Do We Need Specialization?

  Career Development   Governance   ProjectsAtWork  

Project management has its roots in technical environments and appears to be returning to those roots after years of being a haven for generalists. But does this trend short-change PM experience and resourcefulness? Is technical expertise really required?

Project management grew out of the defense industry in which complex systems had to be planned, managed and manufactured to exacting tolerances and often equally rigid timelines. Truly, nothing short of right was right and failure was not an option. Among the people engaged in these endeavors were highly trained physicists, engineers and scientists; they were also charged with making their blueprints roar to life.

Although they succeeded, relatively few technicians were equally facile in administration. Management activities diverted time and energy from the visionaries’ actual vocations. They began training fabricators from factory floors to manage operations and practice a new art known as the Critical Path Method. Schedulers, as they were often called, became the forefathers of today’s project management professionals.

Over time, project management principles were adapted and applied to numerous industries. Often, these projects were less technical in nature and sometimes not technical at all. Project management generalists moved where and as needed, assembling teams and organizing workflow and process; they …

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