Field knowledge V.S Project management knowledge

Rami,
I think we are on the same page as well, so it makes complete sense to me. :-)

I caution people about this because I have seen people take a new job, and panic leads to their resignation when they find that they lack in one of many knowledge areas. Some people also pay for a lot of courses in the technical details and find they never use them. Plus if you become and expert, and the job changes, you either need to gain relevant skills again, or seek a new job.

I sometimes have to coach newer PMs on this subject. Some of them think they should just collect and present raw data but not interpret it. Others do their homework, and ask lots of questions (sometimes to the point of being frustrating), so that they can distinguish between what is important, and what is just noise in the data.

Keith

"How much of the technical decision making needs to be the responsibility of the PM? In many "

Obviously this depends on the technical background of the PM. If your PM has limited or no technical knowledge in the project's domain (very common in IT) then it is common sense that you can't give him any such responsibility. So zero responsibility in this case. :)

" In many places, the PM works closely with some technical principal. That is delegated authority based the capabilities of the individual given the authority. "

Obviously when you can't manage a team because you lack the domain knowledge you need someone that can do this.

However there is no delegation here. Delegation is when you have the ability to do something but you choose not to do it and ask someone else to do it on your behalf. You can't delegate something you can't do yourself.

A PM with no technical background can't make technical decisions and and as such he can't delegate something that he is unable to do himself.

The "Principal" does not need any delegation from the PM or from someones else to do his job. His knowledge and the simple fact that he was assigned to the project for his knowledge authorize him to make the decisions in his area of responsibility.

Delegation is about choice but in such a case the PM has no choice. The "Principal" would make the technical decision no matter what the PM thinks about this. At most the PM can try to replace the principal without someone else, of course if he was delegate such an authority from the sponsor. :) If not he can just take notes on what the principal is doing. :P

Zaid

Kiron and George's feedback are spot on and there is nothing much for me to add but I can give you a piece of advice regarding how you can learn to moderate, collaborate and challenge:

Those specific skills comes with experience and only with experience. You can certainly read a guide of the most effective and efficient ways to do so but you will benefit most if you do it yourself, learn, inspect and adapt because while the basics are the same, everyone is different.

You have a good solid educational background so you need to give yourself time to gain some practical experience in this field. Certifications at this point won't help you much but knowledge of your domain will so now it's your time to learn so in the near future you can combine this experience with your solid educational background and start leading the way yourself.

Good Luck.

RK

@Zaid

Gaining actual knowledge in the field where you manage your projects definitely help. For the field of software engineering, google "SWEBOK Certificate Program" to learn about it.

But don't you think that the SWEBOK a bit detailed which it is designed for high level experienced software engineers ?

But don't you think that the SWEBOK a bit detailed which it is designed for high level experienced software engineers ?

True :), Thank you sir.

"I caution people about this because I have seen people take a new job, and panic leads to their resignation when they find that they lack in one of many knowledge areas."

I can imagine that, probably they panic because they realize that they have no control over what's happening in the project. If you haven't worked as a specialist on similar projects and you are put "in charge" you are always going to have a handicap. It will get better over time but you will never end up to being in charge.

Still you can bring value by focusing solely on the aspects on which you are really competent and hope that the team members would make the right decisions. A project is not all about doing the actual work am making technical decisions. There are a lot of other things that have to resolved and which are not directly related to the actual work.

Adrian

You gave me an idea for an article: From Projects to Battles.

As I mentioned to Keith, we are on the same page, I do not disagree with you at all but on a side note: A police officer can't lead a military army because he knows how to use the gun, this is not the technical knowledge or experience required. The technical experience required in this case is battle tactics :D

No offense to all the great police officers over the world but lets be realistic. You need to have the mininum technical knowledge about the right thing, not anything.

RK

in this case we have to remove the word '' PM '' because he/she in this situation not a project manager at all :(