How Technical Must a Project Manager Be?

The project manager who is not sufficiently technical in his chosen industry can expect to experience a serious handicap.

by Neal Whitten, PMP, Contributing Editor

THE SINGLE MOST INFLUENTIAL person on a project is the project manager. The project manager is ultimately accountable for the successful planning and execution of the project. In this lead capacity, the project manager works with the troops in the trenches-where the real day-to-day work is performed. The leadership exhibited by the project manager will more directly influence and impact more people than any other position … and can profoundly impact the outcome of the project.
As more individuals, organizations, companies, and institutions turn on to the great benefits of adopting project management practices, more people are being placed in project leadership positions without sufficient technical training, mentoring, or experience. A question increasingly being asked today is, "How technical must a project manager be to be sufficiently effective?"
What do I mean by technical? If a project manager is well versed and experienced in the application of project management principles, yet is relatively new to the industry (software development, shipbuilding, commercial construction, aircraft development, for example) where the principles will be applied, the project manager can expect to experience a serious handicap. The project manager will have difficulty with the terminology, the technology, and knowing when and what questions to ask and sufficiently being able to understand the responses. Can the project manager learn? Yes. Can the project manager be highly effective on his first project with this technical handicap? Not likely!
Let's look at an example: I sometimes ask the participants of software project management classes that I conduct if they think that I would be an effective project manager of a project building the next generation of commercial aircraft. The class participants know that I have 30 years of experience in software development, project management, and leadership assignments. They assume that I am proficient in project management, having, to date, written four books related to the subject. Most participants usually respond, yes, that I would be a good project manager candidate. I would not be a good candidate!
You don't have to be the smartest, most technically knowledgeable person on the project to be the project manager. You do, however, have to have the knowledge, skills, and experience to be able to recognize when problems surface or potential problems are looming. You must be able to articulate those problems, bring the right people together to solve those problems, and know when the problem has been properly addressed and closed-all this with the proper sense of urgency that the problem requires. With essentially no experience in building aircraft, I would make costly mistakes that an experienced aircraft-related project manager easily would have avoided.
Let's look at another, but more pervasive, example: Picture a person who is relatively new to both the project management profession and to a discipline, say, software development. Would that person be an effective project manager of her first software development project, particularly one of a respectable size? No! Why? Because, in addition to having weak project management skills, that person would not understand the terminology and technology being employed on the project, such as … What is a reasonable software development process to follow? What are reasonable productivity rates for performing design, code, test, and documentation work? How important are design and code reviews? What testing is essential to perform? … You get the idea.

A PROJECT MANAGER, in addition to having a workable grasp of project management concepts, must also be astute in the technical aspects of the discipline within which these concepts must be employed. If the project manager is not sufficiently technical, then you can expect cost, schedule, quality, and functional problems to occur that would otherwise have been avoided or reduced in magnitude. Training, mentoring, and evolving experience can help a project manager gain the necessary technical skill to be effective. How technical are you?

Author's note: The project manager must be sufficiently technical. This requirement, however, is far from being highly technical or being the most technical person on the project. It is more a matter of having a sufficient level of domain knowledge regarding terminology and technology that the project engulfs. It also is a matter of demonstrating the leadership to draw upon the technical knowledge and skills from across the project's membership when needed.

Neal Whitten, PMP, president of The Neal Whitten Group (www.nealwhittengroup.com), is a speaker, trainer, consultant, mentor, and author in project management and employee development. His books include The EnterPrize Organization: Organizing Software Projects for Accountability and Success and Managing Software Development Projects: Formula for Success.

This material is reprinted from PM Network magazine (March 2000) with permission of the Project Management Institute Headquarters, Four Campus Boulevard, Newtown Square, PA 19073-2399 USA. Phone: (610) 356-4600. Fax: (610) 356-4647. Project Management Institute (PMI) is the world's leading project management association with over 50,000 members worldwide. For further information, contact PMI Headquarters at (610) 356-4600 or visit the web site at www.pmi.org. "PMI" and "PM Network" are trademarks of the Project Management Institute, Inc. © 2000 Project Management Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.

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