Pros and Cons of Hiring Freelance Project Manager
Project management is an integral part of success for a company of any size. It covers the planning, execution, and evaluation of a project’s progress. An expert consulting project manager and remote product manager are the key figures in the timely and effective execution of all types of projects, whether it is a new product launch or website development.
By hiring a freelance project manager a business can reduce time delivery, money waste, and possible errors in the execution of a project. It allows for achieving new business goals, growing the reach, and gaining a competitive advantage in the market.
An expert in freelance project management knows the best methodologies and tools to efficiently draft, plan, control, and complete an assignment of any volume.
Why is it important for a company? Here are some key figures to consider:
- Companies that use PM waste 28 times fewer funds than those that don’t;
- Currently, about 46% of organizations make PM their cultural priority;
- Also, more than 11% of resources are wasted due to ineffective PM practices.
Project management freelance is an affordable and sustainable way to make benefits and provide great results for a company. It gives the opportunity to access a high level of expertise on a flexible basis and with a reduction of costs.
Top Fields Where PM is Used
While the efficient PM is useful in any industry, some spheres rely heavier on it. This can be tracked by the raise of job opportunities for specialists. The common ground is that particular industries need exceptional productivity and strong organization to perform their best. Those industries are:
- Construction and Engineering. It requires precision when it comes to handling budgets, and coordinating resources, vendors, and stakeholders. Experts here work with engineers, architects, city planners, construction crews, etc. All to ensure timely delivery, quality performance, and risk management;
- Finance is another sphere that relies on PM practices. It is all about boosting productivity and minimizing the resources wasted.
- Insurance services require remote project managers for high-stakes projects that involve a significant number of risks.
- The IT industry widely uses project management as it allows timely and quality delivery of various solutions and services. Experts here manage the budget, increase ROI, and ensure security. An experienced PM can assess goals and needs, select employees for the team, and set tasks and priorities.
- Healthcare Administration. In this industry among the major concerns, there are costs and compliance. Those can be resolved with efficient PM working on various concerns from supply to adding a new department to a hospital;
- Advertising. A project manager freelance can be extremely beneficial for successful advertising campaigns. Such campaigns require strong organization, an understanding of key metrics and the market, as well as a continuous assessment of performance.
Overall, the main goal of PM is to deliver the project in the most effective and budget-friendly way. This is incredibly helpful for a company in any industry.
Project Management Practices
An expert part time remote project manager usually knows several common practices. This is important to choose the right one for a particular situation and apply the most suitable tools and methods.
The choice depends on the industry, project scope, budget, size of a team, flexibility, and deadline. Overall, there are four leading practices a PM may use, such as:
- Waterfall – the traditional practice where a project is separated into steps and the team takes one step at a time in a linear manner. For example, after the whole app is developed, the testing begins in Waterfall.
- Agile is a contrasting methodology to Waterfall. It is not linear but iterative. It is very common in IT and software development. The project is separated into several iterations that allow adjusting along the way. Small and manageable tasks are handled simultaneously. For example, one part of an app is developed, tested, and evaluated. Based on that the next development stage can be altered according to new or changing client requirements.
- Scrum is a development method under the Agile umbrella. It is a fast and effective framework that is based on completing short cycles of work (sprints).
- Kanban is another Agile methodology focused on the visualization of a workflow. It increases efficiency and eliminates any wasteful work or inconsistencies. A project is divided into tasks placed on a board (digital or physical) – a good example is Trello. The team can see the progress in real-time and focus on little and actionable tasks.
5 Phases of Project Management
No matter what methodology a project manager remote chooses, the complete PM process always includes 5 different phases, namely:
- Initiation – turning an idea into a goal with the development of a business case and defining the project. Here experts work on project details, budgets, timelines, requirements, etc;
- Planning – the process of turning requirements, goals, and resources into an actionable roadmap. PM identifies technical requirements, works on the detailed schedule, designs a commercial plan, and defines deliverables;
- Execution – the team gets to work according to a set schedule. PM oversees progress, and workflows, and monitors the performance;
- Controlling – happens at the same time as execution. The goal is to make sure that the goals and deliverables are met by a deadline and with quality;
- Closure – final delivery and end of the project.
Benefits of Hiring a Part Time Project Manager Remote
When it comes to accessing a high level of expertise, whether you are interested in IT business consulting or project management, it is important to evaluate the advantages. Hiring a suitable project management remote offers such benefits:
- Reaching the goals and business objectives;
- Centralization and organization of workflows and teamwork;
- Control over quality and performance;
- Timely and efficient delivery;
- Increased communication between all parties, from stakeholders to team members;
- Reduction of resources waste;
- Good work ethic;
- Payment per project reduces costs even further.
Also, project-based cooperation allows testing out an expert to see whether you are interested in constant collaboration.
Part Time Project Manager Remote: Skills and Responsibilities
PMs bear responsibility for planning, scheduling, managing, and delivery of the project. They work within set timelines and budgets. The main goal is to eliminate risks, reduce time and money wasted, and organize coordinated teamwork.
The responsibilities also include:
- Collecting requirements and needs to define the project scope and goals;
- Evaluation of resources needed;
- Development of technical requirements, detailed schedule, and deliverables;
- Choice of suitable PM practice for the team;
- Overseeing project execution at all stages to track progress;
- Communication with all parties involved on the progress, delivery, or alterations;
- Implementation of specific PM tools and practices into the workflow;
- Organization or the team and monitoring the quality of work;
- Budget management;
- Prioritization;
- Establishing quality measurements;
- Controlling the completion and release of the project.
