Exaggerated my responsibilities to get a Project Manager job and now I'm completely out of my depth

alittlelife

JLDrew said:

I'd be honest and say it's a bit much to deal with on your own and you're gonna need help. I think they will appreciate your honesty and support you if it is a big major contract/project.
Most contract managers or project managers I've met in my time haven't got much of a clue about most things and rely on other people to do their job correctly. You can only handle what you know your capable of so asking for help is not a sign of defeat. You got this! Good luck.

This is the truest of all true things  

Girlagogo, you wouldn't normally be expected to do all of that on your own, especially new in to an org. There are some pretty easy first steps to do though. 

The project sponsor must have provided a bit of an overview. If there wasn't a pack prepared, make one with any info you do have and then take it back to the sponsor to review. Once you marshall the info into some type of context then you're more likely to see what gaps there are. Have a slide for each of What / Why / Where / When. The How will come later. 

As for the Who - the stakeholders - do you have a business analyst, project management support, PMO, business readiness person assigned? Ask another PM for a stakeholder map to give you a starter for 10 - but basically just think of all the teams that are likely to need to be involved. Technology, architecture, training, product, comms teams, legal / compliance... literally just have a table for teams and any names you know. Every time you speak to someone, ask if they can think of anyone else who might need to be involved. At this stage, for each team, the main thing you need to know is a finger-in-the-air of how impacted they are, and whether they are approvers / sign-off for key decisions and documents, or if they're for-info only. 

Schedule in 15-30 minutes with each person whose name you're given, tell them what you know so far. Ask questions.

Change management is often just using common sense, asking questions, and making sure you keep track of the answers. 

steampowered

moneysavinghero said:

The OP did say they have worked on small projects in the past (although not as lead), so they do have some knowledge. Just need to have confidence in themselves that they can do it alone. This could be the making of the OP. Never turn down an opportunity when it presents itself to you.

Couldn't agree more - its amazing what you can achieve when you really put your mind to something. 

There is lots and lots of information about project management on the internet, and lots of templates out there, so I would have thought it is possible to upskill yourself if you put in the work. 

2 weeks sounds like plenty of time for the Op to pull a plan together. Perhaps the Op can start by speaking with the people in each team to understand their perspective on the project, get some good example project plans together, and go from there? 

epm-84

People who exaggerate their previous responsibilities/achievements at the job interview stage are normally good at getting jobs but very bad at remaining in roles.

You could be honest and say what you've been given appears to be a bigger/more complex task than what you've worked on previously.  You could say you still want to have a go at it but might need additional support with your first project.  However, as it's a 6 month fixed term contract they probably didn't want to recruit someone who needed a lot of training and support, as what's the point in spending a lot of time training someone who is only being there for a few months.

One thing to bear in mind is were you claiming out-of-work benefits prior to getting the job and would you want to get them again until you get a new role?  If the answer is yes then be aware which course of action you take could subject you to a sanction, which will prevent you from claiming for a number of weeks/months. Being sacked for dishonesty or resigning could both lead to a sanction.  Submitting a claim after finishing a fixed term contract won't.

Another thing to bear in mind is you have to honest for future job applications, the role you're in now is currently your most recent role and some companies insist on a reference from your most recent employer.  

TELLIT01

moneysavinghero said:

The OP did say they have worked on small projects in the past (although not as lead), so they do have some knowledge. Just need to have confidence in themselves that they can do it alone. This could be the making of the OP. Never turn down an opportunity when it presents itself to you.

The OP actually said "The reality is that I have experience supporting on bits of project delivery already in flight and only in a junior capacity".  That could simply be collating information within the project, and would certainly not provide them with the knowledge to effectively run what appears to be a major project.

JohnDorian

This is just me personally speaking as a previous contractor but I would stick with it as it is just at the moment a FTC. I have seen many contractors come in and be out of their depth and use the opportunity purely to upskill. That’s just how the interim market works. You probably got the job because you were the best candidate available on their terms.

