road.

Organizing reports and other required paperwork

Finally, suppose the project is completed on time and under budget. In that case, the project manager must provide adequate documentation to present final reports to clients and identify areas where more growth is necessary. A project manager’s role in project development is equally important. It has two major functions:

  • Keep track of what’s been done and who’s been engaged in the project.
  • To ensure that the project satisfies all of the project’s requirements.

Now that you know what exactly Project Management is let’s proceed to the most awaited part of this blog- The questions to be asked!

Questions to ask before hiring project management companies

Why do you need to know more about stakeholders, and how will you identify them?

Stakeholders are the people who have an interest in your business or project. Asking this question to your project managers or the project management company will give you a clear idea about their thoughts and how they aim to identify, attract and get hold of the stakeholders. A major part of your business depends on stakeholders. Thus this question is vital.

What is stakeholder analysis and Power-Interest Grid used for?

Stakeholder analysis includes putting together a list of all potential stakeholders who will be engaged in the project somehow. Stakeholders are categorized and prioritized using a power-interest grid based on their relevance and effect.

To see the practical knowledge of the company, it is vital to ask some technical questions related to the field.

What type of documents do you need to start a project?

This question helps you test the project manager’s professional skills and lets you know what documents you need to prepare before starting the project.

Well, the four essential documents are as follows;

  1. Business Case Document
  2. Agreement
  3. Project charter
  4. Stakeholder register

What information should be included in a project plan?

This question helps you understand how in-depth research has been done by the project management company regarding your project and how serious they are towards their work.

A project plan is a blueprint that lays out how to be implemented, monitored, and completed. The scope, timeframe, cost estimates, and budget constraints are known as project baselines. With the help of comments from the core team members participating in designing various plan components, the PM produces a project plan.

How do you intend to carry out the project?

The Project Manager must exhibit excellent communication and interpersonal skills while working as a leader and engaging with project stakeholders, sponsors, and coworkers to manage project execution successfully.

This question will help you know about the execution plans in the project manager’s head and help you judge the clarity in his thoughts.

In each project, a project manager must have a clear vision of where they want to go and the capacity to perceive the big picture. The vision should be shared with the whole team to realize how vital their contribution is to obtain the desired results. The team should be mindful of the workload and try everything possible to convert the goal into a mission. The manager should establish the right tone for a smoother ride down the road.

Organizing reports and other required paperwork

Finally, suppose the project is completed on time and under budget. In that case, the project manager must provide adequate documentation to present final reports to clients and identify areas where more growth is necessary. A project manager’s role in project development is equally important. It has two major functions:

  • Keep track of what’s been done and who’s been engaged in the project.
  • To ensure that the project satisfies all of the project’s requirements.

Now that you know what exactly Project Management is let’s proceed to the most awaited part of this blog- The questions to be asked!

Questions to ask before hiring project management companies

Why do you need to know more about stakeholders, and how will you identify them?

Stakeholders are the people who have an interest in your business or project. Asking this question to your project managers or the project management company will give you a clear idea about their thoughts and how they aim to identify, attract and get hold of the stakeholders. A major part of your business depends on stakeholders. Thus this question is vital.

What is stakeholder analysis and Power-Interest Grid used for?

Stakeholder analysis includes putting together a list of all potential stakeholders who will be engaged in the project somehow. Stakeholders are categorized and prioritized using a power-interest grid based on their relevance and effect.

To see the practical knowledge of the company, it is vital to ask some technical questions related to the field.

What type of documents do you need to start a project?

This question helps you test the project manager’s professional skills and lets you know what documents you need to prepare before starting the project.

Well, the four essential documents are as follows;

  1. Business Case Document
  2. Agreement
  3. Project charter
  4. Stakeholder register

What information should be included in a project plan?

This question helps you understand how in-depth research has been done by the project management company regarding your project and how serious they are towards their work.

A project plan is a blueprint that lays out how to be implemented, monitored, and completed. The scope, timeframe, cost estimates, and budget constraints are known as project baselines. With the help of comments from the core team members participating in designing various plan components, the PM produces a project plan.

How do you intend to carry out the project?

The Project Manager must exhibit excellent communication and interpersonal skills while working as a leader and engaging with project stakeholders, sponsors, and coworkers to manage project execution successfully.

This question will help you know about the execution plans in the project manager’s head and help you judge the clarity in his thoughts.

Roles of a Project Manager

Organizing your schedule

A project manager must create an impact plan, which includes a detailed list of project-related tasks. The fundamental responsibility of a project manager is to plan. The project manager must define the scope of the project and create a project schedule around it. When a project manager organizes activities, it is essential to focus the tasks appropriately to accomplish more with less effort. The approaches must be practical enough to finish tasks on time and within budget. Additionally, if the situation warrants it, a backup plan should be created.

Organizing a project team to perform work

Project managers are also in charge of steering their team’s efforts toward complex spreadsheets, lengthy checklists, and whiteboards. They must devise a strategy that will allow the team to achieve their goal without jeopardizing performance quickly. It is their responsibility to organize their team so that they may perform at their best. A project manager may be required to do human resource tasks such as negotiating current personnel’ job assignments, managing their time, and ensuring their commitment to the project. Bids and contracts may be required, and everyone must be kept on track to adhere to the strategy.

