This is an interesting one. Project managers come in all shapes and sizes. The flat-out ‘manage the project’ project managers who sort out the tasks and track, track, track. That’s one extreme. Heads down task management, basically. The other end of the extreme is the software or website developer who is filling two roles…probably one effectively and one so-so effectively…as developer and PM. This is often in very small organizations or in companies with no formal PM practice setup. And of course, there is just about everything in between.
I, myself, like to be a little hands-on, but beyond that I am probably dangerous. I come from a background of application development with some software development manager experience tossed in as well. So I can definitely be taken seriously in the technical project management arena, but you don’t want me actually working on the development and configuration of your end solution…that’s what the real technical resources are for.
I’ve watched project managers with absolutely no technical background try to manage technical projects. They are fine with the project scheduling aspect and the customer-facing role. In fact, they often excel at it. But where they lose ground and suffer repeatedly is in managing the technical resources and keeping them focused on the right tasks, being part of the technical solution decision process, and gaining the respect and following of a team of highly skilled developers. Likewise, developing and checking technical estimates for things like change orders and requirements become very laborious for them…often to the point of frustration and failure.
Likewise, I’ve seen developers try to take on the full role of project manager only to become frustrated with what they consider to be the mundane tasks of the engagement. Managing the project schedule and collaboration with a tool like Seavus’ Project Viewer is just not second nature to them and those overhead tasks often take an extreme toll on them through the project. The customer may end up not getting as much communication and touchy-feely warm fuzzies from them and can often become dissatisfied and disengaged.