Stéphane ParentSelf Employed / Semi-retired| Leader MakerPrince Edward Island, Canada
The level of industry knowledge required depends on your projects. The bigger the project, the less industry knowledge you need on the project (although you may need it to be selected). Saving Changes...
Latha Thamma reddiSr Product and Portfolio Management (Automation Innovation)| DXC TechnologyMckinney, Tx, United States
Yes, Technical, functional and managing required to deliver projects and understand requirements and toll and technologies using. Saving Changes...
Sergio Luis ConteHelping to create solutions for everyone| Worldwide based OrganizationsBuenos Aires, Argentina
In the past, there was lot of debates about this topic. My position is it is not needed. In fact, myself and lot of other have been worked as project/program management in lot of different domains. BUT the point here is: something mostly forgotten for some project/program managers is that, when you are assigned to an initiative, you have to perform elicitation tasks to get knowledge about the domain: process, stakeholders, way of working between others. In fact, you can find inside the CMU SEI a process about to run the needed preparation before you start. It is not good to start "in blank". Saving Changes...
Thomas WalentaGlobal Project Economy ExpertHackenheim, Germany
It depends on your project and on yourself.
I would widely agree with Sergio here.
PM is primarily a people business, so technical knowledge takes a backseat. If you cannot lead your team, your customer, your management, no technical savviness will safe you, on the contrary.
My own story is that I left technical knowledge behind (SW development, System engineering) when I decided to pursue a career as PM. I was lucky to serve customers in a variety of industries, each with its own standards and culture. It helps to find out about the essence of PM.
And many times I saw a good technical expert being promoted to PM and fail. Because they still can answer technical questions and do not see the need to hire and build new experts. In crisis time, they are overloaded.
Well, in small projects, e.g. up to 8 FTEs, the PM may take 2 roles, but the PM role must prevail.
