Hi fellow PMs Hope you are having a great week! I have been a silent member of this site since many years and i felt like asking this question: How does one succeed as a PM in a technical team. I have been a QA earlier & have good understanding of development technologies but haven't been a developer.I have moved on to PM and working in a junior-mid level PM role.My question is : Is it is possible for a PM to be successful if hes not very technical, in a very technical team of developers & Architects. Please share your thoughts & suggestions on what should be his/her approach to be successful.
While a PM shouldn't necessarily have held all the roles on a delivery team, they do need to have "sufficient" domain expertise to be able to ask the right types of questions, be aware of common risks, and so on.
For the most part, if you can "talk the tech talk" with key stakeholders, what's more important is that you are seen as helping the team by removing impediments, facilitating recognition at the team and individual level and inspiring a higher level of motivation by helping them feel they have autonomy, are gaining mastery and are able to align the purpose of the work they are doing to a higher objective for themselves and the company.
While I've written a fair bit of code on the side as a "hobbyist" programmer, I've never been a professional developer but was in the IT operations/systems management domain for the first few years of my career. I've never felt that lack of hands-on development experience has been a barrier to my being able to help my team succeed.
In order to manage or lead a technical team being a technical expert in a relevant line of work is a must as the leader must make technical decisions.
Many companies, especially in IT, don't expect their PMs to manage or lead the technical teams, at least not at the technical level. IT companies have lead developers, architects, functional managers and other senior SMEs who lead the technical experts.
In order to be successful in such a circumstance you must accept the idea that you are not in charge of the technical team and must be comfortable in leading a project when you are not in control of the work that is being done and the people that are doing the work.
If you are a control freak who wants to understand in details the work that is being done and who wants to make work related decisions then you would most likely fail and frustrate yourself and the people you work with. You must be able to let go an let the experts and their leaders make the relevant decisions.
The success of a project involves many other things in addition to the actual work. You should focus on these things and on your stakeholders.
When it comes to working with the team you must have the mindset of a facilitator rather than that of a decision maker as obviously you don't have the knowledge and the experience to make technical decisions. You can be successful in facilitating the decision making process and managing the project as a process. Saving Changes...
Thanks so much Adrian for your valuable suggestions!! :) I will keep them in mind. Saving Changes...
Casey DayAuthor | thevideogameproducer.comSan Diego, Ca, United States
Kiron and Adrian had wonderful responses. I hope one day I can craft my thoughts like you two do. I'll keep working on it :)
I think if you are lucky enough to get a chance to be a Technical PM and are unsure of your abilities, it's still a great opportunity for learning. My first job as a project manager was at a tech agency working on websites. Very basic CMS websites with template designs, and the work was easy to understand.
After that job I got an opportunity to work at a video game studio on their online services team. They were a python heavy technical team, while my previous teams were doing simple code changes before. I wasn't sure how I would preform in that type of environment, but either way I made it through the interview so I had to try.
In every meeting I went to I made sure to take notes in anything I didn't understand. After those meetings I went back to my desk to look them up to try to memorize them. If they were complex concepts, I made a note to look them up when I got home, and took the extra time to really try to understand them.
I wasn't the ideal candidate off the bat, but I tried hard and they appreciated the work I did. In the end I learned so much that I could easily explain to stakeholders technical issues or limitations on future features with our systems.
So, if anything, I hope my story gives you hope that it is do-able. That being said, remember to be honest if you don't know things. Always ask for help if you need it. Help your team any chance you get.
Thanks Casey for the detailed suggestions & tips on what helped you,appreciate your response!! I'm already doing some of them & will work on the other tips you guys provided. Saving Changes...
Deepesh RammoorthyICT Project Manager ( PMP®AgilePM®Certified ScrumMaster® (CSM®))| Australian Red Cross Blood ServiceTarneit, Vic, Australia
I think "George Freeman" summarized his view in a different thread quite beautifully
The essence is that you must have a good understanding of the architectural pieces . A high level understanding of how your technical pieces of the solution hang together.
You should be able to understand the technical landscape, the product and solution road-map, the business case and how the solution caters to the vision and problem statement and be able to translate the "tech speak" from your delivery team to "non tech speak" to your stakeholders.
The best approach is to be a Servant leader and let your technical lead / Solution Architect do the run around with the best approach to implement the solution , while you manage the other important aspects of the project like Risk, budget, communication , stakeholder engagement , scope and schedule.
