Shashank Shastri
Everyone on the team has their favorite team member. Popular team members effectively divide the workload and free up the team to focus on more value-added activities by coordinating and solving problems on the team. More often than not, team members are functioning in the role of project lead, even if they don't realize it, and are often the most derided and least recognized members of the team. If you're looking to gain a better understanding of what this role entails, or if you're hoping to step into this role, this guide will help you understand the differences between a project lead and a project manager, and what future career opportunities may await you. For many professionals working their way toward formal qualifications, especially those considering PMP certification, most find that the project lead role is where their practical skills start to develop.
Project Lead: Responsibilities and Professional Trajectory
Defining the Project Lead
In short, a project lead is the most energetic and hands-on team member driving the team in executing day-to-day activities of the project. They prepare the team to complete the tasks, obviate bottlenecks, manage communication, and sustain the delivery's quality. In contrast to project managers who overlook everything from a strategic standpoint, project leads operate from a tactical level and make those live decisions and provide real-time tactical guidance to the team.
The position can also be titled as project leader, project team lead, or technical project lead, among other variations. While many names can be used, the primary function is the same, regardless of what title your company assigns.
The Differences between Project Lead and Project Manager
These roles are often confused, but they are distinct and carry different responsibilities. Here is a breakdown of the differences.
| Criteria | Project Lead | Project Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Focus Area | Specific aspect or team segment | Full project lifecycle |
| Authority Level | Moderate, tactical | High, strategic |
| Formal Qualifications | Not always required | Often PMP or equivalent |
| Budget Ownership | Partial or limited | Full ownership |
| Reporting Structure | Reports to Project Manager | Reports to PMO or leadership |
| Decision-Making | Day-to-day operational | Project-wide strategic |
| Stakeholder Interaction | Team-level, sometimes client-facing | Executive and sponsor-level |
A project manager is like a coach watching the whole game from the sidelines, whereas a project lead is like a team captain actually playing. Both roles are important but they are different. The distinction between a project and a program is also useful as project leads usually do operate across multiple programs, and they tend to focus on one single project.
Project Lead Responsibilities: The Complete List
The role of a project lead encompasses a range of responsibilities across planning, people management, quality assurance, and communication. Here are the daily responsibilities:
- Project planning: Collaborates with the PM to outline the scope, schedule, and deliverables from the outset.
- Team coordination: Assigns tasks according to individual strengths, conducts standup meetings, and rapidly removes blockers.
- Risk identification: Detects possible issues in advance and develops prompt mitigation strategies.
- Stakeholder communication: Keeps clients, leadership, and team members updated with consistent and transparent communication.
- Quality control: Reviews the quality of work against established benchmarks and provides feedback to prevent issues from escalating.
- Budget tracking: Keeps track of spending within the approved budget and flags budget overruns in a timely manner.
- Change management: Assesses scope changes and their implications before executing them through established formal change control processes.
- Performance monitoring: Evaluates the team's output against the established plan and implements corrective actions to address any deviations.
- Reporting: Prepares progress reports and others to be included in the project closure.
- Problem-solving: Resolves conflicts and operational obstacles in a calm and decisive manner.
Motivation is perhaps the most underappreciated responsibility. Implementing appropriate motivational strategies such as recognition, increased autonomy, or opportunities for personal development has a notable effect on the team's performance, especially in challenging delivery phases.
Core Competencies for Project Leadership
Project leads must establish the following hard skills:
- Scheduling and resource allocation
- Risk assessment and development of mitigation plans
- Software competency (e.g., Jira, Asana, MS Project)
- Specific technical expertise applicable to the domain
Average project leads are exceptionally differentiated from the following soft skills:
- Team leadership and motivation
- Concise communication (both verbal and written)
- Adaptability when situations necessitate realignment
- Unbiased, impartial, conflict resolution
- Emotional intelligence and an understanding of team dynamics
- Project management cycle/detail orientation
Career Path for Project Leads
One of the most positive aspects of the role is the potential for advancement. Below is the general structure of the career ladder:
| Level | Position | Core Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | Project Coordinator | Scheduling, documentation, and administrative assistance |
| Middle | Project Lead / Team Lead | Delivery, team management, risk |
| Senior | Senior Project Lead / PM | Full lifecycle, strategy, stakeholder management |
| Advanced | Program Manager | Governance and alignment across multiple projects |
| Executive | PMO Director | Establishment of organization-wide project management standards |
Transitioning from project lead to project manager is a typical development, but there is still a requirement to complete the gap from informal to formal qualifications. Many practitioners increase the pace of this transition by obtaining a credential that certifies their competency.
A PMP certification course will prepare you to earn industry recognition that will help you get senior-level positions. I recommend reviewing the prerequisites of the PM certification before enrolling to ensure you have the necessary experience.
Everything you need to become a project lead is already at your disposal. The following steps will help you begin this journey:
However, you will not be able to do this without mastering your technical domain. Having the genuine respect of your peers is a prerequisite to moving into more flexible roles. The following will help you:
You will also need to volunteer to do some of the coordinating. Start organizing meetings, running initiatives, and managing task lists to help direct the group toward your goals.
In order to get more project leads on your team, you will need to improve your written project updates, stakeholder briefings, and active listening during project meetings. The more you do this, the better you will be, and the more project leads you will have.
You will also need to ensure that you have the appropriate certification, and project leads will be able to help you with this. All project leads carry the CAPM and PMP, and these are the only credentials that will stop you from working in project lead positions.
In order to work with so many project leads, you will need to be able to construct your work with a globally accepted practice of professional project management. This is the basis of all of the work with project leads. There is also the resource of PMP experience that you can use to help your working construct. This will help you to develop your work construct.
"Managing a project involves a plethora of tasks. You plan, execute, monitor, control, and eventually close out a project. It is your responsibility to keep stakeholders informed, happy, and project scope, budget, and timeline under control." — Cam Lee, The Rock Agency
Positive Impacts of Strong Project Leadership
In the absence of a strong leader, a project is guaranteed to wander. Tasks will go unassigned, team members will stop communicating, and overall project quality will diminish because no one is responsible for quality control. Strong project leaders will instill ownership, drive, and the required technical understanding at every phase of execution. The Project Management Institute states that in the year 2030, more than 2.3 million project driven jobs will be created annually. Because of this, strong project management skills will be one of the best career bets for the future.
Shashank Shastri is a PMP trainer with over 14 years of experience and co-founder of Oven Story. He is an inspiring product leader who is a master in product strategies and digital innovation. Shashank has guided many aspirants preparing for the PMP examination thereby assisting them to achieve their PMP certification. For leisure, he writes short stories and is currently working on a feature-film script, Migraine.
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