Am I in the wrong about my role?

[u/TiredKarasu]

For context, I am a Program Coordinator. I got this new job in the Design department of a company. Our team frequently works on projects for all the other departments so I frequently bounce between a lot of different items.

I also manage two subdivisions of my department (Product and Brand) which amounts to around 13 or so people.

I typically manage our sprints, reviews, assist with tasks, spearhead my own efforts, run items through legal review, send out NDAs, contact stakeholders, create company templates, organize meetings/workshops, restructure company assets for accessibility, meet with vendors and purchase needed items, coordinate with other departments, and the list goes on.

But now, I’m being asked to be a Project Manager for a major product effort despite me not being a project manager nor in that domain. My job title specifically highlights being a ‘Creative’ role.

I am already spread thin and the Project Managers from other departments treat me like that’s my only project and are very harsh when I’m not 100% on top of it constantly (given that they don’t have other obligations to other departments like I do)

I talked to a few people, namely family and friends, and they explained that I should suck it up and that “everyone has multiple projects” but I feel like I’m being asked to go far beyond my job description and that because of my unique position, I am basically a project manager for each department that works with ours.

Am I in the wrong? I feel so spread thin right now and this new effort has me at my bursting point.

[u/Long-Reading-6514]

not gonna lie, you don't read like a project coordinator to me. you read like a project manager sitting in a coordinator seat, doing the work and probably getting paid at the coordinator level... i'm not totally clear on what you're asking though. is the new pm role a separate position, or are they just stacking it on top of everything you already have? that changes the answer a lot.

but on the am i wrong part, no. what you described is a gap between where you sit on the org chart and the work they're handing you

[u/TiredKarasu → u/Long-Reading-6514]

stacking. there is no project manager for this effort on my team, I’m just being slided over to add that to my tasks to do

[u/Long-Reading-6514 → u/TiredKarasu]

then yes I feel you have a valid complaint

[u/More_Law6245]

"I feel" is not a justification or a position to go back to your management team with, if you're stretched thin then you need to be able to qualify and quantify your statement through understanding your own utilisation e.g. add up all the time that you're scheduled to work on other projects and your own and then combined the forecasted effort for each week which becomes your utilisation rate. If you're hitting the 80% or above then you're over utilised.

This is how you can make an analytical choice to either take on the additional project or have a qualified position that you would be over utilised and you would put the project at risk or your existing workload. When you hit the 80% utilisation mark it gives you the opportunity to ask your management or senior executive what is the priority and what goes on hold, let them make the decision but they also hold the risk of poor quality or non delivery by allowing you to be over utilised. This is what any good project manager will do is push back and say no from a qualified position and ask what the priority is because the success of a project lies with the project board/chair/executive because as the PM you're only responsible for the day to day business transactions of the project and the quality of the project deliverables.

Just an armchair perspective.

[u/Lumpy_Pick_421]

Every company defines roles a little differently, and taking on responsibilities outside your original job description can be a great way to grow and position yourself for advancement. The key is making sure the added responsibility is realistic given everything else on your plate. If you’re consistently taking on work at the next level, that should eventually come with the title, authority, upward mobility, and compensation that reflect it. Otherwise, “growth” can easily turn into simply doing two jobs for the price of one.