Off purse if this is making you feel sick or impacting your health then by all means consider your options. Otherwise, get your head down, accept that you are out of your depth but also that they employed you for 6 months and get to doing the job as best as you can while upskilling yourself and moving towards becoming an actual project manager.

MattMattMattUK

TELLIT01 said:

Suggesting somebody sticks it out when it is apparent they simply don't even know where to start is doing no favours to either person asking or the company.  If it was a case the OP had handled small projects in the past it would be different as they would have the basic knowledge and could potentially develop that. 

I largely agree with you and the OP could go back and say the scope and scale is far bigger than they thought it would be from thr recruitment process, they will also have the capacity to learn. A good project manager will also bring in any required help to fully support the project, so if they need to they can recruit the required skills. 

Unless they happen to have lied about some specialist technical knowledge there is no reason why they should not be able to learn on the fly. They have two weeks for the initial proposal, the first week can involve scoping it all out, gaining knowledge and understanding, the second creating the plan, in the initial presentation stating that they need a further week for full evaluation then the planning part is done.

Personally I would tell the employer that the scope now fully assessed was considerably bigger than understood in the inter, state that I needed to learn as I went due to this, then learn and deliver the project.

girlagogo

The main issue at the moment is that there is just a high level aspirational plan by the sponsor with no dates and some of the teams responsible for the work not even engaged or aware that they will be involved.  Is it up to the sponsor to go away and define that plan and deliverables  with those area Leads, identify the project team that would update me on progress? Then over to me to own and track progress against plan? Who defines and creates the scope plan and deliverables and is this done prior to the plan being signed off? I've been warned not to become drawn into any decision making on subject matter as I'm not the expert but at the same time I have been given an impossible deadline of less than 2 weeks to have a high level plan ready yet it's still mainly in the initiation stage with some key stakeholders still being identified.  The project is very big and not what I was expecting

girlagogo

JohnDorian said:

This is just me personally speaking as a previous contractor but I would stick with it as it is just at the moment a FTC. I have seen many contractors come in and be out of their depth and use the opportunity purely to upskill. That’s just how the interim market works. You probably got the job because you were the best candidate available on their terms.

Off purse if this is making you feel sick or impacting your health then by all means consider your options. Otherwise, get your head down, accept that you are out of your depth but also that they employed you for 6 months and get to doing the job as best as you can while upskilling yourself and moving towards becoming an actual project manager.

Sorry,  what do you mean by the best candidate "available on their terms"? 

BrassicWoman

girlagogo said:

The main issue at the moment is that there is just a high level aspirational plan by the sponsor with no dates and some of the teams responsible for the work not even engaged or aware that they will be involved.  Is it up to the sponsor to go away and define that plan and deliverables  with those area Leads, identify the project team that would update me on progress? Then over to me to own and track progress against plan? Who defines and creates the scope plan and deliverables and is this done prior to the plan being signed off? 

You talk to the sponsor and key stakeholders and prepare an initial scoping document, which they review and eventually sign off after edits.
Include what is to be achieved, why, success measures, initial resource requirements known, and to be defined (eg you might know you need some IT time - but won't know how much yet.)
Ask if they have a standard scoping template. if not, there are loads on the internet.

Once the scope is agreed you talk to subject matter / technical experts about what they think needs done in their specialism and who is best to lead that strand. Sometimes I do this at a kick off meeting. I also make a risk log at that session.

moneysavinghero

girlagogo said:

JohnDorian said:

This is just me personally speaking as a previous contractor but I would stick with it as it is just at the moment a FTC. I have seen many contractors come in and be out of their depth and use the opportunity purely to upskill. That’s just how the interim market works. You probably got the job because you were the best candidate available on their terms.

Off purse if this is making you feel sick or impacting your health then by all means consider your options. Otherwise, get your head down, accept that you are out of your depth but also that they employed you for 6 months and get to doing the job as best as you can while upskilling yourself and moving towards becoming an actual project manager.

Sorry,  what do you mean by the best candidate "available on their terms"? 

Probably means no one else wanted to do a 6 month contract for the pay and benefits that was on offer.