Project managers handle the implementation and completion of a project, the successful management of these projects requires technical skills. Developing technical skills can be an advantage to succeeding as a project manager. In this article, we will discuss who a project manager is, the importance of technical skills to project managers, and the top 10 technical skills for project managers.
Planning projects, assessing risks and opportunities, creating budgets, communicating with stakeholders, and troubleshooting problems are all key responsibilities of a project manager. To succeed in doing these, you need to have some basic technical skills to be able to drive your projects across the finish line.
Who Is A Project Manager?
A project manager handles the responsibility of planning and organizing projects that goes according to the budgets and deadlines. They are involved in projects from start to finish, and well manage the team involved in the project.
Project managers are first point of contact for any issues before the problem gets to higher authorities. They not only participates in the activities that produce the result, but also strive to maintain the progress and reduce the risk of overall failure, maximize benefits, and minimize costs of the project.
Importance Of Technical Skills To Project Managers
Technical skills are of importance to project managers because in the course of the work they would have to navigate and oversee all aspects of the projects. Recruiters basically look for project managers with valuable and relevant technical skills.
Project managers uses unique tools set, knowledge and techniques for managing projects. Understanding and applying the unique project management tools and techniques are not sufficient alone for effective project management. Effective project management of the 21st Century requires understanding and appropriate use of the knowledge and skills from different areas of expertise.
As a project manager, having some level of technical understanding is essential. You need to be able to understand and translate the business needs of your employer to your team and likewise make the business aware of the risk involved.
Project managers don’t necessarily need to be techie but they need to understand the technical know-how of the technologies used in the project.
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Soft Skills Project Managers
Soft skills are abilities that relate to how you work and interact with other people. Commonly noted soft skills include communication, teamwork and other interpersonal skills. In addition to these, there are other soft skills every project manager need for effective delivery of the responsibilities attached to the office. These include:
- Risk Assessment
- Negotiation
- Collaboration
- Time Management
- Decision Making
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Creative Thinking
Top Technical Skills For Project Managers
Here is a list of the Top Technical Skills every project manager should have:
- Research Skills
- Knowledge Of Regulations
- Risk management
- Control Management
- Knowledge Of Infrastructure
- Project Budgeting
- Monitoring And Evaluation
- Technical Writing
- Knowledge Of Technology
- Time Management
- Knowledge Of Communication Tools
- Leadership
- Team Management
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1. Research Skills
For proper understanding of every aspect of the project, project managers needs to be able to do proper research. This research could be to review current or past project documents. Adequate and effective research is important for the project’s success.
2. Knowledge Of Regulations
Project managers needs extensive knowledge of the different regulations and policies. You need to understand the capacity within which you can operate to be able to prevent or solve issues more quickly.
3. Risk Management
Risk management is one of the basic technical skills for project managers. Project managers needs to be prepared to take significant risks. Risk management requires project managers to predict and determine the probability of a risk occurring as well as the the outcome and the mitigation plans.
4. Contract Management
It’s important to prepare a contract when developing new projects for clients, you need to have basic knowledge of the legal implications of the project and the risk assessments involved.
5. Knowledge of IT infrastructure
With an extensive knowledge of IT systems, project managers can predict desirable outcomes for projects and align them with company values. Knowledge of IT infrastructure also helps the project manager communicate with the IT department or other IT experts effectively.
6. Project Budgeting
Project managers needs to be able to manage budgets and finances to successfully complete the projects. They are required to create a budgets, identify funding sources and reduce project cost as well as track expenses and costs to keep the project on track.
7. Monitoring And Evaluation
To get the job over the finishing line as a project manager, you need to possess this important skill. Monitoring and evaluation of project provides project managers with information on the development and identification of potential obstacles or successes. There are software that helps collects data for monitoring and evaluation for easy reporting.
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8. Technical Writing
Project managers with technical writing skills can draft documents required for the project to succeed. This will help the project manager to be involved in the entire project and can make informed decisions about projects.
9. Knowledge Of Technology
Project managers need to stay up-to-date with the recent innovations and technology by researching tools to increase efficiency and reduce project costs. These tools provide an all-in-one platform to assign tasks, revise work, and track time.
10. Time Management
Time management is one of the most important technical skills. A project manager should be able to meet deadlines, get deliverables out on time, managing their time and that of the team time as well as the overall time of the project.
11. Knowledge Of Communication Tools
With good communication skills project managers can ensure that team members are in agreement and that they’re receiving the same information. Communication tools available online helps to keep conversations focused and ensure that the team are on the same page.
12. Leadership
A project manager should be able to motivate and inspire the team to be committed, show their expertise, solve challenge and achieve goals before the deadlines.
13. Team Management
Project management is about teamwork and this is one of the most important skills project managers must possess. Having people skills and understanding conflict management will help keep the team working productively.
Conclusion
Planning projects, assessing risks and opportunities, creating budgets, communicating with stakeholders, and troubleshooting problems are all key responsibilities of a project manager. To succeed in doing these, you need to have the combination of some soft and basic technical skills to drive your projects across the finish line.
