DOES YOUR BUSINESS NEED A SALESFORCE PROJECT MANAGER?

“The P in PM is as much about ‘people management’ as it is about ‘project management’.” — Quote by Cornelius Fichtner, a project management expert.

One of the new career paths that I have come across recently is that of a Salesforce project manager. And in my blog of today, I shall talk about this profile extensively based on my experience. Salesforce Project Managers in Salesforce partners in brief manage Salesforce projects A to Z, using a range of Salesforce clouds and levels of complexity. Their focus is the success of any project assigned to them – delivered on time and keeping in mind timelines. The key areas of work of a Salesforce Project Manager in Salesforce partners include mundane daily organizational work & technical acumen, moving onto tasks that need emotional intelligence, diplomacy, strong communication skills (written and verbal), and a range of intangible skills.

Project Manager career progression revolves around experience, the multitude of simultaneous projects, and project size.  Let’s see the 3 levels of project manager that make up this career trajectory:

Entry-level project manager: 0 – 5 years experience

• They oversee projects that have a small budget of around USD 10,000 or so.

• They are capable of handling 7-10 small projects simultaneously.

• Devote 4 - 6 hours a week per project

Mid-level project manager: 5 – 9 years experience

• They oversee projects that have a budget of around USD 50-100000 approx.

• They are capable of handling 4-17 projects simultaneously.

• Devote 10 - 20 hours a week per project based on needs, complexity, and size.

Senior project manager: 10 years and more experience

• They manage projects with large budgets

• They manage 1 or 2 projects at any given time

• They devote their working day to managing these complex projects   

A Project Manager’s responsibilities vary based on the size of the implementation and their technical skills confirm Salesforce partners. The more a PM is well versed in the Salesforce platform and with Salesforce partners, the wider their skill set and so is their demand. They could be working for Salesforce partners like Codleo or in businesses that are using Salesforce for their use.

What does a project manager do?

• Engage and interact with clients to understand their business, pain points, business goals, and so on.

• Work with the tech team to make sure that the business needs convert into technical requirements, and all information to do the work is available.

• Ensure communication and collaboration with all concerned

• Get approvals and sprint planning

• Find & remove project risks, implementing strategies to lower impact of challenges, ensuring minimal deviations from project deadlines and allocated budget

• Prepare all reports and communications

• Close coordination with all stakeholders

A worthy project manager is an important pre-requisite for a successful Salesforce implementation, be it small or large carried out by Salesforce partners. They interact with different stakeholders in the client’s company to coordinate the implementation. Salesforce Project Manager roles can either be as a company employee or consultancy side.  Many Salesforce partners have project managers on their payroll to manage projects, which adds up as an extra hand.