How can a PM manage those who are older than him?

Question

Project management

19 years old, got a job offer as a PM. I feel that the developers in the team may not immediately take me seriously. Who faced similar? How did they influence the situation? Developers, what scares you about young PMs?

Answer 1

I can't imagine a 19 year old PM.
Nothing scares. You can earn credibility with your extensive knowledge, many years of experience (including worldly), quick reaction, etc. - you will work. You can't - no one will put you in a penny.

Answer 2

In itself, age does not directly affect authority. Yes, some may not take you seriously, but this is cured by confident behavior and earning authority. There will always be people who don't like you, and that's okay. There are those who are prejudiced against managers who are too young, women in traditionally masculine professions, people who dress strangely, etc. You can’t do anything about the attitude of some people, even if you hit your ass, you just have to accept it. These people are usually not happy with everything themselves. The main thing is that the main part of the people (80 percent) accept you as a manager, feel that you know your business and care about people.
And, of course, it's time to start pumping managerial skills. I recommend right now to discover stratoplan.ru: at least - subscribe to their mailing lists, to their blog on Habré, study their free materials (e-books, video courses, articles), as a maximum - enroll in their annual school, because this will really help you in practice right away practice all team management techniques. Orlov and Pankratov are very good in that they themselves have built a successful managerial career, and their training materials are very practical and specific. Usually these are some very simple and visual schemes, classifications. Webinars are always to the point, without water, so I highly recommend it. When you subscribe to the newsletter, you will be periodically invited to free webinars. Well, then, if you like the style of presentation, you can already sign up for paid webinars, and then for all their paid online training programs.
Also make it a habit to read business books regularly. It is very convenient to do this through the bookmate.com application . For 280 rubles a month you will get access to a huge number of books that cost more than 300 or even 1000 rubles in ordinary stores, and there is no feeling that the money for the book was wasted. It is convenient that if one book did not like or seemed incomprehensible / not relevant for the time being, you can start reading another. And you can read several books at the same time, according to your mood. You can search for books yourself in the "Business" section, you can find the "shelf" of the same Stratoplan , and start reading what they recommend.
Another very good practice is to get yourself an RSS reader with subscriptions to professional blogs and sites where articles useful for work regularly appear. I like to use Feedly for this . In conjunction with some delayed reading service ( Instapaper or Pocket , for example), such a reader will give you a selection of the latest news and educational articles on topics of interest to you (management, business, IT, and some other narrower topics). You can add to Feedly not only those sites that are recommended within the service, but also add any sites that you did not learn about from it.
And a life hack: be sure to chat with each member of the team. Eat lunch together, go after work to chat. When you know which of the developers live by what, you will better understand who is motivated by what, to whom what kind of approach is needed. And, importantly, people will trust you more (people are distrustful of what they don't know). When they see that you are interested in their life, what they would like to improve in their work, in the project, they will know that you are the one who will help them achieve their goals, and not just command them.
In general, when you gain more managerial knowledge and start working it out in practice, others will begin to treat you as a professional. Yes, at first it will be difficult, but once you are given the opportunity to try yourself in a new role, then use this as a chance to learn new things. In any case, you will gain valuable experience and understand whether you should further develop towards management. I wish you success! :)

Answer 3

The simplest strategy in your case. Speak to the point and strictly follow the rules. A couple of months at least in this mode. And try to go about your business after work, and not with colleagues in a tavern.

Answer 4

Take PM courses, get certified in project management. Raise both professionalism and authority at least a little.

Answer 5

If you're having these questions right now, maybe you shouldn't accept the offer.

Answer 6

I definitely wouldn't take seriously a kid who graduated from high school yesterday

Answer 7

Developers are not intimidated by young PMs. Developers are scared by those who hire young PMs.
In fact, it's hard to believe that by the age of 19 you can master at least somehow Project Management (you've seen the thickness of their textbooks). Unfortunately, programming experience does not help in building project management competencies.

Answer 8

Developers, what scares you about young PMs?

youthful maximalism