Be the enabler and remove road-blocks from your team's way and let them decide the optimum approach as long as they align to Scope and Schedule as agreed with you.
Encourage prompt escalation to yourself and be approachable at all times.
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2 replies by Adrian Carlogea and R S
Dec 18, 2019 12:56 PM
R S
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Very good points there Deepesh..i agree to the idea that the first thing is to get a good idea of the technical architecture/landscape for the project and also servant leader who is in charge of facilitating the project.
Thanks!!
Dec 19, 2019 1:43 PM
Adrian Carlogea
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"The best approach is to be a Servant leader and let your technical lead / Solution Architect do the run around with the best approach to implement the solution [...]"
This is not just the best approach it is the only approach as you really have no other choices. If you don't have the required technical knowledge you can't provide technical direction to the team.
In some companies/projects the PMs only deal directly with the technical lead(s) and do not even interact on a regular basis with the other team members. At the beginning of my career I worked as a junior software developer on a project and I have never seen the PM, not even once. She was dealing directly only with the lead developer.
As you said there are many other important aspects of the project and as a PM with no technical background you should focus on those and you can be successful at it. The fact that the team is highly technical should not be a problem if you can see it as a black box. You don't have to understand how the box is working.
On the other hand if you don't have relevant technical background, while you can be successful overall, you can't be fully in control of the project as managing the technical aspects is a key aspect of the project and you can't manage this aspect. So there are limitations in this case that you should be aware of.
Saving Changes...
Eric SimmsSenior Program ManagerBaltimore, Maryland, United States
I'm in the situation you describe - I'm an IT Project Manager with no technical skill who works with highly technical Engineers.
You don't need to be technical to successfully manage a highly technical team and gain their respect (I've never written code and couldn't stand up a VM if my life depended on it). However, you *must* have a very detailed functional understanding of what technology does. Without this you won't be able to have intelligent discussions with your technical team or even understand what they're talking about, and this will cause them to dismiss you as a useless, bureaucratic burden.
You can begin gaining technical understanding by simply reading various technical books in the ‘For Dummies’ series. You can then earn various technical certifications – technical people respect certifications, and they go a long way to demonstrating that you’re putting effort into understanding technical matters. I’m currently pursuing my CompTIA Security+ certification so I can better work with cybersecurity Engineers, for example. In my experience when technical people see a non-technical Project Manager putting in honest effort to learn, they are very willing to support that person.
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1 reply by R S
Dec 18, 2019 12:58 PM
R S
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Hi Eric.. very good suggestions here as well..will keep these in mind & work on them!! Thankyou!
I think "George Freeman" summarized his view in a different thread quite beautifully
The essence is that you must have a good understanding of the architectural pieces . A high level understanding of how your technical pieces of the solution hang together.
You should be able to understand the technical landscape, the product and solution road-map, the business case and how the solution caters to the vision and problem statement and be able to translate the "tech speak" from your delivery team to "non tech speak" to your stakeholders.
The best approach is to be a Servant leader and let your technical lead / Solution Architect do the run around with the best approach to implement the solution , while you manage the other important aspects of the project like Risk, budget, communication , stakeholder engagement , scope and schedule.
Be the enabler and remove road-blocks from your team's way and let them decide the optimum approach as long as they align to Scope and Schedule as agreed with you.
Encourage prompt escalation to yourself and be approachable at all times.
Very good points there Deepesh..i agree to the idea that the first thing is to get a good idea of the technical architecture/landscape for the project and also servant leader who is in charge of facilitating the project.
Thanks!! Saving Changes...
I'm in the situation you describe - I'm an IT Project Manager with no technical skill who works with highly technical Engineers.
You don't need to be technical to successfully manage a highly technical team and gain their respect (I've never written code and couldn't stand up a VM if my life depended on it). However, you *must* have a very detailed functional understanding of what technology does. Without this you won't be able to have intelligent discussions with your technical team or even understand what they're talking about, and this will cause them to dismiss you as a useless, bureaucratic burden.
You can begin gaining technical understanding by simply reading various technical books in the ‘For Dummies’ series. You can then earn various technical certifications – technical people respect certifications, and they go a long way to demonstrating that you’re putting effort into understanding technical matters. I’m currently pursuing my CompTIA Security+ certification so I can better work with cybersecurity Engineers, for example. In my experience when technical people see a non-technical Project Manager putting in honest effort to learn, they are very willing to support that person.
Hi Eric.. very good suggestions here as well..will keep these in mind & work on them!! Thankyou! Saving Changes...
