Jayarajah JeyakanthanProject Manager/ Coordinator| UNOPS-LKOCMildura, Victoria, Australia
Do you think that ,technical skills are essential for a Project Manager to be successful in leading a project? or Just having the PM knowledge and skills are sufficient to manage a project? Saving Changes...
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Michael EngborkHead of IT| CFL CargoRollingen-Mersch, Luxembourg
I think that it depends on the type of project. If you do CRM projects, you should have a general idea to how the chosen solution works both technically as well as functionally. In general, you implement off the shelf packages for a quick ROI and without knowledge of the package and the vendors suggested methodologies you will have difficulties delivering in time and budget. Saving Changes...
Andy JordanPresident| Roffensian Consulting S.A.Cherry Grove, AB, Canada
I don't think that a huge degree of technical knowledge is needed, although I do believe that you need to understand the project well enough to know what has to be happening, even if you can't do it yourself (which you shouldn't be doing anyway).
However, it also isn't enought to just have the PM skills - you need to have the soft skills / leadership element that allows you to apply those skills in a way that maximises results. Saving Changes...
Hans RobbersSenior Director| SalesforceVlissingen, Netherlands
If technical skills also include understanding the business rationale I would argue you need to have technical skills. A project manager has to be able to explain the project, issues and progress in business terms.
On the real technical side of things I do agree with Andy. Saving Changes...
Andrew BallSenior/Head of PMO| a3g LtdAshford, United Kingdom
Technical PM are the worst of the breed. They tend to lack the business skills required from modern PMs. I spend my days as PMO Manager repositioning techi PMs to what they should be doing and not rolling up their sleeves and digging around the engine bay. They manage a team of technical specialists who should have the ability to translate technical speak into understandable language that can be disseminated by the PM. A modern PM should have too much to do to be able get back to what he enjoys or enjoyed in a previous existence. Saving Changes...
Wayne MackRetired| RetiredSouth Riding, Va, United States
Having been on both sides of the technical/management divide, I believe Mr. Ball has misidentified lack of project management execution with technical knowledge.
Without technical knowledge, the project manager must rely on a technical lead to provide this knowledge and can only perform the financial portion of the task. The area where this co-management approach is especially challenged is in risk management, where the technical and financial aspects collide. Unfortunately, technical projects tend to have a high degree of risk associated with them and it is better to have financial skills and technical knowledge in a single individual to address technical risks.
Another area, though outside of pure project management, is staff development. Technical knowledge allows the project manager to guide the career development of junior staff and can help senior staff make the transition to management. The project manager needs to be grounded in both disciplines if he is to provide for career development.
I have also seen my share of poor managers who have risen from the technical ranks, but it is my observation that the problem is a lack of management knowledge and skills, not an over abundance of technical knowledge.
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I feel I have to give also my comment on this trhead since I think it is a very interesting subject.My believe is that a PM shall be able to manage any project with our without a set of owh technical skills. The most important is not to "be" tecnical but to understand how the technical aspect(s) imapct(s) the project and what financial consequencies there will be, so I agree with Andy here.
Personally I dont have experience from any old school technical PM:s as Mr Ball refers to and cannot comment on that. However, at the moment I am acting both as technical PM and overall PM in a project but that does not mean I am digging in the engine bay. I do however understand the technical aspect of the project and am capable of making deicisions together with my technical experts onboard.
I also think that the size of a project as well as type of organization are of interest in this discussion, since a small project would never be staffed with more than one PM and in such a project, the PM will have to understand the business as well as what needs to be done on the technical side. In addition, if the organization it self is capable of allocating sufficient technical expertise to the project, there may not be a need of a technical PM.
In my experience I have seen other PMs that COME from the technical side (for example former system developers or the like) that in the PM role tend to go back to what they know best (for example putting them selves behind the computer to trouble shoot an code error) during a stressful project situation to solve a problem instead of maintaining the "helicopter view" of the situation. Saving Changes...
Both technical skills and project management skills are necessary for success of a project. The technical skills level mainly depends on the size of the project and the industry. It is very important for the PM to speak and understand the technical language of his/her team. Small projects require more technical skills compared to large projects. In large projects, it is adequate to have a broad view of the underlying tecnology/ies. As projects become larger, 'soft' skills become more critical, ie., leadership, team building, negotiations, conflict resolution and most important communications skills.
Small projects require more technical skills because the PM is closer to the people doing the actual work. In addition to leadership, the team expect the PM to be involved in technical deliberations. In some industries, the PM commands more respect from his team if he/she is from the similar background. However, it is important for the PM not to abuse his technical skills by micromanaging or totalling ignoring the PM role. In short, a good PM should be conversant with both the science and art part of project managementand should weigh his/her technical contribution against all the other facets of the project. If a PM can contribute with his technical exprtise whilst not negating his role as a PM the better. Saving Changes...