Hard Skills of an Expert PM:
- Expertise in Enterprise Data Governance;
- Knowledge of Big Data Analytics Design;
- Proficiency in visualization software solutions;
- Cloudera Hadoop;
- Expertise in business continuity planning;
- Data Centre planning;
- API management system expertise;
- Proficiency in product development.
Business Management Competencies of PM include:
- Business transformation and change management;
- PM methodologies like Waterfall, Agile, Scrum, etc;
- Stakeholder management;
- Benefits realization;
- CRM;
- Cost reduction strategies;
- Cost modeling and tracking;
- DMAIC;
- Operations excellence.
Soft Skills for a PM are:
- Leadership;
- Team management;
- Communication;
- Planning;
- Time and risk management;
- Accuracy;
- Attention to detail.
A project manager part time remote is an advanced position that requires a lot of skills, experience, and qualifications.
5 Sites to Hire Freelance Project Manager
Toptal
This is a credible platform that checks all the experts featured. So the freelancers you see have proven their skills and competencies. This increases the chances to find the right professional. The database of talent is decent yet somewhat limited.
Upwork
This is a huge freelance marketplace where one can find specialists of all sorts, from PMs to graphic designers. A company can post a job offer and wait for candidates to apply. After that, you may choose a suitable vendor based on the track record, rating, and hourly rates. The talent base is quite large.
Mobilunity
This is an outstaffing platform that finds the experts for you. You describe what professional you are looking for in detail and experienced recruiters find the exact match. This is beneficial in terms of saving time and effort as recruiters vet the candidates and evaluate their skills for you.
Hired
This platform also features only tested professionals that have a great track record. To find the right PM, you can go through accounts manually and reach out to suitable candidates. If they accept the offer, the collaboration begins. It is a useful site with a decent talent pool but recruiting may take some time.
Upstack
This site is more advantageous for those seeking constant cooperation. Yet, it features a lot of experts to choose from. All the candidates are vetted by Upstack according to their qualifications and skills. Unlike other freelance platforms, the site evaluates soft skills as well to find a perfect match for a company.
Freelance vs Outstaffing: Comparison Table
In terms of flexible and cost-efficient cooperation, a business can choose to work with freelancers directly or collaborate with an outstaffing agency. Here is a comparison table that highlights the pros and cons of each option.
| Outstaffing | Freelancers | |
| Time | It is usually much quicker as experienced recruiters can easily find suitable professionals | Depends on how fast you can find, interview, and evaluate candidates on your own |
| Cost | Budget-friendly as it is fast and rates in other countries are lower. Also, an agency takes care of many employee-related disbursements. | More budget-friendly than in-house hire but the cost depends on the time you spend on recruiting and the rates of a professional |
| Talent pool | Large | Huge |
| Guarantees | Agencies serve as a guarantor for the quality, timely delivery, and safety of the project | Besides the contract, there are no guarantees on delivery or quality |
| Flexibility | Flexible, project-based, part-time, or full-time | Flexible |
| Pros | Quick, flexible, efficient, safe, and easy. There are quality and performance guarantees. A company can focus on the core activity while recruiting is taken care of | Flexible, has a huge talent pool, opportunity to save costs. |
| Cons | Time zone or cultural differences | Risks in terms of quality, delivery, and security. Also, a company might lose an employee without replacement. No easy scale-up or down. |
Project Manager Freelance Rates in Different Countries
A freelance project manager salary depends on the expertise level and geographical location. Here is a comparison table of project management freelance rates in different countries separated by expertise levels.
| Junior | Middle | Senior | |
| USA | $27 | $42 | $66 |
| Germany | $26.8 | $39.07 | $48.6 |
| UK | $20 | $26.5 | $35.9 |
| Netherlands | $19.2 | $35.5 | $54.88 |
| Ukraine | $20* | $25* | $35* |
*Ukrainian salaries are provided based on Mobilunity’s Recruitment Team research on the local job markets. All salaries are net and do not include the service fee (in case of hiring on a dedicated team model). The salaries are provided for comparison purposes and could be not entirely accurate. Contact us to know the exact cost of hiring a developer corresponding to the required parameters.
As one can see, hiring a professional in Ukraine is much more cost-efficient than in other countries from the table. The difference in salaries allows accessing a high level of expertise at a fraction of the price even for small businesses and startups.
Mobilunity is a Trusted Provider of PM Services in Ukraine
Mobilunity is an outstaffing agency from Ukraine with 10+ years of experience in the field. We’ve been providing businesses all over the world with excellent professionals and dedicated teams for over a decade.
Our experienced team of recruiters can easily find an excellent project manager for your company. We also offer the opportunity of flexible cooperation, so you can hire an expert part-time or full-time. This way your company can enjoy the flexibility of freelancers with the security and quality guarantees of our outstaffing agency.
Mobilunity partners with companies in various industries from different countries. Among our clients, there are ICUC Social (Canada), BYG-E (Denmark), Paidy (Japan), Zenchef (France), Network of Arts (Switzerland), and Vayomar (Israel). Our team is ready to find a project manager that will bring your company to a new level of success.
Are you searching for a freelance project manager? Contact our team now!
All salaries and prices mentioned within the article are approximate NET numbers based on the research done by our in-house Recruitment Team. Please use these numbers as a guide for comparison purposes only and feel free to use the contact form to inquire on the specific cost of the talent according to your vacancy requirements and chosen model of engagement.
