10 Attributes I Look For in New Project Managers
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by Josh Nankivel
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I was recently interviewed and asked the question, "What should hiring managers be looking for in a new project manager?"
These are the top 10 qualities I look for:
1. Lifelong learner - You'd better not just be here to punch the clock and try to make it through the day. I want to see passion.
2. Clear communicator - Concise and clear communication with the ability to verify you've been understood.
3. Problem solving abilities - You are going to have a lot of problems, and you'd better be the type of person who will take the bull by the horns and make it your business to resolve them.
4. Ability to focus - Focus is critical. If you are all over the place and unable to focus, I probably don't want to hire you as a project manager. How are you going to focus a team if you can't focus yourself?
5. Ability to create a plan and execute it - Even if you have little work experience, you probably have something you can show to demonstrate your ability to set goals, formulate a plan to acheive them and follow through.
6. Empathy - ability to look at a situation from different perspectives. You have lots of different stakeholders and some of them want your project to die. Step into their shoes and it will help you be successful.
7. Self-starter - I want people who thrive when given room to breathe. I want people who feel stiflied by micro-management and instead want to demonstrate their own ability to go out and produce results.
8. Listening skills - Being able to pick up on cues in body language and tone is just as important as listening. I mean really listening to what people have to say. Too many people are arrogant enough to think what they have to say is the most important.
9. Ability to lead without relying on role power - So many new managers and project managers fall into the trap of thinking formal authority actually has something to do with leadership. It really doesn't. Leadership is about people wanting to follow you because they trust you, not because you told them so.
10. Domain knowledge - Yes, I want someone with domain knowledge. Project Management skills are broadly applicable, but you are dead in some domains if you don't have knowledge about that domain. In fact, most domains. If your experience is close enough to overlap, great. But you'd better understand what your teams are doing at a fairly deep level if you want me to hire you.
What do you think of these attributes? Do you have more to add?
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Posted on: January 20, 2011 09:34 PM |
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Comments (15)
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I would add humility (because I have been talking to Garrett Miller recently who includes this in his book, Hire on a WHIM - more about that on my blog later). If the project manager can't ask for help when they get into trouble, then that puts me, the rest of my team and the project in potential trouble.
Josh Nankivel
Engineering Project Manager| Apple
Sioux Falls, Sd, United States
That's a great one Elizabeth! And something that can be discerned in the interview too. How willing is someone to admit they made a mistake? When you ask "what has been your biggest mistake" do they really cite something as a mistake on their part, or do they spin it to seem they didn't really make any mistakes after all?
Flexibility - nothing is fixed in stone... and of course a happy, people person makes all the difference in addition a sense of humour not taking things personally and to heart.. last one is being able to take constructive critism and learn from it to enable the individual to grow in the right direction.
Ernest Baker
CEO| Start to Finish PM Inc.
Verona, Nj, United States
I would add that having the courage and will power to do what must be done, say what must be said and make the decisions that must be made, in addition to those traits listed above. I've seen many a PM with the requisite knowledge and skills become ineffective because they failed to USE this knowledge and skill.
Mike Normand
GIS Project Manager| Christie Digital Systems Inc.
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
Based on point 10, does this infer we are heading towards project management by discipline or are we already there? In today's changing technology I don't know how a project manager can keep up to date with PM and technology as well.
Vincent Fong
Program Consultant| WorkAware
Sydney, Nsw, Australia
Domain knowledge can only come with experience and a lot of reading. Don't count on freshmen to have that! Downside, if you press on this, your project could be over before you hire the PM.
Josh Nankivel
Engineering Project Manager| Apple
Sioux Falls, Sd, United States
@Vasoula, great one! Flexibility is key, project managers must be responding to changing conditions all the time as we move from project to project, and even within the same project.
Josh,
pmStudent.com
Josh Nankivel
Engineering Project Manager| Apple
Sioux Falls, Sd, United States
@Ernie, very well put. Decisiveness is an important attribute for sure. Analysis paralysis has killed many a project when setting a course and adjusting would have made it possible to build momentum and progress towards completion.
