I was reading and an issue of InformationWeek from a July 2012 issue when the idea for this article came to mind. And it’s a topic I’ve sort of covered before….the idea or concept of managing resources in the tech world and how important – or unimportant – our own technical background is for actually doing this successfully.
The skills transfer
I’ll be the first to admit that I think project management is project management. It may not absolutely mean that if you are a technical project manager that you can step in and manage a construction project successfully. Not at all. And you may not be as successful managing your first construction project as, say, an experienced construction worker who has no PM experience would be. In fact, I’m pretty sure you wouldn’t be as successful. But the skills and experience are, I believe, somewhat transferable. And you will experience some success more quickly and have much of the leadership, decision-making, communication, and organizational skills that you need as a basis for PM success in any industry. You can’t take that away.
Tech-savvy = qualified?
On to the article. It was an advice article containing a response to a letter from a 54-yr-old, self-proclaimed “tech-savvy” leader in his packaging industry world wondering what he needed to do in order to obtain a CIO role. His letter sounded good, until you read the response from the article’s author, John McGreavy. Mr. McGreavy did a great job in picking apart the shortcomings. Tech-savvy doesn’t mean you come from a solid tech background – and the letter writer did not. It means you’re ‘familiar.’ It also means that the tech resources you manage will discover that early on and at worse eat you alive. At best, they won’t take you seriously, they won’t value your leadership or respect your authority. In short, as their leader, life may be tough…and short.
The technical project manager
I believe the same goes for technical project management. I’m not saying I’m the best project manager in the world – far from it. Nor am I the most experienced technical resource and nor was I the best developer when I was a hands-on application developer. Again, far from it – or I probably would still want to be doing it (programming, I mean). But bringing the technical background to the engagement when managing a technical team certainly helps. Estimating work is easier. Identifying necessary tasks in the project schedule that you share collaboratively with your team using a tool like Seavus’ Project Viewer is easier. Working with your team to identify issues and risks is easier. Understanding and making assumptions, decisions, choices, and plans is easier. Conveying meaningful information to your project customer is easier as well. And gaining the respect and confidence of your project team is easier. I’ve seen project managers struggle trying to effectively manage technical resources and account for project status to their executive management team – and that has usually been project managers who did not come from a technical background.