Project Manager

Project Manager

Project management skill covering planning through closure. Peer to delivery-manager -- neither contains the other. Routes all financial analysis to project-finance.

Intake Process

When a user brings a project management question, gather context before producing artifacts:

1. Project Context -- What type of project? Size? Phase (initiation, planning, execution, closing)?
2. Methodology -- What framework? Agile, Waterfall, hybrid, PRINCE2, PMBOK, or other?
3. Domain -- Which PM domain does the user need? (planning, risk, reporting, governance, resources)
4. Constraints -- Timeline, budget, regulatory requirements, team size?
5. Existing Artifacts -- Does the project already have a WBS, risk register, or status report format?

Routing Detection

• If the request involves budget, variance, EVM, spend, or cost analysis --> route to project-finance. Tell the user: "I'll apply the project-finance patterns for this financial analysis."
• If the request involves sprint planning, velocity, ceremonies, flow metrics --> suggest delivery-manager. Tell the user: "This falls into delivery execution territory. The delivery-manager skill covers Agile ceremonies and flow metrics."
• If the request involves status deck or presentation --> gather status data first, then apply presentation-builder patterns for the deck.

Routing Table

Domain Knowledge

Planning

WBS Decomposition Rules:

• 100% Rule -- the WBS must capture 100% of the project scope. Every deliverable must be represented.
• Mutual Exclusivity -- work packages should not overlap. Each piece of work appears exactly once.
• Progressive Elaboration -- decompose to the level needed for estimation and assignment. Near-term work is detailed; future phases can be higher-level.
• Deliverable-Oriented -- WBS elements represent deliverables (nouns), not activities (verbs).
• 8/80 Rule -- work packages should take between 8 and 80 hours of effort. Smaller = micro-management; larger = not decomposed enough.

Critical Path Method:

• Forward pass: calculate Early Start (ES) and Early Finish (EF) for each activity
• Backward pass: calculate Late Start (LS) and Late Finish (LF) from the end
• Float = LS - ES = LF - EF. Zero float = critical path activity.
• Critical path = longest path through the network. Determines minimum project duration.
• Any delay on a critical path activity delays the entire project.

Estimation Techniques Decision Tree:

1. Analogous -- if you have a similar past project, use its actuals as a baseline. Fast, rough (range: -25% to +75%).
2. Parametric -- if you have a cost/duration driver (e.g., $X per function point), apply the rate. More accurate if the parameter is calibrated.
3. Three-Point (PERT) -- if you have expert judgment but uncertainty. E = (O + 4M + P) / 6. Standard deviation = (P - O) / 6.
4. Bottom-Up -- if you need accuracy and have detailed WBS. Sum estimates for each work package. Most accurate, most effort.

Dependency Types:

• FS (Finish-to-Start) -- most common. B cannot start until A finishes.
• FF (Finish-to-Finish) -- B cannot finish until A finishes.
• SS (Start-to-Start) -- B cannot start until A starts.
• SF (Start-to-Finish) -- B cannot finish until A starts. (Rare)
• Leads -- acceleration (negative lag). "Start B 2 days before A finishes."
• Lags -- delay. "Start B 3 days after A finishes."

Schedule Compression:

• Crashing -- add resources to critical path activities. Increases cost. Diminishing returns. Only works if activity is resource-limited, not externally constrained.
• Fast-Tracking -- overlap sequential activities. Increases risk. Only works if activities have natural overlap opportunity.

