Most projects have a project manager on a project but let us see through this article the role a project manager and a project coordinator play in a project and the advantages of having a project coordinator on a project.

Project Manager

By definition, project managers must efficiently and effectively execute projects. Firstly, they must balance both internal and external stakeholder interests and keep both sides in sync over time. Second, they must understand customers' requirements, address their changing needs and manage the dynamics of those changes. However, they must also manage those changes throughout the enterprise, vendors, suppliers and partners.

 Let's take an example wherein a project manager has to manage a customer, project sponsor and five representative users, in all 7 stakeholders. The formula for calculating number of communication channels is N (N-1)/2.

So our project manager is having 7(7-1)/2 = 21 communication channels without the development team.

Say that the project is outsourced offshore to a team of 9 developers. Now the communication channels he has to handle are 16(16-1)/2 = 120. Wow………

Usually 80% of the Project Manager's time is spent in communication. Do you not think this will be overwhelming for a Project Manager when he has to manage 120 communication channels that too most of them being offshore with time zone and cultural differences. This is where the Project Coordinator comes in….

With a Project Coordinator in the team let us look at how the scenario changes.....

Project Manager now has to manage 8(8-1)/2 = 28 communication channels instead of the whooping 120 and the Project Coordinator takes care of 10(10-1)/2 = 45.

Now let's take a look at the definition of a Project Coordinator……….

Project Coordinator

The role and responsibilities of a Project Coordinator are usually a subset of that of a Project Manager . The primary responsibility of a project coordinator is to keep the project and all related processes running smoothly.

Project teams often require coordination of activities, resources, equipment, and information. To satisfy this need the project coordinator functions in their primary role. Any coordination issues which cannot be resolved are elevated to the project manager.

Research indicates that there is a strong correlation between components of trust and productivity . Trust is based on communication effectiveness, conflict management and rapport. Cultural differences play a key role in building trust and the person managing the multicultural teams needs to understand this.

For instance, in the west usually punctuality is taken for granted….whereas in places in the east where the infrastructure issues could exist say power failures, water logging, transport strikes even though a person might want to be on time but for reasons beyond his control is delayed. Failing to understand this, the first may conclude that the second is lazy, obstructionist, or dishonest. The second person will expect respect for the natural order of things.

Cultural differences in multicultural teams can create misunderstandings between team members before they have had a chance to establish any credibility with each other.

Hence a Project Coordinator should be preferably be a person who understands both the offshore and onsite cultures and helps in building trust which is a critical step in creation and development of multicultural teams in addition to that he / she will bring following advantages to the project

• One point of contact and thus reducing the number of communication channels for the Project Manager.
• Time Zone Management
• Cross Cultural Management including HR issues.
• Creating Teams based on competencies and skills. For example in Agile development process you might want to have team members working as “Pairs” where in a more experienced developer is paired with a relatively less experience person or a new team member to bring the person up to a particular level. The project coordinator can decide which team members will be paired.
• Task Assignment based on the competencies of the team members as he/she knows the team closely.

It is important to note the distinction between a role and individually identified people and one person can perform many roles. For example, an organization may have 10 people who can perform the role of project manager , although traditionally each project only has one project manager at any one time; and a person who is able to perform the role of project manager may also be able to perform the role of business analyst and tester .

Depending on the skill and experience of the Project Coordinator, he/she can also be involved in the Quality and Requirements Management Areas as well. Take a look at the risks and challenges of offshore project management and their mitigation strategies.

You can make use of the RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed) model to define the roles and responsibilities of the Project Manager and a Project Coordinator.

The success of your offshore effort will largely depend of how it is managed. It is advisable to have at least a Project Coordinator on the project and preferably offshore.