What tools, techniques and issues do you face as a telecommunications project manager? What leadership techniques make you successful in this field of project management? Saving Changes...
Coming from the telecommunications field myself and having worked with many PMs in this specialized field, I would say that telecommunications PMs tend to use empathy, team-building and their overall competance in the field (posessing a high level of technical expertise) as their primary leadership techniques while working on projects. Many PMs in this field tend to become closer with their teams, especially the technical members. I think that this is mainly due to the fact that most of the PMs in this field started off being a technical resource of some sort and somewhere in their career, they became a PM... either by necessity or by choice.
Being a member of a technical team forces you to become very close with the other members of your technical team and build very close relationships with them due to the long hours and many tiring and trying situations that they endure together. This is how very tight nit teams are developed. Spending that much time with anyone, especially people that you are in the proverbial "trenches" with time after time tends to create very close nit bonds and tends to make one more empathetic with the team members during a project because you have been in their shoes and know what they are going through in order to get the project wrapped up for you.
Also, by having this high level of technical expertise most a natural level a respect is established between the PM and the technical team members that is usually hard to acquire. Technical team members tend to not be so trusting or willing to go the extra mile for anyone whom they dont think has been where they have been and done what they have done. This can sometimes cause issues on projects but when this respect is earned like it is with the technical PM, these team members ordinarily tend to do and give more on each project. Saving Changes...
Daniel:
This is a great point of view that I also share. PM should always take advantage of building those relationships. In a small, medium or large company you may work with the same team members on different projects so it's beneficial to develop core skills to work with your technical team and stakeholders. Any other thoughts? Saving Changes...
