There’s a lot to love for project managers in the digital world — more project types, ever-changing processes and standards, and new technologies. But what do project managers really find rewarding about their jobs, beyond the ability to work in this evolving space? I consulted data from our recent 2020 Digital Project Manager survey to find out.
Our survey asked the digital project managers within our community all sorts of questions — where they are in the world, what kinds of projects they run, and what challenges they face, among other questions.
We planned to use the results to understand our community’s needs and pain points, in order to fill those needs, get a sense of what we can offer our community of digital project people moving forward, and take the temperature of the project management field in general.
After the survey closed, I analyzed the data to see whether I could make any statements or find any trends in the project management world worth talking about. One stuck out — what project managers love about their jobs. While our survey didn’t ask this question directly, we were able to extrapolate some answers to this based on responses to other questions.
If you’re a project manager yourself, see how you compare to your peers in terms of what you love about your job. And if you’re someone who manages or works with project managers, knowing what they value can help you better collaborate with them and invest in them to grow your organization.
The DPM Census
Our survey, officially titled “The Digital Project Manager Census,” included questions that ranged from respondents' preferred type of content to the topics they are most interested in, their biggest challenges, and the types of projects they typically deliver.
We also asked for demographic information like experience level, location, job title, salary, the type of organization they work for, and more.
Results Overview
We received hundreds of responses to our survey from project managers all over the world, with the majority of responses (59%) coming from project managers in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. We also received responses from project managers in India (5%), Australia (5%), and Ireland (2%), as well as from a variety of other countries.
When it came to job titles, there was a pretty wide variety as well. Respondents with the title of project manager made up the largest portion of respondents at about 38%, followed by senior project manager at 18%, project coordinator at 12%, head of project management at 7%, project director at 5%, and agency owner at 3%. Job titles under the “other” category made up the remaining estimated 17% of responses.
As I mentioned, one thing that stuck out in the response data was the reasons why project managers love their jobs and what they find rewarding about them. We included a question in the survey that provided some pretty revealing answers to this question — what three things matter most to you?
Respondents chose three items from the provided list (below), or chose some items from the list and entered a different response in the “other” option.
Getting promoted/getting a pay raise
Being recognized by others as good at your job
A happy team
My clients loving me
My boss not giving me hassle
Delivering more project value
Managing projects more confidently
Managing projects with less stress
Project success
Projects not failing
Responses in the “other” option included things like bettering their project management skills, knowledge, and process as a project manager; a team that communicates and works well together; meeting their organization’s goals; and keeping stakeholders in general satisfied.
The provided list of responses to choose from, as well as the answers written in the other option, signal aspects of the job that project managers find rewarding. For example, if something like “delivering more project value” matters to a project manager, it would follow that they find it rewarding when they are able to deliver more project value.
Top Three Things Project Managers Love About Their Jobs
The top three responses to our survey question about what matters most to individual project managers reveal the top three things that project managers love about their jobs. Here they are, in reverse order.
Third: A Happy Team
The third most rewarding thing that project managers love about their jobs is keeping their team happy, with 46.0% of respondents noting this as one of the things that matter most to them. One reason for this could be that happy teams are in general easier to manage and more motivated.
Research suggests that happy team members are also more productive as well, which is great for project managers and their projects, as well as the organizations that team members work for.
Second: Delivering More Project Value
About 48% of respondents noted that delivering more project value was one of the things that mattered the most to them. Project managers are driven by making their clients happy, and one way to do that is to add more value to the projects they deliver, especially if it’s within scope, budget, and timeline.
Value can come in many forms — a higher ROI than expected, recommendations on the right metrics or digital analytics for properly tracking the results of a marketing campaign, or choosing the right project management methodology to speed up project delivery. This instills confidence in the client and other stakeholders, in turn making the project manager feel valued.
First: Project Success
The aspect of project management that project managers valued the most, according to our survey results, was project success, and more than 55% of respondents included this answer in their top three. It’s pretty easy to guess why this is number one — project success is a project manager’s main goal, so achieving this would bring a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment.
According to one study, only 19% of companies are completing projects successfully on a regular basis. However, 58% of organizations believe that project success, as measured by satisfying stakeholders, is increasing. It’s clear that project managers have their work cut out for them, but achieving project success is worth it for them, whether they achieve this through satisfying stakeholders, using reporting tools to measure KPIs, or meeting internal needs.
How can we go about helping project managers and their projects succeed? Digital project management training and ongoing professional development provide project managers with the tools and skills they need and the experience to put them into practice to deliver better projects.
What It Means
One pattern that can be seen in these top three answers is that all three are team or project oriented. Project managers find keeping the team happy and adding value to successful projects more rewarding than individual or personal motivators, such as salary or being acknowledged as good at their job.
This fits the types of personalities that project management attracts — people that are driven by making things happen and completing quality projects rather than by personal gain. In fact, project management often involves a lot of sacrifices, as project managers often work overtime to complete projects on time, allow a certain level of scope creep in the interest of keeping clients happy, and more.
If you’re a project manager yourself, we hope this article gave you some insight into what your peer’s value and how it translates to what you do and value at work. You can find more valuable insights and opinions from project management experts over at The Digital Project Manager.