Team management. "Being a good leader means that you do not only oversee and coordinate tasks and processes as a manager, but also outline the vision and define the road map, motivate and encourage," says Tatiana Danielyan, deputy director of R&D at ABBYY, which provides document recognition, data capture and language processing software. Using the paradigm of “user stories” from, Today’s IT projects can involve personnel from around the globe. The PM needs to be familiar with recent IT platforms and methodologies in use and understand how this project is going to meet company needs. Acceptance testing is one way to accomplish this. “As a PM, your task is to make sure processes run smoothly and are in line with the common goals,” says Danielyan. Project management is a leadership role, not a source of rigidity. Agile software development has shown that rigid structures can be replaced with clear but responsive iterative processes. Especially valuable PMs with problem solving skills can step back and look at the big picture, finding a creative solution to intractable complication. Is the infrastructure expandable? They will bargain for certain resources and manpower. “The great PM is always on the lookout for risk – and how to mitigate that risk. Copyright © 2017 IDG Communications, Inc. IT Consulting & Project Management Services, The Top 10 Skills IT Project Managers Need, in IT live in a world of esoteric technologies, constant change and difficulty providing a value proposition to management. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service. might affect future directions can help to advocate for the project with management at important times. In this IT Trend Report, you will learn more about why chatbots are gaining traction within businesses, particularly while a pandemic is impacting the world. While this can happen, the problem really presents an exercise in discipline for the PM to know when to stop contributing to the technical challenges and instead focus on the bigger picture of keeping the project on course and on/under budget. After reviewing our list, we'd love to hear your opinion on skills you find valuable to IT project managers -- or if you have stories of projects that have successful/unsuccessful due to a PM's skillset. In a well-run project, there shouldn’t be a surprise. Yet, with even a rudimentary level of modern infrastructure IT skills, an IT project manager can understand big picture concepts and better anticipate potential roadblocks from a technical viewpoint. How Can Outsourced IT Support Services Help Your Company with its Technology Roadmap? There are enough moving targets in, to guide the project even as resource shortages, standards changes, infrastructure issues, personnel availability and company goals make it difficult to keep promises to management. Copyright © 2020 Informa PLC Informa UK Limited is a company registered in England and Wales with company number 1072954 whose registered office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG. 11/19/2020, Cynthia Harvey, Freelance Journalist, InformationWeek, This is making projects far more difficult to conceptualize. Negotiation: Project managers will negotiate with clients on an appropriate schedule and scope of work. “There is a limit to the amount of stuff our minds can process, a.k.a. However, if a PM focuses on the area of information technology, sometimes it takes a bit … In the world of project management (PM), universal traits such as communication, organization and negotiation skills are absolute requirements to be successful. To be an effective project manager, one who can keep projects and the team on track, takes more than technical know-how. The PM can act as a subject matter expert in a valuable process and welcome process questions. Subscribe to access expert insight on business technology - in an ad-free environment. This not only benefits the organization utilizing the combined skills, it creates a higher demand for those that possess both traditional project management and technical skills. These types of communication skills encourage IT personnel to go the extra mile in return. Are there unanticipated delivery issues such as power requirements, regulatory issues or technical compatibility? You need to always be ten steps ahead to quickly and efficiently achieve the desired outcome – or deal with a challenge if needed.". They need this ... 2. One of the key resources that PMs manage as part of an IT project is senior management goodwill and support for what is likely to be an expensive, difficult-to-understand company resource.