Project Management

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IT Project Management -- what tech should a PM be most familiar with?

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William Washinski II Product Owner| Cigna Tampa, Fl, United States
I've managed sales projects and development of products partnering with outside vendors. I am constantly reminded that IT Project Management is the most lucrative.... I am fluent utilizing most of the various software like SharePoint, Confluence, MS Project and Visio and Jiva - but to most PMs working with IT, what kind of Software Development IT knowledge should I know as it relates to the Software Development Life Cycle?
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Wade Harshman Scrum Master| GDIT Indianapolis, In, United States
The tools an IT PM needs to be most familiar with are a whiteboard and eraser.
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Hong Jone Wong Product Manager| Centre for Strategic Infocomm Technologies Singapore, Singapore
If you are really interested in knowing the more technical side I find that the following website shows a good summary of the current technologies that are being used by many software development organization. https://www.webfx.com/blog/web-design/tech...ks-infographic/

It will be difficult for a person without much IT background to know all of these. Even a software developer will find it tough to keep up with all the developments.

What I think is useful for an IT PM to learn more about is on UX and design thinking. On top of that, learn the concepts of data science, analytics, and machine learning. These had been the buzzwords for the past few years and they are still relevant.
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ishita chouhan Pakistan

To align more closely with software development teams and truly stand out as a Project Manager in the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), here are a few knowledge areas that would enhance your skill set:


🔹 1. Understanding of SDLC Models:

Familiarize yourself with common methodologies such as:



Agile / Scrum / Kanban – Iterative, fast-paced development models.



Waterfall – Traditional, sequential approach.



DevOps – Focused on development + operations collaboration.
Knowing when and how each is used helps in planning, risk management, and stakeholder communication. https://affordableseosandiego.net/



🔹 2. Basic Programming Logic:

You don’t need to code, but understanding how front-end, back-end, and APIs work together helps you better manage developer timelines and expectations. Familiarity with tech stacks (e.g., MERN, LAMP) is valuable.


🔹 3. Version Control:

Know how tools like Git/GitHub work — version control is at the heart of modern dev teams.


🔹 4. QA & Testing Life Cycle:

Understand unit testing, regression testing, UAT, and how testing integrates with CI/CD pipelines. This will help when managing test phases and release cycles.


🔹 5. Security & Compliance:

With digital products, awareness of data security practices (GDPR, ISO standards, etc.) is increasingly critical, even for PMs.




At our marketing agency, we often collaborate with IT and dev teams across platforms. Whether it's launching a web application, managing a software rollout, or scaling a client portal — we handle both the marketing and project execution side. This intersectional expertise makes projects not only run smoother but also ensures that every stakeholder (technical and non-technical) is aligned from start to finish.

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Sergio Luis Conte Helping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based Organizations Buenos Aires, Argentina
You must be a generalist, not an specialist. So, when you are assigned to a project, the first thing to do is Elicitation activity where you will get knowledge about all related with the initiative then you will understand about the product/service/result to create (to define this is a business analyst accountability) to create all related to project. We are creating solutions where solution is equal to "the thing" to be created plus "the way" to create it.
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Marc Kane Associate Director | Digital Core - Oracle| Accenture Los Angeles, CA, United States
You'll want to understand how the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) works end-to-end and how it varies across methodologies.

You're not expected to be a developer, but you must understand the moving parts.

PMs should lead structured releases, not chaotic deployments.

Maintain traceability from business need to deployed feature.

Be the bridge between stakeholders and tech (translating both ways).

The most effective IT PMs don’t code, but they understand code enough to protect delivery. They become trusted by engineers, respected by leadership, and irreplaceable in high-risk releases. You need to become development-literate.
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