Every IT-project starts with a crucial decision: the choice for the right project manager. After all, the person in charge of leading the project from beginning til end will play an important role in its success. But how do you find that individual with the perfect set of skills?
Choosing the right person from a wide range of project managers remains a challenging task for many organizations. The collaboration between the project manager, the team and the project’s unique requirements is essential to its success. Effectively overseeing a team consisting of both in-house and external experts requires a skillful leader, capable of aligning diverse talents toward a common goal. I am regularly involved in the selection of a new project manager and often see the same question arise: do we choose a technical or rather a more business-oriented project manager?
Since our background and focus is IT Infrastructure, I naturally rely on the knowledge I have gained there. I have seen several projects successfully delivered by both technical and business project leaders, no doubt. The job of a PM consists of numerous challenges. Throughout a project’s life cycle, he or she must communicate with all stakeholders, tackle various problems, and mitigate risks while at the same time accomplishing tasks that sometimes seem impossible. The PM needs to be able to handle them while at the same time keeping the team motivated.
To choose the right profile involves a couple of questions:
- What does the project involve?
- What is the nature of the project?
- How (technically) complex is the project?
- Who is sponsoring the project?
Benefits of the technical PM
Let’s first focus on the benefits of having a technical project manager. He or she is likely to possess a more comprehensive understanding of the technical aspects of the project, which is particularly crucial for technically complex projects.
In case your project becomes stalled due to unforeseen technical challenges, a technical PM can be immensely valuable in bringing together the right expertise and mediating between teams to come to a solution. Essentially, he or she also has a keen sense of identifying the team’s potential shortcomings of technical knowledge that would affect the timely completion of a deliverable.
But it’s more than just anticipating on technical problems. Understanding the different aspects of a technical design helps to estimate how complex the team’s workload is and to plan realistically. There are often so many details to take into account that without the necessary background, some elements may be overlooked. Just think of all the security requirements and the integration or relation with different IT systems impacted by your project.
Last but not least, a project is only complete once it is documented and successfully handed over to the operational teams that support the service delivered. The closer the relationship with these teams and the better the understanding of their specific requirements, the smoother the handover will be.
Benefits of the business PM
So aren’t there any downsides to choosing a technical PM? Of course there are. Many times I’ve seen technical project managers get lost in discussing the nitty-gritty details. Not only does this cost a lot of time and money, it also poses a risk from a stakeholder perspective, as many stakeholders are not interested in technical jargon nor the details.
This is where the added value of a project manager with a business background comes in. In my experience, business-oriented PM’s are more likely to look at the strategic interests of a project and tend to have a more holistic approach. This allows them to ensure that IT projects are more strategically aligned with the organization’s long-term goals and focus more on prioritizing projects that deliver value to the business, rather than focusing on perfecting the details.
Striving for perfection sounds great, but is something to be so very careful with. Of course, a project should be delivered as expected, but an excessive hang toward technical perfection costs a lot of time and money. As a result, a project can quickly miss its target.
Conclusion:
So, should you choose a technical or business-oriented PM? As you’ve seen, the process of selecting the right project manager involves a comprehensive evaluation of numerous factors.
Ultimately, the choice between technical and business project managers should be guided by the nature of the project, the target audience, and organizational objectives. Both profiles bring unique strengths to the table. A well-informed decision will lead to a smoother project execution and successful outcomes.
Technical project managers bring in-depth knowledge, crucial for handling technical complex projects and overcoming technical challenges end to end. On the other hand, business-oriented project managers prioritize strategic alignment with organizational goals, ensuring projects deliver tangible business value.
As a final note, in addition to the background or expertise of the project manager, the chosen methodology is just as important. The decision between an Agile or a Waterfall approach is of great importance and should be in the PM’s comfort zone.
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