Project Manager Skills

Apart from soft and hard skills that a Project Manager should be adequately proficient with,he should be capable to lead the project team and the stakeholders from the front as the Captain/Commander of the ship.

I agree with Sachin's points 1 and 3. We disagree on #2 as I believe this both dilutes and biases the PM's ability to rationally execute #3.

Sorry Sachin, but from what I've seen, requiring a PM to have technical understanding of the project at hand is one of the greatest misconceptions of sponsors and hiring manages and one of the leading causes of persistent project failures. And the larger the project the more serious this misconception becomes.

I agree with Satish about problem solving skills.

But I want to add a very important skill, maybe the most important skill in my opinion: Negociation skills

The most important skill a PM has to have is communication - both written and verbal. If you don't have the ability to communicate well, to a broad range of audiences at different levels within (and external to) your organization, you will have an uphill battle.

Hi Cris,

Had to think about your response. Initially, I would have to disagree. Without a technical understanding of the processes required to create the deliverables, how would you be able to identify potential issues (or risks, for that matter)? Furthermore, in my opinion, having that technical understanding can be beneficial when trying to identify resolutions.

I have heard the adage that a good PM can manage a project in any field, but I'm not sure I agree that having experience in a specific field dilutes a PM's ability to resolve an issue.

Not trying to be argumentative, but was hoping you could elaborate?