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)?
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This topic has been debated at almost every place in which I have been involved in projects. My observation is that those with the most vocal opinion about the need for a PM to be technically hands-on are those who have not yet fully comprehended the magnitude of the real project management skill set. Several people in this post pointed out that being tech savvy is not the same as being a technical expert. I’ve led many successful large scale technical IT projects. Most of the time, I am managing several significant projects at the same time. I can assure you that the most challenging issues that I have faced as a IT project manager were not in the technical details. So if I were going to spend some time improving myself as a professional project manager, I’d have to ask the question of the audience: Where would my time best be spent?: taking a coding course? or improving my project management skills such as those referenced in PMI’s Project Manager Competency Development Framework? (which Tom W boiled down nicely into the “L” words). Answer that, and I think you’ll have the answer to this debate. Saving Changes...
Selva Saravana PuvananthiranDelivery Lead Senior Manager| Accenture Solutions Private LimitedChennai, Tamil Nadu, India
It is really an interesting thread. After looking at all the responses, I thought about apporaching this question from a different angle. First of all, I agree that if a PM has some technical skills, that would be really helpful. But if I understand the motive of the question correctly, I could smell a TRUST issue between the PM and the project team.
After all, a PM is a LEADER, person responsible for building TRUST among the project team members. A non-techie PM may be worried initially about the team members cheating on the various estimates of the project activities. I understand that if the PM is new to the team, it takes a while to get acquainted with the team. But as time progresses, he should start buiding good positive relationships among team members and start trusting the team.
As we all know, everything in a project team is always mutual. TRUST is also mutual. Once the PM has that trust with his/her team, he/she doesn't need to worry about being a techie or not.
This situation perfectly applies to a technical person progresses in his/her career to be a PM.
I've recently worked with a Senior PM from a highly recognized global company that simply doesn't understand the basic technical aspects of our project. The PM has not taken the opportunity to work with his team members to understand the deliverables and is not asking the right questions to effectively deliver the right solutions in a timely manner. Unfortunately the PM has been regarded as more of a secretary than a leader for the project.
The PM's objective should be to lead his/her team by coaching and asking the right questions at the right time to deliver consistent solutions. Being technically detailed is not a pre-requisite for a strong PM, but having an understanding of the industry and how the technology impacts the business in question is always a plus. Building trust with stakeholders and team members requires the appropriate level of balance of leadership, business knowledge, communication and technical strategy where appropriate.
Try taking a construction PM and placing him/her in charge of a software application project. He/she may excel at leading through the soft skills needed for the project, but will only gain the trust needed to be a superior PM as he/she learns how the technology will impact the business.
As a PM progress in his/her career to lead other PM's and manage programs one should expect to be distanced even further from the technical aspects of the projects which fall within the programs. Strong relationships with PM's and functional managers can play a significant role in how effective programs are for PMO.
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Irwanto TanamasClient Delivery Manager| Dimension DataJakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia
I agree with Magesh, project manager (PM) is a leader with some technical experts working for him. I am a project manager with more than 10 people in my team. On technical side, I am less knowledgeable from my team technical skills. My strength and contribution would be on the project management side and make sure that all the works are compliance with the agreed project management principles, cooperate smoothly with other project stakeholders (partners, steering committees, functional managers, customers, etc)
Yes, I need to know some basic knowledge on the technical aspects but it would not be deep, only necessary to calculate the mandays, costs, and estimate the project duration and project resources (human resources and tools required).
Along the way, TRUST will be built between PM and project team member or between manager and his subordinates, PM / manager should listen to his/her team which are technical experts.
Sooner or later, PM will get the required knowledge to deliver the project outcome and talk easily with project team members.
Hope it helps.
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arlene trimbleAssistant IT Director| Local GovernmentAlamo, Ca, United States
I totally agree that the Project Manager's role is totally different - 3L's (listen, learn, lead) and should not be confused with a Technical Lead role.
A Project Manager is a coach with big picture view of the whole environment and if he/she assumes a specialist role, it will be difficult for him to see this big picture .
You see the coach looking at the whole field all the time when a game is in progress. The coaches are not playing on the field themselves. When I watched a Disney parade, I saw the parade's Project Manager who was totally focus on what is going on with the parade (people, tools, audience, etc.) and this PM did not participate as a character at all. Someone has to be on the lookout for the team.
In all projects, the roles and responsibilities need to be spelled out upfront so that there is no role confusion and everybody would know their deliverables. There needs to be a working agreement also among team members. Trust is important in all projects.
