Is there a standard job title for someone who does project admin without making important decisions?

Question

I'm working as a technical PM on a software project. The decision making and technical demands are such that day-to-day tasks (such as communicating properly with the customer) are suffering.

We want to bring in someone in order to unburden me of some admin responsibilities such as:

• Organising meetings
• Taking and distributing minutes
• Formalising action points and chasing people to do them

In other words, leaving me to manage the internal side of the project and discuss with the client, with them responsible to keep all parties (me, project owner, client) informed and accountable.

Is such a role widely understood to exist? Would we describe them as a Project Administrator? PM Assistant? Junior PM? Or is this basically a PM and I need to redefine my job title? We need to advertise and as such ensure we describe the title and role correctly to attract the right people.

Answer 1

The "Project Coordinator" Role

Titles can and do vary widely in the industry and around the world, so you are unlikely to find a canonical answer. However, in the US industries I've worked in, the role you're describing is often termed a Project Coordinator.

One source describes the role of Project Coordinator as follows:

While the specific role of the project coordinator will vary somewhat from company to company, the following are tasks that project coordinators are typically expected to accomplish.

• Organize meetings, team celebrations
• Arrange for meetings between team members, and between team members and clients
• Record minutes at meetings
• Keep detailed project notes and records
• Develop project strategies
• Create project schedules
• Create task lists for team members
• Monitor project progress, budget, hours, etc
• Track and manage incoming paperwork
• Keep all members of the team up-to-date with current information and paperwork
• Communicate with team members to ensure optimal strategy and maximum efficiency

Answer 2

In my opinion it should be PM Assistant only as the decision power is not with him/her.