Time management

To influence stakeholders and clients, project managers must assess if the project succeeded or failed. A project manager must be able to negotiate and convey realistic timeframes to the team. They must develop a project that has the following features:

  • Objective
  • Process
  • Estimating duration
  • Schedule development
  • Schedule control

Delegating the teams

In many circumstances, such as a big project or several jobs within a project, it is critical to assign responsibilities among teams appropriately. It is a leadership style that every project manager must learn and perfect, and it becomes a project manager’s responsibility that must be earned through time. By assigning blame or insulting team members, a manager should not misuse their power. To be more effective in their talents, the team members’ responsibilities must be prioritized. To distribute work correctly, managers must also be aware of their teams’ strengths and limitations.

Keeping track of deliverables

The Project Manager is also responsible for ensuring that the deliverables are delivered on time and budget, per the company’s requirements. Their work entails posing queries like:

  • What changes are occurring inside the organization?
  • What is the team’s current situation?
  • What is the point of doing it in the first place?
  • Is there a business opportunity or a risk?
  • How will we go about doing this?
  • What are the most common project management techniques?
  • Who is responsible for what?
  • What happened to the project’s documentation and records?
  • What are the criteria, schedule, and meetings, for example?
  • When will the project be finished?

Keeping track of progress.

A project manager spends the majority of their time overseeing the progress of projects. Following the start of the project, the project manager must review how far it has gone and whether it is progressing according to plan. Various techniques, such as status reports, meetings, and informal updates, track progress during the project’s intermediate stages. If the project managers utilize an adequate management system, this work will be considerably more manageable.

Organize regular meetings.

Regular meetings are challenging for all project managers, and they do not work for all projects. Successful projects, on the other hand, generally need at least one weekly team meeting. Some project managers choose to have daily standup meetings for a distinct project strategy. The objective of the meeting should be to convey the project’s parameters to the whole team thoroughly. From the start, project managers should be prepared to meet the goals. They can make a meeting schedule and stick to it until something unexpected happens, and they have to cancel the meeting.

Create a vision for the team and share it with them.

In each project, a project manager must have a clear vision of where they want to go and the capacity to perceive the big picture. The vision should be shared with the whole team to realize how vital their contribution is to obtain the desired results. The team should be mindful of the workload and try everything possible to convert the goal into a mission. The manager should establish the right tone for a smoother ride down the road.

Organizing reports and other required paperwork

Finally, suppose the project is completed on time and under budget. In that case, the project manager must provide adequate documentation to present final reports to clients and identify areas where more growth is necessary. A project manager’s role in project development is equally important. It has two major functions:

  • Keep track of what’s been done and who’s been engaged in the project.
  • To ensure that the project satisfies all of the project’s requirements.

Now that you know what exactly Project Management is let’s proceed to the most awaited part of this blog- The questions to be asked!

Questions to ask before hiring project management companies

Why do you need to know more about stakeholders, and how will you identify them?

Stakeholders are the people who have an interest in your business or project. Asking this question to your project managers or the project management company will give you a clear idea about their thoughts and how they aim to identify, attract and get hold of the stakeholders. A major part of your business depends on stakeholders. Thus this question is vital.

What is stakeholder analysis and Power-Interest Grid used for?

Stakeholder analysis includes putting together a list of all potential stakeholders who will be engaged in the project somehow. Stakeholders are categorized and prioritized using a power-interest grid based on their relevance and effect.

To see the practical knowledge of the company, it is vital to ask some technical questions related to the field.

What type of documents do you need to start a project?

This question helps you test the project manager’s professional skills and lets you know what documents you need to prepare before starting the project.

Well, the four essential documents are as follows;

  1. Business Case Document
  2. Agreement
  3. Project charter
  4. Stakeholder register

What information should be included in a project plan?

This question helps you understand how in-depth research has been done by the project management company regarding your project and how serious they are towards their work.

A project plan is a blueprint that lays out how to be implemented, monitored, and completed. The scope, timeframe, cost estimates, and budget constraints are known as project baselines. With the help of comments from the core team members participating in designing various plan components, the PM produces a project plan.

How do you intend to carry out the project?

The Project Manager must exhibit excellent communication and interpersonal skills while working as a leader and engaging with project stakeholders, sponsors, and coworkers to manage project execution successfully.

This question will help you know about the execution plans in the project manager’s head and help you judge the clarity in his thoughts.

Sign up to discover human stories that deepen your understanding of the world.

Free

Distraction-free reading. No ads.

Organize your knowledge with lists and highlights.

Tell your story. Find your audience.

Membership

Read member-only stories

Support writers you read most

Earn money for your writing

Listen to audio narrations

Read offline with the Medium app

Idea Usher
Idea Usher

Written by Idea Usher

Powering startups with full-fledged end-to-end tech and marketing solutions with custom-made web and applications. https://ideausher.com

No responses yet

Write a response