Josh,
pmStudent.com
Josh Nankivel
Engineering Project Manager| Apple
Sioux Falls, Sd, United States
@Mike and @Vincent, what I'm really looking for is a foundation of knowledge and experience in the domain / knowledge area. It's not important to me that you be able to code in a particular language or stay on the cutting edge of technology as a PM.
But you can't manage software development projects effectively without any knowledge of how to build software. You can't manage construction projects without knowing the subject matter there.
Without that foundation, you are crippled as a project manager. From what I've seen, people in these roles without the domain knowledge tend to lean on spreadsheets, schedules, and other tools because that's what they know. But that's not really managing the project.
I may not understand every detail about what my teams are working on, but if there is an obstacle or dispute that is getting in their way, I need to be knowledgeable enough to ask the right questions, of the right people, and facilitate technical discussions to a point of consensus and resolution. Or, I need to be knowledgeable enough to make an executive decision when there are too many assumptions and we need to draw a line in the sand and move forward.
Josh,
pmStudent.com
I would add these few:
1. The ability to share knowledge
2. the ability to research and extract relevant information
3. Recognizing the need to escalate matters when necessary
4. Recognizing strength and weaknesses of team members and giving credit where it''s due and
5. ability to delegate and work as a team.
All of these have been very important during my 8 year career in PM and enabled me to complete projects within set deadlines and budgets.
Nevine
I would love to see the questions one would ask in an interview to discern these qualities.
 | Anonymous |
This list is great - very concise. I would like to join Mike and Vincent in advocating for toning down #10 - mostly because I'm an example of having successfully managed projects with absolutely zero domain knowledge. When I was hired into a network team, I had no idea what a router was. Years later when I moved to a s/w dev team, I had only the most general understanding of what a SDLC was. I relied VERY heavily on the other attributes you cite, especially lifeling learner, clear communicator, listening skills, and recognizing that leadership includes allowing your team to lead in the areas of their expertise. Sometimes being the dumbest person in the room in terms of domain knowledge has let me see things that the smart guys don't notice, being so focused on their technology. The required level of humility is probably inversely proportional to the level of domain knowledge.
As for interview questions, I would suggest a generic "tell me about a situation where you (displayed the attribute I'm looking for.)" For the ability to lead, you might ask how a team they have worked with would describe their leadership style. If they don't have a work- or school-related example, try sports. I find people tend to have similar styles at work and in a team sport. If they've never been in a leadership role, they are not PM material! And if "their sport" is an individual sport,they are more likely to be an individual contributor.
Tina Weinborg
Vice President Project Management| Regency Integrated Health Services
Oakland, Tn, United States
I would add:
1. Keeping your cool and not losing your temper when things are going wrong. How you react to situations of stress is what your team will see and they will react the same way. Stay cool -- and the team will not feel a sense of panic.
2. Being able to resolve conflict in a profressional manner. Inevitably you will have team members who will just not work well together or just don''t like each other. In fact, I have such a team right now. There is one person who consistently waits until the very last minute to have his work completed -- and I say this loosely. You can tell he just throws something together literally five minutes before a status meeting. I''ve had complaints from two other team members. At this point I let them know that I''m hearing their concerns and I am also aware of what''s going on. What they need to concentrate on is what they are responsible for in this project. If they believe this other person''s lack of team work is going to affect their tasks then we definitely have something to address as a team. I let them know that I''m monitoring how the project will be affected and a decision will be made as to how it will be handled.
Josh ,
This list is great because collectively , they will enable a project manager to translate organizational objectives or goals into action . Each of these attributes is important and it would be difficult in ranking them from 1-10 .
I would also like to add one more attribute to the existing list i.e Being resourceful . I have found that being resourceful at work helps a project manager in resolving a lot of issues successfully . It is an attribute that can help everyone , both professionally and personally . A project manager can benefit a lot by taking efforts in making efficient use of the resources that are available with him .
Josh Nankivel
Engineering Project Manager| Apple
Sioux Falls, Sd, United States
Great addition Sabyasachi!
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