Risk Management

Risk Identification Techniques:

• SWOT Analysis -- internal strengths/weaknesses, external opportunities/threats
• Pre-Mortem -- imagine the project has failed, then identify what caused the failure
• Assumption Analysis -- list all assumptions, assess what happens if each is wrong
• Checklist Review -- use historical risk categories from similar projects

Response Strategy Selection:

• Threats: Avoid (eliminate the cause) > Transfer (insurance, contract) > Mitigate (reduce probability or impact) > Accept (acknowledge and budget contingency)
• Opportunities: Exploit (ensure it happens) > Share (partner with someone who can realize it) > Enhance (increase probability or impact) > Accept (take it if it comes)

Risk Escalation Criteria:

• Risk score exceeds project-level authority (e.g., impact > $500K)
• Risk crosses project boundaries (affects other projects/programs)
• Risk becomes an issue (probability = 100%, it has happened)
• Risk response requires resources outside the project team

Risk Review Cadence:

• Active risks (score > threshold): weekly review
• Watch-list risks (score below threshold): monthly review
• Closed risks: quarterly review for lessons learned

Governance

Change Control Process:

1. Request submitted (scope, schedule, or budget change)
2. Impact assessment (what changes, what's affected, cost/time impact)
3. Approve, reject, or defer (by change authority -- PM for small, steerco for large)
4. Implement the change
5. Verify the change was implemented correctly
6. Update baseline documents

Decision Log Format:

• Decision ID, date, decision statement
• Context: what problem prompted this decision
• Options considered: what alternatives were evaluated
• Rationale: why this option was selected
• Owner: who made/approved the decision
• Impact: what the decision changes in the project plan

RACI Rules:

• Exactly one A (Accountable) per activity -- multiple A = nobody accountable
• One or more R (Responsible) -- the people doing the work
• C (Consulted) -- people whose input is sought before a decision
• I (Informed) -- people who are told after a decision or action
• Minimize C and I to reduce communication overhead
• No empty rows (every activity has at least R and A)
• If A and R are the same person, that's fine but note it explicitly

Escalation Framework:

1. Team level -- PM resolves within team authority
2. PM level -- PM escalates to project sponsor
3. Sponsor level -- sponsor escalates to steering committee
4. Steerco level -- steering committee escalates to executive management

Status Reporting

RAG Criteria (Objective, Not Subjective):

Executive Summary Structure:

1. Situation -- one-sentence project status (where we are)
2. Progress -- key accomplishments this period
3. Blockers -- items impeding progress (with owner and expected resolution)
4. Decisions Needed -- specific asks for the audience (with deadline)
5. Next Steps -- planned actions for the coming period

Audience Adaptation:

• Steerco -- 1-page summary. RAG, key metrics, decisions needed, risks. No detail.
• PMO -- full detail. Financials, schedule tracking, resource utilization, risk log.
• Team -- action-oriented. What's done, what's next, who's doing what, blockers.

Resources

Capacity Planning:

• Effective capacity = FTE count x availability % x allocation %
• Example: 5 FTEs x 80% available (holidays, meetings) x 60% allocated = 2.4 FTE effective
• Over-allocation detection: if sum of allocations > 100% for any person, they're over-allocated
• Resolution: re-prioritize, defer work, add resources, or negotiate timeline

Skills Matrix:

• Rows: team members. Columns: required competencies.
• Proficiency levels: 0 (none), 1 (basic), 2 (intermediate), 3 (advanced), 4 (expert)
• Identify gaps: required level vs current level for each person-competency pair
• Plan: training, hiring, or partnering to fill critical gaps

Integration Points

• project-finance -- for all financial analysis (budget, variance, EVM, spend, forecasting)
• presentation-builder -- for status decks and steering committee presentations
• large-file-analysis -- for analyzing large project data exports
• delivery-manager -- cross-reference for execution metrics, sprint data, team velocity

Anti-Patterns

When NOT to Use This Skill

Reference Files

Read these on demand when the user's request falls into the relevant domain:

• ~/.claude/skills/project-manager/references/planning-templates.md -- WBS, milestone register, dependency register, estimation templates
• ~/.claude/skills/project-manager/references/risk-templates.md -- risk register, P/I matrix, RAID log, response strategies
• ~/.claude/skills/project-manager/references/governance-templates.md -- change control, decision log, RACI, stakeholder register
• ~/.claude/skills/project-manager/references/reporting-templates.md -- status report, steerco summary, RAG framework, dashboard layout