What does it take to be a project manager?

Question

Project management

Good day.
I am 23 years old. He received a humanitarian education, but he always had an interest in computers, mobile phones and other technology. But with programming somehow it didn’t work out at all, and it doesn’t pull.
The bottom line is that now he came as an intern at a small startup of a friend, they are developing mobile applications. The position is conventionally called a project manager. But it is different from the one for which the materials are written. Or I misunderstand.
I would like to know what material will really help me in my work. Since among all the tons of information, it is difficult to find the right one. And if someone has already gone through this, then I would like to know about the experience.
Nevertheless, I will sign what my functions are, or rather they will have to be:
1. Negotiations with customers, obtaining information about projects
2. Discuss milestones and estimated time with the team.
3. Follow the deadlines
4. I test, check the results and initial plans.
The most important issue is the choice of a program for planning and the development of a temporary plan.
The fact is that they recently missed one project just because the time for tasks was planned in days, and it was important for the client to see the hourly plan.
And actually now I'm trying to work in bitrix 24 and MS Project is installed, where I'm trying to score tasks and time. But there, too, tasks, as I understand it, are mainly measured in days and it is difficult to prescribe in hours.
I would be glad to hear any information, although my post may seem absolutely amateurish to many, which is basically true.

Answer 1

1. Negotiations with customers, obtaining information about projects

At the initial stage, you can not bother. You have a goal to get information. Get what you can. Books and recommendations are not needed here. (This is provided that you do not make a "sale". If you need to sell, then I have bad news for you. If you have a lot of time and are interested, then dig into the analytics. There are methods for collecting requirements. This will be enough. Competently assembled requirements into a document is already an incredibly strong document from which later the PMI will dance and TK and so on)
There are methodologies for this. More specifically, frameworks. It will be enough to understand the principle of iterative development, to see what Waterfall, Agile + Scrum are. Read how the "estimate" is done. In a year or two, it will be possible to dig into RUP, Prince2, and so on, and isolate from there what will help cover the shortcomings of their workflows.
Rigidly tied to the previous paragraph. Gant/calendar will help. Here you need to read about what risks are and plan them at least in your head. And when monitoring performance, always remember them and before important milestones make sure that the risks do not work. Take steps to do so.
The tester must test. If there is no tester, then you need to panic and urgently demand it or urgently learn the basics of testing. Otherwise, be in trouble. If everything is bad, then it is urgent to study what test cases are (test methodology).

Answer 2

I'm sorry, but I offend you.
I already heard from a person who, similarly to you, came to the position of project manager to a friend. And at the meeting, she (it was a woman) said:
- do not load me with technical details, I am not an expert.
And this was in the presence of technical specialists who had more than one higher education behind them. It is necessary to drive such specialists ... well, at least to a technical university for the second highest.
PS
... it was a Sberbank project ...

Answer 3

Well, you can really go to the second higher education or courses. If you work with techies, you need to speak their language.

Answer 4

Regarding the position, it seems that in each organization the concept of the duties of the MP is different. Don't worry if everything suits you.
In MS Project, you can easily plan in hours. Just be explicit about the size.

Answer 5

It is desirable to have an idea about PMBOK =)
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Management_B...
It is not necessary to know programming, estimates of terms and risks can be obtained from performers and multiplied by some empirical coefficient.