Frank Leslie Pinto Senior Project Manager| Manipal Technologies LimitedMangalore, Karnataka, India
Is the Project Manager required to be SME in his domain. For example, being a IT Project Manager, can I enter into Project Management for Construction ? Saving Changes...
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Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
Not at all. While to be honest this has been debated lot of times here. That is my personal experience and other people experience. When organizations search for a project manager that must be SME into the domain then are not searching a project manager. They are searching an SME than can make people working in project actitivies. The only domain where project manager must be an SME is into project management domain. Projects never belongs to a specific domain. They are multi-domain always then project manager must be a generalist.
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1 reply by Søren Udby
Apr 01, 2019 9:31 AM
Søren Udby
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I agree with Sergio. I have worked successfully on projects within a number of industries where I had little to no subject matter expertise to begin with. In my experience, this has worked well because I would not encroach on the SMEs' areas of expertise but would be viewed purely as an expert in project management, which is what I was there to deliver.
I have heard from other PMs who are SME that they sometimes experience some push back from the technical team (IT) because they are no longer 'pure' experts. I have also seen SME PMs getting bogged down in the technical development rather than focusing on the project management processes to the detriment of the project.
However, George Freeman has an excellent point - I have found it extremely useful to build a vocabulary for the specific project domain as quickly as I could. I recently worked on a project related to maternity care, and it was a steep learning curve, but learning new things is one of the aspects I like the most about being a project manager.
Some domain knowledge is needed for a PM to be effective - that is why PMI added Strategic & Business Management as a leg to the Talent Triangle when they originally launched it. Without this knowledge a PM will be unable to properly digest the information they are getting from the team and stakeholders such as estimates, assumptions or risks.
However, as Sergio has indicated, it does not require that they are an expert in the field.
Kiron Saving Changes...
George FreemanThought Leader | Author | Architect| Florida, United States
Frank,
I’m a firm believer in Project Managers having "architectural awareness" in the domains they are interacting with on a given project. Besides the practical benefit of being able to challenge and understand project concerns that flow up-stream, it also enhances your ability to lead as your "architectural awareness" provides you the necessary vocabulary to speak with command on domain subjects. Realize that I’m not talking about getting into "technical details", but simply speaking with architectural correctness, which will garner you respect with your teams.
George's term "architectural awareness" is brilliant and I'm going to remember and use it going forward. It encapsulates in only 2 words, what I've tried to describe previously in much detail. Saving Changes...
Christopher LeekCEO & Project Manager| PROFINSOL International Inc.Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Frank,
This is definitely a good question and there are many excellent points being made. I agree with Keith on George's term "architectural awareness" certainly sums it up quickly. You can also ask yourselves, who totally feels confident enough to run a project (especially a large budget one) with little to no knowledge in that domain. There are some, for example in the Aerospace/Aviation industry, you have to deal with engineers who can be quite "independent" at the best of times. If you work with any on a project with little experience, it can make things quite difficult!
Best of luck to everyone in there career endeavours. Saving Changes...
Toseef ShabbirProject Controller| MAPA Constructions, KSARabigh, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
In addition to project management skills, some basic experience of the domain is also essential to be successful. Saving Changes...
Frank Leslie Pinto Senior Project Manager| Manipal Technologies LimitedMangalore, Karnataka, India
Mar 30, 2019 11:59 AM
Replying to George Freeman
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Frank,
I’m a firm believer in Project Managers having "architectural awareness" in the domains they are interacting with on a given project. Besides the practical benefit of being able to challenge and understand project concerns that flow up-stream, it also enhances your ability to lead as your "architectural awareness" provides you the necessary vocabulary to speak with command on domain subjects. Realize that I’m not talking about getting into "technical details", but simply speaking with architectural correctness, which will garner you respect with your teams.
Thank you George. I got the answer ! Saving Changes...
I am not sure about other domains but in IT it appears that the PM, in most cases, does not have to be a SME in this domain. I haven't worked in constructions so I don't know if this is also true.
Nonetheless whether or not the PM is a SME in the domain makes a huge difference. A PM that is not also a SME would be just a facilitator being able to work only in a weak matrix management structure.
Non-SME PMs would be primarily some sort of messengers between the client/sponsor/business users and the team.
Because of his lack of relevant knowledge such a PM would not be able to direct the team on reaching the goals. He would present the priorities to the team and hope the team would be able to reach them.
Non-SME PMs usually are focused more on activities that don't involve performing the actual work as they can't bring any value to the work being done. Saving Changes...
Anton OosthuizenSenior Business Analyst / Project Manager| Self EmployedPretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
My opinion is generally no the PM does not have to be an SME but it sure does help. Also in some domains, it is actually required i.e. I'm thinking about construction where the general requirement is for solid construction background.
The PM's knowledge regarding a specific domain is telling in how pro-active they are. If you have very limited, or no domain knowledge then you cannot take your finger of the pulse for a second. Saving Changes...
Not at all. While to be honest this has been debated lot of times here. That is my personal experience and other people experience. When organizations search for a project manager that must be SME into the domain then are not searching a project manager. They are searching an SME than can make people working in project actitivies. The only domain where project manager must be an SME is into project management domain. Projects never belongs to a specific domain. They are multi-domain always then project manager must be a generalist.
I agree with Sergio. I have worked successfully on projects within a number of industries where I had little to no subject matter expertise to begin with. In my experience, this has worked well because I would not encroach on the SMEs' areas of expertise but would be viewed purely as an expert in project management, which is what I was there to deliver.
I have heard from other PMs who are SME that they sometimes experience some push back from the technical team (IT) because they are no longer 'pure' experts. I have also seen SME PMs getting bogged down in the technical development rather than focusing on the project management processes to the detriment of the project.
However, George Freeman has an excellent point - I have found it extremely useful to build a vocabulary for the specific project domain as quickly as I could. I recently worked on a project related to maternity care, and it was a steep learning curve, but learning new things is one of the aspects I like the most about being a project manager. Saving Changes...
