Srinidhi Rao SGroup Manager| Robosoft Technologies Pvt. Ltd.Udupi, Karnataka, India
Hello All,
I have always received contraditing (rather debatable) answers on advantages/disadvanges of being a Project Manager who is technically knowledgeble. Project Manager with technology or rather programming background.
How does this fit in? Do you think that Technical expertise is going to help the Project Manager with the management or will it provide him the false assuarance that he is making right decisions (which should have been made with his technical experts involvement)?
Saving Changes...
Any knowledge helps, including technical. A tech-savvy PM managing a technical project can detect bad estimates from technical staff, be an extra check during implementation, and provide effective communication with programmers and admins. Non tech-savvy PMs tend to get lost once the technies start blabbing techspeak. If a PM can join in on this babble the techies may have more respect and confidence in their PM. A techie PM can in short provide better IT project oversight than one ignorant in the ways of application development. Again, any knowledge helps. Saving Changes...
Hello,
Only technical experts become/should become PM! His technical knowledge helps him in many ways in managing the project,
a) He will easily know if the team members are telling the truth!
b) He will be able to understand the complexity of the work, based on which he can decide if additional training is required for the resource.
c) He can mentor the team members.
d) He can assist/guide the team members when they are in problem (without giving the solution)!!
There are 'n' number of advantages, provided the PM knows how to contribute his technical expertise and when!! (this is more important). If u start helping team member, just because u know technicall more than him, team members know how to extract work from u!! Then PM will become TM (team member)!!.
Best Regards,
Vivekanandan M Saving Changes...
Jakob Veje HansenIT Project Management Consultant| Veje ConsultAarhus N, Denmark
Hi all,
Just decided to join the discussion :)
That debate has run in my company for some years now. We have those who say that the PM role is the same, no matter if you construct a bridge or develop an IT application. In the perfect world, I'd agree.
But in the real world of IT that I live in, team members' skills are varying, people are removed from the project and new are introduced. Sometimes the PM needs to make decisions on technical subjects, that are out of scope of the architectural boards of the company. I've seen non-technical people arrange 12+ people meetings just because his team stumbled into a problem they did not know how to solve. He had no idea and decided to call in everybody he knew, hoping that someone could shed some light on the subject. Project management is mostly about common sense imho. We plan and follow up on activities that I think we should have a basic understanding of. Else, how do you know what you need to do next week? You could ofcourse rely on company project models and processes, but I believe that the processes should adapt to the project, and not the other way around.
A PM is not just a PM. Some are called PM just for the title, and have no project or team to lead. Some lead a small number of people doing projects or even work with production characteristics.
Some lead big teams working in unknown territory, and even some lead teams of project managers, each with their own team.
So my answer would be, it depends on what kind of PM you are. If you manage a project consisting of several sub-projects, you probably just need little knowledge of the techniques used. If you manage 3 technicians, you probably need to know somewhat more. :) Saving Changes...
Jakob Veje HansenIT Project Management Consultant| Veje ConsultAarhus N, Denmark
Might I add that the way I see it, most projects will finish sometime and to some cost, nomatter how the PM performs. What the PM can make a difference to, is the cost and the delivery date of the project. So how do you measure the skills of the PM? :) Saving Changes...
"If you manage a project consisting of several sub-projects, you probably just need little knowledge of the techniques used. If you manage 3 technicians, you probably need to know somewhat more. :)",
Hello Jakob,
To measure PM performance, EVM SPI is used! If SPI is less that one, PM is not doing his job!! If SPI is greater that 1, the project is ahead of schedule, so greater returns!!
EVM - EARNED VALUE MANAGEMENT
SPI - Schedule Performance Index
We had the same discussion in our company as well. I can only say that it is benefitial to have the correct technical skills. But are there actual any 100% pure IT Projects, are we not doing IT-projects to fullfil a need (requirement) from a user/customer/client?
Therefor I would argue that one of the most important skills for a project manager is to know the core business that (s)he works with. Knowing the business-processes are more important than knowing how to develop or take decisions regarding the architecture.
Johan Beijar
www.project-blog.com Saving Changes...
Jakob Veje HansenIT Project Management Consultant| Veje ConsultAarhus N, Denmark
Vivekanandan,
Thanks for your replies. I assume you by SPI mean: SPI = BCWP/BCWS
The Earned Value SPI is a measurement of the project's actual cost vs. planned cost. That is, does the project team follow the planned road for cost realization.
Surely the PM's performance is one factor of what is being measured, but there are many other factors that influence BCWP, like the other team members performance, a political or complex environment, uncontrollable external events etc. Although the PM is important in a project team, I do not agree that the PM is that central for team performance :)
The SPI only looks at cost spent, and not value created. So your project can burn hours and money without creating value, and the SPI still looks great.
On top of that, BCWS could be set pessimistically low from the start, making it an easy job to keep the function > 1 at all times. Saving Changes...
Jakob Veje HansenIT Project Management Consultant| Veje ConsultAarhus N, Denmark
Johan, I think that is a very good point. Know your customer, and understand the expectations that you and the project are facing. I find that expectations are often found between the lines, and a good knowledge of the customer makes it easier for you to identify the unspoken expectations.
I think the same line of thinking is found in the SCRUM methodology, where the PM contributes with the goals, and the team itself works solves the technical issues. Saving Changes...
The current trend is moving away from the technical project manager and treating IT projects as business initiatives. That said, a project manager that's tech savvy does not mean has he or she is an expert, but that he or she has a basic understanding of the issues. Saving Changes...
