Understanding the importance of technology in project management

As a project management professional, I understand, many project managersare incredibly effective in their roles by simply managing a project plan and ticking off tasks as they are completed 100 percent. They can manage teams, develop budgets, analyse risk, and pretty much do everything a project manager does, both simple and sophisticated. And, perhaps more crucially, they can do it without having to go too deeply into the technical nuances. They can rely on the technical lead to resolve any technical challenges that arise.

What if the same project manager went a step further and genuinely understood how all of the technical components fit together? What if they spent time learning about technology and how it relates to the project they’re managing? Would it offer value to the project as a whole? Would the project team’s newfound regard for the project manager be reciprocated? Would it be easier to control top management’s expectations?

Yes! Understanding the technology of a project you’re leading, in my opinion, is what elevates you from a task manager to a true project manager. But, exactly, what does “knowing technology” imply? Some claim that you can’t call yourself a technologist until you’ve spent countless hours studying, writing millions of lines of code, or survived a production outage lasting more than 30 minutes. You can only call yourself a technologist after that. In fact, you can run a data centre out of your cube or hang an unlimited supply of network cables as victory trophies after those combat wounds.

But hold on a second; I’m not attempting to be a programmer, a technical lead, or even a systems architect. I’m just trying to complete a job on time and on budget, so why does being technically proficient help?

No offence, but have you recently spoken to a techie? It’s like attempting to decipher what Chewbacca said in all of the Star Wars movies. People, you may need to be able to communicate with the people you’re in charge of. Managing a project entail managing people, and if you and your co-worker speak two different languages, you’re in for a lot of irritation and lost time.

Of course, as a project management professional, I’m not proposing that all PMs hurry to become Chewbacca; rather, I’m arguing that taking the effort to understand the project you’re managing — technically — will be worthwhile for managing and delivering the project. Recognize the technical challenges and how they affect one another and the project as a whole. Understand what it means when a physical piece of hardware may launch an application but does not exhibit any indications of life on VMware. When you start seeing error messages or warnings that you need to raise the file descriptor size on your Web servers, understand what they represent.

· You’ve provided value if you can take the time to not only grasp but also repeat these technical difficulties. How?

· By efficiently interacting with the project team to understand progress, technical challenges, and to assist prioritise their duties by enhancing contact with suppliers and escalating the appropriate service requests as needed.

· Assess risks competently and develop more precise mitigation measures.

· Provide proactive information to management about their present or prospective infrastructure.

· When interviewing applicants for your projects, ask the correct questions.

Most significantly, you’ll be able to bridge the gap between a task manager and a genuine project manager.

You must know when to delegate troubleshooting to the technical team and when to guide them to the answer. No matter how ignorant you think you are, you must know when to ask the questions. And you must understand that you can only hide for so long behind a project plan or a progress report. Because you are the project manager, you will have to step up at some time.

Want to learn more about the importance of technology in project management? Take on aPMI Certification today!