| | September 20158CIOReviewIn project management and business circles, there is a fierce debate that never seems to go away. The question is, do you need technical know-how to successfully manage technology projects? Or are great project management and leader-ship skills enough to drive project suc-cess?It is common for leaders in the technical project management arena to argue that when a project manager (PM) has experience as a programmer, systems analyst or other IT SME, they more quickly gain the respect of their team and can even jump in to help with a few tasks themselves in a pinch. Those are logical ideas, but those ideas are short sighted.As the Director of a large project management team focusing primarily on technology projects, I make hiring decisions and determinations on which project manager to assign to which project all the time. In the past, I approached these decisions through a series of questions on the project manager's fit: First, do they have experience with the platform or technology specific to the project so they will be taken seriously by the team? Second, do they have a proven ability to manage scope, identify risks and apply other PM fundamentals? Finally, do they have the ability to manage and lead the diverse set of stakeholders they are sure to encounter on technology projects? Although I considered all three skills critical, I was overemphasizing technical skills. If the person didn't have exposure to the technology the project focused on, I would often pass on them.Then things changed rather quickly. The types of projects we were being asked to manage became much more varied. From cloud-based implementations, to mobile app development, to analytics tool implementations ­ all of these in addition to "old-fashion" web development projects ­ the landscape was changing at a faster pace than ever. Then it picked up a few more notches. Faced with more diverse project types than we were equipped to handle, I realized that putting too much weight on a project manager's technical knowledge left me looking for that rare, one in a hundred individual with specific technical experience who could also truly lead a team. I was always looking for the project management unicorn. This was not a sustainable path.Simply put, I used to believe a certain level of technical experience was required for a project manager to effectively lead a technology project. I no longer believe that is true. While strong PM fundamentals such as an ability to write and manage to a quality project scope are a requirement, it's the people who have clear leadership skills that we need to put in charge of our technical projects and not get hung up on that person's technical background.For those of you who still abide by the idea that project managers must be highly technical, I am sure you are looking for the nearest comment box to post your dissenting viewpoint. Before you do that, let me share the moment I truly realized technology teams don't respect a Technology Project Managers Don't Need to be TechnicalBy Ned Johnson,SVP, Director, Project Management, Team Detroitopinionin my
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